SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – He was arguably the most popular entertainer of the 20th Century, and inarguably the most famous person to ever grow up in Spokane.

Now Bing Crosby will finally have a landmark in his hometown.

The former Met Theater in downtown Spokane, where Crosby performed as a young man, will be renamed the Bing Crosby Theater at a public ceremony on Friday.

The “Wing Ding for Bing” culminates an effort by Spokane historian and journalism teacher Bill Stimson, who noticed one day that little in the Lilac City was named for its favorite son, and suggested the Met might be a good choice.

“We’re stepping up and doing what we should have done long ago,” Stimson said. “This is where Bing Crosby learned his trade and became “Bing Crosby.”‘

Crosby was born in Tacoma in 1903, but his family soon moved to Spokane and he remained a figure in the city’s history for the rest of his life. The golden-throated crooner returned often to visit family and friends, and was a generous donor to Gonzaga University and other causes.

“The guy never left Spokane until he was 22 years old and in a sense he always remained a kind of a homebody,” Crosby biographer Gary Giddins wrote in “Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams.”

The Met was built in 1915 as the 800-seat Clemmer Theater. The movie house eventually fell into disrepair, but a local financial conglomerate bought it in 1988, rehabbed it, and reopened it as the Metropolitan Performing Arts Center as a home for concerts, lectures and movies.

Crosby and his group, billed as the Musicaladers, performed in the theater as the house band between May and October 1925, playing between movies.

“That’s where he spent five months practicing his act,” Stimson said. “He was a big hit there.

“Then he got in his car and went to Hollywood,” Stimson said.

After talking with Met owner Mitch Silver, who gave his approval, Stimson contacted Crosby’s widow, Kathryn. An actress who lives in Nevada, Kathryn Crosby was delighted by the idea and volunteered to bring her cabaret act to Spokane on Friday to raise money to buy the new sign. The act reminisces about her 20-year marriage to Crosby, which ended with his death in 1977.

Crosby has not been completely ignored here. He holds an honorary doctorate from Gonzaga University. The school’s student union building is named for him and there is a statue of him out front. Crosby was also made an honorary mayor of Spokane, and Oct. 16, 1946, was recognized as “Bingsday” in his honor.

Crosby was much more than your average celebrity. He was a huge star on stage, radio, movies and television. His recording of “White Christmas” was for decades the biggest selling single of all time.

“It is time for the city to recognize the fact that he is still known worldwide,” said Stephanie Plowman, a librarian and curator of Crosby memorabilia at Gonzaga. “While alive he put Spokane on the map and still does.”