The City Park at Crescent Creek in Gig Harbor is a lovely city park with a covered pavilion, a creek with an observation platform, a baseball field, a children’s play area and picnic tables. The weather was perfect, sunny with a little fall chill in the air. And the company was delightful 🙂
Katie Downs at 3211 Ruston Way has the best pizza in the Puget Sound. The Weekly Volcano’s 2011 Tournament of Pizza Champion had 64 competitors and Katie Downs came out on top
Now I hadn’t actually gone to Katie Downs for pizza, but while I was there my dear daughter called wanting me to stop for thai food. I talked her into wanting pizza instead and brought home a double cheese, pesto and fresh tomato pie. It was delicious!
I stopped at Fred Meyers at 4504 South 19th Street, Tacoma for some carpet cleaning fluid that they sell. I was naively surprised to find an entire row of Christmas merchandise! Well, OK then.
Big M Stained Glass at 711 south 25th Street Tacoma, WA 98405 has one of the best signs in Tacoma! The building is home to pretty much anything one would need to make stained glass and they also do lovely custom work.
The site has an interesting history. In 1886 the South School was constructed. And in 1889, the three story primary school was renamed the Longfellow School. The school closed after 50 years in 1936 because the building had deteriorated. The school’s first 4th grade teacher was Fay E. Fuller who in 1890 because the first woman to climb Mt. Rainier. More information about the Longfellow School can be found here http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1up.asp?n=3810
The school was demolished in 1936 and the Tacoma Boy’s Club was constructed on the site in 1942. The club even had a year round swimming pool, which was added in 1951. In 1979 the Boys Club moved their operations to Stanley Playfield, where it is today. In 1983 the property was purchase and remodeled.
I had a little time to stop for dinner and didn’t want fast food, but didn’t have the time or funds for extra nice. And I’d been meaning to stop at Happy Dragon Chinese at 5104 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma. It was an early dinner for me and I was their only customer, though a couple of folks came in for take out. I ordered the curry chicken and it was good and plenty for two meals. The meal was served with white rice at no additional cost, which isn’t always the case now a days.
The 717 Building is located at 717 Tacoma Avenue and was constructed in 1918 and was renovated in 2005. It is leased as office space. It was originally constucted as a mortuary and in 2005 when it was occupied as the Tacoma-Pierce County Family Justice Center it was placed on the Tacoma Registry of Historic Places. The Crystal Judson Family Justice Center is located in the building and was named in honor of Crystal Judson who was killed by her husband, Police Chief David Brame on April 26 2003.
We hadn’t lived in Tacoma all too long before we discovered Mrs. Frisby’s Bakery at 710 South 38th Street in the Lincoln District. We would go there every so often. I was fond of their moist, delicious brand muffins and my husband like their bear claws. When our daughter was little we would take her to watch the ladies decorating cakes. The bakery had been around since 1930 and closed in 2000. The space was vacant for a long time, but is now occupied by Thinh Xuan Ho, M.D.
The Tacoma Public Library has a photo of the bakery from 1956 here:
Saturday evening I joined the World Wide Photo Walk by joining a group walking around the History Museum in Tacoma. We walked from the museum, across the Bridge of Glass and down to the waterfront. Afterward the group of us went out to eat at Abellas at 1946 Pacific Avenue. Abella’s menu can be found here: http://www.allmenus.com/wa/tacoma/45349-abella-pizzeria/info/
The website for the world wide photo walk can be found here http://worldwidephotowalk.com/
And one last photo taken on 5/2/14
