Monthly Archives: January 2013

Tacoma General Hospital

Tacoma GeneralTacoma General Hospital at 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. is Tacoma’s largest hospital and part of the Multicare Health Systems. Their website is here http://www.multicare.org/tacomageneral/

The hospital has a long history, beginning in 1882 in the Old Town neighborhood of Tacoma under the name of Fannie C. Paddock Memorial Hospital. It has 437 licensed beds and 16 operating rooms. Dear daughter was born there almost 18 years ago!

I went to TG to hear a sexual assault nurse (forensic nurse examiner) discuss the nature of her job, a fascinating and heartbreaking topic. The link for that department can be found here http://www.multicare.org/home/sexual-assault-services-2

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The Tripod Show in the Hunt & Petrich Building

8394505060_b711191040_zFriday night I went to The Tripod Show at the Madera Fine Decorative Furnishings Facility at 2210 Court A, Tacoma. The Tripod Show consists of three local artists each presenting a slideshow around a theme. Each of the presentations was great! They ask for a $5 donation at the door.

More information about the Tripod Shows can be found here http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/entertainment/spew-blog/2011/09/Behind-the-TRIPOD-Slide-Show-in-Tacoma/

And info on Madera Woodworking (what terrific pieces they have!) can be found here http://www.maderawoodworking.com/
The space is in the Hunt & Petrich Building, which has over the years been a gas station, auto repair and a hardware store.
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YMCA Lakewood

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On Wednesday my group got together at the Lakewood YMCA (9715 Lakewood Drive SW) to talk about living off the grid. The Y was hopping! I arrive at a tad past 4 and parked in the hinterlands. I have to confuse that I didn’t get to see too much of the facility, just the Forza Coffee and the nice conference room. This YMCA has typical things such as a pool, classes and plenty of activities for the kids. More info can be found here http://www.ymcapkc.org/lakewood-family-ymca/

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What’s left of Tacoma’s original Greyhound Station

8385992474_fa5dc8c5b5_b(1)While driving around today I told dear daughter that I was going to stop at the old Greyhound Station and she was surprised when I stopped at the southeast corner of Pacific Avenue and South 13th Street. But I remember when the Greyhound station was here with its full cast of assorted riders. The station was dedicated in  April 1959 and was really something in its hay day with an underground parking garage, a large waiting area, a restaurant, a row of enclosed phone booths and a gift store. Up to 82 buses per day came through the station.The majority of the building was demolished in 2000 with only the small portion photographed remaining near the entrance to the parking garage.

A photo of the original building can be found at this Tacoma Public Library page http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=15&pg=1&krequest=subjects+contains+Greyhound+Bus+Terminal+and+Tacoma+&stemming=&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=

And a photo of the restaurant can be found here http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=13&pg=1&krequest=subjects+contains+Greyhound+Bus+Terminal+and+Tacoma+&stemming=&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=

Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room was instrumental in figuring this property out!

 

Pawn 4 More

Loans

Pawn 4 More at 1222 South 38th Street, Tacoma, WA is an unusually shaped building that has gone through several uses. I remember it as a produce stand, Green Frog Shelters and that it use to have mastiff dogs. Until recently the extended roof line boosted that they accepted all types of collateral including boats, cars, helicopters and 747s.  I liked their optimism, but when I stopped by today that offer seems to be gone. The building was originally constructed in 1926 as a gas station.

My Flickr friend has a picture with the old signage. You can see it here http://www.flickr.com/photos/justintron/5859272661/

Update: In 2/2015 the building was demolished.

 

Bulgogi at Nana Wok and Teriyaki

8378527804_7ef9cb9395_zMy friend, Carrie, was raving about the Bulgogi at Nana Wok and Teriyaki at 11416 Canyon Road in the Summit area of unincorporated Pierce County. Since I hadn’t heard of Bulgogi before I was intrigued and today dear husband and I went to check it out. In case you don’t know, per Wikipedia Bulgogi “is a Korean dish that usually consists of grilled marinated beef, chicken or pork. It is listed at number 23 on World’s 50 most delicious foods readers’ poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/readers-choice-worlds-50-most-delicious-foods-012321

It arrived at our table sizzling and really was tasty. Our mistake was that we each ordered a meal and we could have easily shared. But the good news is that there are leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. 😀

http://nanateriyaki.com/

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Movie, Church, Movie, Church

8373909701_0987604b74_bThe Rex Theater at 3809 Yakima Ave., in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, was built in 1919 and stayed in business until 1958. It has 650 seats which included a nursery so mothers with young children could see the films. The property owner was Martin Steffen. In 1958 it was converted to the Tacoma Calvary Temple, a church. And in 1980 it again became a theater, but this time it was porn. I believe the property stood vacant for a while and now it is occupied by the New Restoration Christian Ministries.

REXA movie database site with this picture can be found here http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9489 The movie on the marquee is Four Hours to Kill (1935, A murderer eludes his guard and escapes into a theater where the lives of those in attendance are affected by the danger of his presence.)

Update, January 2017: I stopped by again today to capture the theater. It is looking pretty sad. I have hopes that it will be fixed up during the district’s revitalization this year.


The News Tribune

ntThe News Tribune is Tacoma’s daily newspaper. It had its origins in 1918 when the city’s three existing newspapers merged under its current name. The paper, which serves the south Puget Sound, has a present day circulation of 85,000, which increases to 100,000 on Sunday (including our household!). The New Tribune address is 1950 State Street, Tacoma.

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Pretty Blue Glow on the Sounder Overpass

8369573766_80947d9e5a_b(1)I’ve often admired the nice blue LED light glow on the Sounder Overpass and tonight on the way back from a meeting I stopped at a red light and snapped a photo. The ribbon cutting for the Tacoma Dome Station to the Lakewood Station was on October 8th, 2012.

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