Monthly Archives: February 2013

Old Town Dock

8475385612_0711ef79e6_oOld Town Dock at 2123 Schuster Pkwy, Tacoma, WA 98402 is currently being renovated. I had stopped at Great Northern Fish to pick up some Valentine’s dinner and in the six minutes it took them to fry my fish, I walked over to the dock and captured this photo. Per the Metro Park’s website, the renovation includes replacing the piles, deck and pavilion, adding handrails, security and moorage floats. The dock will reopen in the summer of 2013.


The original dock was constructed in 1873 and served fishing boats and then as public space. The dock was closed in 2008 when an engineering study indicated that it was unsafe. The renovation comes at a cost of $2 million dollars. The photo below isn’t of the Old Town Dock, but instead is over the property next to that.

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Pizza Hut Express

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The Pizza Hut Express at 5322 is for take out only. We ordered through the internet, though we could have called in the order or just ordered in person. Really the pizza was pretty good and I can order a pizza with different toppings on two sides.

Pizza Hut has several kind of facilities with the Express being the smallest. There are over 6,000 Pizza Huts in the United States. Pizza Hut, Inc., it is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company.

Clock Tower Square

8466199825_9efbb327ac_bWhen I worked in University Place, years ago I was situated by this Clock Tower at 3617 Bridgeport Way West. The larger building it was part of was demolished to make room for the new city hall, but the Clock Tower was saved and moved to its new location on Tacoma Avenue across the street from the library in 2004. There is also a cool gargoyle on the building next to the clock tower.

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In Ed “Doc” Farrens, moved to this site from. Clock Tower Square at 3617 Bridgeport Way)

Did you know this Regal theater was there?!

8463249045_37d54b24bf_bUntil today, I hadn’t realized this six theater Regal Cinema existed. The Regal South Hill Cinema 6 is located at 3500 South Meridian, Puyallup, WA.  More importantly it is located in the back of the mall, behind Target, so it is easy to miss. It was the only theater playing The Impossible, a striking movie about a family of five’s experience during the 2004 Thailand Tsunami.

Regal South Hill 6

The Impossible

 

 

Brackett’s Landing Park North

8460521114_26f3cb4d93_oI was lucky to have a little time to myself to explore downtown Edmonds, which is a charming town. I walked down the hill to the ferry landing because I remember going there years ago when I still lived in Texas and seeing sea lions or seals. Let me tell you, it was pretty darn exciting to see something so exotic after the flat inland of Texas! I fell in love with the area.

Brackett’s Landing Park is adjacent to the ferry landing and per the informational sign George Brackett founded Edmonds in 1876. This park was dedicated to him in 1963. In 1970 a 27 acre underwater marine preserve and sanctuary was developed, one of the first on the West Coast. Information about the underwater park is located here http://www.edmondswa.gov/services/education/discovery-programs/edmonds-underwater-park.html  The way I understand it, there are a bunch of underwater features, like sunken ships and they can be readily found by divers by following the lines attached to the buoys.

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Hope Heights

Tree MuralThe Hope Heights mural at 6323 McKinley Avenue is glorious! It has vibrant colors and  plethora of images including skulls, fish, a raven  and a dragon. The combined cultures are illustrated together around a ginormous tree. The mural had an art team of Joni Joachims and artists Yvette Simone, Chelsea O’Sullivan, Kate Cendejas, Brian Hutcheson, and Janice Lee Warren. To learn more, visit this blog http://tacomaarts.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/murals-project-update-hope-heights-mural-is-complete/

Although the building’s address is on McKinley, the mural fronts on 63rd. The brick building was constructed in 1925 and was owner occupied by the Grote Pharmacy, which included a U.S. Postal Substation. More recently it was occupied by A. A. Wedding Supplies, but it is now vacant (at least the lower level) and available for rent.

 

 

Love for Sale at Rite Aid in James’ Center

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I was sent to Rite Aid at1850 South Mildred Street (James Center),Tacoma, WA 98465 for index cards today. While there I admired there selection of Valentine’s Cards. I then played with the image using http://pixenate.com/ for the heart shape and http://www.befunky.com/ for the tones.

Rite Aid’s website is here http://www.riteaid.com/

 

 

 

 

S&S Loan Pawn Shop

8442392463_8c0b238e74_cS&S Loan at 11453 Pacific Highway has long been abandon. When I pulled in to snap some photos, my daughter called it that creepy place and it does have a desolate vibe. The property is available for sale from Kidder Mathews with an asking price of $650,000. The value is in the land with the 7,000 square foot, 1964 building being a tear down. One of the best assets the property has is that it is across the street from the Sound Transit Station.

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Park Avenue School

8438624392_a950762056_oI had an all day class at Park Avenue School at 6701 Park Avenue. The school was built in 1912 and Heath & Gove were the architects. There were additions to the original building in 1918, 1920, 1949, 1959. There is a photo of the building from 1928 here http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=22846&i=4827#text

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