Originally uploaded by Gexydaf
I wasn’t planning on using this gas station as my new place of the day, but the rainbow suggested that I change my mind. This is the Kera 76 Station at 1901 Martin Luther King Junior Way, Tacoma, WA 98405-3835. It has a food market. The building was constructed in 1988.
76’s Website is at
http://www.76.com/#/landing-page
When we first moved to Tacoma over 20 years ago I remember visiting the Camp 6 Logging Exhibit in Point Defiance Park. Then, as in now, I love that this little slice of history had been preserved. Since that first time, I’ve gone back a couple of times a year, often seeing deer and once a fox. Once we took my young daughter on the Santa Train, which basically went into the forest a ways and then out again with, of course, Santa. It is an interesting, peaceful place. So it saddened me to learn that the exhibit might not reopen from its winter hiatus this year.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_logging_museum.html
The Camp 6 Logging Camp’s website states “Our mission is to preserve and present to the public a portion of Washington State’s history from the 1880’s through the 1940’s as it pertains to the “Steam Era of Logging”. With photographs, paintings, artifacts and equipment displays, Camp 6 takes the visitor back in time from when horse and ox teams hauled out the timber up through the last days that steam powered “Donkeys” and Railroads worked the woods. Visitors will see first hand what life in the logging camps and woods of Western Washington was like.”
Update 5/9/2011http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/09/1658977/point-defiance-parks-camp-6-closed.html Looks like they are closing for good. It’s a shame.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/09/1658977/point-defiance-parks-camp-6-closed.html
I was in need of sundry items and was in the neighborhood of the Lakewood Target, so in I went. The good things about Target are that it is always clean and fairly well staffed, their stock is refreshed regularly, they have decent prices and a broad selection. The not so good is that hardly anything they sell is made in America.
317 S 7th Street
Tacoma, WA 98402
(253) 383-4777
Here is a review of the restaurant from 2005, soon after it opened.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2005/04/01/31428/a-slice-of-pizza-perfection.html
I remember going through the Marcato Condominiums at 1501 Tacoma Avenue South a couple of years back when there was a big tour of many of the condominiums in Tacoma. This complex more than some of the others seemed to have a sense of community. I especially liked the mini movie theater. The complex was built in 2006 and at least the upper units have a lovely view of Mt. Rainier, as can be seen by photo below.
Sales data from the condo.com web site http://www.condo.com/Condo_TACOMA_98402_Reverie-at-Marcato-Condo_8168414/RecentSales indicates that in Unit 506 (790 sq.ft.) is currently available for sale with an asking price of $185,000. In January 2007 when the complex was new, the unit sold for $263,120, so the value has declined by about 30% (assuming that it sells for the asking price).
Prior to the condominium complex, this had been the site of a mixed use property, retail on the lower part and apartments on the upper level. The property was destroyed in a practice burn by the fire department on August 21, 2001. To see a photo of the prior building, go to:
http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=26549&i=2510#text
The Jason Lee mascot is the bobcat. I remember when the school had a grand reopening in 2001 after a $27 million renovation. I also remember an article that suggested some people the students wouldn’t take care of the building. Well, a quick tour today proved that indeed the school looks great, clean and well maintained. The students that I talked to at the meeting were well mannered.
A very nice summary of the building’s history can be found on the school’s website.
http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/sites/schools/JasonLee/Pages/Default.aspx
Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/26/1517312/school-cuts-worry-parents.html
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/01/27/1840221/tacoma-school-board-urged-to-reconsider.html
Today’s school is Foss High School at 2112 S. Tyler. Their mascot is the falcon and the school opened in 1973. Foss is the first school in Washington State and the second school west of the Rocky Mountains to offer the international baccalaureate diploma program, which began in 1982. The school is named after Henry Foss, the son of the founders of the Foss Launch and Tug Company, making it the first school named after a Tacoma native. With the exception of the School of the Arts and the Science and Math Institute, Foss is the smallest Tacoma High School. The Foss website can be found here. http://www0.tacoma.k12.wa.us/schools/hsx/foss/
A student created website names 101 Reasons Why Foss is the Boss can be found here. http://101savehfhs.webs.com/
What is the financial impact to my family? On a $10 purchase, we will pay an additional $0.03. What is the real cost impact? My teen daughter will wait longer for bus service, sometimes on dark, cold, rainy evenings. And for other folks? It will be harder to go to their jobs, the doctor, daycare and the grocery store. Like my daughter, folks will have longer waits between buses. Some of these people (those without cars, those with disabilities, etc.) have no other choice.
So my family voted yes for Proposition 1. It just seemed like the right thing to do for the most people.
Additional information can be found here. http://www.piercetransit.org/pdfs/Prop1_FactSheet_Dec10.pdf
http://www.tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=1915221&more=0
Today’s new place is the Lakewood Transit Center, near the Lakewood Town Center shopping area.
Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/26/1517312/school-cuts-worry-parents.html
Today’s school is Wainwright Elementary at 130 Alameda Avenue. Their mascot is the wildcat. The original school opened in 1911 and was called Regents Park. There was one teacher, Mrs. C.D. Bangs and she taught 1st through 3rd grades there. The one room school closed in 1914 because of lack of students. But it reopened in 1915. It almost closed in 1917, when there were 13 students. A new school opened there in 1924 and was named FIrcrest. In 1948 the school wa added on to and renamed Wainwright after a famous general in World War II. General Wainwright traveled from Texas to Fircrest to be at the school’s dedication. The school was again added on to in 1957 adn remodeling was done in 1971. In 1984 the school had a student population of 292 students and the Citizen’s Committee for School Facilities Planning recommends that Wainwright be closed.
To see the school as it appeared in 1924, see this link from the Tacoma Public Library.
http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=10532&i=4838#text
