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The Coolest Basement at Casablanca Apartments

8486085817_f4d0cd6cce_zThe Casablanca Apartment at 720 North 2nd, Tacoma was originally constructed in 1890, but was significantly remodeled or rebuilt in 1944 by Ray Gamble. The building’s original name was the Lincoln Apartments. During the 18 year (yes, 18 years!) remodel, Mr. Gamble designed the basement level of the building based on tiles he had collected on his international travels. The three story building has 30 units. In the 1960s Mr. Gamble turned over the income from the property to the University of Puget Sound for use as scholarship money.

Tacoma Public Library’s Page on the property includes additional information and photos.

Casablanca

 

 

What Seattle Icon Do You Remember at MOHAI?

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Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 in Lake Union Park.

It is impossible to walk around the new Museum of History and Industry without remembering something or learning something new. It is like a trip down memory lane! I went with a group and had lunch and heard a lector and got to explore the museum. At first blush the museum looks lovely, but not very full. But the opposite is true. There are a bunch of areas devoted to different themes all over the building. The 4th floor shows off the wonderful view and there is even a telescope! In addition there is a gift store and a cafe. It was a great time 😀

Some of the Seattle icon’s displayed include:

  • Ivar’s Clam on a bicycle
  • The Rainier Beer sign
  • The Toe Truck
  • The very first Starbucks sign
  • A display from The Dog House (which I once ate at) and
  • The Lusty Lady sign from the place across the street from the art museum.

I was delighted by the musical presentation on the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. The museum is next to Seattle’s Wooden Boat Center, which is free and had the Foss Tugboat available for touring. The ship below wasn’t open when I went by, but I thought the light was lovely.

One of the best finds of the day was the parking lot, which is just on the other side of the trolly tracks. For $2 I could park for up to 9 hours! And while I didn’t do it this time, next time I might just take the trolly off somewhere!

Buck’s Fifth Avenue, Olympia

8476851353_b6c04c8f7b_zBuck’s Fifth Avenue is a splendid spice store at 209 5th Ave SE  Olympia, WA 98501. There website says “We have every imaginable spice” and they told me the same thing in the store. They did indeed have a great selection of spices in hand labeled mason jars and apparently they can get anything else. The joy of the store is that all of the dry spices can be sniffed and most smell wonderful. And you can buy a pinch of anything, which is great for recipes with something unusual. Really, I loved the atmosphere of the store and the outstanding customer service. The owner, Anne Buck, said the store had been around for 43 years.

http://www.culinaryexotica.mybigcommerce.com/

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.

 

 

Jefferson Elementary School

8454105507_09b69f749c_zJefferson Elementary School at 4302 N. 13th Street in Tacoma or originally built in 1906 and the new Jefferson was constructed in 2004.