DeLong Elementary School is a neighborhood school located at 4901 South 14th Street, Tacoma. There mascot is a Dragon and their motto is “Preparing all students for a bright and productive future” .There are about 400 students enrolled.
If the most recent school bond passes DeLong will receive some upgrades, which can be seen here http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/information/2013%20Bond%20Issue%20Materials/SchoolPoster-INFO%28side1%29-Delong.pdf
The Xipe Totec Mask is from the Mexican culture and represents the god of spring and growing seed. The Sun Mask image is from the Native American-Kwakiuti culture from Vancouver Island.
Mad Hat Tea at 1130 Commerce Street in Tacoma has more teas available to brew then I have ever seen in one place. I had seen packets of Mad Hat Tea loose tea available for purchase around town and it is of course there is also a large selection available here. I bought a bag of orange peel and another bag of butter cookie, which I have discovered at home, go well together. Mad Tea has a no cell phone policy, which is refreshing and the customers were visiting with one another and the employees. Altogether a great atmosphere, thought it would have been nice of there had been something to snack on.
The way cool Hat ‘n Boots Roadside American Art is located in Oxbow Park in the Georgetown Neighborhood of Seattle. Oxbow Park was created in 2003 and at the end of that month, Hat ‘n Boots were installed there. The art was fully installed by the middle of 2005. The art was originally part of a cowboy themed gas station, “Premium Tex”, that was built in 1954. The hat was over the gas station office and the boots were the restrooms (black for the guys and blue for the girls). The station closed in 1988 and fell into disrepair.
The park also includes a community garden, a children’s play area, some nice artistic touches and grassy picnic areas. It was pretty busy on this cold and foggy Saturday.
Update 2/13 there is a model of the Hat ‘N Boots at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry. 
Tacoma 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
Friday 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/
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/
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 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.
My 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. 😀
