Yesterday I stopped at Freighthouse Square for dinner before I went off to a class. While there I stopped at City Blocks, which is at 440 East 25th Street, Suite 46, Tacoma WA 98402. Their facebook page says that they are the “The world’s only public LEGO Commercial Art Studio”. Indeed when I visited they were happy to show me the Lego custom pieces they were working on and they were pretty cool! More info can be found on their Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/cityblocks
Over the years I’ve taken a bunch of photos of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which spans the Tacoma Narrows strait of the Puget Sound connecting the City of Tacoma with Gig Harbor in Pierce County and other points on the Kitsap Peninsula. The bridge, which is now actually a pair of bridges, is part of Highway 16. The older of the two bridges was constructed in 1950 and the newer, westbound bridge was built in 2007. The original bridge was known as “Galloping Gertie” and opened in 1940, collapsing four months later.
A webcam of the bridge can be found here:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/tacoma/sr16_tacomanarrows_east.htm
At the corner of East Main and 3rd Street just off of the downtown area of Puyallup is Gandy Dancer by sculpture Jim Mattern. In doing a little research, it appears that the art piece had been in Port Orchard or that there are two of them. I’m betting on it having been moved. It is part of the Arts Downtown project. The sculpture features a rail worker and is well placed next to a rail line.
Elks Lodge #174 has sold (is selling?) their property at Union Avenue and South 23rd Street (1965 South Union) to Walmart. The existing 76,000 square foot building had a construction cost of $1.5 to $2 million and was dedicated in 1965. At that time it had the highest membership of any elk’s lodge in the U.S.
A photograph of the dedication can be found here (thanks Tacoma Public Library!) http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=3&pg=1&address=1965+and+SO+and+AVE+and+UNION&stemming=&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=
The building will be demolished and a Walmart Superstore (the largest of the Walmart floor plans) will be constructed. The Elks will have a new, modern lodge constructed at a different location. The original elks building was constructed on Broadway Avenue and is proposed to be converted into a McMenamins.
The freestanding building at 602 North Pearl use to be where I dropped off film (remember film?) to be developed. Flash One Hour Photo had the nicest people working there and one hour development. I think it was bright yellow. Of course their business declined as we all went to digital and I’m guessing that is why they closed.
Later it was a home design store (Tacoma Interior Market) , a check cashing place and most recently a spot to get new counter tops. Now it has some furniture in it, but it looks vacant.
I had a hair appointment today and right next door was Chopper’s Holistic Pet Food at 612 Regents Blvd., Fircrest, WA. It has an entirely different feel from a large box pet store. The store is indeed mostly pet food and high quality pet food at that. The rest of the stock is treats, toys, clothes and accessories. The woman who helped me was pleasant and knowledgeable and even gave me some samples :D.
Late night at work today and take out at Joeseppi’s Italian Ristorante. But I needed a new place of the day. So I pivoted and snapped a photo of Columbia Bank at 5727 North 21st Street, Tacoma, WA 98406. Columbia Bank is a Washington state-chartered full-service commercial bank.
It’s that time of year and we spent more time then normal deciding on our tree. Did we want to go to a lot and if so which lot? Or a you cut farm? While I was up in the air, my husband called it – a You Cut called No-El Tree Farm. We had gone to a couple of years again. It is a family run farm in South Pierce County.
Dear husband’s birthday was a on Thursday and we just got got around to celebrating. We went out to a movie and I offered to stop at Stadium Thriftway and buy a birthday cake, but apparently a birthday pie was more to his liking. So we stopped at Shari’s at 2323 South Union Avenue and after much discussion we selected a Velvet Chocolate Silk pie, which proved to be rather tasty.
Friday I went off to the Scholastic Books warehouse at 9631 Lathrop Industrial Drive S.W., Olympia, WA 98512. I was on a mission to purchase books for two school libraries. Scholastic books is the largest children’s book seller in the world and there warehouse is only open to school employees and book fair volunteers. While the shopping itself can be a little overwhelming (so many books and people), the people are wonderful.
While I was there I picked up ten copies of the new Wimpy Kid book (5 per school) because yes, it is just that popular!
