Category Archives: Art — there is art here!

Something Wicked This Way Comes, Lakewood Playhouse

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Ray Bradbury is my favorite author and Something Wicked This Way Comes is my favorite book by him, so I absolutely had to go see this play!  My dear daughter rolled her eyes at me and said she didn’t like plays, but she’d go and my husband also joined us. All of us loved it! It was true to the book and creepy (perfect for October) and had great effects and acting.  Afterwards my daughter revised her opinion to she doesn’t like musicals (we’ll work on that!).  Of course my favorite part is that the adult hero is a librarian! Though it did bother me that he was considered old at 54! That’s a little too close for comfort!

The play was at the Lakewood Playhouse at 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd.   Lakewood, WA  98499.  It is a small theater with enthusiastic volunteers and a nice seating arrangement. http://www.lakewoodplayhouse.org/

 

 

 

Big M Stained Glass/Boys Club/Longfellow School

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Big M Stained Glass at 711 south 25th Street Tacoma, WA 98405 has one of the best signs in Tacoma! The building is home to pretty much anything one would need to make stained glass and they also do lovely custom work.

http://www.bigmsg.com/

The site has an interesting history. In 1886 the South School was constructed. And in 1889, the three story primary school was renamed the Longfellow School. The school closed after 50 years in 1936 because the building had deteriorated. The school’s first 4th grade teacher was Fay E. Fuller who in 1890 because the first woman to climb Mt. Rainier. More information about the Longfellow School can be found here http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1up.asp?n=3810

The school was demolished in 1936 and the Tacoma Boy’s Club was constructed on the site in 1942. The club even had a year round swimming pool, which was added in 1951. In 1979 the Boys Club moved their operations to Stanley Playfield, where it is today. In 1983 the property was purchase and remodeled.

Mandolin Cafe

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The Mandolin Cafe at 3923 South 12th Street near the intersection of South 12th & Proctor provides an occasional respite for us.  It doesn’t have an extensive menu, but what it has is delicious. They do have a large selection of teas, quality coffee and wines.  What keeps me keeping coming back to the Mandolin is the atmosphere, comfortable, warm, art filled and often eclectic live music.

http://www.themandolincafe.com/

Sadly the Mandolin Cafe closed in July 2012. It wasn’t because of their business, but instead a problem with the lease. I’m hopeful they will reopen in a new location at some point.

 

Lowell Elementary

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The mascot of Lowell Elementary at 810 North 13th Street is the leopard.  Per Lowel’s website, it is the oldest school in the district and began as a log cabin in 1869 at N. 28th and Starr Street. It burnt down in 1875 and was rebuilt in 1885, and named Lowell in 1890. In 1892 a new building was constructed and the 1885 building became the annex. In 1949 an earthquake hit the region, killing one Lowell student and making the building unusable. In 950 the most recent Lowell and the one current being used was constructed and in 1961 the primary unit was built.  I was especially impressed with the mural on the side of an outbuilding on the site.

 

 

Wish & Pray This Will Never Happen Again

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Life Center on Union Avenue has devoted a corner of its property to a 9.11 Memorial. On both sides of a freestanding wall people have written their memories and reflections.  There are words from children too young to remember the day and from adults that were affected.  Some used the preprinted cards and filled in their memories and other brought their own paper.

Artco has the best sketchbooks!

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I was informed today that dear daughter had to have a new sketchbook and that Artco was the place to go! Well, OK.  We went to the Artco on Sixth Avenue and purchased the sketchbook, some Halloween decorations, some art paper and some markers. I looked longingly at the art inks, but really don’t have a use for them at this time. Maybe later!

The Chinese Pagoda and One Year

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It’s been one year since I’ve started this new place of the day project and I wanted to pick an extra nice new place.  I was going to go to the Pacific Ocean, but it was just too darned rainy and cold, so instead I went to Pagoda in Chinese Reconciliation Park at 1741 N. Schuster Parkway, Tacoma.  The pagoda is a gift from a gift from Fuzhou, one of Tacoma’s sister cities.  Apparently there was some vandalism on the building in May 2011 and now perimeter fencing is in place until security cameras can be installed. The pagoda, called a ting, will be open to the public in mid-September.  The park also contains the Bridge of Pearls footbridge, which is accessible.

Looking back at this one year project, I have some observations:
  • 257 of my new places are in Tacoma. Lakewood, with 18 places came in a distant second.
  • Tacoma has some pretty darned interesting places! Lots of art and history in T-Town!
  • I’ve learned a bunch, about the places, Google maps, blogs and research
  • My most popular type tag is restaurants (85), followed by Art (77) and then History (56).
  • Some of the places I checked out alone, but I often brought my husband, daughter and occasionally dogs along for company. They are good sports about the whole thing.
  • I did miss a couple of days. There were a few days that I was sick and the weather was bad and there was that week I took a time consuming class (yes, I passed). The world didn’t end.
  • 30 places were tagged “their future is in question”. Of these 13 have had a change of use and several more remain vacant.
  • My strangest place was probably the sky.
  • Tacoma has some pretty darned interesting places! Lot of art, history and stories here.
  • It’s been good for me to visit a new place everyday and I’ve started keeping a list of potential place.
  • I now carry my camera with me 98% of the time now, though sometimes it is easier to use my phone.
  • I’ve come to admire all of the folks that do a 365 project!
  • I plan to continue until it isn’t fun any more or I run out of places, whichever comes first 😀
  • The encouragement that I’ve received along the way has meant the world to me! Thank you!

The Flower House on Vassault

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The flower house at 3725 Vassault Street always makes me smile. Year after year (except for 2009 because of illness) the owners of this house go all out with flowers, lots and lots of flowers. Duc Pham has created this amazing garden after leaving his native Vietnam in the 1970s. To read more, go to an article on the Tacoma News Tribune website and also an excellent blog entry (thanks for the referral Lisa!).

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/06/11/1701655/at-races-end-flower-power.html

http://www.msmusings.com/archive/134/Real%20floral.htm

 

Washingtonia Domus

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I’ve been meaning to take photos of the five metal palm trees along 26th Street in the Dome District and today was the day! The palms were designed by Kurt Kiefer and the installation is called Washingtonia Domus”. The Tacoma Weekly did a great write up on the art and that article can be found here: http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/art/public_art_dome_district_palms/

I’ve taken these photos with my Hipstamatic App on my phone.  It’s probably my favorite app ever! So very cool. This time I tried various film/lens setting and got some interesting result.

http://www.hipstamaticworld.com/index2.php#/home/

 

Kitakyushu, Japan Monument

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I didn’t set out to make the Kitakyushu, Japan Monument at 3691 Rustin Way my new place of the day, but I found myself driving along Rustin Way enjoying the lovely weather and it just seemed like the thing to do! Kitakyushu was established as one of Tacoma’s sister cities in 1984 and this shiny sculpture was presented in 1989. The art piece shows a map with both Tacoma and Kitakyushu with an anchor in the middle.  

Looking over information from the Port (see the link below) I found the imports/exports interesting.  Our biggest export to Kitakyushu is cereals with a value of $203.1 million.  The other top four exports are inorganic chemical and rare earth metals ($198.2 million), prepared vegetables, fruit, nuts ($167 million), oil seeds, miscellaneous grain, seed, fruit ($160.6 million) and meat and edible meat offal ($141.2 million).

Their largest import to us is vehicles and parts  with a value of $2.4 billion and the next four are industrial machinery ($1.7 billion), electric machinery and electronics ($823.3 million), optic, photo, medical and surgical instruments ($276.9 million) and articles of iron or steel ($200.9 million).  Seems a little lopsided to me!

http://www.portoftacoma.com/page.aspx?cid=521

And more info can be found here:  http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/page.php?id=771