Category Archives: Industry

Thinking about the proposed Tacoma Methanol Plant

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I was standing in Fireman’s Park looking out over the Port of Tacoma wondering where the proposed methanol plant would be located. Once home I read that it is to be situated on the prior site of the Kaiser Aluminum Smelter on the Blair Waterway. So that would be on the far side of this photo, realistically out of sight. And I added the fog to the image for the drama.

This proposed plant would be the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Plants are also proposed to be located in the Port of Kalama, Washington and Port Westwood, Oregon. Tacoma’s plant could be operational as soon as 2020 and would produce 20,000 tons of Methanol daily. The Methanol would then be shipped to China.

I’m not going to offer an opinion before I know more, but I did find some interesting reading and sites.

I personally think we should all quickly study this issue and act accordingly. Our voices should be heard. To that end, there is a public meeting this Wednesday and it should be well worthwhile.

While I was there I photographed the classic mountain framed in the Murry Morgan Bridge and a lovely tree.

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Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe

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IMG_3846 Continuing my back and forth posting, here is the Washington State University’s famous Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe. I felt lucky to be able to go since they are only open Monday through Friday. While there I had a small vanilla and a sample of the delicious Cougar Gold Cheese. I loved being about to sit down and enjoy my ice cream while watching the workers make the cheese. There website is here.

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Fablab Studio, Tacoma

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IMG_3381Back on the homefront….. dear husband and I finally checked out Fablab Studios today. It is so cool, kind of like magic making something from nothing. Located at 1938 Market Street, Fablab is “The high-tech prototyping center enabling public access to laser cutting, 3D printing, plasma cutting, CNC machines, welding and much more!“.

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Jin Rui

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13321551764_8544a2b745_bTo celebrate Friday and dear daughter’s last day with us for a while we took the dogs to Thea’s Foss and took a photo of a traveling new place, the Jin Rui, a bulk carrier built in 2009 and flagged out of Hong Kong, China. This ship is on its way to South Korea and should arrive in about two weeks. Interestingly, I am writing this as I watch All is Lost, about a man (Robert Redford) lost at sea after his boat is damaged by a lose shipping container.

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Clifford Lives at the Scholastic Book Warehouse

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11246517446_c12a43425a_bI turned the corner at the Scholastic Book Warehouse at 5103 D St, Auburn, WA 98001 and there was Clifford, the Big Red Dog! He is about the size that he is portrayed in the ever loved Clifford books. Clifford has his own, barking, website. The Clifford books were first published in 1963 and Clifford acts as the mascot for Scholastic Books.

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Gray Lumber Company, Logistics Center

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9691572096_5d7bdf1b8c_bGray Lumber Company has a logistics center at 3902 South ‘M’ Street in Tacoma. Some version of this facility has been in place since 1903. Grays is Tacoma’s oldest lumber yard. They really have an interesting history, important to Tacoma. It can be found on their website.

Getting Ready for School

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9560862998_0728a8cd3e_h(1)There are all the school buses just waiting for the first day of school 🙂 This photo was  in the Nalley Valley part of town at the southwest corner of South Tacoma Way and Sprague Avenue. I could only safely capture some of the buses, but the image below (thank you Google Earth!) shows that there are many more buses. I think there is a special star in heaven for school bus drivers!

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Started as the Tillicum Toy Company

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8745246841_e56c476cf7_bThe castle like commercial building at 2515 South Tacoma Way was built as the Tillicum Toy Company in 1930 and sold Tacoma made toys all over the United States. It the early 1930s it was the largest toy plant on the Pacific Coast. It has also been owned and/or occupied by the Tacoma Milk Shippers Association, a cheese factory, Farm Maid Ice Cream and Darigold Farms. More recently it was MDC Technologies. The building is currently available for sale. While looking for more of the building’s history, I found this website devoted to buildings made to look like castles.

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Transco Auto Services

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8670005007_8674505e46_b(1)(2)The industrial property at 3829 South M Street, Tacoma, is available for sale with an asking price of $390,000 (will look at offers). The vacant building has 6,200 square feet and was built in 1948. It was originally owner occupied as Rygg’s Automotive Service and most recently was occupied by Transco Auto Services.

F.S. Harmon Building

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To continue art month, I took advantage of Tacoma’s Art at Work Studio Tour. The F.S. Building at 2926 S. Steele St. had three open studios.

The large warehouse building was constructed in 1908 as the Willamette Casket Co. with Frederick Heath as the architect. It was then the Gregory Furniture Manufacturing Co. In 1944 there was a significant fire and in 1945 the plant sold to the F.S. Harmon Manufacturing Co. In 1953 and 1955 there were two fires.

This is my seventh building that was designed by Frederick Heath. The others are: