Category Archives: Non Profits

Tahoma Indian Center

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The Tahoma Indian Center at 1556 Market Street, Tacoma, is part of Catholic Community Services and their website is at http://www.ccsww.org/site/PageServer?pagename=families_emergencyservices_tahomaindiancenter

Their website states “Located in downtown Tacoma, the Tahoma Indian Center has met the basic needs of low-income and homeless Urban Native Peoples for more than 20 years in a safe, warm, peaceful and drug- and alcohol-free environment. The purpose of the Center is to restore and sustain the dignity and culture of Urban Native Americans in Pierce County.”

This is great old building and it has an interesting history.I’m not sure, but I think it use to be connected to a building on the now vacant lot next door. So, in full disclosure I’m not sure of the history of the property, the lot next door or both. Tacoma Public Library says the Lorenz Bldg. / Sisson House was constructed in 1890. The Astor House opened c.1899 as the first major Japanese hotel in Tacoma. It was also known as the Hiroshimaya Hotel. As of 1946, the property was known as the Columbus Hotel / Yunan Ling Herbal Medicine / Tacoma Jujitsu School. The same year, a petition was denied for the hotel and the headlines read  “all colored hotel” closed for prostitution violations.

In 1947 it was Fukui’s Grocery Store (and was “surprised by the police!”).  And by 1996 it became the Intertribal Cultural Arts Center. When looking at the spectacular doorway, I noticed that the Lion King is hanging from a coconut over the doorway. I bet there is a story there!

Toy Rescue Mission

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The Toy Rescue Mission is located at at 607 South Winnifred Street, Tacoma, WA 98465. I remember when I was a Girl Scout leader, we collected toys for this fine organization. Their detailed website states that “Toy Rescue Mission (TRM) is an all-volunteer run, grass-roots organization. It was organized in 1991 with the purpose of providing toys to children who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances, either due to family hardship or an immediate disaster. TRM programs center upon recycling used but still useable toys. Its volunteers are dedicated to its Mission:”

http://www.toyrescuemission.org/index.html

Learning About Ebooks

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Today I took an interesting class in ebooks (the way of the future!) at the Puget Sound Educational Service District at 800 Oakesdale Avenue, Renton, WA 98057. It’s a nice office building with plenty of training and conference rooms. They do good work there.

No, I don’t think ebooks will completely take over, but what a great option. I once lifted my dear daughter’s backpack to discover it must have weighed 50 lbs! Putting all of her text books on an ebook reader would have brought that weight down to something much more reasonable. Another plus is that library patrons can read their library books from anywhere.

The website for the PSESD is http://psesd.org/

 

Kurt Cobain’s first public show was here

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The theater then church at 5441 South M Street has seen better days. It was constructed in 1924 as an early movie theater with 500 seats. Their first movie was Lights Out. On October 6, 1930 there was extensive damage when a bomb went off (there must be a story there!). Per the Tacoma Public Library, Kurt Cobain and the rock band Skid Row (later Nirvana) played their first public show here! Online information indicates that Templo Maranatha now owns the space.

Go here to see photographs of the property when it was new, http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1up.asp?n=19979

Thanks Tacoma Public Library!

Community Health Care at Eastside Medical Clinic

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The Community Health Care Center is located at 1708 East 44th Street, Tacoma, WA 9840 in the Salishan Housing Development. Per their website “Community Health Care is a private, non-profit organization created in 1987 when the clinical system moved from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department after several years of operation by that organization.” I toured the building and was very impressed with the building and the doctors and other staff that I meant. Community Health Care provides medical and dental services, as well as a pharmacy. The theme that I heard repeatedly was quality care with patient dignity.

Their website is here http://www.commhealth.org/

Normanna Hall, Tacoma

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Normanna Hall at 1106 S 15th St., Tacoma, WA 98405 is another very wonderful building in Tacoma (the corner of South 15th and Martin Luther King, Jr.). The building was constructed in 1922 and Geo. Trust was the architect. The dedication was on March 19, 1923.  On August 24, 1979, the lodge celebrated 75 years in America.

The Sons of Norway, is a lodge that is dedicated to preserving Norwegian heritage and culture in the Tacoma area for over 100 years. Sons of Norway and promote Norwegian traditions and fraternal fellowship through cultural and social activities. Once a year, in October, the Norden Lodge (Sons of Norway) has its annual Lutefisk Dinner there.

The Metro Tacoma Fencing Club occupies space in the building and the Seattle Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society has been known to kick up their heels there.

For more information about the lodge, including some photographs, check out their website at http://www.norden2.com/

Happy New Year at the Pythian Temple

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As we usually do, dear daughter and I celebrated New Year’s Eve at Tacoma’s First Night in Downtown Tacoma. We drove to the Dome Transit Center and caught the Link to the theater district and then we kicked up our heals! It is really a top notch event. The weather was cold, but not frigid and there was no rain (a small miracle). I ran into a bunch of folks that I knew, but dear daughter seemed to know almost everybody! She declared that her schoolmates owned the downtown domain!

The new place for the day is the Pythian Temple at 924-926 1/2 Broadway, Tacoma. The building was constructed in 1906 for the Commencement Lodge No. 7 of the Knights of the Pythias. On August 23, 1985, Pythian Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The meeting room is upstairs and is amazing, with dark carved woods and lovely frescoes and a huge organ.

For more on the Temple, including some historic photos, go to here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythian_Temple_%28Tacoma,_Washington%29

This is my sixth building that was designed by Frederick Heath, architect and named after the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley. The others are:

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2012 Oakland School

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1961 Urban Grace

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1335 Titlow Lodge

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2370 Tacoma Public School’s CAB

http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2374 McKinley School

Santa in the Shark Tank

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When I heard that Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium was featuring a scuba diving Santa on select days, I knew that we had to go! So, despite the fairly heavy rain, yesterday dear daughter, her dear friend and I went off to the zoo. It was really great! The rain mostly stopped and it was pretty temperate. I thought parking would be a snap, but the lot was almost full. Must be the pull of Scuba Santa! There was a short wait to see Santa, but when we got in we had a pretty good view and didn’t feel rushed. Everybody was having fun and the kids really got a kick out of it!

Franciscan Polar Plaza

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The Franciscan Polar Plaza at Tollesfon Plaza in Downtown Tacoma is pretty cool It is the joint effort of Franciscan Health Care, The City of Tacoma, the Tacoma Art Museum and many other contributors. Mostly what I noticed while there is just how much fun everyone was having! There were young couples, kids with their parents and adults acting like kids. Plenty of folks fell, but they got back up laughing (ok, the kids laughed a little more than the adults). A couple of the skaters were pretty good, but most were obviously new to this, Some got around the rink by hanging on to the railing!

http://www.polarplaza.org/

The Elks Are Moving

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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.

www.tacomaelks.com