The Home Video Express building at 6401 Pacific Avenue has been vacant for some time. I remember going in there years ago and a couple having an awful argument that made all the customers and staff very uncomfortable. Later the store was closed and as I recall then open for a short time, then closed. But the store stayed pretty much fully stocked for a long time. But now it is vacant. I didn’t see a for sale or for rent sign, so I don’t know its future.
The commercial building at 1307 Martin Luther King Boulevard use to be occupied by Johnson Family Practice, but in now vacant and available for rent. It was built in 1923 and was originally occupied by a Maruca Bros. store.
Monday dear daughter and I went to see a movie produced by a classmates of hers. The premier showing was at Tacoma’s First Presbyterian Church at 20 Tacoma Avenue South in the Stadium District. The church was founded in 1873 to meet the needs of the settlers. This is the church’s third location with the construction was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000. Per their website says “A masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, it was designed by famous church architect Ralph Adams Cram and is rich in Christian symbolism expressed in stone, wood, glass and mosaic”. The congregation’s website is here www.fpctacoma.com/
Metronome Cafe at 3518 6th Avenue has a good cup of coffee and their chairs are more comfortable then they looked. The decor is streamline modern and there is a wooden mounted deer’s head.
There are many lovely things to see along Ruston Way including this monument from one of Tacoma’s sister cities. It is called the Kunsan, Korea Monument and it is located at 3771 Ruston Way, Marine Park, Ruston Way. This granite monument states “In commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the great state of Washington, the citizenry of Kusan City herein inscribes its friendship”.
On Sunday we stopped at the plant sale at Tacoma’s Lincoln Center’s Greenhouse at 3600 South G Street. It was the last day of the sale, but there was still a good selection and we came away with some lovely flowers and a couple of herbs. They money raised goes back into the program.
The J. M. Marinac Shipbuilders at 401 East 15th Street in the Port of Tacoma is visually striking. There are two main shipbuilding buildings and they can support buildings 250 feet long and 48 feet wide. Per their website, since their 1924 beginnings they have constructed “300 vessels, including tuna seiners, harbor tugs for commercial and military customers, oceangoing tugs, factory trawlers, ferries, yachts, U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats and a research sailing vessel”. In February of this year, they won a contract to construct 184-foot Northern Leader at a cost of $25 million. The ship will be the largest new fishing vessel to be constructed in the Pacific Northwest in more than two decades. More information about the most recent contract can be found here http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017508024_longlinevessel15.html
The firm’s website can be found here http://www.martinacship.com/location
The Tacoma Glassblowing Studio at 114 South 23rd Street in Tacoma offers glass art that is lovely and unique. We got there almost at closing and were told that there was no rush. We came for the charity bake sale to benefit orphans in Romania, but ended up with a lovely blue class ball and information on taking a glass blowing class. Dear daughter is pretty enthused about the possibility.
I especially liked the way the evening light made their pumpkin glass pieces glow. They make pumpkins year round and in the fall they have pumpkin patches in different spots. How cool is that?! I’m looking forward to going to a couple already. 🙂
Their website is here www.tacomaglassblowing.com
Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt in Sunrise Village (10306 156th St E Suite 101
Puyallup, WA 98374) was packed yesterday! It was a lovely, warm Saturday — just right for a frozen treat. I had read an article in the Tacoma News Tribune reviewing all of the new frozen yogurt shops in the area and thought trying out a new one sounded fun. I love Gibson’s in Tacoma (blog entry here http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2891) and Black Bear (blog entry here http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1355). Menchie’s staff is wildly friendly. “Have a smiley day”, they gushed at me after I paid. Ummmm. OK. “You too”! I purchased coconut and cake batter swirl with coconut chips and whipped cream and ate it in my peaceful car.
Menchie’s Website http://www.menchies.com/ says they have 170 locations worldwide. There are seven locations in Washington State and seven more in the works including one in Gig Harbor. While it was a treat to visit, I would just as soon go to Gibson’s or Black Bear for their quirky home grown feel. But even those two will soon be a chain (of two each) since new locations are forth coming. 🙂
My husband and I are having a debate about the Red Dragon Oriental Restaurant at the northwest corner of South ‘G’ Street and South 34th Street has been vacant for all the years that we’ve lived in Tacoma. I thought I remembered it being open for business at some point. In either case, it has been vacant for sometime and is in pretty bad shape. I noticed that one of the windows in the glass atrium area were broken out. There is a for sale sign with a phone number and email.
Update, we drove past today (8/21/12) and it was gone! Or at least a pile of rubble. I had also learned that long ago it had previously been an A&W Restaurant and a popular hang out for the Lincoln High School students.
