Category Archives: Tacoma

Alber’s Mill

Alber’s Mill a 1821 Dock Street in Tacoma was constructed in 1904 and was originally occupied by Albers Brothers Milling Company, which made cereal.  Between 1945 and 1977 it was primarily occupied by Inter-City Auto Freight and Acme Inter City Freight Lines was in place between 1978 and 1982. Per the Tacoma Public Library, other occupants have included Interstate Terminals, Carnation Milk Co., Puget Sound Feed Mill, Totem Stores, Inc., J.H. Galbraith Co., Acme Fast Freight, Inc., National Car Loading Co., John K. Waite Co., Republic Car Loading & Distributing Co., Consolidated Sales Co., Plywood Tacoma, Inc., E.J. Bartells Co., Plywood, Inc., James Stack Co., Associated Grocers, Universal Carloading & Distributing Co., W.S. Walter Co., Best Foods, Flying Tiger Line, Dougherty Sales Co., Merchant Skippers Assoc., Galbraith Motors, Stor-Dor Forwarding Co., Burnham Van Service, Inc., Burnham World Forwarders, K Lines, Inc., Karevan, Inc., Mountain Road Auto Service, Northwest Consolidators, Inc., Sun Pack Movers, Inc., Astron Forwarding Co., Mountain Trucking Co., and Empire Household Goods. In 2003 in was renovated into loft apartments with William Traver Gallery and Vetri International Glass in the street level space. The retail tenants have since vacated. The property is on the National and Tacoma historic registration. In the photo one can see the reflection of the neighboring Glass Museum.

http://www.albersmilllofts.com/index.html

 

 

 

701 North 10th Street, Tacoma

The 1908 Beutel, Conrad F. and Annie K. House at 701 North 10th, Tacoma, WA is on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places. It was converted into four apartments and I noticed that one of the four is available to rent. The original owner of the property, Beutel owned the Beutel Business College, which operated out of Downtown Tacoma’s Lucerne Building.

The nomination form is here http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/07001459.pdf

South 10th Street in this area is paved with cobble stones that gave my car a rattle!

Taco Time is available

The Taco Time Building at 3855 Pacific Avenue has been vacant for some time. It is available for sale through Colliers, International.

Lapenski Fuel

The Lapenski Fuel Company located at 9910 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, has provided various types of fuel, wood, coal and heating oil. The building was constructed in 1957 and has a mid-century look to it.

Pacific Lutheran University, Ingram Hall

Per Wikipedia “Ingram Hall is home to a communication computer lab, a digital photography/graphic design lab, and studio art classrooms for painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography and printmaking. Ingram boasts two galleries: the University Gallery (which houses major shows and exhibitions) and the Wekell Gallery (which generally houses student and class work).”

I was there with my group to hear Stephanie Cootz speak and she was terrific. http://www.stephaniecoontz.com/

 

Art Bus

I’ve been wanting to try the Art Bus for ages and Thursday was the day. Dear daughter and I were delighted to be able to hop on the sold out bus. The Art Bus runs every third Thursday and each time there are different venues.The website to get in on this exciting opportunity is http://www.theangelajossy.com/artbus.htm or here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tacoma-ART-BUS/151270941559625

For our September Art Bus we went to Job Carr Cabin Museum (the log cabin), 253 Collective (birds and turds),Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio (the glass pumpkin), Hotel Murano’s new gift shop (the glowing canoe), Brick House Gallery (the neon sign) , Rampart / Brownie Morrison (the manikin) and Catwalk (the showroom). At Catwalk dear daughter purchase a groovy retro tie that she was enthused about. And we were treated to pizza from Puget Sound Pizza (yum!).

Sione’s Auto Repair

Sione’s Auto Repair at 1315 South 38th has a cool sign. The building was constructed in 1956.

First Congregational Church, Tacoma

The First Congregational Church at 918 Division Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98403 is being sold to Mars Hill Church. The church will be renovated and services for the new congregation will begin in about a year. First Congregational Church was built in 1908 with George Bullard as the architect. I was pleased that the building will not be razed.

The sign outside of the church says “God’s love embraces all persons equally, no matter their gender, race, or sexual identity.” I hope that the church’s new congregation feels the same way!

Great Umbrella Mural at the Storage Box

The Storage Box at 216 Puyallup Ave Tacoma, Washington is getting a splendid new mural by Chris Sharp. http://chrissharp3000.blogspot.com/2012/07/tacoma-murals-program-collaboration.html. Mr. Sharp also did the mural on McKinley Avenue and that write up can be found here http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2578

The property began its existence as the George H. Russell Horse Market / Star Stables in 1906. It was also the Lauritzen Tonic Co., John W. Brady Horse Market, Depot Saloon, Efaw Livery, Ingle Garage (which burned in 1923), Square Deal Transfer Co.
(Garford Truck Co.), a storage plant and in 1962 it was approved as a fallout shelter. I went into the building in the 1990s when it was being converted into mini storage and remember the owner saying that it has been used as a house of ill repute. Apparently it was a popular place with the sailors who had shore leave in Tacoma.

 

 

Proposed Half Way House in the Hilltop

The other day I found a flyer on my car window bringing awareness of a proposed half way house on the Hilltop. The building is a non assuming single family house, but from what I’ve read it is in close proximity to a school, a boys and girls club and a daycare. The facebook page against the proposed use can be found here http://www.facebook.com/nograntave.halfwayhouse. An article on the disputed house can be found here http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/07/10/2210752/hilltop-residents-share-sex-offender.html. There are many signs scattered throughout the neighborhood, such as the one below.