I’ve gone past Mattress Mania at 2901 S 12th St., Tacoma, WA 98405 plenty of times, but on Wednesday I paused to consider it for a moment. The Tacoma Public Library indicates that in 1909 the site was occupied by I.E. Russell Drug Store and in 1930 by Twelfth Street Drug Co. and in 1950 by Fowler’s Twelfth Street Drug Co. The Pierce County Assessor’s Office shows that the building was constructed in 1938 and I’m unsure if the original building was demolished
About 16 years ago I tutored a lovely woman from Russia in English. We worked together a couple of years and while we were fairly different we really got along. Towards the end of our time together she had her 10th child and her husband left her to return to Russia.
I remember one holiday season I was given about 10 passes to zoolights. I had the brain storm that it would be fun to take my friend and her nine (at the time) kids and I would buy the tickets for me and another friend. I told her there was no cost, but because of our language differences didn’t even try to explain that somebody had given me complimentary tickets. When we met up at Zoolights, I was surprised to find that my Russian friend had indeed brought her nine kids, as well as her folks, her sister, her sisters six kids and maybe a few more. Ummm. I really didn’t have the funds to cover that many and they sure didn’t either. So we sent the large Russian contingency in first with all the tickets that we did have. They handed over the tickets and the poor zoo worker started counting them and counting the crowd (all of whom were jabbering away in Russian) and then the zoo worker threw up her hands and ushered everybody in! Problem solved.
All of this came back because my dear daughter informed me yesterday that she had to have pierogies for dinner. Her father had recently introduced her to pierogies and she really took to them! And apparently the pierogies at the the Russian Grocery were the very best. The Russian Grocery Store’s real name is Friendly Foods and it is located at 3612 Center St #B in Tacoma. It is the size of a large convenience store and is stock full of foods imported from Russia. Most of the customers and workers were speaking Russian (which is what reminded me of my friend!). I picked up three types of pierogies, though there were probably another eight types there — mostly meat, but also a black cherry. The store included a wonderful bakery case and a deli.
I have a couple of blog rules.
So, I missed two days because of Christmas (and that’s OK) and today I found myself at Bridgeway Market in Purdy (6707 Tyee Dr NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98332). Purdy is an unincorporated community just north of Gig Harbor. I was expecting to find an upscale, small market, but it is really more of a large convenience store. It has a basic selection of groceries and snack foods, and a fairly large assortment of beer and wine. In an attached space there is a small teriyaki restaurant. What distinguishes this small market is its location on the Burley Lagoon next to the Purdy Bridge. I could smell the salt air when I opened my car door.
Rankos Drug at 101 North Tacoma Avenue in the Stadium District has been around since the late 1930s and operated along Pacific Avenue from the late 1920s. The buildings original owner occupant was Gray Goose Coffee Shop & Confectionery. Rankos is family owned and independent and in addition to the pharmacy it has a small post office and an interesting assortment of gift items. I picked up a darling stocking stuffer for dear daughter and some cough drops.
Their website has some wonderful historic photos that are worth a look. http://www.rankospharmacy.com/
Yesterday I stopped at Freighthouse Square for dinner before I went off to a class. While there I stopped at City Blocks, which is at 440 East 25th Street, Suite 46, Tacoma WA 98402. Their facebook page says that they are the “The world’s only public LEGO Commercial Art Studio”. Indeed when I visited they were happy to show me the Lego custom pieces they were working on and they were pretty cool! More info can be found on their Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/cityblocks
I had a hair appointment today and right next door was Chopper’s Holistic Pet Food at 612 Regents Blvd., Fircrest, WA. It has an entirely different feel from a large box pet store. The store is indeed mostly pet food and high quality pet food at that. The rest of the stock is treats, toys, clothes and accessories. The woman who helped me was pleasant and knowledgeable and even gave me some samples :D.
Pianos, a set on Flickr.
Dear daughter thought it would be fun to stop at the piano store. No, she doesn’t play. I had lessons when I was little and the lady with the mean duck gave me lessons for a couple of years. We stopped at Prosser Pianos & Organs at 5849 Tacoma Mall Blvd, Tacoma, WA 98409.
I guess that I haven’t actually thought about pianos much in years. Some of the new ones can interact with computer programs and will actually teach you how to play. The pianos and organs were amazingly lovely. They ranged in price from about $2,000 to $70,000. And the people in the showroom were happy to show us around and explain the various pianos.
There are three Processer locations, this one and two in Seattle. Their website is here http://www.prosserpiano.com/Home.aspx
The Tacoma Food Co-Op at 3002 6th Avenue, Tacoma opened on August 26, 2011. It has a lovely mural on the outside wall. I walked through the store, which use to be a corner grocery and explored their unusual stock. Their website says “The member-owners of the Tacoma Food Co-op recognized the need for an affordable urban natural foods grocery that would provide local organic and natural foods, as well as a community around these foods.”
Studio Tour 2011, a set on Flickr.
Today we did a couple of stops on the Tacoma’s Studio Tour, with the new place of the day being The Brick House Gallery at 1123 South Fawcett Avenue. The gallery had an amazing collection of photographic images. It was a great space and the light was lovely. I’ve also thrown in some other images that I stumbled upon today.
Pertinent websites include:
http://www.thebrickhousegallery.com/
I found myself in Federal Way today with a few minutes to spare and Indoor Garden Depot at 1401 S 324th St. #103 looked interesting. I was kind of expecting house plants, but instead it was everything one would need to grow indoors plants. There are five Indoor Garden Depots, three of which are in Washington State.
