Category Archives: Their future is in question

Northern Pacific Coffee Company

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During this extended winter I’ve had more then my fair share of coffee. Today I went out for a walk, but it started to hail! So, I ducked into the Northern Pacific Coffee Company at 401 Garfield Street South, in the Parkland area of unincorporated Pierce County. The coffee shop features lunch, sweets, wine, beer, coffee drinks and frappes. I had a delicious Americano and a chai cupcake.

Northern Pacific Coffee Company’s facebook page can be found here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Pacific-Coffee-Company-NPCC/167740459948412

 

Update: Northern Pacific Coffee Company closed as of January 2017.

 

 

Faith Dairy

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Faith Dairy at 3509 72nd St. E., Tacoma, WA opened in 1963 and closed in 2007. I remember stopping there for some of their delicious ice cream and some fresh milk. I found a few articles from back when the facility closed.

http://www.dairyexpress.net/FaithDairy.htm

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2007/07/30/121562/ideas-abound-for-saving-iconic.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2007/07/16/110871/time-for-a-last-bottle-of-chocolate.html

 

The Kellogg – Sicker Building (Browne’s Star Grill)

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The  Kellogg Sicker Building at 1112 – 1116 Martin Luther King Jr. Way isn’t the most welcoming of buildings. The 1906 building is named after the builders Frank G. Kellogg and Robert Sicker.  Tenants over the years have included Essey & Macksoud Dry Goods, various physicians and dentists, Habid Nasser Dry Goods, Johnson’s Dry Goods & Clothing, Economy Drug Co., Geo. Clark’s Meats, Clark’s K Street Cash Market, Matsumoto’s Fruit Stand, Geo. Skaer’s Butter & Eggs, Fujimura Grocery, Nad Chemical Co., Anderson’s Grocery & Vegetable Market, Vic’s Market, Marshall-Wells Hardware, Coast to Coast Hardware, Cash Market, Marshall-Wells Store and Harold Meyer Drugs. Browne’s Star Grill relocated to this site in 1968 and operated there until September 2005. There is a great mural on the front.

The building now sits vacant and is owned by the City of Tacoma. There is a Facebook Page devoted to saving the building. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Brownes-Star-Grill-Building/143544072391184

State run liquor stores will be gone by June 1st, 2012

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From the Washington State Liquor Board website

http://liq.wa.gov/transition/overview

With the passage of Initiative 1183, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) will cease state liquor store and liquor distribution operations by June 1, 2012. Contract liquor stores – which are operated by small business owners – may continue to sell spirits, but state-run liquor stores will be closed. The Seattle Distribution Center – which supplies state and contract liquor stores with spirits – and its assets will be sold.

I didn’t really go into the liquor store at Tacoma Central Shopping Center today. Come to think of it, I haven’t been in a liquor store in years! Not that I have anything against them, I just don’t seem that interested. Last time I sent in I bought some rum for a rum cake.

But I was wondering about when the stores would be closing and this was my excuse to find out.

 

Better Movies Then You Could Pick

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Stadium Video at 29 North Tacoma Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98403-3124 is closing its doors. Today dear daughter and I went back to visit and pick up a couple of anime dvds.  I remember a few years back I was stuck home for a couple of weeks during a quick recovery period and I sent my dear husband to Stadium Video every other day. They were the only ones who had the quirky, interesting movies that I needed and they always have such great recommendations! I will miss them when their gone.

An article on their closing is here http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/28/2003287/sad-news-for-tacoma-movie-buffs.html

Their Facebook page is here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stadium-Video/63099191351

Their going out of business sale is going to continue for a while, so go check them out!

1601 6th Avenue

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The barrel truss building at 1601 6th Avenue in Tacoma was constructed in 1929 and contains 7,600 square feet. When it opened it was the Raudenbush Motor Co. / Gas-Way-Inn and in 1942 it became the Gunnar’s Grocery, Store No. 2. In 1951 it became a Shop Rite Food Center. The listing page shows that it is currently mostly leased by Trinity United Presbyterian Church http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=5466

The lights are off at Tacoma Lighting

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I’d always planned to stop at Tacoma Lighting at 1301 Center Street in Tacoma. Now I guess I never will, because the store is vacant and available for sale. First Western is asking $1,050,000 for the property, which is 11,685 square feet of building area and was constructed in 1968. The listing can be found here http://commercialmls.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=property.detailFSprint&ln=497406&eofficeid=

The current building has always been owner occupied by Tacoma Lighting. Back in 1890, the property was the site of the Aesche Boots & Shoes store. To see that wood frame building go to this Tacoma Public Library page http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=3&n=12544&i=9666#text

Payless Shoes has walked out of the building

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I went to our vet last week because our two dogs were playing too hard and one of them needed stitches. The vet sent me away for a couple of hours while they worked their magic. I went next door to Payless Shoes at 5914 6th Avenue, Tacoma, to check out their going out of business sale. There was very little merchandise left. When I went back to the vet on Tuesday to pick up a second plastic collar, Payless was completely out of the building. I have no strong feelings about Payless Shoes, but it does make me sad to see another empty building in Tacoma. I wonder what will go in there and when.

It’s the End of the World, As We Know It

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Dear husband said he’d be happy to show me a splendid new place of the day and he took me here to South Tacoma Way and Sprague where they are tearing down the old Nally Valley overpass and have constructed the new one. This scene will not be here long! Husband and I agreed that it was very post apocalyptic. And nothing says Christmas Eve like Post Apocalyptic!

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