Tag Archives: largest

Tacoma Screw has a really big flag

I took a break from my fireworks nervous dogs today to see the region’s largest U.S. Flag at Tacoma Screw, 2001 Center Street. It weighs 150 pounds and is the largest U.S. flag west of Wisconsin and north of Sacramento. The measurements are 80’x40′ and the pole is 180 feet tall, which is 90 feet above the adjacent Highway 16. In comparison, the largest U.S. flag is located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and is 120’x60′.

Tacoma Screw commissioned the flag as a way to celebrate their 70th year in business and to give back to the community.

It was a little difficult to photograph and to give a sense of the sheer size of the flag. I started at Tacoma Screw and then moved up to Irving Park to capture it from above. The full summer hillside at the edge of the park didn’t provide a full view, but finally some people came by and I had my shot that showed scale (thanks people!).

A short video can be found here. IMG_1099

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Vintage Wheels at LeMay Family Collection

There are over 500 vintage vehicles at the LeMay Family Collection at 325 152nd Street East, Tacoma, WA 98445. Our family signed up for the 1:00 tour and I figured it would be over by 2:00 so the next group could begin. But they must stagger tours because ours went until 3:30! The tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and kids under 5 are free. A tour guide takes the groups through, which is great because he was happy to talk about the cars, tell stories about how they came to be at LeMay and answer questions!.

Their literature says that they have the largest privately owned vehicle and memorabilia collection in the world. I believe it! Instead of writing more, I’m just going to post a bunch of photos 🙂

The LeMay website can be found here: http://www.lemaymuseum.org/

Powell’s City of Books

With word that Borders Books is restructuring and one of my favorite smaller Seattle bookstores is closing, I wasn’t sure what to expect during my visit to Powell’s City of Books in Portland. I was pleased to see that it was very, very busy! Everywhere I looked there were folks perusing books.

Powell’s main store is located at 1005 W Burnside, Portland OR and is one of the world’s largest bookstores. The building contains 73,000 square feet of retail space and more than 3,000 people visit day. Their stores feature more than 1.5 million books, of which 65% are used (they buy 5,000 used books each day).

http://www.powells.com/