I really admire those folks with passion and commitment to their art. This roadside attraction at 18212-18414 22nd Avenue, Tacoma (Spanaway) is an example of such personal drive. It is on a private residence with good visibility from the street. The property fronts on both 22nd Avenue (the rose) and 183rd Street Court East and my Roadside America App tells me the work is called Concrete Fantasia.
WooHoo! Two Little Free Libraries in a row. Tacoma has a couple of dozen Little Free Libraries which were part of the Little Free Library Project. This Little Free Library was created by a grandfather/granddaughter team is located on the south side of N. 22nd between North Hudson Street and North Ferdinand Street.
This “Little Free Library” is unusual in that it has a two toned blue paint job and some kind of sports boards attached to the side. Inside there are over a dozen books.
Little Free Libraries is part of a community movement which offers free books. When I considered my first Little Free Library in November 2012, a Wikipedia article informed me that there were over 200 of these libraries. There are now over 15,000! Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates. Per the November 2012 website:
There was no power at my house on Saturday morning. Something to do with the lines being down and it impacting our immediate neighborhood. The house became surprisingly cold pretty darn fast and I couldn’t make my morning tea, so I grabbed my stuff and went off to Starbucks to warm up and wake up. While waiting for my Americano I perused the bulletin board and noticed an informational flyer for Summit Public Schools that will be opening a ninth grade high school in the fall of 2015 with about 120 students. The school, called Olympus High School, will be adding on a grade each year until it has the more traditional 9th – 12th grade high school configuration. This developing charter school will serve Tacoma’s South End, Eastside and Hilltop communities and provide “a personalized learning experience to each and every student, giving all students the opportunity to achieve their academic goals regardless of their previous preparation and background” (from their website).
So with the news that it was going to take 45 minutes for my hot water heater to be hot again, I jumped in my car and drove off to see this new school at 409 Puyallup Avenue in the Dome District. Oh! I recognize the building across from Alfred’s Cafe and Bull’s Eye Indoor Shooting Range. The building, which is obviously being renovated, was constructed in 1929 for Nalley’s Fine Foods. They sold it in 1953 and since then it has been a Salvation Army Social Center and I seem to remember some kind of sporting goods being sold out of it. It is great to see such a lovely old building being updated.
When I got out of my car to take a photo a man walked up to me and said he’d “been waiting his whole ****ing life”. Ummmm. Thanks? But no worries, he wasn’t talking to me, but only to his invisible friend. I let him get further down the road before I ventured out. I have to say the neighborhood had a host of interesting characters (that’s me being nice). I will be fascinated to see how the school developments.
There is a house near Lincoln High School that if full of red and yellow tulips, currently in full bloom. It is startling the number of tulips! What a labor of love that I appreciated seeing this fine Easter Day!
Tacoma has two little free libraries which are part of the Little Free Library Project. http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/.
This “Little Free Library” is located at 4617 North 10th Street, Tacoma, WA. It is a darling blue box with a white door and a wine cork handle. Inside there are about a dozen books and of the few that I had previously read they are good quality reads. It is part of a community movement which offers free books. Per the Wikipedia article, there are currently over 200 of these libraries. There are building plans to create the containers or participate may design their own. Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates. Per the website:
To celebrate Halloween I snapped a couple of photos of neighborhood decorations at an undisclosed house (not mine!). I kind of admire the folks that go all out with seasonal decorations and this house feature a giant pumpkin with three ghosts and a skeleton coachman driving a pumpkin full of skulls.
We wandered over to the Pacific Avenue Street Fair today, but got there too late to see all of the cool old cars. But dear daughter declared that she had to have a Popsicle! Lively Market at 4505 Pacific Avenue had a fairly nice selection of Popsicles including Rice Pudding which I got, but didn’t eat yet. Dear daughter got one of those rocket, multicolored frozen treats. Lively Market was been a neighborhood market (most likely) since it was built in 1923.
I didn’t realize that Tacoma had a park named Optimist Park (1330 N James St.). Today was lovely, so I went to find this darling neighborhood park. There is a baseball field and some really cool playground equipment, some of which plays music!
This scenic mural is located at 3265 South Union just north of Center Street in Tacoma. It is painted on a retaining wall and features Mt. Rainier and lovely madrona trees. The artist is unknown and I also couldn’t readily find any information about the date of the art.
The Lincoln Pharmacy building was constructed in 1939 and from what I can glean the building was originally a grocery store, Totem and then Safeway. In 1953 Failor’s Pharmacy opened in the building and now, of course, it is Lincoln Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy with specialty compounding.
821 South 38th Street
Tacoma, WA 98418-5089
(253) 473-1155
