As we often do, dear daughter and I attended First Night to usher in the new year. And her friend, Z, came with us as she so often does. It was extra cold, but not raining, so we were happy and did all of our normal First Night things. This year we were offered long wooden sticks and a S’More packet (two marshmallows, a chocolate square and two graham crackers). It was such gooey sticky fun to make our own.
As we usually do, dear daughter and I celebrated New Year’s Eve at Tacoma’s First Night in Downtown Tacoma. We drove to the Dome Transit Center and caught the Link to the theater district and then we kicked up our heals! It is really a top notch event. The weather was cold, but not frigid and there was no rain (a small miracle). I ran into a bunch of folks that I knew, but dear daughter seemed to know almost everybody! She declared that her schoolmates owned the downtown domain!
The new place for the day is the Pythian Temple at 924-926 1/2 Broadway, Tacoma. The building was constructed in 1906 for the Commencement Lodge No. 7 of the Knights of the Pythias. On August 23, 1985, Pythian Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The meeting room is upstairs and is amazing, with dark carved woods and lovely frescoes and a huge organ.
For more on the Temple, including some historic photos, go to here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythian_Temple_%28Tacoma,_Washington%29
This is my sixth building that was designed by Frederick Heath, architect and named after the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley. The others are:
http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2012 Oakland School
http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1961 Urban Grace
http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=1335 Titlow Lodge
http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2370 Tacoma Public School’s CAB
http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2374 McKinley School
Originally uploaded by Gexydaf
Usually I take my new place of the day photos after work, but today I stayed late and found a wind storm outside when I left. So the new place of the day is an older photo, though I did check in today.
This shot of the Elephant Car Wash was taken on New Year’s Eve 2010 through the window of the light rail system in Tacoma, the Link.
There are nine Elephant Car Washes in the Puget Sound area and this one is in Tacoma and was built in 1963.
http://elephantcarwash.com/website/?page=about
