1818 Tacoma Avenue had been one of Tacoma School of the Art locations for years, but they have left it in favor of the downtown post office building. The best thing about the building is the planters with student art work. I thought my photo was a tad dull so I added a frame and a flying saucer! A not edited (i.e. boring) photo is below, as is a close up of one of the planters.
Happy New Year. Dear daughter, her friend and I went downtown to First Night to ring in 2013. The theme is the Year of the Snake and the unofficial mascot seems to be Quetzalcoatl, which is cool since I had just checked out Tacoma’s Quetzalcoatl art in November. http://blog.firsttries.com/quetzalcoatl-mask/
LeRoy Jewelers had a wonderful Quetzalcoatl Mask in their store window. at 940 Broadway and they were welcoming people in from the cold for First Night. Besides wonderful jewelry, they offer arts and crafts in their Art Shop. It is always a pleasure to see their wares.
The site for the building had originally been occupied the Far West Lodging House, which was demolished. By 1928 the Metropolitan Chain Stores, Inc. was in place and then in 1961 it was the Lundquist Lilly Men’s Wear, which closed in 1968. LeRoy Jewelers moved into the building in 1970 and the clock on the sidewalk was installed in 1988. LeRoy means king in french.
Allen C. Mason was a real estate developer who coined the phrase City of Destiny for Tacoma. He arrived in Tacoma in 1883 with almost no capital and eventually became a major developer for Tacoma’s North End. His statue festoon in holiday finery is located in Allen C. Mason Plaza at the southeast corner of North 26th and Adams Street near the Wheelock Library. The plaza also features six pillars from Mason’s mansion. In addition there is a replica of the Star of Destiny, which is pretty interesting.
http://www.proctordistrict.com/index.php/aboutus/masonplaza/
Dear daughter and I hadn’t actually had this plaza in mind when we set off in the night, but the parking lot and ancillary parking lot for zoo lights was full! The plaza is pretty cool anyway. I’m glad I saw it!
Dear daughter needed some professional clothing and I searched my brain on where to go. Finally I remembered how pleased I was that JC Penney made Ellen DeGeneres their spokes person and then stood by her when the One Million Moms group started complaining about her being gay. So, good job, JC Penney, you have our teeny tiny bit of disposable income. We went to the JC Penney at the Tacoma Mall. They had a good selection, a righteous after the holiday sale and pleasant and efficient sale people.
Dear daughter say that their mannequins are too tiny and don’t reflect real women. But I think they are a pretty standard size for clothing stores in the US.
Accident & Injury Chiropractic at 1702 South 72nd Street, Tacoma, makes good use of its building to share holiday joy! The building has colonial pillars wrapped in red ribbon (plastic?) and a huge wreath in the center of the second floor. Their website is here http://www.accidentandinjurychiro.com/
And now I’m back to making the ham and mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner 😀 Happy holidays everyone!
What better way to celebrate Christmas Eve then to take a family photo in front of Tacoma Elf Storage at 2602 South Holgate Street  Tacoma, WA 98402. Eleven months of the year, this facility is known as Tacoma Self Storage, but in December they darken the S and make it a handy spot for Santa to store the toys and one assumes, elves. Their link is here http://www.tacoma-selfstorage.com/
The legend goes that a bird shorted out the letter S during the holiday season in 2007 when the business was new. It was so popular that the owners have purposefully recreated the dimming each year.
The building was originally Tacoma Ice & Refrigerating Co. and A.W. Sterrett was the architect. It was constructed in 1923. In 2000 it was known as Alpine cold storage. In November of 2006 it opened as its current use, a self storage facility.
The family took advantage of Art Walk night by going to the LeMay Car Museum at 2702 East D., Tacoma. This is the last time they will be participating in Art Walk and instead they have an initiative to put tickets into the hands of low income and military families. The museum was as wonderful in the inside as it looks from the outside It was good to listen to dear husband explaining the different cars to dear daughter. They had one of my first cars (a 1966 Mustang), a car I’d really like (a Mini Cooper) and my dream car (a gorgeous Jaguar).
University of Washington Tacoma’s Bookstore is the only bookstore in Tacoma that exclusively sells new books. People think of them as being primarily for student textbooks, but they have a bunch of great stuff including all types of books, art supplies, jewelery, scarfs and, of course, plenty of Huskies material. And there is a Starbucks adjoining. Just remember not to get lost in book store browsing and forget to pay the meter!
https://www.tacoma.washington.edu/shopuwt/business_detail.cfm?business_ID=2
We had a lovely luncheon today at the Adriatic Grill at 4201 South Steele Street. I must have been having a good time because I forgot to take a good shot of the interior! But here is a photo of the table decorations and below a shot of the entrance that my daughter took out the car window! I remember when the space was occupied by one of Cucina Cucina’s twelve restaurant. The chain only has one remaining location in Issaquah.
When Santa needs a break I’m sure he heads to the Aloha Oasis Hawaiian Store at 3011 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma. I stopped into after being stuck in the house for two days with a rotten cold. The store isn’t huge, but it is filled to the brim with all things Hawaiian including Hawaiian shirts, Christmas tree ornaments, candy, lotions, beach towels, bags, leis and trinkets. I left with chocolate covered macadamia nuts, dear husband’s favorite. The business has been going for nine years which is a great success in today’s economy!
