The Renaissance Cafe at 1746 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma is located in the Birmingham Block and was constructed in 1892. The history of the building, which also includes a Starbucks can be found here http://www.tacoma.uw.edu/campus-map/buildings/birmingham-block-bb
Monday dear daughter and I went to see a movie produced by a classmates of hers. The premier showing was at Tacoma’s First Presbyterian Church at 20 Tacoma Avenue South in the Stadium District. The church was founded in 1873 to meet the needs of the settlers. This is the church’s third location with the construction was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000. Per their website says “A masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, it was designed by famous church architect Ralph Adams Cram and is rich in Christian symbolism expressed in stone, wood, glass and mosaic”. The congregation’s website is here www.fpctacoma.com/
The Happy Room and the Golden City Cafe at 3812 Yakima Avenue, Tacoma, began its life in 1932 A U.S. Post Office, By 1952 it was the restaurant that its sign promotes. At some point it closed and it appears to be used for storage nowadays. I would have loved to have seen the neon lite!
Update photo January 2017
Metronome Cafe at 3518 6th Avenue has a good cup of coffee and their chairs are more comfortable then they looked. The decor is streamline modern and there is a wooden mounted deer’s head.
On Sunday we stopped at the plant sale at Tacoma’s Lincoln Center’s Greenhouse at 3600 South G Street. It was the last day of the sale, but there was still a good selection and we came away with some lovely flowers and a couple of herbs. They money raised goes back into the program.
The Tacoma Glassblowing Studio at 114 South 23rd Street in Tacoma offers glass art that is lovely and unique. We got there almost at closing and were told that there was no rush. We came for the charity bake sale to benefit orphans in Romania, but ended up with a lovely blue class ball and information on taking a glass blowing class. Dear daughter is pretty enthused about the possibility.
I especially liked the way the evening light made their pumpkin glass pieces glow. They make pumpkins year round and in the fall they have pumpkin patches in different spots. How cool is that?! I’m looking forward to going to a couple already. 🙂
Their website is here www.tacomaglassblowing.com
My husband and I are having a debate about the Red Dragon Oriental Restaurant at the northwest corner of South ‘G’ Street and South 34th Street has been vacant for all the years that we’ve lived in Tacoma. I thought I remembered it being open for business at some point. In either case, it has been vacant for sometime and is in pretty bad shape. I noticed that one of the windows in the glass atrium area were broken out. There is a for sale sign with a phone number and email.
Update, we drove past today (8/21/12) and it was gone! Or at least a pile of rubble. I had also learned that long ago it had previously been an A&W Restaurant and a popular hang out for the Lincoln High School students.
Over the weekend I spent some time at William M. Philip Hall, which is part of the University of Washington Tacoma Campus. The address is 1918 Pacific Avenue. The lower level is occupied by Gyro House and there is also a vacant space that had been occupied by a used bookstore. The building was constructed for the University of Washington. The first building on the site was constructed in 1886 and a later building in 1963. The current building was constructed in 2007. My favorite part was the small balcony that let me watch the Daffodil Parade! The photo below is of the parade.
In front of the University of Washington Tacoma Library is the Kelso Gillenwater Plaza, a small, square plot of land with a lovely, blooming magnolia tree, some other landscaping and a memorial plaque (see below).
The Plaza is listed on the UW-T’s walking tour, which can be found here http://www.tacoma.washington.edu/shopuwt/docs/walking_tour.pdf
I’ve always been a little nervous about visiting China Lake at 1811 S Shirley St. Though I can’t point to any particular warning, it seems like I heard of unpleasant happenings. It is really a lovely park and feels just like being in a forest (except for the SR-16 noise). The lake is nice and had various ducks. It did feel a little lonely though and next time I think I’ll take a friend.
I did find this interesting article that is well worth a visit. http://www.tacomaweekly.com/news/view/tunnels-tunnels-everywhere…-sort-of/
The park district’s site plan is here http://www.discoverparks.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ParkDetails&PropertyID=87
