While walking through the Tacoma Place Shopping Center Parking Lot at 1901 South 72nd, I discovered this stupendous Star Wars family car decal. It features a Boba Fett dad, a Princess Leia mom and daughter, an Ewok son and a R2D2 dog. That’s my best guess.
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:
Today I enjoyed an impulsive lunch with my good friend. We went to a new to us place, Cafe Vincero at 714 Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. The Cafe pictures Italian dining and specializes in wood fired pizza. The space is lovely with the abundant tile working well with the historic building. Our waiter was attentive and funny! Because of a tiny mix up, which was graciously handled, we ended up with two pizzas. They were both delicious. Really, they were so good I would happily go back tomorrow!
The building is known as the Kaufman-Wolff Building and was constructed in 1888 with Farrell & Darmer being the architects. Occupants have included: Sperry & Spengemann, G.L. Holmes Furniture, Wallerstein Candies, Edwin Chambers Auto Supplies, Soldiers & Sailors Club House, War Camp Community Service, Edward B. Rhodes Post – American Legion, Sutherland Tire Co., B. Wingard &
Sons Butchers’ Supply Co., United Service Organization (U.S.O.) and the Footprinters’ Club (seriously, what is a Footprinters’s Club?!). As of May 2014, the Vincero was in place on the Pacific Avenue level of the building.
On Saturday I was exploring the Museum District in Tacoma and we stopped to take a group photo near Union Station. A delightful security guard stopped to offer to take a photo with all of us in it. And then he told us about the often overlooked Liberty Bell in Tacoma. It is located down a staircase next to Union Station and tucked around the corner. It is available for ringing and makes a lovely tone.
Tacoma Weekly did a great article on how the bell got there.
Thea Park hosted dragon boat races today and dear husband and I managed to see the very end of it. Not the racing part, but there was still a group receiving awards and a booth or two. I wandered on to the dock to see the new still dragon boats, their dragon heads being safely stowed.
Nuckle’s Sandwich Shop at 4312 6th Ave in Tacoma was a wonderful find for dear husband and me. We stopped in for lunch. I had the Hot Pastrami and soup and dear husband had the BBQ Cheese steak and soup. He was surprised when his cheese steak came with pineapple, but he loved it! Really, everything was delicious and reasonably priced too. Their menu is here.
The Seahawks are going to the Superbowl once again and their flag is flying proudly over Gilcrest Auto Center on South Tacoma Way in Tacoma.
The YES WE CAN mural by Mindy Barker is located at the Tahoma Associates Building, 1545 Tacoma Ave. The mural, which features an elk in front of an abstract Mt. Rainier, is located near the site where the local Indian tribes would welcome the Winter Solstice. More information on this wonderful neighborhood addition can be found here.
The mural is part of the Tacoma Murals Project.
“Beyond the Bluff, Beneath the Bay”, by Janice Lee Warren is part of the Tacoma Murals Project. More work by Ms. Warren can be found here. It was painted this year along Stadium Way and replace another mural that had been in place. That mural, featuring sailboats on the bay, had been extensively tagged. The house shown represents the home of “Skookum” Smith who made history by bringing the Northern Pacific rails into Tacoma just one day before the line’s charter expired. While I was out and about, I noticed the mountain was out 🙂
Pierce County Hospital, also known as Mountain View Sanatorium, Puget Sound General Hospital and the Pierce Hospital, (3580 Pacific Ave.) is slated for demolition. It was originally constructed in 1928 and had an addition, including a pool, in 1941/42. In 1951 a second building was constructed as a tuberculosis sanitarium. In 1973 a James Caan, Cinderella Liberty, was filmed at the hospital. In 1977 a sky bridge was constructed connecting it to the adjacent building. In 2011 the buildings were closed and currently there are plans to demolish the structures and construct a new building to house the majority of the Pierce County government services. Information on the project can be found here.
I’ve heard stories of the hospital being haunted with more information on that to be found here.
Update January 2017
