The 1908 Tacoma Armory at 715 S 11th Street, Tacoma WA takes up the entire block. Until 2011 it was the home of the National Guard, but its been vacated and is now available for lease (see the link). Over its history, it was visited by three president, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman. It was placed on Tacoma’s Registry of Historic Places in 1976.
I’ve been meaning to stop and snap a photo of the mostly vacant lot in the 2100 block of Pacific Avenue. Today was the day. I put my lens through the chain link fence and snapped away. While writing this up, I thought I’d find some interesting story, but no, not really. Obviously there had been a building, most likely a house, there at one point and the current owners are both protecting their property and potential liability by fencing off the remains. But that’s about all I have. I’d also like to know more about the Bugeye ftb graffiti. I can find other references to Bugeye, but not the origin. Odd.
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We were celebrating a birthday today and my job was to stop and buy some fish for the grill. So, I went to Johnny’s Seafood at 7304 Lakewood Drive in Lakewood. I was out of my car before I realized that it was gone! Of course the building is still there, but it was empty. There goes all my thoughts of sneaking in some fun fish and crab photos! Fine. Here is a shot of the empty building.
The Home Video Express building at 6401 Pacific Avenue has been vacant for some time. I remember going in there years ago and a couple having an awful argument that made all the customers and staff very uncomfortable. Later the store was closed and as I recall then open for a short time, then closed. But the store stayed pretty much fully stocked for a long time. But now it is vacant. I didn’t see a for sale or for rent sign, so I don’t know its future.
The commercial building at 1307 Martin Luther King Boulevard use to be occupied by Johnson Family Practice, but in now vacant and available for rent. It was built in 1923 and was originally occupied by a Maruca Bros. store.
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
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.
1715 Tacoma Avenue South is the site of Tacoma’s Japanese Schoolhouse, which was demolished in 2004. To be fair, I think this is a photo of the site, though it might be the site next door.
I’ve heard it called the Japanese Schoolhouse, but it is also known as the Japanese Language School, Nihon Go Gakko and Tacoma Yochiyen. It was constructed in 1922 and placed on the national historic register in 1984 and the Tacoma historic register in 1985. The building was used for cultural activities and education of Tacoma’s Japanese population until 1942 when it was closed. It was then used as a registration and processing center for local Japanese citizens when they were relocated to “camps” for the duration of World War II.
The National Archieves has this to say about the Japanese relocation (http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation/)
The attack on Pearl Harbor also launched a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West Coast. In February 1942, just two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt as commander-in-chief, issued Executive Order 9066, which had the effect of relocating all persons of Japanese ancestry, both citizens and aliens, inland, outside of the Pacific military zone. The objectives of the order were to prevent espionage and to protect persons of Japanese descent from harm at the hands of Americans who had strong anti-Japanese attitudes.
In Washington and Oregon, the eastern boundary of the military zone was an imaginary line along the rim of the Cascade Mountains; this line continued down the spine of California from north to south. From that line to the Pacific coast, the military restricted zones in those three states were defined.
Roosevelt’s order affected 117,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were native-born citizens of the United States. The Issei were the first generation of Japanese in this country; the Nisei were the second generation, numbering 70,000 American citizens at the time of internment. Within weeks, all persons of Japanese ancestry–whether citizens or enemy aliens, young or old, rich or poor–were ordered to assembly centers near their homes. Soon they were sent to permanent relocation centers outside the restricted military zones.
I was able to go through the schoolhouse before it was demolished and it was a fascinating bit of history. Some of the original desks were still there! When I went through the space was being used by a neon glass artist. Normally buildings on the historic register are saved from demolition, but this wooden structure was too far gone to be saved. The property is now owned by the University of Washington.
Pictures of the building can be found at the Tacoma Public Library http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/buildings/bldgdetails.asp?id=BU-2563&vhash=T&i=1
I’d always planned to stop at Tacoma Lighting at 1301 Center Street in Tacoma. Now I guess I never will, because the store is vacant and available for sale. First Western is asking $1,050,000 for the property, which is 11,685 square feet of building area and was constructed in 1968. The listing can be found here http://commercialmls.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=property.detailFSprint&ln=497406&eofficeid=
The current building has always been owner occupied by Tacoma Lighting. Back in 1890, the property was the site of the Aesche Boots & Shoes store. To see that wood frame building go to this Tacoma Public Library page http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=3&n=12544&i=9666#text
I went to our vet last week because our two dogs were playing too hard and one of them needed stitches. The vet sent me away for a couple of hours while they worked their magic. I went next door to Payless Shoes at 5914 6th Avenue, Tacoma, to check out their going out of business sale. There was very little merchandise left. When I went back to the vet on Tuesday to pick up a second plastic collar, Payless was completely out of the building. I have no strong feelings about Payless Shoes, but it does make me sad to see another empty building in Tacoma. I wonder what will go in there and when.