I was up well before the break of dawn driving down Highway 99 and went past the Daffodil Motel at 7909 Pacific Highway (Highway 99) in Milton. So I stopped to take a photo of the terrific vintage sign featuring a daffodil and the promise of free movies.
Dear husband and I had a quick day trip up to Seattle and we stumbled upon the Fremont Sunday Market which operates every Sunday from 10 to 4 (5 in the summer). It had a great selection of crafts, vintage goods and clothes and some wonderful food trucks all at one end. It even had a dinosaur eating a meatball! I walked away with the scarf for myself and a holiday present for my friend Susan. Of course since I was there I snapped some other Fremont photos 🙂
This once splendid trailer is the last man standing in an ex-trailer park north of Highway 512 and East of South Tacoma Way. I could still see the individual pads where the mobile homes once sit and my husband pointed out where each unit’s power was. And there are a couple of rundown buildings that I suspect were the park’s office and perhaps a laundry facility. I wonder why it was deserted and dear husband opined that maybe it was cleared away for redevelopment and then the market collapsed. Perhaps.
I’ve often admired other folks’ photos of the sign for the Chieftain at 3015 South Tacoma Way and today I stopped to snap one of my own in the chilly March air (really snow called for in March?!).
The property was originally Victor Sea Food Products and Victor’s Oyster Bar and George Victor was the builder. It was built in 1946. In 1951 it became Ping’s Garden Chinese Restaurant and in 1953 there was a liquor raid with 41 arrested. In 1954 it became a Larry’s Drive-In Restaurant. In 1971 it became the Chieftain.
A group of women with vintage campers that go fly fishing and camping together? How cool is that?! Of course I had to go check it out when they convened at Cabela’s at 1600 Gateway Blvd NE Lacey, WA 98516. The mission statement of Sisters on the Fly is “Offering empowerment and sisterhood through exceptional outdoor adventures. As a group of women we challenge ourselves in all that we set our mind to. There is no age, color, religion or political group. All women who want to share in the adventure of “sisterhood” are welcome. This “sisterhood” has grown to more than 2,400 women since inception in 1999.”
As you can see from the photos the vintage trailers are darling and lovingly decorated. Bare in mind that these are little spaces which usually have a bed, table, stove, fridge and some storage. Because of the size, they are difficult to capture in a photo, but the website has more photos and there are a couple of books available. The women are really nice also!
http://www.sistersonthefly.com/
Cabela’s is the world’s foremost outfitter (that’s their tag line!) and it is indeed a huge store with a large display of animals arrange in a nature setting. There is also a piper cub plane hanging from the ceiling. Besides an abundance of merchandise, there is a gun library and a restaurant. It reminds me of REI, but with more of an emphasis on hunting/fishing. There are 39 Cabela’s with more being planned.
http://www.cabelas.com/
This car on display at USA of Yesterday Motors at 455 St. Helens, Tacoma, is one of 500 remaining Amphicars left in existence. The informational sign said that these amphibious cars are capable of crossing between England and France!
The USA of Yesterday building was constructed in 1948 and contains 61,000 square feet of space. It was originally known as the Mueller-Harkins Motor Co. Building and Silas E. Nelsen was the architect. It was a Buick Dealership. It is now U.S.A. of Yesterday Motor Car Co. (see the link below) and besides showroom space has a large banquet room in the style of the 1950s. In 2007 there was talk of demolishing the property to make way for a downtown grocery store, but that didn’t happen.
A picture of the building from 1950 can be found at Tacoma Public Library http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=2&o=2&n=24408&i=8170#text
1912 Buick in the showroom.
South Tacoma Way has some spiffy public art. Today I stopped to admire this mural located at 5438 South Tacoma Way which features scenes from the strips past and present. The mural is on the Heritage Bank Building. Although that is the name of building, it is vacant with Heritage Bank is down the street at 5448 South Tacoma Avenue.
To see more photographs of the property both before and after the mural, go here.
http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/murals.asp
I love the PacMan on the wall that they made out of keys!
Their Facebook page says “Dedicated to Old School Video Games and Pinball Machines we are working to have a place to play all the fun machines from our youth that you can’t find any where. 80’s and 90’s Classics All Video Arcade Games and Vintage Pinball Machines are 25 cents Newer Pinball machines are 50 Cents.”
754 Pacific Ave
Tacoma, WA 98402
(253) 627-4156
Today’s New Place of the Day is the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative’s Gritty City Gift Fair. The fair was larger than I thought it would be and filled with quality crafts and art. I picked up a couple of holiday gifts and a Tacoma — Love it or Leave it t-shirt for myself. 🙂 The co-op is located in a historic building at 746 Broadway, in the Antique Row area.
Information from the Tacoma Public Library indicates that the building was constructed in the 1920s and has been used as a Used Car Department, Huletz Electric Co., Preservation Paint, Alma Ayres Women’s Wear, Washington State Liquor Store, and Time Machine Antiques.
Originally uploaded by Gexydaf
I thought today’s new place of the day would be Wright’s Park, but then I realized I had already checked in there for Ethnic Fest. So, it was a sacrifice, but we went to Frisko Freeze, a Tacoma icon. The milkshake was very, very good! 9/5/10
I hadn’t realized that it is on the historic register. Here is a News Tribune article on that process.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2008/04/27/345702/frisko-freeze-full-of-history.html
