Your knowledge of Tacoma’s historic lore would not be complete without the story of “Gallopin’ Gertie,” the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge that collapsed in 1940. I just ran across some footage (on YouTube, of course) that depicts the collapse in color, up-close and personal. This footage is not for the faint of heart, but it does portray a heroic attempted rescue of a dog stranded in an abandoned car on the buckling monstrosity. All I can say is, wow.

–Dale

You might recall that last September, we caught the Murano glass show at the Travers gallery and had some nice things to say about local hero Lino Tagliapietra. Well, if you didn’t get enough of his work then, you should stop in at the Museum of Glass. On March 29, they opened a new exhibit honoring Tagliapietra called “Living Legacies: Homage to a Maestro.” Well deserved kudos to a true visionary.

– Dale

44 artists will be represented at our fine inn. Yet, undoubtedly, the piece de resistance will be the outdoor sculpture created by Greece’s Costas Varotsos. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, his 104-foot sculpture (name TBA) will sit out on the front lawn of our hotel. To get a sneak peek via an artist’s rendering of the piece, check out the recent New Tribune article here.

Dale

Sometimes it feels like a part-time job, explaining to my out-of-town friends that Tacoma is heading in a new vibrant direction. It’s a city in transition, where its blue-collar origins mingle vibrantly with the upscale economy of urban revitalization. For an artist’s take on this scene, drop by the windows of the Woolworth Building at Broadway and 11th Street for its current series, featuring Patrick Grenier, Paul McKee, Margot Myers, Heather Joy & Matthew Olds and David Traylor. These pieces have been touted in the press as depicting the contradictory nature of a city in transition. Okayyyy. I’ll have to run down there and take a peek before the show ends November 3.

Cheers,

Josh

If you take time during the weekend to tour downtown Tacoma, you can experience these old buildings in their quiet, stately elegance. It’s like walking in the midst of a herd of sleeping elephants. Lacking the midweek frenzy of SUVs, hybrids and other post-modern means of conveyance, it’s easy to imagine that you’re back in, say, 1966. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a milkman come around the corner.

As I walk these streets I sometimes feel that I was born at the tail end of an era more refined than my own. In a way, I hope that feeling remains. If not, it could mean that something precious has been lost in the name of progress. With other cities, the future usually marches in to the clank of construction cranes bearing wrecking balls and steel girders. Harbingers of “revitalization.” So far, Tacoma has managed to do it right. For instance, when developers retrofitted Union Station into the Federal Courthouse, they added glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly that perfectly complemented the old while bringing in the new. And when the Washington State History Museum was added to Union Station, it was a beautiful match. Here’s to the future—and to not losing the things that are most important.

-J

There’s one thing you don’t see a lot of in downtown Tacoma: construction cranes. Not to say that the city isn’t thriving. It clearly is. Instead of tearing down older buildings and replacing them with McSkyscrapers, however, the trend here is to take existing buildings and retrofit them to current needs. As a result, the downtown area is like a museum of late 19^th to mid-20^th Century architecture. My current favorite building is, in fact, vacant. It’s the 1916 Elk’s Temple. All three stories and one city block of it. With its white Belle Époque façade and smallish windows, it retains an aura of inscrutability and intrigue. What goes on inside those walls? Currently the perimeter of the building is girdled with chain link fence; vagrants must go elsewhere for the night. It’s as if the old temple is being given breathing space to ponder its next move.

Josh