Archive for July 2016

Steve's Cafe, more commonly known as Steve's Gay 90's, was a popular eating establishment for several decades. Located on South Tacoma Way, it was owned by Stephen O. Pease and John J. Stanley and offered, according to the 1954 Tacoma city directory, a "Smorgasbord of American Dishes Served in an Atmosphere of the Gay 90's.…

Around 1916, the Australian exhibition prison ship Success visited Tacoma and opened for tours at the Tacoma Municipal Dock Landing. Between 1895 and 1942, the ship was seen by millions on three continents. Built in 1840 and sold to a London company in 1842, Success was used to carry emigrants from England to Australia. After…

In July of 1943, Al Riviere and Frank Bujan appear to be lighting after-meal cigarettes at the Seattle-Tacoma shipyard, ignoring the giant warning painted on the building behind them. Despite appearances, the two Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. employees were not trying to burn down the plant, they were actually posing for a series of photographs demonstrating…

This is speed king Jimmy Murphy (left) with his mechanic, Ernie Olson, on the board track of the Tacoma Speedway circa the summer of 1920. Although Murphy was a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest, he had already started to establish himself as a rising star in the world of auto racing. The 1920 Tacoma race…

In July 1937, volunteers Howard Bjorklund and "Happy" Logue, with high-powered rifles, tracked a missing grizzly bear through ferns and underbrush in the woods by Point Defiance Park. The two-year-old, 600 pound bear arrived in Tacoma from Yellowstone National Park on July 5th. It had apparently escaped from its cage at the zoo early Tuesday…

In July 1950, a house is carefully lowered by crane onto a barge at the Port of Tacoma and towed to Commencement Bay. As the sign on the old wood framed house proclaims, it is to be set afire on the evening of the Fourth of July as part of the Tacoma Athletic Commission's Big…

The Fourth of July celebration at Stadium Bowl in 1938 culminated with a spectacular fireworks show presented by the Hitt Fireworks Company. Over 15,000 people attended the evening's entertainments, which included a band concert, drill teams, mounted teams, and a pyrotechnic display celebrating the 162nd anniversary of America declaring independence.  http://goo.gl/rhHqti…