Post Post: Vintage… Tacoma?
March 11th, 2008 @ 11:33 am by Cliffe | Sorted Past Post
Since I won’t have access to my scanner for another day or so, we’re going Vintage Tacoma for today. Jenni Pertuset of the Open Book Blog sent in this 1940’s linen-era card showing the shopping and business district of Tacoma. She writes:
I’m not sure this one fits within your mission, as it’s of Tacoma, but here’s another postcard from our friend Nick “the Hitmaker” (http://www.tierecords.com/thehitmaker/) Markos. It’s a puzzler, not just because Nick has me wondering how he finds so many vintage Seattle postcards in Chicago, but because I’m not familiar enough with Tacoma to recognize a single building in the image.
Is the left-most bridge the Murray Morgan on 11th Street? There’s an article in today’s Tribune about restoring the bridge. And here are a couple of groovy modern photos of it (I plead ignorance about their copyright):
Link 1
Link 2
The front of the postcard says “535:–A SECTION OF THE SHOPPING AND BUSINESS DISTRICT, TACOMA, WASHINGTON” The reverse offers only: “C. P. Johnston Co., Seattle, Washington” along a note from Nicky (and his clever touch of a “Greetings from Washington” stamp). It has no date.
Is the left-most bridge the Murray Morgan on 11th Street? There’s an article in today’s Tribune about restoring the bridge. And here are a couple of groovy modern photos of it (I plead ignorance about their copyright):
Link 1
Link 2
The front of the postcard says “535:–A SECTION OF THE SHOPPING AND BUSINESS DISTRICT, TACOMA, WASHINGTON” The reverse offers only: “C. P. Johnston Co., Seattle, Washington” along a note from Nicky (and his clever touch of a “Greetings from Washington” stamp). It has no date.
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| Front: 535:– A Section Of The Shopping And Business District, Tacoma, Washington. |
March 12th, 2008 @ 8:37 am
I’m Nick’s Chicago contact. Our secret code is “the fish flies at night.”
March 12th, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
Looking at the street layout - I suspect the _rightmost_ bridge is the Murry Morgan, and the artist took a bit of license and flattened the hill/ridge that should fill the right foreground. (I.E. imagine the view as being taken from somewhere above Garfield Park and looking SW.) If you look closely you can see log filled railroad cars along the waterfront, and a hint of the Half Moon yard in the upper right corner.
Otherwise, the artist took a great deal of license and showed the docklands as what they never were - a commercial district with multi story buildings.
March 12th, 2008 @ 8:56 pm
No way the rightmost bridge is the Murray Morgan. Look at the location of the old slough. The left-most bridge is 11th Street, and we’re looking SE, not SW — SW doesn’t make any sense at all. We’re also a lot closer than Garfield Park; more like Wright Park, though I think even closer. The top of Old City Hall is out of view just off the bottom edge. That’s St. Helens Ave. coming in diagonally to Broadway there. The dock warehouses were obliterated when the freeway was put in.
The artist hasn’t taken license; these old linens are heavily colored and retouched photographs. It’s really hard to identify buildings because of the heavy coloring, but I think the Rust Building is there (1920); the Schoenfeld Furniture building (1908) is I think in the upper right corner.I think the Washington Building is the biggest one in the center (1925). Late twenties is my guess.