A Promise of Something Wonderful

Growing up in a remote small town in Alaska, most of our shopping was done through catalogues as there were only a couple of small local stores. Sears, J.C. Penney, and Montgomery Ward wish books were our shopping centers.  Because the ferry from Seattle came once a week, planes (small prop planes) sometimes couldn't fly, and backorders sometimes happened, it wasn't unusual for a gift to be an envelope containing a card with a picture cut from a catalog taped to it.  It was pretty exciting to anticipate the eventual arrival of something.  I was reminded of this when the "wrapping" recently came off of Tacoma's McMenamins Elks Lodge. 

If you recall from earlier posts, this grand old building was in dire condition a couple of years ago.



For most of last winter, spring and all summer, the scaffolding erected around the building was covered.




A month ago, the upper floor or two was exposed and recently, the scaffolding was removed and the entire building can now be seen again.

Is it entirely finished? Not yet but, just like the contents of those gift envelopes, this is  a promise of something very special to come.  I pass this building going and coming home from work every day and it's demise was painful to watch over that last 40 years.  Saving this lovely building is a magnificent gift to our city.

My day starts and ends on a lighter note when I see this piece of our city's history coming back to life.

The only sad part is that there is very little space available around the building for the kind of fabulous gardens for which McMenamins is so well known.  In chatting with Riz Reyes, head gardener at McMenamins Anderson School in Bothell, he said that McMenamins will be gardening in the beds of the Spanish Steps, owned by the city, adjacent to the building.  The vacant lot on the other side will be used mostly to grow produce for the restaurants in the building.  Everything Riz does is wonderful so I've no doubt that the gardens will match the building in grandeur. 



To learn more  and see some interesting pictures and videos about what's going on inside the building check out McMenamins website here and the Elks Temple facebook page here.