Again the road construction (yet another project) had me finding a new way home. Fortunately my camera was in the car so you can share the
A little web searching yeilded some interesting facts: Also known as the Crescent Ballroom, the Auditorium Dance Hall was built in 1922, and held concerts ranging from Rudolph Valentino in 1923, to Nirvana in 1990.
It doesn't look very large, though. Dig the cool ornamentation.
Turns out that in 1942, the Crescent Ballroom, aka The Auditorium Dance Hall was merged with the Ford agency (built in 1918) to create one large venue. The whole shebang is for sale for only 2.5 million dollars. (photo below is from wiki commons and in the public domain.)
Across the street is this majestic pampas grass clump growing in the very wide hell strip. It's the lone large plant in a sea of lawn. Speaking of lone things in a sea. This little (looks like three units) apartment building has lost the buildings that once stood on either side of it. Notice the new windows on the grey side.
A pile of brick that once was, I'm guessing, a similar building.
What is the address of this lucky little building that was spared the indignity of the wrecking ball?
I hope you are equally lucky today!
Lucky to be still standing as a somewhat solitary survivor. They apparently aren't concerned about rebuilding next door any time soon.
ReplyDeleteNice detail on the auditorium. All color seems to be grayed like the sky, noticed this yesterday too.
We don't like to think of our colors as grayed but rather subtle. (It helps get us through the day. What can I say? We're not fooling anyone.) It's funny because we get used to this and when the sun shines after a long gray period, we walk around squinting, looking like moles that have emerged from their subterranean homes.
DeleteI wonder about that singular small building in the midst of all the destruction around it. Did things halt when the market tanked? Did a developer buy all the property around with plans to build something?
Thirteen used to be regarded as a lucky number, until the Victorians twisted it...
ReplyDeletePerhaps thirteen turned out to be a lucky number after all for that building :)
Those Victorians were kind of twisted in lots of ways! Just watched a three part documentary from BBC called Queen Victoria's Children. Fascinating!
DeleteThat building is lucy indeed!
You certainly have a lot of buildings with personality in your neck of the woods :-)
ReplyDeleteYes we do. Part of the charm of the town is that, although they tore down a LOT of wonderful historical buildings, there are still quite a few left to enjoy.
DeleteOh, I do hope someone with imagination and a green thumb takes over that area...I'm thinking a mural on the side of the lonely building, with a lovely park in the vacant lot...and don't get me started on the for sale property. It would be so much fun to be a mogul, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteFun, yes but we probably wouldn't be moguls for long as we'd buy all kinds of cool thigs that would loose money. We should have the opportunity though! There's alwas the lottery. Of course you have to buy a ticket to win and I keep forgetting. Oh well.
DeleteLove your ideas for the mural on the side of the building/park but think that thigs will prbably stay as is until someone decides to build. Right now, there is a glut of newly build condos in Tacoma that were built durng the boom just before the crash. Dunno what will happen.
There's so much history everywhere you look! Too bad old buildings are left to fall apart. I believe history disappears with them. Thanks for bringing their stories to life in this post :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! I'm one of those weird people who won't replace his 120 year old wavy glass single pane wood windows with more energy efficent modern ones because they look so out of place on older homes. It would be wonderful to save a lot more old and beautiful buildings but sometimes, they are too neglected to bring back. Very sad.
DeleteLots of history in your living area. Thank you for sharing it with us. Happy Thursday, Peter!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thursday to you, Satu! We have some lovely old (by west coast USA standards) buildings. I know that in some parts of the world,a building isn't considered old until it's been around for 500 years or so.
DeleteHi! I've been sent some pictures of the old Crescent Ballroom, which I have found fascinating. I got to thinking of that area, on the 30th anniversary of the fire that destroyed the old Samson (Hotel) Apartments across the corner, and have some Facebook friends who also remember that area in its rundown condition in the late '80s. The glory days were long gone by then, but that little corner area definitely had some stories to tell!
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