Back in the day...the late 1950's...one of the great treats for me was when my family would visit Tacoma, and stay at the home of my mother's college friends the Thompsons. I knew them as Franklin and Lucille and there daughters Marty and Mary. Franklin had been a professor of my mother's at Willamette University years before. Now we lived in Yakima and they had moved to Tacoma where " Franklin" (Dr.T to most) was the President of the University of Puget Sound.
Their brick home, which still stands on the NW corner of the university campus, was a magical place. The stage in the basement theater was the scene of countless original plays written, directed and performed by Marty, Mary, my sister Neena and myself. (Though as memory serves me, I as the youngest was seldom more than a necessary prop in the performances.) There were even secret passages between some of the upstairs rooms.
On really special occasions for us kids we would walk up the wide median of Union Street under the old trees that still form a canopy overhead. On 26th Street we would turn left towards Proctor. Next a mandatory stop at the "Five and Dime" (now Rainier Cyclery) to hand select our favorite penny candy from the bins. Once these treasures were safely deposited into small white bags, we were off to the Blue Mouse Theater (Then the Proctor Theater) for a movie complete with cartoons and a newsreel.
Many Presidents have led the university since then, but the house still stands. Many children have walked the median of Union Street, but the trees still stand. Though many of the tennants have changed the Proctor District looks very much the same. And if you are looking for something special to do this Saturday with your children or grandchildren take in a movie at the Blue Mouse Theater...it's still there.
If the North end of Tacoma is a place where you might like to live please contact me through this blog or at Karin Kay Properties.
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