when i was a kid, visiting my relatives in tacoma, my grandmother would kindly drive me around to look at the old buildings. the downtown/hilltop area was my favorite. it was far seedier then, back when martin luther king st was K Street (cue chris rock); she would reach over my lap in the passenger seat of her buick eighty-eight to lock the doors, smelling of doublemint and aqua-net, saying "oh, i don't like this. your parents would be so mad if they found out i took you here."
my favorite was always the elk's club building on 7th and broadway. it was vacant and rotting 20 years ago and remains the same today, a squatter's lair and one-time clubhouse for those wily juggaloes (so the local lore claims). no one really knows the history of the building; i went online and found out little. apparently it has extensive structural damage from earthquakes. it also has underground tunnels that connect to the tunnels underneath nearby stadium high school (where my mama graduated in 1971- look it up, for it too is famous), an indoor swimming pool, and six levels below ground- a veritable elken bunker.
looking at it from the east. those are the 'spanish steps' from, i believe, 1916.

i fucking love monkey trees. there is a huge one near my house. when i first moved in i found a dried fallen limb on the ground and took it home. it has leaned next to my door ever since.

note the gangrene.


but the best part was in a puddle beside the building!

tacoma: the metropolitan equivalent of a five-dollar whore.