Walking Downtown Tacoma in the 1980s ( 1. January 2007, 11:02 by Derek Young) ~ Beautiful
Steven Cysewski’s photographs of Tacoma in the early 1980s are absolutely breathtaking. The images capture so many of the buildings that we talk about today from the Luzon to UWT, the Elks Building to Union Station. His photos just came online a few days ago. I’m amazed.
Link to Stephen Cysewski
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These are some of the best photos I’ve seen of the City I’ve seen…Not the typical pictures we see from 95% of today’s people who call themselves photographers.
1 | Posted by Jason | Jan 1, 11:23 AM
We moved here in 1971. One of my first and strongest memories of Tacoma is driving past the Fun Circus, and wondering why my mom insisted we lock the doors! Really takes me back, and reminds me how far Tacoma has come.
3 | Posted by Ann Meersman | Jan 1, 03:27 PM
What a treasure, especially as the old disappears so quickly, sometimes thankfully. On a personal note, the pictures of the waiting room at the Union Station certainly brought back a vivid memory. When I was about six, I felt I had been so unfairly treated by my parents that I would take the train to Boise to live with my two sets of grandparents in Idaho. So my very wise Mother had me pack a few things and took me downtown to the station! As I’m sure, she hovered nearby as I sat in one the pew-like benches. I can remember seeing in the corner what must have been a
Traveler’s Aid counter. I was apparently resourceful enough to attempt the negotiation of a ticket on the Union Pacific to Boise! When unsuccessful I decided it was better to return home to my own bed. The only time I tried to runaway from home.
4 | Posted by michael buchanan | Jan 1, 04:02 PM
I just noticed I was about to steal a line from above…but it is a treasure…. Wow, Peoples Store, Richards Studios, the hatter… Tacoma is perfect in spectacular b&w, and I dig the cars. Even I can tell this is great stuff. Some bring back memories, too. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
5 | Posted by Dave L. | Jan 1, 06:38 PM
Wow wow wow. I blogged it over at the PG blog with a couple of more recent pics that we all know; many of our readers are alums who are far from here, and no doubt remember Tacoma when it was a much worse place—assuming they ventured downtown at all; some did. What strikes me is to recall how much of this has changed so recently. My wife and I were the second tenants to move into the Harmon in 1999, and the UWT library was still a boarded up hulk, as was the mattress factory. That was still connected to the Harmon through what I used to jokingly call the bridge of sighs . The bridge was finally torn down in 2000, I think, just as we were moving out. I dragged away a chunk of the massive old growth timber which now graces my deck as a bench.
Where is this?
6 | Posted by UPSPatrick | Jan 1, 08:01 PM
Where is this ?
That’s the Astor House / Samson Hotel at 1152 Fawcett – corner of 13th and Fawcett. Designed by F.A. Sexton.
It sounded like a pretty rough place back in the 1890s and 1900s. There were at least a few murders and/or suicides in the building back in the early Tacoma days. The building was added to the national historic register in the mid-1970s. It had several fires in the 1980s and was eventually torn down in 1989.
It’s a parking lot now.
Wow. Tacoma was even more gritty than I remember! What an amazing beautiful and sad collection of photographs. I wish I would have taken more photos back when I haunted the streets with my trusty Minolta. It would be interesting to put “now” photos to go with these so people could compare the two- to many people, the memory of Tacoma is represented by these “then” shots…
8 | Posted by morgan | Jan 1, 10:08 PM
Wow! I think these photos go to show how far Tacoma has come recently. Give it another 5 years, and I believe we will continue to see some real improvement!!
10 | Posted by Gorman | Jan 2, 08:31 AM
Takes me back to 1986 when I first moved to Tacoma. I drove all over town in my 1972 VW bus, looking at a city that could have been mistaken for a rainy Beirut. Yet I could see enormous potential, which of course is now being fulfilled. This archive serves an important purpose for people who love Tacoma and want to see it continue to progress.
14 | Posted by Mick | Jan 12, 10:45 AM
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