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You’ll Like Tacoma

The Pacific Northwest is a treasure trove of vintage neon typography, preserved into the modern landscape of our cities. Despite the best preservation efforts, however, there are still many examples that have long since passed into history. These ghosts of Tacoma are the ones I’ve chosen to resurrect for my You’ll Like Tacoma series of paintings. Some photographic records still remain, so from among them I’ve chosen my favorite signs to recreate in living color—each one of these is hand-painted with acrylic ink on black paper. My entire body of reference material is in black-and-white, though, so while I have done my best to represent color accurately, a fair amount of artistic license has been necessary. Since neon signs fascinate me equally by day and by night, I’ve depicted these as paired diptychs.

I’ll start with the first set, above. This “You’ll Like Tacoma” beacon is an early example of electric signage. The sign ran as an advertisement (touted as “the longest shoreline electric sign in the world”) during the 1909 Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle, in hopes of getting out-of-state visitors to move to Tacoma. Its exact location is unknown, but the sign was erected along a shoreline—most likely along Lake Washington, near the AYP Exposition site (now University of Washington). The sign pre-dates the advent of neon technology in the U.S. (French neon tubes were first introduced in California in 1923), so it’s likely the sign was lit with a series of white bulbs.

Located on South 38th Street in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, the Flying Boots was a popular tavern for 75 years, until it closed its doors just last year. The bar’s days ended on a sour note when patrons looted the place for mementos on its last day in business.

The Flying Boots was purchased in December 2013, and reopened just this past April as a country-themed sports bar—complete with restored sign.

Okay, this guy was my favorite, and not just for the viking in short skirt. I mean, come on: “Cheese!” Any sign that just randomly screams “Cheese” is a winner in my book.

Anyway, this midcentury icon was formerly known as the Viking Smorgasbord, and specialized in Scandinavian-American food. The Viking once stood at 9702 South Tacoma Way (along former Highway 99—the West Coast’s answer to Route 66)—on a lot now home to a modern (and totally depressing) strip mall.

The Happy Days was one of many taverns to call Tacoma home over the years, though this one appears to have been rather short-lived. Located at 1302 Broadway, this place had its heyday in the 1930s.

What I love about this one is that it’s sort of the 1930s equivalent to what a hipster establishment might do today—the whole place is one huge pop culture reference. The name is a nod to the famous Depression-era song, while the proudly-displayed beer mug celebrates the end of Prohibition—which at the time had been newly repealed.

Both the giant Federal Bakery rolling pin and the “Shop K Street” sign occupied the same block in Tacoma—though that stretch of K Street has been renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Oh, how I wish I could have been a customer of the Federal Bakery—the place was open for almost 100 years. (I missed it by a decade, though.) That whole block, sadly, was demolished in 1998 to make way for a Rite Aid pharmacy—which is now sitting empty. (I can’t even drive past that corner—it makes me too angry.)

Of all the establishments represented in this series, the Poodle Dog is the only one still in business today, without changing hands. The Fife restaurant has been a fixture along old Highway 99 for decades.

Though while the Poodle Dog recently celebrated 80 years in operation, you’d find that my illustration no longer matches its living counterpart. The original midcentury sign is long gone, replaced by a modern (and not nearly as good) facsimile.

I saved the best for last—every Tacoman, whether they were alive to see the real thing or not, knows about the Top of the Ocean. It’s easily our most famous ghost—and one of our saddest stories (rivaled maybe only by the Luzon).

Tacoma’s hottest restaurant and nightclub, nicknamed “the Top,” opened in 1946. The theme restaurant resembled an ocean liner, constructed on piers along the Ruston Way waterfront in Old Town (if you click that link and look closely, you’ll find another Top of the Ocean homage I made…). It boasted a sunken dining room, dance floor and music stage, a floating dock to accommodate up to 20 yachts, and even seaplane taxi service on Sundays. The building was destroyed by arson in 1977, the crime committed by a mentally disabled man hired by the mob. (Yes, the mob. You can’t make this stuff up!) A memorial stands in its former location, now a public boardwalk.

For me, the whole point of creating this series was to provide some sort of reminder of how much our city—and every city, really—has changed over time. I barely scratched the surface with my research. I chose eight signs, but there were easily dozens more I passed up—and who knows how many have slipped through the cracks, with no old photographs to prove they existed? To me, each one of these signs is a wonder of graphic design and typography, made by talented but unsung artists, who never signed their names to their work. If I can do my small part to bring them back into the world, even only in effigy—well, I feel like that’s time well spent.