The series I’ve been posting is of the old Elks building in downtown Tacoma. It has been allowed to deteriorate due to a battle between the city and its crazy California owner, who literally mooned the city council once and wanted to tear it down. He died a couple years ago and so the impasse was broken. Now, developers from Portland bought it and may convert it into a hotel and beer hall. Hooray!

It was built in 1916 -- a huge marble building. Next to the building are the magnificent sixty-four Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps were designed after the Scala di Spagna of Rome and once led to the Spanish Embassy in Tacoma, which was (and still is) a major west coast shipping port.

This building cannot be attributed to the IBPOEW, unfortunately (one of the earliest African-American fraternal organizations and a rare source of black power in the early 20th Century). It’s BPOE -- the Elks that still occupy lodges today (although membership in all these fraternal organizations (I ought to be an OddFellow, don’t you think?) is aging and dwindling.)

My goal was to get as many pictures of it in its current condition before it was either torn down or fixed up.