ca. 1942. Mobilgas station. Perhaps, located at 2901 South Tacoma Way. 1942 City Directory shows Carl Deitz as owner.

ca. 1942. Mobilgas station. 1942 City Directory shows C.F. Gibson as owner.

ca. 1942. Mobilgas station. Sverre R. " Bill " Haugen.

Mobilgas station. Maxwell station. G Street at South 36th Street, Tacoma.

Maxwell station, Mobilgas. Route 1, Box 431, Spanaway.

Moultrops Service. This Mobilgas station was a combination grocery store and automobile service station. The tiny building was decorated with a variety of signs - Coca Cola, Shelton Maid ice cream, Mobilgas, Goodrich tires & batteries. Cabins were available for rental, steps away from the station. The service station and cabin (s) are still in existence on what is now called Golden Pheasant Rd., south of Shelton, and on the way to Isabella Lake. (Additional information provided by a reader)

ca. 1942. Mull's Service and Garage. Mobilgas.

ca. 1942. Michael Bros. M. A. Martin. Mobilgas. Maxwell station. L Street at So. 12th Street, Tacoma.

Street & Belden Auto Service. Mobilgas.

ca. 1942. Johnson's Service, Mobilgas station. Johnson's Light Grocery.

Puyallup Gardens, Mobilgas station. E. R. Warnica Grocery.

Mobilgas. Maxwell stations. Duke Bennett and Larry Cunningham. Small sign advertising "Socony-Vacuum Credit Cards".

Mobilgas station. Kneeland Street at South First, Shelton, Washington.

ca. 1942. G. S. Jacobson. Mobilgas. Maxwell station. M Street at So. 56th Street, Tacoma.

G. S. Jacobson Service Center No. 2. Mobilgas. Puget Sound at So. 54th Street, Tacoma.

ca. 1942. Mac's Service. Mobilgas. Maxwell station. 1942 City Directory shows Claude Jones as owner.

Bert Gilliard. Mobilgas. Maxwell station. South Tacoma Way at 38th Street, Tacoma.

ca. 1942. Mobilgas station. 1942 City Directory shows Alfd. Iverson as owner.

Paul H. Carlson, Mobilgas. Maxwell station. U.S. Tires.

ca. 1931. Built in 1901 by J.E. Bonnell for the Sunset Telephone Co., this building was later occupied by Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. It is on the list of City and National Registry sites. This photograph was taken about 1931.

ca. 1931. The Half Way House in Des Moines, Washington. The Half Way House was on old Hwy 99 between Tacoma and Seattle. The completion of Pacific Highway South (Hwy 99) in the 1930s attracted businesses that catered to drivers: service stations, motels, shops and restaurants. The Half Way House was a modestly priced steak and oyster restaurant and may have been in business until the late 1950s. (historylink.org)

ca. 1932. View of the Roxy Theatre, ca. 1932. "The Thirteenth Guest " was the feature film showing at the Roxy at the time of this photograph. The film was released in 1932 and starred Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot. Movie marquee advertised that there was "Always a better show at your Roxy." Apparently cost of a ticket was 20 cents after 5 p.m. The former RKO Orpheum theater reopened as the Roxy in 1932; it is now known as the Pantages.

ca. 1934. Two men share a table in the "Ben Johnson Coffee Shoppe" in the Tacoma Hotel circa 1934. On the wall next to them is the saying "Here's Wishing Us All More Friends And Less Need Of Them." The Tacoma Hotel, built on the bluff overlooking Commencement Bay, received much acclaim befitting its elegant structure. It was destroyed by fire on October 17, 1935.

ca. 1938. Jackson Brothers Meat Market in the newly modernized Manning's store. Left to right, Elmer Jackson, Mike (last name not identified), Walter Jackson and Edwin Jackson. The meat market at Manning's had been in operation several years before 1926 when Edwin Jackson and Aug Fauss became partners and proprietors of the New Tacoma Meat Market. Edwin's brother Walter was working for them at the time and a few years later, Elmer Jackson was also cutting meat at 1102 Commerce. In the 1930s, it became Jackson Brothers Meat Market; they specialized in quality meat and sold Swift Co., Carsten's and Rath's meat products over the years. The Jackson Meat Market remained here until the building was razed in 1972.

ca. 1932. This is the Shaub-Ellison Building, 1902 Pacific Ave., circa 1932. The super-service station, a Goodyear franchise, opened at the beginning of the year. Partners Charlie Ellison and Roe Shaub started business in 1920 at 7th & Commerce before moving to the Pacific Avenue location. This was their only location throughout the Depression and WWll. The University of Washington would purchase the property in 1993 for their Tacoma campus and the Art Deco-styled building was demolished in 1995. (History of Pierce County, Washington, Vol. 1, p. 436)

ca. 1934. A team of Budweiser Clydesdales delivers cases of beer to Tacoma Hotel in this circa 1934 photograph. The Clydesdales, in harness, have paused outside the entrance to the elegant hotel, one of Tacoma's most famous landmarks. Back then the Budweiser Clydesdales were a new sight, introduced to the public in April of 1933 to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. The Clydesdale horses were used for promotions by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co. They were hitched to red, white and gold beer wagons. Each horse was selected with certain characteristics and temperaments and each had to be a gelding. The Budweiser Clydesdales are still being used for commercials and promotions nearly eighty years after this photograph was taken. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Clydesdales -article)

ca. 1937. Puget Sound Feed Co., 302 E. 26th St., Tacoma. The feed store was constructed in 1937. They were authorized dealers for Albers Feeds. Two trucks were being loaded for delivery at right and a worker can be seen through the empty loading dock door front, wheeling feed sacks on a dolly as two men at ground level watch.

ca. 1931. Broadway businesses. This is how one side of Broadway appeared circa 1931. The Warburton Building at 1101-03 (far left) was the first concrete building erected in Tacoma. It housed the French Drug Co. on the lower level and the E.R. Parker Painless Dentists above. At the near right was the equally tall Montgomery Ward & Co. store, in the New York Building (1117-19), the former home of the Horgan-Parker and Fair Department Stores. Between the two tall structures were smaller businesses including the Broadway Electric Co. and Kimball's Gun Store.

ca. 1933. Photograph of the Olympus Hotel, circa 1933. The Olympus Hotel was built in 1909 by Dan Gamer and Leopold Schmidt. It was designed by architects Darmer & Cutting. The hotel closed in 1974 and was remodeled in 1978 into apartments.

ca. 1931. RKO Orpheum Theater, 901 Broadway. Six ushers posed in front of the movie palace dressed as jockeys. Banners on their chests say "Starting Monday, Sweepstakes." "Sweepstakes" was a 1931 RKO Pathe racetrack movie about a jockey and his horse, starring Eddie Quillan, James Gleason, Marion Nixon and Lew Cody. The playbill advertisement in the background refers to the Burns & Allen comedy act "Dizzy."