Photo Archives on Website Bring Old Lakewood to Life

I have to admit that I am a history buff. I love looking at old photos and squinting closely at them trying to determine the make of a car or the print on a woman's dress. Well I hit the jackpot this weekend while browsing online. I came across a cache of photos belonging to the Tacoma Public Library, 1881 to be exact, all depicting Lakewood or the "Lakes District" from the late 1800s through the 50s and 60s.
As co-owner of a business that has been here for over 50 years, we have had many, many customers tell stories of old Lakewood, and of the old Lakewood Gallery. To actually find photos that brought some of these stories to life was quite a gift! I have come to love Lakewood through these stories of personal interest.
Along with each of the library photos are detailed descriptions. After perusing dozens of images I came across one that was listed as taken at the same address as the current location of Lakewood Gallery & Framing, in the old Lakewood Colonial Center. I had heard stories that this end of the building was a grocery store, and our store specifically was in the produce section. Well there it was, in black and white, our space in 1951. Bright linoleum floors and neatly stacked product.
After digging deeper, I found interior shots of our vacant neighbor, The Terrace Restaurant - a place I'd heard many stories about, but arrived in Lakewood too late to dine there. Also the Lakewood Theater, dirt roads around the Colonial Center, the construction of Villa Plaza, Thornewood Castle and more.
I love that I co-own a business that has been in Lakewood since 1959, we are in a building that was built in 1937: one of the first suburban shopping centers in the nation, and that so much of Lakewood's history is still all around us. I haven't quite made it through all 1881 photos on the website, but I'm sure I will soon!
If you love Lakewood history like I do, be sure to visit the website for the Lakewood Historical Museum or visit their location in the historic Colonial Center on Mt. Tacoma Drive.