100 years ago today: July 2, 1908
The W.W. Seymour conservatory in Wright Park was completed on time, and the keys to the building were turned over to the Metropolitan Park Board.

Frank C. Ross and Anna Robinson at the conservatory at Wright Park, circa 1915. (Washington State Historical Society)

I was sad to hear that Stadium High School grad Irv Robbins died this week. That's Robbins, as in Baskin-Robbins, as Kelly once wrote.

As one reader pointed out, isn't it true that all good things come from Tacoma?

"We sell fun, not just ice cream," Robbins once said.

Since that's his outlook on life, then we hope he wouldn't mind our lingering thoughts about what comes next for this True Gritizen:

• There should be 31 pallbearers.
• His casket should be made of waffle cone, with a cherry on top.
• His headstone should look something like this ...

In honor of its namesake, Baskin-Robbins says "ice cream lovers across the globe are asked to keep Irv and his family in their thoughts and prayers and honor his memory with 31 seconds of silence on Friday, May 9, 2008, at 3:31 p.m. local time."

Man, I bet they wish they wouldn't have replaced all those hops with daffodils.

Personally, if I were a Puyallup Valley farmer in the mid-1920s, I would have planted opium poppies. Who wouldn't love a Poppy Parade?

Among other things, it would probably include tasty muffins.

"Sit down, you're blocking the beverage cart."

Today's civic lesson: Don't ever let people tell you they're flying into Seattle.

For example, this Associated Press caption says: "In this photo released by Virgin America, musician Avir Mitra of the band Bamboo Shoots entertains passengers Tuesday en route to Seattle, onboard Virgin America's 'First Flight' from Los Angeles."

It's called Sea-Tac for a reason. And unless you're parachuting into Safeco Field to deliver the game ball, chances are you're not landing in Seattle.

Here's a quick history lesson from Wikipedia:

After the death of U.S. Senator "Scoop" Jackson in 1983, the Seattle Port Commission voted to change the name of the airport to Henry M. Jackson International Airport, ostensibly to honor the late Senator. However, denizens of Tacoma interpreted the name change as an insult to their community — the second time in the airport's history that the port authorities had attempted to "erase" Tacoma from the map. But the $100,000 that Tacoma had provided for the airport's construction during World War II had come with an explicit promise that the city would be included in the airport's name. The City of Tacoma eventually prevailed in their attempt to return the long-standing moniker, and the name reverted to Sea-Tac early in 1984.

Score one for the Gritizens.

(cue the Lee Greenwood music: "... And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today. ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the T-A-C-O-M-A")

With the appropriate word in the blank spaces, this 100-year-old editorial can still apply to Tacoma today.

What word should it be?

Looking Back: March 24, 1908
Editorial excerpt from The Tacoma News:

“Any action that tends to embarrass or even slightly delay the progress of this city in any way is to be deplored. Particularly is this true as regards to ------ development. For years Tacoma has struggled for new ------. These are now at hand. Aid and encouragement should be furnished to them just as far as possible without, of course, entailing sacrifice on the people.”

Back when the neon "art" in the Tacoma Dome was actually in style, there was an indoor soccer phenomenon called the Tacoma Stars. And I'm kind of sad I wasn't around for the height of the fanaticism. It's a different level of Tacoma love.

But thankfully, someone managed to record parts of it, then set it to amazing '80s music, then post it on YouTube. Call it historic preservation. I'll let you make your own judgments about the cultural or socio-economic statements made by the shots of our fans. But I will say this: I wish I were there in the Dome, because it's better than an RV show.

If you start to get bored with the first song and scenes, skip ahead to 3:33 and you won't be sorry. And if that's not enough for you, skip ahead to the woman at 5:02. If anyone can identify her, I'll buy you a coffee or a beer.

A lot of publications do year-end round-up stories because it's an easy way to fill space with recycled content while everyone is on vacation. But even something like that seemed like too much work for a holiday, plus reporter Jason Hagey already did it for us. So here's a look back at some of our favorite pictures from GritCity in 2007:

=> Read more!

On the last day of the year, custom dictates that you should do what everyone tells you you're not supposed to do on the other 364 days of the year: Dwell on the past.

But we like to do things a bit differently. It's called denial. It involves me looking over the most popular posts and reading into it whatever I damn well please.

For starters, you really, really like men dressed as women. As much as I do, in fact. You could say that the only reason that post was popular is that zillions of men Googling for cross-dressers stumbled upon it, but I know better. You're an open-minded set.

You also appreciate the finer things in life, namely Celine Dion. You think that post got into the top 10 because we spread the word about the contest via Celine fan sites? No. You people just enjoy good music.

In addition to being audiophiles, you're good citizens: You'd just die if Natasha named the gnome. Me too! Hey, why don't you just rip off Santa's beard, while you're at it?

But wait, there's more: You do-gooders also care about the environment. No price is too high for a squirrel. And yet you're patriotic, spending time in the comments of that post talking about how to quash the spread of Squirr-al Qaeda.

Finally, you also care deeply about
the forthcoming GritCity shirts. I knew it! You love us, you really love us.

Happy New Year, friends!

I've been terribly busy this week digging up some of Tacoma's juiciest secrets and solving some of its biggest mysteries. Mobsters. Tunnels. Smuggling rings. Garish color schemes on Craftsman homes. Pajamagrams.

Just when I thought I had solved every last mystery and was ready to blow your minds (I imagined Bill Baarsma shaking his fists and saying "I woulda gotten away with it if it weren't for those darned kids." And Tom Stenger would tell me off. Again.), I realized we'd already run most of the story. Yesterday.

Here's the long and short of it, courtesy of the TNT's own Jonathan Nesvig:

Meyer Lansky, the (Las Vegas) mob’s money man and one of the underworld’s most powerful and influential figures, had ties to Tacoma. One of his sons, Paul, an engineer, and his family lived in the North End. Meyer Lansky used to visit on July 4, which also was his birthday.
Neighbors recall Lansky arriving in a black limousine and FBI agents watching his every move during the late ’60s and early ’70s... In Las Vegas, Lansky helped bankroll Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo hotel. Legend has it he had Siegel killed over the vast cost overruns on the project. Lansky kept a financial interest in the Flamingo until the 1960s.
Lee Strasberg played a character based on Lansky in “The Godfather, Part II.” Lansky died in 1983 in Miami Beach at age 80.

Some basic Googling reveals that a Meyer Lansky III still lives around these parts. [Call me.]

And what does this all have to do with pajamagrams? Nothing (that I can find). But did you even know they existed? And do you notice how it prevents you from pronouncing it pa-JAH-ma? That gives me comfort enough.

I'm not a Celine Dion fan. Not until I saw this clip!

Doesn't this make you kind of curious about her show, in a rubbernecking train-wreck-a-comin' sort of way, just in case she unleashes something like this on Tacoma?

It was a mere 67 years ago on this day, November 7, that Gertie galloped one last time and triggered bridge phobias around the globe.

Where were you when the bridge collapsed?

I jest, of course. Unless there are retirees who read GritCity, in which case I'd love to actually know where you were at the time and, furthermore, why you read this drivel.

I blogged this newsreel last year, but it's a classic so I'm dusting it off one more time.

You'll see a lot of "I ran the span" T-shirts around town from this month's Tacoma Narrows bridge run, which billed itself as "The one and only!"

But a check into the Tacoma fun run T-shirt archive turns up this rare gem from the original bridge run ...

Howard Clifford, the event's one and only unwitting participant, won in record time.

And this lousy T-shirt? It's all he got.