Weekly Photo Challenge: Phoneography – My Neighborhood

This week’s photo challenge focused upon your neighborhood by only using your camera phone. My nearby neighborhood is the Proctor District in Tacoma, Washington. It’s only a few streets, but it contains almost everything. There are two schools (I attended both.), library, numerous restaurants, beauty salons, specialty shops, banks, supermarkets, fire station, church, veterinary clinic, a shoe cobbler, a weekly farmer’s market, post office, movie theater, and yes even a Starbucks. The Proctor District also hosts the Spring Daffodil Parade, Art Festival, and even a Halloween event. I thought it would be quite difficult to capture all these elements, so I decided to focus upon the local movie theater.

The Blue Mouse Theater opened on November 13, 1923, showing the film The Green Goddess. The Blue Mouse Theater was claimed to be the “Finest Suburban Theater in the Northwest”. Throughout history, the theater went through name changes and owners. It was endangered to be destroyed and individuals rescued and restored the theater. Inside you will find beautiful chandeliers, Tiffany-like glass, staircases, curtains, and rich wood. It plays only one film at a time for about a week. It hosts a Foreign Film Festival and special events throughout the year. The Blue Mouse Theater is Washington State’s oldest continuously operating theater and is on the National Registrar of Historic Places in the United States.

Recently, it was threatened again due to movie films being made only digitally. Mega theaters have the equipment  but the Blue Mouse Theater would need thousands of dollars to replace its older movie projector. Individuals and businesses poured their hearts and money into the facility to keep it open. I love that you truly can see the community aspect as a cleaning service is located next to the theater. The Blue Mouse Theater is the heart of the Proctor District. 

 

Find More Neighborhood Photos:

dailypost.wordpress.com/my-neighborhood