The Grand Old Dame-The Carlton Rises Again.

My heart is always torn when a grand old building, especially a grand old hotel, is torn down, and all that remains are the memories of what once was. As I told you earlier in my blog,The Carlton had once been the show piece of Tacoma. She had marble staircases, a gilded elevator, a front desk made out of marble, and you could see and envision what once was a work of art.By the time I arrived, She had turned from am elegant lady of refined taste to being a bag lady of the streets. I would let my imagination go wild when I was working there, and just like when I walk though Burke today and see what was once a booming mining town, and I can see the people, hear the crowded streets, and hear the voice of children playing in the streets, so it was like that for me at the Carlton.

I did not see the beat up old lobby, or the derelicts who resided there. No, I saw an image of days of yore when men in suits and hats, and ladies decked out in their costly dresses, entering the lobby and enjoying the ambiance of the splendor that was the Carlton. Maybe it is a fault of mine to see things as they were instead of how things are today, but I have always been a history buff, and like to live in days of old in my mind.

Well, I have good news to share with you. I would like to introduce you to CH, a new reader of my blog, and who amazingly works in the Carlton today. CH works on the 6th floor of the Grand Old Lady, and we have exchanged several email the past few days on the Carlton as I knew it, and the Carlton that she knows. The big news is that the Carlton is still standing. I had assumed when I first started posting about Her that she had gone the way of so many old, elegant hotels, and was nothing but a memory of what once was. I was wrong, for I have found out through CH that not only does the Carlton still stand, but that She is once again a work of stately beauty.

No, She is no longer a hotel, but She has been redone into office spaces and a very upscale Japanese restaurant! Thank God, She is still alive and thriving. CH and I are planning to exchange more information. CH wants to know what was because she has a passion for history and old buildings, and I want to know more about what is today, I will keep you posted as we exchange notes on the Grand Old Dame. God bless the Internet!

OK, next, I will get back to letting you meet more of Uncle Chuck's Funny Farm guests and employees, Until then, thanks for reading, and have a great day.

Welcome aboard, CH.


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