Ponders Corner is full of memories for me . . . from my parents and my little sisters to beef stroganoff and switchblade knives.
A few years ago my friend Rob Erb complained he hadn’t been on an adventure in years. I said, “Oh . . . I can fix that. Pick us up next Saturday afternoon.” A week later Rob and his wife, Vickie picked up my wife, Peg, and me. We gave a guided tour around town and finished in the parking lot of La Casa Motel in Ponders Corner. We sat there for a couple of minutes and I asked, “So do you know why we’re here?” Rob shrugged his shoulders and said, “No idea.” I laughed, “We could be shot here any minute.”
Within seconds Rob had his car in reverse and we were out onto the highway. Massage parlors, strip clubs, prostitution and drugs had taken their toll on this tiny business area between Lakewood and I-5. Someone had been shot in the La Casa parking lot just a few weeks earlier.
My parents had purchased the La Casa, then a seven unit motel when I was a seventh grader at Hudtloff Junior High. Over the years my father remodeled, and constructed and bought the small motor court next door as well. When my parents were all done, we had 31 units.
Ponders Corner was my turf. I used the only phone booth to call girls for dates. I knew and visited almost every business. When my parents needed to go somewhere, I was left in charge. I would rent out rooms. We were the closest motel to Fort Lewis. A major once threatened to beat the snot out of me. He probably didn’t realize I was only sixteen. And of course he didn’t know that I always carried a gravity knife (a legal version of a switchblade knife).
At La Casa We often needed change for the cash drawer and left to my own devices I would buy something to cook for dinner. At the Abba Dabba Café I would play the jukebox as I got change. There was a small grocery store where I would sometimes buy the latest paperback books (popular novels or science fiction . . . I read them all). The store also had a gourmet section, which is where I learned to love beef stroganoff. I also loved kippered herring . . . with Kraft Dinner. At Sarge’s Loan I bought my electric guitar and my portable stereo and numerous things that caught my eye. At the Roma Café I learned to love pepperoni pizza. Later Pearl Marzano brought the sauce recipe to Tacoma’s Clover Leaf Tavern. It is still my favorite pizza, and my family’s favorite pizza with more toppings including real bacon.
Lakewood Lumber & Hardware, which was almost directly across Pacific Highway from our office, was a resource for repair solutions at the motel. We spent a lot of money there . . . and for months I drooled over the new Ruger Mark I automatic (it looked like the German Luger) they had until my father bought it. I faced down several prowlers with that weapon. When my father died the Ruger became mine.
During my junior and senior years at Clover Park High School I had the upstairs apartment with a pool table in the living room, a bedroom and bath. I stayed there until I married at the age of 21. Peggy and I honeymooned in the smallest of the motel units, room #11.
The Lakewood Police Department has eradicated the bad elements of Ponders Corner. The city has also completed a $6 million infrastructure project improving the streets and drainage. Things are looking up. It may no longer be an adventure to visit Ponders . . . but you never know. There is a pyramid-shaped monument that marks the Military Road network between Fort Steilacoom and Walla Walla during the early days of settlement in Washington State. The pyramid represents the land donated by Amos and Belle Ponder. Amos came to the Lakes District in 1901. He built a gas and service station in the area that was finally named after Amos and Belle. He died in 1945. The monument stands on the south side of Pacific Highway at the apex of the triangular strip of land, where the old buildings stand . . . and where the phone booth was located.
I got quite an education in Ponders Corner and La Casa. Some of the authors I read are still my favorites. I discovered how to cook whatever I wanted. I learned about responsibility and after all of these years I can still do hospital corners when making a bed.
Oh, Don. Does your Ponders article ever bring back sweet memories. In 1937 our family emigrated from Cheyenne so Uncle Jim True could be the project engineer building McChord Field. He bought a sizeable piece of land near what became the Main Gate and eventually sold some lots to other family members. We loved Ponders. At first he just needed the land for a place for his horse whom he rode every day to work in his Smoky Bear hat and jodphurs as all the Army Engineer officers did in those days. We loved Ponders.
Where the Geico Insurance is now was Merch Graham’s Mobile station with the Flying Red Horse. Next on the east was the Ingleside Cafe, a two story restaurant with Eileen’s Beauty Salon up an outside staircase. Both the Ingleside and Eileen’s were quite posh for those days. It was fine to celebrate there for birthdays and big events. Don Dickinson’s dad had a car repair shop across the way next to the infamous Ponder’s Tavern, with ladies upstairs. Still a half-block from Merch’s Mobile was a grocery opened by Dave Gilderoy and one of the young Hogan brothers whose name escapes me now. The south side of “Old 99” (now known as Pacific Highway for several miles until the turn toward South Tacoma) had a long line of what we called “cabin camps”. They were placed in a large horseshoe surrounded by great landscaping. Very proper and respectable long term rentals which I was in and out of hundreds of times as a kid visiting my school pals. The wonderful thing was that each one of the “cabin camps” had a building in the center of the property with a rental office and a cafe that vied with each other in serving the best food around.
Sadly all are gone now and the name Ponders is only a sweet memory. One thing does make the old timers turn up their noses. Our Ponders area is now entitles “Springbrook” which, when we were kids, was an area we were forbidden to even ride our bikes through as it was such a nest of bad apples and “ladies of the night”. No one asked us if we wanted a new name. It was just case of a lot of new people crawling into the area and doing what they wanted to as they destroyed our contentment. What a shame. There was some pride to be known as Ponders residents. We remain quite snobbish about it. Every child should be so lucky, every young family should be so happy, every elder should feel so secure as to have “a Ponders” in their lives. Thanks, Don, for the memories of a lovely time before what we regard as “the debacle”.
Alice,
Thank you for reading and for your comments. I am so glad you enjoyed the article about Ponder. I think I will do a follow-up piece. Would it be okay if I use your comments. I would be happy to give you credit.
Thanks again for reading AND for taking the time to write.
Don
Of course you can use my stuff. There was just so little room to say more. I encourage you to do a much larger piece…maybe a small book about the area. Such dignitaries lived there. Such great backbone of America who taught their kids decency and respect. You’d do it well, I believe. How about it. I have heaps of material for you to use if you want it.
Alice,
No book right now, but please, send me more material. I’ve got more stories to tell about Ponders, the motor courts, and more. Any images? An old school friend, Tom Shaw, wrote today also. He lived in a house where Sarge’s is when he was a little boy and I’ve known him since Park Lodge. Thanks for thinking everything over.
Don
Don and Alice, you certainly rekindled some fond old memories of Ponders Corner. When I was a little guy my family and I lived in a small house that was located where Sarge’s Loans now stands. My mom moonlighted at the Abba Dabba for extra money. My birth mom and her husband lived in an apartment above the Ponders Tavern at one time. We shopped in Hogan’s grocery often as well as the “dime” store and the old Lakewood Hardware store. Later David Klinger, a childhood friend and neighbor in Nyanza Park (across the railroad tracks from Ponders), would double up on our paper routes on Sunday and finish up at the Ingleside Inn for a breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate like we were the big spenders of our time. I also spent a lot of paper route money down the street at Bob’s Burger Barn. Later more money would be spent at Nelson’s Ponders Auto Parts repairing my 59 Corvette.
There used to be a huge neon Olympia Beer sign on top of the Ingleside Inn building that you could see from south of Tillicum as you drove northbound around the bend from the Fort Lewis on old highway 99. Oh for the memories.
Tom,
You brought tears of laughter to my eyes this morning. I’m thinking of doing a follow up piece. With your information perhaps two more pieces. The first Halloween after we moved from Maple Avenue into Ponders I crossed the railroad tracks and went trick or treating in Nyanza Park. The first house I went to was Timi Paulson’s. She was having a party and I was asked to stay. Her family made me feel welcome. Thanks for writing . . . we’ve got to have breakfast after the first of the year if you’re still in the area.
Don,
All these people are saying such positive things about you, Ponders and your Ponders article. I say, “Ditto”.
Back in 59′ I moved from Seattle to Puyallup, Washington. I was 16 years old, had a car, some dating money in my pocket from working at Hi Ho Shopping Center.
Puyallup had a population of around 11,999 citizens and with me, that made 12,000 citizens. So there I am with my really cool customized 1954 Ford 2 door hardtop with the windows down and the AM playing. My date says she likes pizza.
Guess what? If I was going to meet her pizza need, there was no pizza to be found in Puyallup. Now where could I go to get my hands on some pizza?
There was only one place, Ponders which was a 24 mile round trip for pizza. Once in Ponders, where could I go to get some pizza? There was only two places. Pizza Casa and Pizza Roma.
That is how I discovered Ponders.
Is it not interesting to think I may have been in Ponders having Pizza at the table right next to yours? Do you remember my 1954 Ford parked out front?
Keep writing your great pieces, Don.
Joseph Boyle
I don’t recall the Ford. And I don’t think my family ever ate at the Roma. We always bought it “to go.” Next time out I’ll tell the story of when my little sister was four or five. As soon as my parents left with me in charge of the motel and my sister I would order a pizza for the two of us. I would walk out to the highway with Marsha and when there was a lull in traffic she would cross and walk to the Roma where she would stand on tippy-toe to put the money for the pizza on the counter. When she came back I would again stand by the highway and when traffic was clear I would yell, “RUN!!!!” and she would run back carrying our pepperoni pizza. Then we would feast. This is a favorite family story.
My aunt and uncle lived in Puyallup and their place was next door to the Duris farm just off River Road. My cousin Lavinia Whitworth graduated from Puyallup High School. We were and remain close. Our mothers were twins.
Don
We eat at different restaurant s along Ponders. I always wondered about its history. Thank you for the great story and the additional reader comments were wonderful as well.
Robert,
Thank you reading and writing. I’m glad you read the comments, also. I never thought that Ponders would be so popular. I’ve more stories myself and can certainly work in some other details from Alice, Joe, and Tom. Thank you also for the kind words. Look for more about Ponders in the future.
Don
Hey, Don ~
I moved to Lakewood with my parents when I was three, and grew up in Lakeview and then Nyanza Park. (Hi, Timmi and Tom!)
When I was quite small, my parents and I used to drive from Lakeview to eat occasionally at the 3 B’s Restaurant. I seem to remember that it was along there in the area where Bob’s Burger Barn was later, but I was too little to really know where I was. Do you remember that place? And was it in that area?
When I was in jr. high, a friend and I used to go to the La Casa and for 50 cents, we were allowed to swim in the pool!
Yep, pizza at Ponders after school dances, etc. Thanx for the story!!
Jan
Jan,
Thanks for joining in the comments.
3Bs? Not ringing a bell. There was a restaurant where 99 curved from South Tacoma Way into Pacific Highway. Could that have been the 3Bs? The swimming pool was at the Biltmore. It looked more upscale thanks to the I-5 pathway. I think they had individual buildings, which were in the way of the freeway moved together and then had one roof line to connect them. Mrs. Wickens (sp?) let me and Roger (?) swim, too. Roger was the regular paperboy and I was his relief. He was a Seventh Day Adventist I believe, so I delivered at least one day a week.
p.s. Did you ever change my little sister Dee Dee’s diapers?
Don
HI, Don…
Alas, I may never know where that 3B’s restaurant was located!
Ahh, you’re right, the Biltmore had the pool! Sorry for my confusion.
No, I never had the experience of changing Dee Dee’s diapers (love the alliteration!). I think the only time I was actually at your house was the night Louise and I came and got the car from Rich and then she got stopped on the freeway for driving without a license, etc. That was well past Dee Dee’s diaper days.
Thanx……… Jan
Jan,
Actually, Dee Dee was born in January ’64. You’re thinking of Marsha. I like the phrase “got the car from Rich.” That’s so much nicer than referring to it as a stolen vehicle. Sorry . . . can you hear me laughing?
Don
Oh, Don…you know we didn’t steal that car! (Grin.) We just wheedled!! (But the “stolen” version sounds more intriguing.) Rich was such a soft touch.
(And yes, that’s why I never changed Dee Dee’s diapers…or Marsha’s, either.)
Jan
JanTaylor: I believe I can take you to the exact foundation of the 3Bees cafe. WE shouldmeet for coffee if you’re that serious. Alice Peeples
Alice Peeple ~
Yes, I’d love to find out where the 3B’s was located. I’d started to think it was just a nickname that my parents gave to a place – our last name started with B, and there were just the 3 of us.
I can easily meet you in Lakewood for coffee. Let me know where and when is convenient for you!!
And THANK YOU!!
Jan
Jan Taylor
email: alzpplz@comcast.net
Well, Don, looks like your old haunts still haunt you. Casa Roma had the first great pizza in Pierce County. Similar, but not exactly like the Cloverleaf’s.
Pizza Casa still cuts their pizza into small squares, and the flavor was my favorite. I took my family; Ilse, Erik, Ann, and I loved sharing their sausage pizza. These days, we sometimes meet with Ann and her family at Pizza Casa, kind of a halfway point for getting all of us together.
Next, you left out the first, El Toro’s. They served the best Mexican food, and would be foundation of the El Toro chain. It was filled with GI’s at lunch, and their families for dinner. So, hooray for Ponder’s Corner
Maybe one day, we’ll have pizza out there. You’ll buy of course.
Dennis,
Who would have thought that Ponders Corner would be a hot bed of comments? El Toro, like Pizza Casa, was just outside a quick hike when I needed dinner and by myself at the motel. Peg andI along with other friends have dined at both since then. And of course we visit El Toro’s now and again just off Pearl. There’s a couple waiters there that always give us a hard time and we so enjoy that. Great drinks as well as good food.
I think it was the sauce that made the pizza at the Roma and Cloverleaf stand out. I’m saving all the comments for Ponders Part II . . . and perhaps Part III.
Denny, Can you believe how small the world is? Erik was our paperboy a jillion years ago just down the street from you on N 5th. Lived there for 30 years then moved back to the home place at Ponders. Now we’ve been here another 20 years. Good grief!
Alice, Erik’s job of delivering papers brought money into his hands, and when he was sick, or there was ice on the streets, I’d get up and drive him around. I learned that delivering papers is good for the child, but not the father or mother. I wonder how many folks in Tacoma have moved from the North End to Ponders Corner? You might be unique.
Denny,
Are we dopplegangers? Well, you being the much older doppleganger or course . . . My son Del delivered The PI in our neighborhood. He got the job himself and did the route himself. He must have been twelve or thirteen. I know what you mean about the weather. I woke up one morning and saw snow everywhere. He was already gone. I got dressed and hopped in my Chevy truck and went looking for him. I found him and I drove him through his route. I was so proud of him . . . still am.
Denny, I was a “returner” to Ponders. We lived here from 1938. Followed jobs but always returned. I’m there now and loving it even though it’s now a ghetto of miscreants. My kids are buying up properties around us as they become for sale. Makes it great for us as they are not remarketed. Just held for rentals. We do have great leases and wonderful people living around us as neighbors. It’s a fine way to upgrade a neighborhood and have control over crime, cleanliness, and sloth. Always missed Erikfter he left his route. He was a hard working darling kid. Come from good parenting. lol