Mar. 11, 2008 at 12:05am

Blackwater Cafe Gets *Masa* Type *Green* Windows

To my horror this morning, I drove up to Blackwater Cafe and saw this:

My first thought was that someone broken both of the windows. 

That would have been disturbing as many of the good ideas in photography, politics, art, technology, media, civic and urban issues in downtown Tacoma have either been conceived or grown here in the last two years. 

Blackwater even served as the temporary headquarters of Exit 133 for a time and Local Life Tacoma and all of its branches.  One of the prime open source social and technological networking hubs in the city.

Fortunately, Blackwater was simply undergoing a deliberate minor remodel change to install Masa type windows to cool off in the summer and for better air circulation generally. 

This seems to be the increasingly the trend for restaurants and a good one.  Blackwater is going to be quite the scene this summer and be able to do it without air conditioning making them a more of a "green" building than chain coffee places.  (They may also want to consider using reflective sealant for the roof)

Blackwater was still open and pretty well full.  The construction should be finished up now.  They were 80 percent done by noon on Monday 3/10/08.

Despite the temporary construction, the coffee was spot on as usual and was worth a picture.

For more information and pictures, see:

Tacoma Coffee Houses

Blackwater Cafe
747 Fawcett
Tacoma, WA
http://www.blackwatertacoma.com/

(Sharon Winters from Historic Tacoma has a good article in the Tribune about how reusing existing buildings is often more "green" than a fancy "green" designed new ones)