Tacoma Urbanist
May. 7, 2008 at 12:26am
Good, Bad, Ugly Signage Hits Downtown Tacoma
New Signs Appearing in Downtown Tacoma
Which do you think are the best and worse?
Juno sign is pretty cool. Looks better in person. Dark Blue. Relates to what is happening inside. If there was ever a place downtown where a club will not disturb anything it is here in the middle of a pack of parking garages.
Maxwell sign. Simple and low key. Nice.
Clear Channel. Does the candidate realize how people feel about billboards? This one over a surface level parking lot.
Downtown Tacoma needs Italian food. Merende is being built where Vin Grotto used to be.
The sign of this painful dead plaza looks so innocent and unknowing.
This private-public signage combination is downright depressing. Department of Corrections and a Bail Bond outfit on the same building. A dysfunctional symbiotic revolving door relationship of sorts. It could make one experience a fleeting thought of moving to the isolation of the suburbs.
This sign is in Satellite Coffee parking lot. I could be a Chris Sharp original like the mural on the building. Pretty cool though.
by Adam the Alien on 5/7/2008 @ 1:52am | Wait...Juno is a club?
Geez...when I first saw that sign, driving by it, I figured it was an office building for the internet company. |
by KevinFreitas on 5/7/2008 @ 6:45am | That Juno sign is the worst. Looks like a bad copy of the Halo video game logo.
I really like that Maxwell's sign. Classy. |
by ixia on 5/7/2008 @ 7:39am | Maxwell is fun, perhaps a bit too small for the metal bracket.
The worst by far is Tolefson. It seems to apologize and invite to call because problems are expected....... |
by intacoma on 5/7/2008 @ 7:40am | hotel murano still has a terrible sign, it looks great during the day but then at night a big white m :( |
by FunkomaVintage on 5/7/2008 @ 8:21am | I like the Merkle's....simple, and old school, and .......just.....real.....old. It simply says "HOTEL".
My faves tho are the ones painted on brick. |
by Heather on 5/7/2008 @ 8:54am | I'd like to nominate the Clear Channel sign above Hal of a Sub advertising the Apex condos in the Tacoma Mall area. |
by NineInchNachos on 5/7/2008 @ 9:01am | they all deserve to be burned at the stake. except for the satellite one maybe |
by Erik on 5/7/2008 @ 10:52am | The worst by far is Tolefson. It seems to apologize and invite to call because problems are expected.......
I believe the term is called "wayfinding." The Tollefson Plaza sign is useful in case people are scheduled to have a business meeting lunch or date in Tollefson Plaza and they don't know where it is. |
by ixia on 5/7/2008 @ 2:28pm | People have meetings and dates inTolefson?
Amazing. Do I call 591-5495 to make reservations? Just in case it gets crowded... |
by Erik on 5/7/2008 @ 2:31pm | People have meetings and dates inTolefson?
No. I was kidding. So far the space has been unable to even attract Chronic Public Inebriants. query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=... |
| Post Reply: |
About
A ongoing conversation to make Tacoma a better to live and work through better urban design.
See my Downtown and Neighborhood Pictures
-Erik B.
Most Popular Posts:
1. Tacoma Coffee Shop Showdown
2. Traffic Calming Portland Style (by painting intersections)
3. Tacoma's Relevance to Presidential Election 2008
4. Daniel Blue and RR Anderson
5. Tacoma Document Archive - Key City Documents, Court Documents, Links, Books, and Videos.
6. Is your city worth caring about? James Kunstler discusses how to make your community a place worth caring about.
Useful Links
Tacoma Streetcars - Join the citywide effort to restore streetcars to Tacoma's Neighborhoods.
Congress for New Urbanism - the leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl.
Planetizen - A one-stop source for urban planning news, commentary and interviews.
New Urban News - Discussing traditional neighborhood development focusing on building mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods instead of conventional suburban subdivisions, shopping centers and office parks.