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Save The Kalakala!
More Practical Solution(s)
posted Mar 10, 2009
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3/2 - Return of the Kalakala, Spew
3/2 - A New Vision for the Kalakala?, Exit133
10/28/2008 - Preserve MV Kalakala & Black Ball Line, GoPetition.com
KALAKALA-Mania
Kalakala.org
3/2 - A New Vision for the Kalakala?, Exit133
10/28/2008 - Preserve MV Kalakala & Black Ball Line, GoPetition.com
KALAKALA-Mania
Kalakala.org
Comments [77]
 by jenyum on 3/10/2009 @ 8:31am | Hee. Nice one. |
 by fredo on 3/10/2009 @ 9:30am | Other Kalakala reuses: Office space for Tacoma's 2 rapidly expanding businesses: Foreclosure and unemployment benefits processing. |
 by Dave_L on 3/10/2009 @ 12:20pm | Brilliant! How much for the original? Or a signed photocopy? (Tacomic, that is, not the real Kalakala)
BTW, it's odd that other Kalakala's come up when searching, like Kalakala, Sudan, or some guy named Kalakala. Once again, the Black Ball Ferry Line song, with the Andrews Sisters gleefully singing of the Kalakala. www.archive.org/details/Bing-Crosby--And... |
 by NineInchNachos on 3/10/2009 @ 1:02pm | Thanks Dave, ALL TACOMICS are available for purchase the day of publishing on FEED TACOMA at a value cost of $66.66 !
As a courtesy of your request and future TACOMIC CUSTOMERS I have created an item in the shops page: tinyurl.com/buy-tacomic maybe I can talk kevin into adding a 'buy original' link to the tacomic page. |
 by marumaruyopparai on 3/10/2009 @ 1:59pm | How about putting the Kalakala back into service as a studio for RR Anderson, Muffy and Lord Xenu for the Learn 2 Draw teevee show?
Or, a new headquarters for CLAW, so you don't have to slum it in coffee shops anymore like crazy fez wearing homeless people. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/10/2009 @ 5:45pm | Yeah, this cartoon was dealing mostly with realistic or practical uses for the skeleton of the Kalakala. What you propose would be realistic in that world between awake and sleep known as the twilight zone... a child's fantasy of hot air and ladies underwear.
The Kalakala will live on alright, but only in dreams. |
 by Mofo from the Hood on 3/11/2009 @ 12:29am | The Kalakala restoration plan is totally bogus. The real Kalakala was submerged off Vashon Island on December 8, 1941 after "Wong Way Kawasaki" a lost kamakazi pilot, flew past Pearl Harbor and nosedived his Zero onto the unescorted ferry.
The Kalakala clone we've seen is a tool of The Conspiracy to scam naive and sentimental Tacoman's into funneling their hard-earned money into "Educational" projects "For the Kid's." Once the clone is "restored" then displayed to the public, the ferry will undergo an accelerated aging process, developed by Conspiracy atheist scientists. Next, The Ministry of Planned Giving developed by Conspiracy atheist MBA's will promote a cross-media marketing campaign to scam naive and sentimental Tacoman's into funneling their hard-earned money into "Educational" projects "For the Kid's." |
 by izenmania on 3/11/2009 @ 9:42am | (RxR, your shops posting might benefit from a list of which Tacomics are still available. Possibly even with links!) |
by jenyum on 3/11/2009 @ 9:43am | Well, it looks like we may need the Kalakala after all. You know, it might go well with the architecture of Hunt Middle School. I could see it parked next to their cafeteria dome. |
by jenyum on 3/11/2009 @ 11:16am |  |
by NineInchNachos on 3/11/2009 @ 12:09pm | that's a wicked photoshopped kalakala Tacoma mama |
by Mofo from the Hood on 3/11/2009 @ 12:11pm | VISUALIZE TACOMAN'S |
by NineInchNachos on 3/11/2009 @ 12:41pm | hey Joe, I'm working with Kevin on your 'sold' tacomic request. Hopefully we can add some admin functionality to my feed/shop account that lets me mark (un)availabe cartoons.
pioneering cartoon entrepreneurial technology here folks! |
by NineInchNachos on 3/11/2009 @ 12:42pm | in the meantime i'll put together a google doc spreadsheet or something.. |
by Dave_L on 3/11/2009 @ 6:50pm | Hope I still got dibs ;-) |
by Dave_L on 3/24/2009 @ 4:09pm | I'm like a kid with a new toy as I purchased Tacomic #105 Save the Kalakala, framed and complete with custom inscription and decoy packaging. The exchange was made at the new Blackwater for the exact sum of a mere $66.66 USD. I wish Blackwater was more convenient for me. The new location looked fine, and I noticed a familiar face or two that I hadn't seen in a long time. And fortunately, Tacoma Urbanist wasn't there to document the exchange. Anyway, Thanks, RxR! Several more Tacomics still available, and unlike BA posters, these are one-of!
tinyurl.com/tacomic-sale |
by NineInchNachos on 3/24/2009 @ 5:05pm | 
may it serve you well through the years Dave! |
 by Erik on 3/24/2009 @ 5:17pm | Yeah. That's a good one. Nice one Dave L.
And fortunately, Tacoma Urbanist wasn't there to document the exchange. Must have missed you. |
 by morgan on 3/28/2009 @ 11:21pm | Did anyone catch the follow up to this in the Tacoma Weekly? I just caught it here (Kevin: they have RSS): www.tacomaweekly.com/article/2953/
Pretty interesting article! That upside down spire would be home to an indoor ski facility. Here are some snippets: Steve Rodrigues thinks it would be a big draw and would drive people to visit Kalakala, the aging ferryboat he purchased several years ago. Rodrigues wants to spend between $80 million and $100 million on what is arguably the most unconventional idea yet proposed for Tacoma?s downtown waterfront. He envisions it as a part of an ambitious attraction for Thea Foss Waterway. Rodrigues wants to build an 11-story structure that would house ski runs, waterslides, skydiving, restaurants, hotel rooms and a health club. Adjacent to it would be smaller buildings with retail shops. Kalakala would be in the center of it all, restored to an extent that people could take tours of it. The ship would either sit in a trench on the land, or inside a special structure that would keep it out of the nearby water. Part of it would be a museum, while other areas could be rented for private parties. Next to it would be a tank for dolphins and floating docks for future passenger ferries. Rodrigues presented his proposal to Mayor Bill Baarsma, who steered him to the board of Foss Waterway Development Authority (FWDA). He made a presentation to the board on March 18. Rodrigues is interested in site 4, located between the Esplanade and Thea?s Landing condominium buildings. Robert Thurston, a businessman who operates a boutique hotel at Pike Place Market in Seattle, had secured this parcel for a hotel/condominium building. His efforts have met numerous delays as the market for condos has gone downhill and he has found financing difficult to come by. According to Rodrigues, Thurston is ready to abandon his plans. He told the board he has negotiated a deal with Thurston to purchase the land from him. ?He is willing to sell the property to us,? Rodrigues said. That is absolutely crazy! And I love it! Tacoma needs more ideas like this around here - and the capacity to pull it off. See you on the slopes! |
 by ixia on 3/29/2009 @ 8:29am | Nice to know soon we won't have to travel to Dubai to do some indoor downhill.
Perhaps the empty Esplanade could be offered up? Just lift the Kalakala up on top and voila- instant pre-use. |
 by Thorax O'Tool on 3/29/2009 @ 8:55pm | It's so damn crazy... that it might work. |
by Erik on 3/29/2009 @ 10:19pm | The plan makes RR's renditions pretty tame. |
 by Twisty on 3/30/2009 @ 9:25am | I saw that Tacoma Weekly article, too. I looked and looked, but I couldn't find Mike Parker's name on it anywhere. |
by morgan on 3/30/2009 @ 9:32am | What ever happened to Mike?
I would love to see an article on former city leaders on "Where Are They Now?" - seems like once they're out of office they fall off the face of the eart- or at least it seems like they aren't in Tacoma anymore. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/30/2009 @ 9:33am | before we go making accusations of whose idea is tame, please consider the context of my cartoon suggestions as PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS and thus have some chance of being implemented. An indoor ski slope surrounded by some of the best ski mountains ever is quite IMPRACTICAL... an idea of hot air and fantasy. |
by Twisty on 3/30/2009 @ 9:43am | "What ever happened to Mike?"
No idea, but my guess would be that he's out there selling stock in a cold fusion start-up or something similar. |
by Twisty on 3/30/2009 @ 9:44am | RR is spot-on. Indoor ski slopes work well in places like Dubai. The NW? Not so much. |
by Mofo from the Hood on 3/30/2009 @ 12:32pm | Regarding this fantasy building project newspaper story:
Is this the kind of customer bankers are looking for nowadays? If I go out to Roy Y Auto Wrecking and buy a rusting heap of Pontiac and then say that I want to make it the center piece of a tennis club and tanning spa surrounding it, then I'm like newsworthy and a communty hero and worthy of receiving millions of dollars? People used to think that National Enquirer newspaper wrote about wacky stuff... |
by NineInchNachos on 3/31/2009 @ 10:24pm | RIDDLE ME THIS:
what looks like an upsidedown pyramid mashed up with a paul bunion sized urinal? 
give up? here is a hint: you can also skydive down it... 
MADE IN GERMANY. HOME OF THE HUMAN-SIZED OVEN! |
by NineInchNachos on 3/31/2009 @ 10:31pm | REBUTTAL STATEMENT: "If he cannot work a deal in Tacoma, he said he has an alternate site on Puget Sound for Kalakala, as well as a different, undisclosed site for the ski attraction. �If you do not want our snow, if you do not want our hotel, we can take it somewhere else." ~ Steve Rodrigues, 2009 THE REALIST and SKEPTIC RR ANDERSON sez: do we indeed need more snow-jobs from developers? I'm tired of being hurt by these wild eyed dreamers. Be like me, do the right thing. Do the super thing. GIVE UP. EMBRACE OBLIVION. If you stare into the void long enough the void stares back. This november elect a CITY HECKLER you can believe in. Vote RR for City Heckler. the cynical choice |
by NineInchNachos on 3/31/2009 @ 10:44pm | TOURISTS, THRILL SEEKERS and ne'er-do-wellS... do we want to be the city that attracts the type of people who would want to jump down a giant urinal? i'm tired of the brain-dead vegas style pacifiers; the frivolous novelty. I'm done with that. I want thrifty practical and useful. I want the hanging gardens of Babylon.... a research laboratory aquarium... oceanography institute... a kick ass library of Alexandria... instead they give me fucking indoor skiing. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/31/2009 @ 10:50pm | this idea is so superman III
|
by Erik on 3/31/2009 @ 10:52pm | RR, your just jealous because this guy came up with something crazier for the Kalakala than your Kalakala starship version.
Nice find on the toilet though, looks like the developer may have a copyright infringement issue to deal with. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/31/2009 @ 10:54pm | if they build this thing I'm going to make a giant salt patty out of Styrofoam block  I swear to god. any how. yeah. It's crazy. crazy like a fox. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/25/2011 @ 11:23pm | NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
www.thenewstribune.com/2011/03/25/159996... man alot of these old comments of mine are embarrassing. Now I know how Hans Zeiger must feel. |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 5:01am | Nachos, I'm really feeling bad about the Kalakala.
The Kalakala could be a local icon. It's as emblemic of the Art Deco movement as anything in the world including the Chrysler Building. If it's eventually cut up for scrap I think it will be sadder than the day the Luzon was demolished. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/26/2011 @ 8:51am | Kalakala stands alone on earth. There will never be another one... ever. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/26/2011 @ 8:57am | a song for the Kalakala www.youtube.com/watch?v=4spkVX8z-vs |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 9:15am | You can't resist her
She's in your bones She is your marrow And your ride home You can't avoid her She's in the air In between molecules Of oxygen and carbon dioxide Only in dreams We see what it means Reach out our hands Hold on to hers But when we wake It's all been erased And so it seems Only in dreams You walk up to her Ask her to dance She says "Hey baby I just might take the chance" You say "It's a good thing That you float in the air That way there's no way I will crush your pretty toenails into a thousand pieces" Only in dreams We see what it means Reach out our hands Hold on to hers But when we wake It's all been erased And so it seems Only in dreams Only in dreams I was looking at a picture of weezer. One of the band members had a large red birth mark on his face like Gorbachav. But then I cleaned by screen with some windex and I made his birth mark go away. |
 by Jesse on 3/26/2011 @ 9:27am | Kiss this ship goodbye if the current owner doesn't either sell it to someone who can restore it right away or actually start fixing it up himself.
Another case of good intentions going bad. I'm sure this guy loves the ship and loves the fact that he owns it but obviously doesn't have the ability, money, or know-how to do anything with it. (See also; Old City Hall, Luzon, Winthrop, etc.) |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 9:28am | Are there enough people in the country who would respond to an appeal to send a few dollars to help save the Kalakala? Wouldn't a picture of this listing old behemouth get people to click through a little money on their paypal accounts? Imagine the Kalakala all polished up and proud, perhaps serving as venue available for weddings, reunions etc. People all dressed up and a big band playing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Something like that. How do you make an idea like that go viral? |
by Jesse on 3/26/2011 @ 9:30am | The minute it got fixed up it would be off to Seattle. Anyone wanna bet me on that one? Since it is currently trash, it's ok that it sits in Tacoma. As soon as it's worth something Seattle will want it -- and probably get it. My call is that the only way it stays in Tacoma (and gets restored) is if the Tacoma Waterfront Maritime Museum buys and restores it --- soon. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/26/2011 @ 9:35am | I've emailed Steve Rodriguez a few times. He has a fanatical devotion to this ship. I'd say the Kalakala was his white whale... or Silver Fail Whale.. if his chest were a cannon he'd blow his heart upon it etc. The question is can the W.M. Dickson demolition claws operate in a maritime environment? Can you park the crane claws on a barge or something? |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 9:36am | good point jesse.
OK, we place the Kalakala in a marina type spot with water all around it, but it's actually sitting on land surrounded with a little moat. It's not actually seaworthy. Place it near the LeMay museum and allow LeMay ticket holders free admission to tour the boat. I think this would be a hit. |
by Jesse on 3/26/2011 @ 9:43am | Perhaps the owner can donate the boat to the maritime museum for a tax write-off under the condition that they restore it. Then, the museum would really have something grand to boast about for a new capital campaign for the restoration. Have Rodriguez chair the campaign (as the volunteer chair as opposed to the professional one) and give him recognition somehow when it's finished. Otherwise, right now, it looks like it's destined for the scrap yard. |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 9:53am | The Kalakala is the nautical equivalent of the spruce goose airplane which has an entire structure built around it down in Oregon, I forget where. We could pull the Kalakala, ala the movie Fitzcaraldo, out of the marina and up the hill to the parking lot of the Tacoma Dome and cover it up. Put in some windows so people driving on I-5 can get a tantalizing view.
People are fretting about losing the history museum which is just a representation of history. The Kalakala is'nt a representation of history...it IS history. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/26/2011 @ 9:53am | would make a good greasy spoon restaurant too. wasn't there one of those already on ruston way? |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 9:57am | There was a restaurant that looked like a ship, I don't know if it was an actual ship or not. I think it was called the Top of the Ocean or something like that. It's a little before my time here in Tacoma. It was near the foot of McCarver Street. Tacoma historians...Jinx?...Crenshaw? |
by fredo on 3/26/2011 @ 10:08am | When people think of seattle there are some things that immediately come to mind like the space needle and the pike place market. There is nothing like those two places and they really can't be recreated anywhere else. You have to go to seattle to experience them but when people think of Tacoma the things they mention as iconic are really not so much iconic as merely curiosities. Yes the frisko freeze is nice and we have stadium high school but we are really deficient in the category of iconic landmarks. this is where the Kalakala would fit in. Any one else agree or have a comment? |
by jenyum on 3/26/2011 @ 10:39am | I do agree, but unless someone forks over the money or the owner actually donates the boat I'm not sure what we can do. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/26/2011 @ 1:38pm | clap your hands if you believe in ferries! |
 by cisserosmiley on 3/26/2011 @ 1:53pm | park a couple lemay cars on it and everyone will give em millions of dollars |
by jenyum on 3/26/2011 @ 2:28pm | I think the owner may be hoping to employ your magical strategy, RR...
kalakala.org/
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by Dave_L on 3/27/2011 @ 6:18pm | www.youtube.com/user/HistoryMediaHistory... |
by Mofo from the Hood on 3/27/2011 @ 10:39pm | There's really only one fitting end for the Kalakala if it is to remain in Tacoma. I've sent a handwritten letter and sketches by courier to 1801 Dock Street and by tomorrow morning we shall awaken to a new dawn of integrated artistry---a synthesis of the best of Tacomakind's cultural history and its contemporary ingenuity and craftsmanship.
I've looked at the facts of the Kalakala story and used that knowledge to form the basis of a theory to explain why Tacoma's waterfront has developed to its present state. The fundamental question that has puzzled many Tacoman's is this: Why does a seaport which has a history of shipbuilding also have a contemporary glassblowing hotshop? I believe that the juxaposition of these seemingly unrelated fabrication shops reveals a cause and effect relationship that goes beyond mere coincidence. If my theory and predictions prove to be more than conceptual chewing gum, we shall soon witness the seaship Kalakala encased in a magnificent handblown glass bottle! |
by cisserosmiley on 3/28/2011 @ 4:28am | maybe that could be the first feature installment at the new seattle glass museum |
by NineInchNachos on 3/28/2011 @ 7:44am | HA! |
 by The Jinxmedic on 3/28/2011 @ 8:03am | Here's a new one for the "city motto" thread:
"Tacoma- where history comes to die." |
by Thorax O'Tool on 3/28/2011 @ 8:58am | I'm going to cry |
by cisserosmiley on 3/28/2011 @ 12:10pm | we should break off a piece of the 11th street bridge dough and restore the kalakala to run back and forth underneath it in hourly shows...SEE THE KALAKALA, RIDE THE KALAKALA! |
by NineInchNachos on 3/28/2011 @ 12:16pm | action playset! |
by The Jinxmedic on 3/28/2011 @ 12:47pm | It really should be part of a LeMay waterfront exhibit on the lower Foss. That would be a natural. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/28/2011 @ 12:52pm | it could be a traveling LeMay exhibit. park a bunch of cars on it an she could make the rounds. |
by NineInchNachos on 3/28/2011 @ 12:55pm | this guy had the right idea:
"They say it’s going to cost millions to clean up if it sinks. (Public funds of course) Why not be proactive and spend the same millions to fix it and do something positive with it?" www.exit133.com/6200/the-kalakala-shrugg... |
by The Jinxmedic on 3/28/2011 @ 1:33pm | Because they don't think that way here. The Luzon would have been made safe with $50,000 of bracing while awaiting the Glitz Group financing for the rennovation. It cost over three times that amount to tear it down. |
by cisserosmiley on 3/28/2011 @ 1:55pm | park it on a pile of sand next to lemay like the crazy fireboat on ruston way |
by NineInchNachos on 4/7/2011 @ 10:55pm | Thanks Dave! www.tacomaweekly.com/news/city/kalakalas... |
by NineInchNachos on 5/3/2011 @ 11:06pm | noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/03/165148... |
by Thorax O'Tool on 5/3/2011 @ 11:40pm | Perhaps the time has come to let it go, RR.
Might be best to let it sink in Bellingham Bay rather than in Commencement Bay. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/5/2011 @ 9:18pm | anyone have a dollar I can borrow? www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=135063898&fPa... |
by Jesse on 12/6/2011 @ 7:20am | I'm glad this guy is basically being forced to sell it. However, I bet it will end up scrap metal. I hope not. |
by NineInchNachos on 1/5/2012 @ 4:15pm | ON NPR! www.npr.org/2012/01/05/144741339/sinking... |
by NineInchNachos on 1/5/2012 @ 6:21pm | so apparently the upper most dome pilot house portion of the Kalakala is made entirely of copper (via comment reply from npr news reporter) don't let that get out to the Meth copper thieves ! |
by The Jinxmedic on 1/6/2012 @ 7:55am | I think you just did that... |
by NineInchNachos on 5/6/2012 @ 10:09am | alert Dave!
www.thenewstribune.com//2012/05/05/21333... |
 by Chris 7.2 on 5/6/2012 @ 11:18am | The Kalakala yesterday.
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 by Non Sequitur on 5/6/2012 @ 11:39am | Abandon hope, ye who moor here...
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