On the Waterfront: Browns Point, Tacoma, Washington (Tac 06)

April 2004 view of Browns Point and cottages below Marine View Drive
(Hasselblad XPan camera, 45mm lens, Fuji Rala film)

Let us continue our quick September 2025 tour of Tacoma's waterfront. After exploring the commercial harbor on an overcast September day, I drove along Marine View Drive (Rte 509) to Browns Point. The bluffs rise steeply up from the road, but some new suburban developments have been carved into the hillside.

(Click any picture to enlarge details.)

Tank Farm vista and Double-brested cormorants, northeast Tacoma
(Kodak Panatomic-X film, 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

I think I would not opt to live above a tank farm, but they do have a nice view to the west of the harbor and downtown Tacoma.

Trucking company, 1749 Rte 509 (80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens)

Unknown chemical storage, 1749 Rte 509 (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

Chipping machine, 1748 Rte 509

The southern part of Marine View Drive is lines with industry and material handling companies. 

Further north, the bluff rises steeply to the east, but the narrow beach has some cottages and year-round housing. Former pullouts with a view of the bay are now blocked and signed with "No Parking Any Time." I assume this was to keep off the homeless RVs and cars. 

Beach cottage, Marine View Drive

Watch kitties on patrol (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

Hubcap heaven? Or just good stuff?

Cranes at Washington United Terminals from Marine View Drive
(250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

I took these phots on Kodak Panatomic-X film with my Hasselblad 501CM camera and various lenses. Glazer's Camera in Seattle developed the film. I scanned it with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner. 

On the Waterfront: Port of Tacoma, Washington (Tac 05)

I like Tacoma more and more. There is so much interesting photographic material there. On an overcast day in September (2025), I drove to the Port of Tacoma with my Hasselblad and Kodak Panatomic-X film (yes, the real Panatomic-X). We will start with two photographs from the Foss Waterway and move east into the more industrial part of the port. 

Foss Waterway

Foss Waterway and East 21st Street Bridge and Tacoma Dome (Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar lens)

The Foss Waterway is the channel closest to downtown Tacoma. Because of its proximity to the city, most people only see this waterway, not the ones in the industrial port further east. There is less industrial activity on the Thea Foss now than 20 and 30 years ago, and marinas occupy some of the channel. More photos of the Foss Waterway are in my 2024 article.

Foss Waterway and Murray Morgan Memorial Bridge
(Kodak T400CN film, Leitz 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, yellow filter) 

Port of Tacoma

Heavy lift cranes, Lower Turning Basin (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Former boat yard launch rails, view looking northwest to Commencement Bay
(80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, yellow filter)

Alexander Avenue E at E 11th Street
(250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

Tank cars, Alexander Avenue E, view northwest
(250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

Cranes from Lincoln Avenue (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Landscape Bark Company, Lincoln Avenue (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Landscape Bark Company, Lincoln Avenue (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

This company crushes and grinds a lot of bark. It was Sunday, so I could set up my tripod on the sidewalk in front of the property.

Standby for more Tacoma waterfront and industrial in the future.

Tech Note

This is my 1960s Carl Zeiss 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar-C lens. It compresses the view, as you see in some of the photographs above. This was one of my most amazing bargains: $87 for a magnificent piece of West German mechanical and optical engineering. This is a 1960s single-coated version with chrome barrel. It uses Bay 50 filters, which are inexpensive now compared to the Bay 60 filters that fit most of the newer Hasselblad lenses. 

Even the shutter on my bargain lens did not need an overhaul. The slowest speeds are probably a bit slow, but it barely affects exposures (i.e., 1 sec. may be 1.5 sec. - so what?). When using this lens, I always mount the camera on a tripod. With Panatomic-X film, the exposures are in the 1/4 or 1/2 sec. range.  

Good things in Small Packages: the 25mm ƒ/4 SnapShot Skopar lens in Tacoma, Washington (Tac 04)

Dear Readers, another confession: Once again, I suffered from GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). It is hard to resist, like trying to avoid chocolate or bacon. Just before the de minimis exemptions ended in August 2025, I ordered a Voigtländer 25mm ƒ/4 SnapShot Skopar lens from a Japanese vendor. The lens arrived at my door in three days! *

Cosina in Japan makes these modern Voigtländer lenses. The company has licensed the famous name since 1999, but the current production has no tangible relationship with the venerable German company from the early 20th century. Voigtländer (Cosina) is one of the few companies that offers some of their new lenses in Leica thread mount (LTM).** 

Cosina introduced this little lens in thread mount around 2000. It is zone focus only, meaning it is not connected to the camera's rangefinder. I originally bought it to use with my Leica IIIC but am using it more often on my Leica M2 with a M-LTM adapter. The lens is tiny and convenient to toss into the camera bag. For framing, I use a 25mm Voigtländer auxiliary viewfinder that mounts on the camera's flash shoe.

* I plan to not order any more photo equipment from Japan or China until the confusion around the tariffs is cleared up. 

**  Other modern LTM lenses, all discontinued:

• Around 2022 or 2023, TTArtisan in China sold a version of their little 28mm ƒ/5.6 lens in Leica thread mount. It is discontinued, and if you can find one: $$$.
• In 1999, Leica issued their superb 50mm ƒ/2 modern Summicron lens in a thread-mount version. Gorgeous. It is now a serious $$$ collectors' item.
• In 2000, Pentax issued their SMC Pentax-L ƒ/1.9 43mm Special in LTM. This is also now a collectors' item. 
• Ricoh remounted their 28mm ƒ/2.8 lens from their GR camera in a barrel with thread mount.
• Avenon (manufacturer unknown) offered a 28mm ƒ/3.5 lens in the 1980s. 
• MS-Optical remounted some Contax 28mm ƒ/2.8 lenses in LTM. Availability unknown. 
• Light Lens Lab made a 35mm f/2 Collapsible Eight Element lens in 2019.

---

Tacoma

I first tested my SnapShot lens on my Leica IIIC in Olympia. Later, I mounted it on my M2 body using a M-LTM adapter and went to Tacoma. The light was subdued, perfect to show colors on an unused wood warehouse on East D Street.

East D Street view north

Murray Morgan (11th Street) Bridge over the Foss Waterway

 This historic warehouse was built in 1900. It suffered a fire in July of 2025. I could not find much information on the building's origins or original purpose. One comment in redditt (always of dubious authenticity) claims it was the Western Iron and Wire Works in the 1920s. It has become a canvas for graffiti artists, with some surprisingly skillful creations.

This building is an interesting canvas. I may return with my 4×5 camera and black and white film.

Steel warehouse, 701 East F Street

There are many other warehouses and industrial sites in the harbor area, but most are just modern commercial sheds. 

Geek Stuff

25mm ƒ/4 SnapShot lens mounted on my Leica IIIC camera

This is a well-engineered little optic. The markings are legible, and it feels good. Some reviewers complain of mis-alignment (decentered elements) in some samples, but mine appears to be correct. I think this lens shines with close-up and mid-distance topics. Highly recommended!

I took the photographs above on Kodak Portra 160 film. Glazer's Camera in Seattle, Washington, developed it in C-41 chemicals.

Nice Surprise! Tacoma with Fuji Presto 400 B&W Film (Abandoned Films 14b) (Tac 03)

Classic B&W Film

My Indiana friend, Jim Grey, sent me some 3-packs of a type of Fuji film I had never used before, Presto 400. This was the Japanese name for their Neopan 400 Professional, a high-speed, black and white negative film with an ISO speed of 400. I read that Fuji originally aimed this product at sports and documentary photography. Sadly, Fuji discontinued it in 2013.

This film reached me via one of the handy connectivity functions that the internet can provide (sometimes). A fellow in North Carolina wrote to Hamish Gill of 35MMC.com that he wanted to donate some film to help fund the web page. But there was a minor problem. The film was in North Carolina, and Hamish was in the United Kingdom. Hamish emailed some of his regular US contacts, and, by amazing coincidence, Jim Grey was heading to North Carolina on business in a week. Jim went to see the donor and found a refrigerator full of film that had been imported from Japan. I do not know the details, but Jim sent half the film to Hamish and distributed the rest in USA. Jim generously sent some packs to me.

Tacoma, Washington

I like Tacoma! The waterfront is full of interesting industrial and railroad subject matter. On a rainy-drizzly day in January, I wandered around the harbor with Presto in my Pentax MG camera. I set the exposure index at 320. Click any picture to see more details.

BNSF rail yard from East D Street (50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

Turntable, BNSF rail yard

BNSF rail yard (50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

East D Street view south (toning as a result of scanning as RGB full color; 135mm ƒ/3.5 Pentax-M lens)

Berg scaffolding company (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Berg scaffolding company (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Crossing tracks, J Street (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Rail cars, J Street (50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

Wood warehouse, East D Street, from under the 11th Street bridge

East D Street from the 11th Street bridge (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

This Presto 400 - I love it! It is grainy, like 1970s and 1980s Kodak Tri-X (pre T-grain technology). This Presto has a gritty sharpness to it. I hate to use the term "sharp"because it has become a semi-useless buzzword among internet photo posters ("Is my lens sharp enough?"). But I am referring to contrast and edge distinction. Regardless of nomenclature, I plan to use more Presto in the future. Thanks, again, Jim! 

This is Abandoned Films no. 14b. I used Presto earlier this year when I took portraits at the Not My Presidents Day protest. Please use the search button if you are interested in other long-lost films. 

Another milestone: this is Urban Decay's 800th post.

Update: My Pentax MG camera worked correctly on this trip. But some time during early 2025, it failed electronically, so I discarded it. These 1980s electronically-controlled cameras appear to be on a downward spiral. I have replaced it with a Pentax MX, whose shutter is mechanically controlled. 

At the BNSF Rail Yard, Tacoma, Washington (Tac 02)

 Railroad photography is always interesting if you like industrial/infrastructure/machinery topics. There are so many shapes, patterns, and details to record. Your eye can wander around the scene and seldom run out of new details. 

Most rail yards today are off limits to casual visitors. This is true for the large BNSF rail and off Puyallup Avenue in the Port of Tacoma. However, East D Street, just east of the Foss Waterway, has an overpass with a pedestrian sidewalk! That was too good to resist. On a May day with interesting clouds, I parked nearby and walked along the overpass with my camera and a tripod. The roadway vibrated when a truck rumbled by, so I waited for a quiet period. These frames are 2400 pixels wide, so click to see more details.

Turntable, BNSF rail yard, Tacoma

Years ago, there was probably a roundhouse here, where steam locomotives would have been repaired and readied for duty. Turntables were necessary to spin steam locomotives because they did not run in reverse efficiently. Modern diesel locomotives can run in either direction.

Buildings in background are Tacoma Dome parking garages (Panatomic-X film, med. yellow filter)

Signal equipment

South side of rail yard from East E Street (Kodak Tri-X 400 film)

Train moving around south end of Foss Waterway en route somewhere south

Tracks below downtown Tacoma parallel to Dock Street (Kodak T400CN film, Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, med yellow filter)

I took most of these pictures on Kodak Panatomic-X or Tri-X 400 film with my Fuji GW690II camera (the "Texas Leica"), with its EBC Fujinon 90mm ƒ/3.5 lens. This 5-element lens has amazing resolution. I bought the camera in 1992 and have used it irregularly over the decades. It is a big package to take on an air trip but is fine for car travel. I expose the Panatomic-X at EI=25, which normally requires a tripod. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film.

On the Waterfront - the Thea Foss Waterway, Tacoma, Washington (Tac 01)

Tacoma and the Foss Waterway
(from the United States Environmental Protection Agency)

 Port of Tacoma from Standard and Chevron Roadmap, ca. 1947 (from History Link Essay 5150)

The Thea Foss Waterway, formerly the City Waterway, is an inlet that extends south from Commencement Bay. It separates downtown Tacoma (on the west) from the Port of Tacoma. The waterway is partly man-made.* In 1902, the US Army Corps of Engineers dredged an existing inlet to a width of 500 ft and extended it south, making it suitable for wheat freighters. The waterway is now named after Thea Foss, who founded the Foss Maritime Company on the inlet in 1889.

The Port of Tacoma had a long industrial and shipping history. As summarized by the Environmental Protection Agency:

Site History, Contamination and Remediation

The Thea Foss Waterway is the westernmost of five waterways that make up Commencement Bay’s industrial waterfront, and is located next to downtown Tacoma. Starting in the late 1800s, the area supported shipbuilding, oil refining, chemical manufacturing and other industries, as well as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Northern Pacific owned much of Commencement Bay’s south shore, and created the Thea Foss Waterway by damming one arm of the Puyallup River.

Over time, industrial activities contributed to the contamination of soil, groundwater and bay sediment with heavy metals, phthalates, petroleum-based products, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides. Stormwater also contributed to sediment contamination; much of Tacoma’s urban drainage pours into the Thea Foss Waterway.

In the early 1980s, Ecology identified sediment contamination in Commencement Bay and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studied the area. In 1983, EPA added the Commencement Bay Near Shore/Tide Flats site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL); it was one of the program’s first sites. Encompassing 10 to 12 square miles of shallow water and land, and involving over a million cubic yards of contaminated sediments, it was also one of the program’s first mega-sites. The Thea Foss Waterway contains three of the enormous site’s eight contaminated sediment problem areas, which make up one of its four project areas.

During my previous life at the University of Washington, Tacoma was still a heavy industry city. When the wind blew from the south, "Aroma of Tacoma" reached all the way to the U District in Seattle. Yum.

The City of Tacoma coordinated with Tribes and bought abandoned properties along the shore, partly funded clean-up, and rebuilt shore protection. I never worked professionally on any marine sediments in Tacoma and know very little about this monumental clean-up effort. To a casual visitor today, the waterfront is quite inviting. But there is still industry and railroad infrastructure, so just my type of photographic subject matter. This time, we will look at the waterway and some of the adjacent area. (Click any picture to expand it and see details.)

Foss Waterway looking south towards the 11th Street bridge from the Foss Waterway Seaport (Tri-X film, Fuji GW690II camera with 90mm lens)

11th Street bridge view north from the Public Esplanade (T400CN film, Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, yellow filter)

The 11th Street bridge, also known as the Murray Morgan Bridge, opened in 1913. In 2013, the City of Tacoma revitalized and restored this historic crossing of the Foss Waterway. 

Repair sheds, photograph looking east from 1199 Dock Street (T400CN film, Leica IIIC)

East 21st Street Bridge from Dock Street Extension (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera)

The handsome cable-stayed bridge opened in January of 1997. It dominates the skyline over the Foss Waterway. 

Downtown Tacoma and the south end of the Foss Waterway

East D Street, view north from East 11th Street overpass (Tri-X 400 film)

East 11 Street overpass

Holding on for the ride, East D Street

I set up my tripod and a locomotive trundled along down the middle of the street. I like interesting  places like this. 

Steel warehouses, East F Street (Tri-X film Fuji GW690II camera)

Dear Readers, you know where this is going. I often ask this question. What to do after a day of wandering around the harbor and taking photographs?

Salmon BLT sandwich at Fish Peddler

Why, it is obvious. Drop in at Fish Peddler right on the Foss Waterway for a salmon bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Wash it down with a local IPA. I really like Tacoma...... 

The black and white photographs are from Kodak Panatomic-X or Tri-X film. I used my Texas Leica, the Fuji GW690II rangefinder camera. Its 90mm ƒ/3.5 5-element lens is superb, easily the equal of the Zeiss lenses for the Hasselblad camera. And this Fuji has a larger negative, resulting in an amazing amount of image data on each frame.  

Footnote

* This is another example of how many coastal features that we now see in the USA are partly man-made or were greatly modified by construction or alteration of the local and upland environment (such as dams on rivers). Many parts of our coasts are not "natural," especially near coastal inlets and urban areas. Even remote shores have changed because of dams on rivers trapping sediment.