Denny

- I am Denny Faker. I live here, this is my home in the historic district in the north end of Tacoma. And it truly is an historic district. History is the foundation and the history is in many different ways. You drive up and down the streets of the North Slope and some trees are 150 years old. Huge, beautiful trees. Sunday afternoons in the summertime, you see people just cruising around. They're going for a drive. That's old. The homes, we have beautiful mansions and big four square, and Victorian castle like. Uniquely and its able to see and appreciate. You'll see a couple of great big huge homes and then a little cottage size place. It kind of shows you that at one time people owned houses with large yards that later became building sites and things. So, there's that mix and that personality in it. Which also invites a mix and a very personality of people living in those homes. The North Slope Historic District association started in the late 70s. And I owned the Bavarian German restaurant just a few blocks from here. And had a big upstairs that we used for banquets and parties and I called all the neighbors together to discuss how we were gonna fight crime. And we started patrols and everything as a result of it. When we finished pretty much with the crime issue, we realized how important it was that we were all together working for the good of the neighborhood. So that's when we formed the North Slope Historic District association. I moved to the North Slope when I was 21. And I have lived in this district ever since. I bought this house in 1984. I am in my 35th year living here. To me this is like a little country. A little European country. And this is where I live and then I go visit other parts of town. So this is home. I sold the restaurant and that's when I bought the coffee shop in 1998 down at the Stadium Thriftway store. In the Stadium District. Now I'm just celebrating this month my 20 years at the coffee shop. All of my neighbors whom I've known for all these years. All of my customers and local people that were my customers at the Bavarian restaurant are all customers of the store and the other businesses around in the Stadium District. So it's like old home week. You'd be surprised, it's been 20 years. We're celebrating our 20 years birthday at the coffee shop. You'd be surprised how many people come in and smack me on the back and say, we'll never forgive you for selling the Bavarian. You know, there's that familiarity and that history and that fun. Very very fun for me. A lot has changed in the Stadium District in the last 20 years. We were trying to support and keep vibrant our little storefront shopping district in the Stadium District that really wasn't there to be done. And we took so many years. I worked so hard to try to talk businesses into moving into storefronts and talking it all up. After a certain number of years I realized you know what? You're going to these people and asking them to take their investment and come here and the people are walking around at the mall. They're not walking around in a little shopping business district. I'll introduce you to Franco the tailor. Long long time business man. He was a young man with a tailor shop downtown. And many many years ago moved up into the Stadium District. He owns half of the site of the block his shop is on. And about five or six years ago I was still the manager of the district. He told me that an investor had come to him and offered him big bucks for this strip of North Tacoma. There were the heart of the district. And his intention would have been to raze those buildings and put up some big modern storefront like you know, or not storefront but downtown. But he said I didn't entertain the idea. He said I could have made a lot of money off this deal. But he said I don't want this to go away. And that's the type of thing, the type of person we need. And the type of thing we need to keep doing but you can't. You know, eventually, money talks. Over the years, the way you let yourself change or make yourself change, you don't want to change. I'd like it to stay the historic little village. We all refer to it as our village, forever. But you can't. So what do you do? You stay active working with the city, Sound transit, Pierce transit, the police department. Everything you can do to go ahead and change with the times and make sure that it's good. That's the type of stuff that you can do. If progress is gonna come, let's do what we can to use it to our advantage. Hopefully, you won't lose your identity. So you've gotta try to work with both. You've gotta try to be accommodating and you try to be beautiful and safe and busy and modern but not lose your historic feel and your little village feel, you know. For me to be a good neighbor means interacting with your fellow neighbors. It means being willing to go and help put on the 4th of July kids parade. You know, and carry little flags. I've got a few little flags stuck in planters around here that are left over from last 4th of July when I had little flags I gave to all the kids. And to form the North Slope Historic District association to call your neighbors together and fight crime. And there's a lot of good neighbors here. This is a great neighborhood. The way that you reach out to people that are a little bit shy and not so ready to strike up a conversation. You find yourself a wife that's a talker. And I tell you, I don't think I pester about anything so much as I'm pestering her to come one honey, you've talked to these neighbors enough now. Time to go in the house. But you get what I'm saying. That's along the lines of being friendly and reaching out and you know, letting them borrow your lawn mower. Most of the people that move into this district are kind of open. You know, the North Slope they're happy to be here. They're open. Lots of walking dogs. It's a good neighborhood to live in. These are the things that people need to continue to do. And these are the things that lack of this kind of participation will cause a neighborhood just to become a row of houses. Show up and don't be afraid to show up for your own benefit because the city doesn't necessarily, or county either, come to you. They're busy. They're doing whatever the squeaky wheel gets the oil. So go be a squeaky wheel. Next thing you know you're comfortable talking with them and telling what your needs are. And next thing you know you're probably going out and getting a few of your neighbors to go with you. My golly, 20 years from now you're on the city council and that's the way it needs to be done. What I love about the North Slope is the beauty, the history, the location. I mean, how often can you find such an ideal historic, quiet, beautiful, neighborhood and put it three minutes from downtown, five minutes from the freeway. Five minutes from the Waterfront Ruston Way and all the fun and recreation and the beauty down there. Boy, everything I can think to say is a compliment to this part of town and this part of the country. You know, I travel around the country now and then and talk to a lot of people. I just got back from a week in Houston and even people in Houston don't like Houston. The more you get around and tell people where you're from the more and more that they realize that Seattle-Tacoma area the Portland, the Northwest, is such an ideal place. And a lot of them are coming here so I try not to talk about it too much.