AMOCAT

Sitting there today right across the street from Union Station is the Tacoma Grocery Building, a quintessential participant in the Union depot Warehouse Historical District and a key academic building at the University of Washington Tacoma. This image must be just after construction in 1891 and its interesting to see the stone retaining wall at the rear that supports the Prairie Line running just behind the building. It will be 20 years before the copper dome on Union Station appears and before that the company would change their name to West Coast Grocery and eventually launch the Thriftway chain of grocery stores and supermarkets. They would also launch their famous and ubiquitous brand name “AMOCAT” which would appear on everything from canned apricots to apple vinegar bottles. If you look in your rear view mirror at the ghost sign high on the south wall today you can still see the brand name and spelled backward its place of origin, town and building at the same time.