I don't know why all this stuff came to mind recently, but it's amazing how many things I found that pertained to my recollections, brain is still working after all these years, thank God. So here is one that I was surprised to find info on the internet. During my time stationed at McCord Air Force Base, in Tacoma, Washington I spent a lot of spare time at Clarks Paint Shop along South Tacoma Way, I'm sure I wouldn't recognize the area today. Anyway, along the way a guy came into the shop and asked if he could have a 430 cu.in. Mercury engine he had to install in a 1949 Ford coupe, I looked the Ford over and took measurements and said I could do it, I did it and we became friends, he was in the Army at the time, at Fort Lewis, which was at the southern border of McCord Field. He got out of the Army and ended up buying a teenage night club in south Tacoma, it was called The Red Carpet dance hall and was for teens only but being as I was a friend, I was able to be there and did odds and end of work for him. What was extremely cool was seeing all the bands, including The Raymarks, the bass player was a guy I went to high school with. The Red Carpet had a number of well know bands that played there, including Paul Revere and the Raiders, they are not mentioned on a list of bands that had been there but they were there a number of times and Merrilee and the Turnabouts, Merrilee Rush, her recording of "Angel of the Morning" can be found on the internet, she was very good. There were many other local PNW bands that played there and most were very good. My friend Don Consola and his wife Donna only ran the dance hall a few years before moving back east. One other thing was that Don liked fast cars and he owned a 1965 AC Cobra, I used to tune it for him at the drag races where he regularly made Corvette owners literally cry, that Cobra was fast. While thinking of that time period, 1961 to 1966, it came to mind the Big Bad Wolf Tavern roving beer, music and dance get togethers, if I remember right, the cost of entry would give you all the beer you wanted to drink, the crowd was mostly underage, that's why they moved around, I think I went a few times until I heard that the police were going to do a raid, which they did and rounded up a couple of bus loads full, I'm pretty sure I was only 20 at the time, yeah I was also underage. Just a short story to end my Tacoma experience, just after getting out of the Air Force in 1965 I got a job at ABC Motors in south Tacoma, they sold Studebaker, Renault, Rover cars and 4 wheelers and Alfa Romeo, they had the last year made in the USA Studebaker which then was powered by a 283 Chevy V-8. I had the chance to drive a Studebaker Avanti even though I was only a lube rack guy. More memories to come.
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