FROM TOP: 1.) AWS president-elect, Marian Swanson (center) with Rosemary Martinson (left) and Betty Rusk (right). A Sound Past. 2.) New Otlah members. A Sound Past. 3.) New SPURS members. A Sound Past.
On December 30, 2017, Imperial Dragon, a Chinese restaurant on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma, shut down. Although the Imperial Dragon restaurant had been in operation since 1993, the site was previously home to two other restaurants: Empress Garden, from 1971 until Imperial Dragon’s opening; and The Towers Restaurant from 1947 until the late 1960s.
The Towers Restaurant was frequently used as a venue for University of Puget Sound (then College of Puget Sound) student events. One such event was the Associated Women Students’ annual banquet on May 15, 1950, celebrating the first anniversary of the Associated Women Students (AWS) as an organization. Women’s groups on campus such as the Women’s Athletic Association (WAA), Otlah (an academic honors group for senior women and the predecessor to Mortar Board), and SPURS (a service honors group for sophomore women) were present at this event. WAA introduced the president and cabinet for the 1950-1951 school year, as well as awarded individual students and sororities for athletic achievement. Both SPURS and Otlah announced their new members for the 1950-1951 school year. The AWS president-elect, Marian Swanson, received the president’s book. For more detail about the women present and the awards given, see the May 19, 1950 issue of The Trail or take a look at A Sound Past to see our collection of photos from student events held at The Towers.
For more information about Imperial Dragon and its history, see the Tacoma News Tribune article from January 4, 2018.
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By Julia Masur