The Bonnell Building, now known to locals as the Mecca, has had many lives. Beginning in 1908, it housed the popular Stothart Hotel, which offered comfortable accommodations to adventuresome travelers up until the early 1960’s. After the Stothart Hotel closed, the button-down image was converted to the “Mecca Adult Theatre”. The Mecca gained notoriety and some community scorn in the 1970’s for showing films that “failed to meet the moral standards of the community.” Not stopping there, the previous owner moved his adult bookstore to the Mecca in 1986 and added 25 personal peep show booths for added entertainment value. In 2006, he retired and sold the building to Gintz Group, a Tacoma property developer whose home office is situated just across the street. While Gintz Group kept the Mecca name as a “wink” to the building’s colorful history, the use of the space has been upgraded to offer 12 luxury residential condominiums on the upper floors and retail and office space on the
street level.