IT’S DAY TWO of our photo-jaunt up and down the length of that famed street of independent retail, South Tacoma Way.

Oldsmobile may be gone, but an Olds used-car sign remains at Russ Dunmire. One of the last 100 or so Olds-only dealers that remained, it now sells Mazdas.

Incidentally, the great rock combo Ruston Mire is partly named for this dealership, and for the dealership’s once-ubiquitous TV jingle. The band name’s other, more direct source: The Superfund cleanup site at the Tacoma suburb of Ruston, where an ASARCO copper smelter once manufactured arsenic.

Jack Roberts may be dead, but he’ll still take a pie in the face to give you a deal on a new fridge. And he’s given up a big white wall for one of those murals by at-risk youth.

Ponder the potential meanings of a used-car lot called “Bag Lady:”

1. She sells cars so cheaply, she can’t afford one herself. Let alone a domicile.2. At a bank Dumpster somewhere, there’s a pile of loan contracts she can collect into a grocery cart, which are still legally valid.

3. From her appearance, she’s potentially willing to do more to make a deal than Jack Roberts ever would.

This no-name restaurant sign now points down to a Subway franchise.

This neon, I’m told, still works at night, sort of.

After a long afternoon of exploring, there’s only one place to go—the taco wagon!