I figure if I’m going to be broke, I’m going to be broke in some place I like. So I came to Tacoma.

Henry’s window overlooked the lawn and the waterfront, and he could see women sunning themselves and children playing ball. From the hotel’s boathouse, a newly painted white-and-blue wooden structure topped with flags that wilted in the summer heat, tourists launched dinghies and small yachts. It looked very picturesque, Henry thought—quite summery, qui…