It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and a crowd of about 20 people is squished into the small tasting room at the 7 Seas Brewery. There are no neon signs on the wall, no blaring music and no wide-screen HDTVs broadcasting a sporting event. So why are all these people here? A rectangular-shaped window looks out over Gig Harbor’s new brewery. What’s inside the tall, gleaming silver vats is why people have come: They just want a good glass of beer.

VIDEO: Travis Guterson tells us how 7 Seas brews its Royal Stout

No one has the secret formula for everlasting love. If they did, they’d be kazillionaires. But couples who have been married for 50, 60, even 70 years, just might know a thing or two about it — for they’ve found it.

Dale Toman dedicates countless hours in his workshop that’s tucked behind his home near Vaughn. Often times, he loses track of the hours he spends in the shop, which is complete with a wood-burning stove in the corner, a large workstation island with table saws, and a radio that plays the songs he remembers as a child.

This year proved to be a flurry of business in Gig Harbor. Shopping centers expanded and welcomed new stores, like a surf shop, the Blazing Onion and Walgreens. But while the recession roared on, mom-and-pop businesses became fatalities. Corner stores and long-time standing businesses fell, leaving empty buildings, shattered dreams and broken hearts. Commerce and expansion will continue in the Maritime City. Life will go on, but as the year comes to a close, here’s a look at what we lost.

For the past five months, Adam Hill has been taking weekly drum lessons at Allstar Guitar, a music store in downtown Gig Harbor. Hill, 15, started playing the drums a year and a half ago and said the instrument was a natural choice, since his two older brothers each play the guitar and the bass.