Tacoma Homes: Why would you want to live here?
Well, not everybody wants to live here. If you're the kind of homebuyer who just wants space to live, who thinks that Tacoma is just the same as Biloxi, Mississippi or Chilicothe, Ohio, then you'd just as well go to live there.
But if you understand that every home has to be in a place and you would like to live in a place, I invite you to scan a five of the many things that make Tacoma special to me:
1. Stadium High School. You may have heard the story. In the 1890's the Northern Pacific built a palatial hotel here; a destination so grand as to rival the resplandant hotel at Bannf. But the NP went broke in the depression of 1893 and the project was abandoned. Then the Tacoma School Board, ever alert to real estate bargains, picked up the old gal and 10 cents on the dollar, made it into "Tacoma High School". Soon thereafter they created a stadium in the natural ampitheatre there and President Teddy Roosevelt spoke there in 1903 (without amplification).
The building still serves as a working high school but every 10 years or so a cost-conscious school board proposes closing it down. "It was never designed for classrooms" and "These old buildings cost too much to maintain." "Steam heat!" etc. etc.Then something called Stadium Alumni Association gets fired up and rolls into action. And after staggering out from the Blitzkrieg the Board decides that Stadium is worth preserving.
I delight to live in a city which not only has a meaningful history but has people who make sure to preserve the remnants of that history. Knowing where you came from gives you an important clue to where you are going.
Note: Where and when did Americans begin the custom of standing for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner? Tacoma. And thanks to the local DAR there is a brass tablet commemorating the date (1893 I think). On Broadway just north of the coffee house that faces the Pantages.
2. Theater. With 2 local colleges and several amibitious high schools we are well stocked with good theatre productions. I'll just mention 3.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse. (TMP.org). A few decades ago 2 energetic and talented gentlemen came out of California with the ambition of starting their own musical theater company. Of all the towns on the West Coast they chose Tacoma as the most supportive and most desirous of good stage musicals. The rest is history.
TMP stages 6 big musicals (usually featuring tap dance numbers)per season plus a generous helping of special attractions along the way plus various training programs for children. A apart from school productions, TMP and Seattle's Fifth Avenue are the only theaters in the Northwest featuring a live pit band. (Musicals with a 2 or 3 piece band just miss that vital spark somehow.)
A few years ago TMP went on the Road to Monte Carlo for the International Community Theater Contest; came home with the prize for the Best Community Theater production. Tacoma is lucky to have such an institution located here and I'm confidant that even in tough times, we will turn out to support them.
3. Sports. Tacoma has always been a great sports town and for a small town, we have had more than our share of first-rate competitors, from Irish Pat MCMurtrie to John Kitna and Napolean. But the real measure of a sports town is not the number of stars produced but the solid, day in and day out support for the ordinary Joes who love to get on the field and hustle. Every year we are the venue for the Golden Gloves, the state high school football, basketball championships and the State Track Meet. Two separate rugby leagues have home teams in Tacoma Our 2 universities play here every fall, usually to packed houses, and for less than $10 you can sit close enough to hear the pads pop. We also are home to professionals:
TACOMA COBRAS. semi pro football. These are players not quite up to NFL standards but who love the game too much to give it up after graduation. They play at Stadium H. S. in the late spring. Their main problem? They are susually so strong that it's hard to persuade other semi-pro teams to go against them.
BAY CITY ROLLER GALS. women's roller derby. This group has been threatening to start up for several years and seems to have finally put itself together as a semi-pro operation. (Mothers: If your daughters expect to be rich and well paid, don't let them go into the derby.) While I haven't taken in a meet myself, reports are that it is fun and filled with a special brand of action. For schedule and venues you should find them on Google.
TACOMA RAINIERS. AAA baseball. This is the Seattle Mariners AAA farm club and every man in the roster is just a short step away from the major leagues. For a few dollars you can pull for the home team; sit right behind the dugout if you like to hear bench chatter. The main hazard: whenever a player develops and plays well, he is in danger of being called up to the parent club. Matt Tuiasasopu, Matt Rogers, << >>Saunders, and <<BClewitt??>> have done well at that level, but it makes it hard to keep the local club together.
Nevertheless, our Rainiers took the League championship last year. Personally, I find it amazing that little Tacoma competes regularly with teams from New Orleans, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas. I find it amazing that we even have a team in that brackett and, indeed, a team that is a model for how to run a franchise and generate community support. (Thank you Clay Huntington and Stan Nacaratto.)
4. THE LINDQUIST CLINIC. Since the l930's kids from Tacoma whose parents can't afford it, can go to the Clinic to have their cavities filled, their teeth straightened, and their gaps bridged. Dental health is important to general health and good teeth are essential to a winning smile, confidence, and success. Tacoma felt that no child should miss out on life's opportunty because of impecunious parents and did something about it. The clinic now has 4 branches and continues to be well managed and well supported.
But that's merely one insititution that demonstrates that Tacoma has a heart. I could have listed the United Way, which every year collects and distributes over $30 million of voluntary contributions for worthy causes in our area. Or the Great Tacoma Foundation which solicits permanent endowments to take care of local needs.
And there's more.
Up on K St., there is a delightful little lady who runs a temporary shelter for troubled boys. She has a great heart but not much administrative talent; doesn't keep to a budget nor use a DayTimer. So periodically she's in a jam. That's when she goes to her rolladex and begins calling local businessmen who care. Typically they respond with: "How much do you need this time?" and reach for the checkbook.
My personal favorite is as retired school teacher who dedicates his spare time to picking up used and uneeded forniture which he hauls in his van to a somewhat tacky warehouse he rents for a few dollars now and then. When local families are in trouble and have to set up housekeeping with no money for new things, they can go to his warehouse and pick out bunk beds, kitchen tables, living room sets, etc. Nothing fancy but this man is one of many who dedicates resources to looking after our neighbors.
5. POINT DEFIANCE PARK. This is the largest urban park this side of San Francisco and it's wonderfull. Mostly forested and surrounded by beach and salt water it is splendid just to stand and contemplate. You can walk through the woods (mainly hemlock and Douglas Fir) on the many trails but be alert for cross country runners who come from all over the West to run here because the park affords such a rich variety of trails and turn offs and short cuts.
Owen Beach is a little cold for swimming but it's fine for sunbathing. And Fort Lewis GI's along with local teen agers like to line up their cars for showing off and a little extra poishing. And every generation of small boys knows instinctively that that hill requires climbing or, to be precise, storming.
Point Defiance is merely the largest and best known of our generous system of public parks: a goodly heritage thanks to the foresight of our pioneer forbears who, beginning with Ferry Park in the l880's decided that a good city would require good parks. The amazing thing about Pt. Defiance: everybody who goes there has a good time. Every time.
6. (I know I said five, but I would be delinquent if I left out.) THE LADIES' GARDEN CLUB. For many years these volunteers maintained the delightful center medians along N. 21st and also up N. Pearl St. Just because they thought things looked better with a few well-trimmed flower beds. This is just one of the many bands of dedicated flower gardeners who have persistantly added to the color and beauty of our town. Some residential blocks have organized themselves with each homeowner installing a matching bush or flower, such as the flowering plums on Farralone. Every year the rose gardners and various other specialists hold their annual meets, usually out at Pt Defiance.
The gardner I liked was Clara Goering, a member of the Board of Freeholders and the City Council and a dedicated gardner. Once a year she would come to our church and all the little kids were called in to receive a little potted plant from Clara. There was something in this woman's nature, something in the way she addressed those kids, that led them to carry those precious plants home like they were the Holy Grail. And I know, at least at our house , those plants were watered and nourished. They were the tree of life. And that's just one of many vital lessons that kids learn by growing up in Tacoma.
This is merely a shortened list of my personal favorite things. I invite you to create your own list. What makes you proud of Tacoma. If you want to share, I would like you to add your comments below.
Why does any of this matter? Whether you are planning to make your home here, are a Tacoman now away from home, or one of my neighbors who simply wants to be proud of his home town, I think it's important to realize that a city is not just some acres of real estate connected by a transit system. A city is a complex network of people, some living, some gone to their reward, and some waiting yet to be born, who have a certain regard for one another and the city we share.
And that's why I count myself lucky to live in Tacoma.
TACOMA HOMES: Why would you want to live here?
Comments(0)