In the list of walkable cities of the world, Tacoma doesn’t normally rank at the top. New York has more businesses, London has actor-led historical walks. Even Portland is more walker-focused.
But you really can walk Tacoma: Not only is downtown peppered with uniquely weird and wonderful buildings, but a local partnership called Downtown On The Go is making it easy for pedestrians with maps and weekly fall walks.
There are a few quirky places not on the maps, though, and that’s where the exploring fun comes in.
Downtown On The Go’s five walking maps cover an hour’s worth of walking in the Theater, Wright Park, Hilltop, Waterfront and Warehouse districts of Tacoma. Begun as a partnership between the city of Tacoma, Pierce Transit and the Chamber of Commerce, On the Go exists to “draw attention to walking as a commute option ... or at lunchtime,” according to DOTG manager (and aptly named) Kristina Walker.
Launched last summer, the hard copy maps are available to download from the web, and last year’s guide-led Fall Walking Series attracted up to 30 people every week, Walker said. The walks take in some great sights – but if you’re in the know, you’ll include others, along with their bizarre stories.
During the walk from the waterfront up to the Theater District, the first stop is the Murray Morgan bridge, particularly worth a close-up right now when it’s swathed in white plastic like one of the famous art “wrappings” by French artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. What you can’t see through the plastic (there to protect the environment from the lead-based paint they’re removing) is the little Craftsman-style house in the central section, which housed the bridge tender who raised and lowered the bridge for ships to pass.
On the same map, the Elks building boasts stories – how the hunting of Roosevelt elks to sell their teeth as watch fobs to Elks Club members inspired Teddy Roosevelt to turn their Olympic Peninsula habitat into a National Monument 100 years ago; how the building has been given new life by the McMenamin brothers, who’ll turn it into a hotel and restaurant; how the Spanish Steps next door used to look before their renovation last year, cracked from a stolen car joy ride in 2005.
After you pass the Broadway graffiti garages, you should also extend your walk through antique dealer Sanford and Son – not many Tacomans really appreciate the spooky bizarreness of this place, with its labyrinth of steps and ramps descending to the Commerce Street basement’s bubbling fish pond, a perfect murder-mystery location. Then, walk to Ninth Street, where you can take in cartoon street-art of the Frost Park Chalk-Offs at lunchtime Fridays. Walk up to 13th and Market streets to see one of Tacoma’s best graffiti murals, the giant Alice in Wonderland wall on Embellish Salon.
One of the most interesting DOTG maps is for the Warehouse District. Amid the construction dust and shuttered buildings, there’s unexpected beauty. Three of the city’s best vertical gardens are here: the twisted conifers and maples of the stucco-yellow Streets and Grounds Building (2324 S. C St.), a former stable straight out of northern Italy; the Patrick Blanc living wall in the Goodwill headquarters parking lot (27th Street and Tacoma Avenue South) dripping with moss and ferns; and the ivy-covered wall garden in the parking lot behind Tacoma Bike (301 Puyallup Ave.).
While you’re in the Warehouse District, check out three historic warehouses owned by glass art magnate Dale Chihuly for his storage and shipping: 2128 Pacific Ave. is part of a quiet brick row best seen from Commerce Street, while the Jet Building at 2101 Jefferson St. is a hub of activity; at 2416 S. C St., his 1916 brick building, the former Nisqually Power Substation, is gorgeously intact, including a cobbled courtyard and carriage gates.
Other walkable wonders not on the maps include the terrific glass art in the Hotel Murano lobby (1501 Broadway), and the weird bathroom-wall sculptures inside the Convention Center, whose ship-inspired Wyn Bielaska architecture is worth seeing when the Center’s closed. Other public art dots our city. See it all at tacomaculture.org.
If you’re using the walks to show off to out-of-town guests, it pays to have a copy of “Tacoma’s 21 Tales,” a slim but engaging book of historical tidbits put out by the Tacoma Historical Society. Otherwise, just keep your feet moving and your eyes open. It’s good exercise, good for the environment and the best way to appreciate Tacoma’s most distinctive features.
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