This clothing shop and music venue is bringing bodega sandwiches to South Tacoma

In true bodega fashion, you can now buy a cool new shirt and a sandwich under the same roof in South Tacoma.

Inside Real Art, the all-ages performance venue at 5412 South Tacoma Way, ThunderDome designs and prints clothing and sells consignment sneakers. On Aug. 14, it will introduce Beyond ThunderDome Cafe, an East Coast-style sandwich shop serving Manifesto Coffee.

“Have your cup of coffee, shop a little bit,” said Adrian Cooper, who owns the ThunderDome/Real Art enterprise with Ron Pittman and Tom Long, who added, “There’s nowhere you can go to just pop in and get a sandwich.”

The menu consists of four house sandwiches, available on a hero roll (hoagie for some, sub for others), a kaiser roll or a bagel, and each named after a character in the 1985 film with Mel Gibson and Tina Turner.

ThunderDome is the caged ring where two people fight, or attempt to resolve disputes, in the post-apocalyptic Bartertown in the Australian desert, a kind of miniature ramshackle Colosseum.

The titular sandwich is their version of a roast beef dip. The Italian — made with ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone and a cherry pepper aioli — goes to Lord Humungus and the turkey club to Master Blaster, whom Gibson, as Mad Max himself, unwillingly fights inside the ThunderDome.

For vegetarians and vegans, the Dr. Feel Good features Field Roast deli slices, and a build-your-own option allows for ample customization of Boar’s Head meats and cheeses on Franz Bakery bread.

“If you’re from the East Coast, you know Boar’s Head,” said Long, who was raised in Alabama but has lived in Tacoma for more than 15 years. His father was stationed here for a couple of years while in the Army, and Long, who also served, followed him back to the South Sound after a spell in New York City.

It was there that the bodega, as it has for countless New Yorkers, put a spell on him.

A BODEGA DELI IN SOUTH TACOMA

The cafe sits adjacent to the ThunderDome store, but the concept flows from one side to the other, with the same burned-wood walls and epoxy floor. It’s a Tacoma bodega, if you will.

Why can’t a clothing shop also be a coffee shop and a deli?

“That’d be really cool to do all three in one,” Long postured, inspired by his stint in NYC, where corner stores sell sometimes shockingly good sandwiches, especially the beloved egg-on-a-roll. In SoHo, while managing the Vans DQM General, he frequented a combination surf shop and cafe called Saturdays, which opened in 2009. The idea can work, he thought.

Long and a few friends took over the then-shuttered Real Art theater in 2015, bringing all-ages concerts back to South Tacoma. The clothing store developed when Pittman, an athlete and fitness coach, got into printing clothing under the brand Makin Music.

Construction on what is now ThunderDome the store and Beyond ThunderDome the cafe began about a year ago. They wanted to incorporate coffee because the only nearby choice is the Starbucks on the corner of South 56th Street, and they wanted to have sandwiches to fill a similar void.

When the Subway closed, they said, the only choice for a quick handheld lunch was either a bánh mì at Pho V & V or a burger at Patty’s.

They built the menu with their neighbors in mind: The Church Cantina serves some awesome Latin sandwiches, including a juicy if nontraditional Cubano, and The Opal has barbecue covered.

They also want the space to be a welcoming place for anyone and everyone to hang out, whether ordering a sandwich to-go or relaxing with an Americano — and maybe buying a new T-shirt.

“We wanted it to look more like a coffee shop than a bodega, but with bodega-style sandwiches,” said Long.

The opening, scheduled tentatively for a soft start this weekend pending a final health inspection, arrived in the nick of time: Real Art, which operates as a nonprofit, could not have survived the pandemic alone. That reality plays into the whole ThunderDome concept of diversifying.

Meanwhile, the trio is busy preparing their new flagship store at Point Ruston, which will feature clothing and likely a barber shop.

The cafe in South Tacoma also will sell slices of pizza, hot dogs, chips and candy in true bodega form, as well as cheap beer, cans of hard seltzer, energy drinks, soda and bottled tea.

“We’re here for the community,” said Long, nodding to the all-ages aspect of the music venue.

The reasonable prices, he said, reflect that inclusion. So does the logo of two lightning bolt arms coming together, designed by Tacoma artist Stein Hansen. On the windows, ThunderDome’s logos were painted by muralist Bryce MacDonald, whose work can be spotted all over the city, particularly along the main stretch of Sixth Avenue and on South Tacoma Way.

BEYOND THUNDERDOME CAFE

▪ 5412 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, no phone yet, instagram.com/thunderdome.cafe

▪ Details: Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; clothing store open Monday-Saturday noon-6 p.m.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 3:00 PM.