In “Secret Tacoma,” city’s plucky, tragic and strange history lives on

Chris Staudinger is obsessed with an old-timey circus performer.

“His whole thing was to catch turnips thrown from any height on the tines of a fork,” he explained to me.

Zanetta, the performer, provided entertainment at the opening of Tacoma’s National Realty Building, which in 1910 was the tallest building in the state.

He managed to catch a turnip thrown from more than 230 feet above the ground on the fork, but he couldn’t catch a break. Zanetta had missed the first two turnips, and so by the organizers’ rules he didn’t win any prize money.

“Even though he was successful, he was ultimately relegated to the dust bin of history,” Staudinger said.

But Zanetta’s story is just the tip of the iceberg, or maybe the top of the turnip. Staudinger’s true obsession is the City of Destiny. He runs a company called Pretty Gritty Tours and posts funny, energetic videos about cool regional history. That’s why I immediately like him.

The story of the turnip catcher came well into our conversation about his new book, “Secret Tacoma.” Staudinger, a former travel journalist, decided to catalog fascinating stories of the region. It was the next logical step after years of handing down local lore to people on his tours and his online viewers.

To promote the book, Staudinger has been meeting with readers at local events. He’ll tell local ghost stories and sign books on Friday, Sept. 5 at the Foss Waterway Seaport at 6:00 P.M..

Having the information on paper gives valuable solidity to his knowledge, Staudinger said, which can be fleeting on the infinite scroll of social media.

“It kind of transcends that mercurial moment,” he said of his book.

Like Zanetta, Tacoma often gets denied its due. In the shadow of its bigger sibling Seattle, and under the pall of obnoxious rhymes about the way it smells, Grit City is a classic underdog.

That’s not to say there’s nothing bad in Tacoma’s history. The aroma alluded to in the schoolyard nickname comes in part from a history of industrial pollution (we still have low tides, but it’s not worth mocking at this point). From a tragic streetcar accident that killed more than 40 people in 1900 to the expulsion by force of Tacoma’s Chinese community in the 1890s, there’s plenty to be depressed about in the city’s history.

Staudinger includes these stories in his tours and the book. They’re part of why things are the way they are. For example, Tacoma has no Chinatown. That’s because in 1885, a gang of Tacomans razed the city’s Chinatown after pushing out its residents in an infamous act of expulsion.

Just like the defunct streetcar lines that moved along the corridors that still connect our neighborhoods, this history is etched into the map of Tacoma. Staudinger is clear about his takeaway from the expulsion, which he says is relevant in this era of expelling immigrants. It can’t be explained away or ignored because those were “different times.”

“It’s really worth noting that that was wrong at the time, and that it had no benefit,” he said. “Tacoma never thrived because of that moment.”

Staudinger is also known for focusing on the ghostly, with tours that highlight haunted locations. These are the company’s most popular tours, “hands down,” he said. His book includes a section on the third floor of a building on Pacific Ave., which he describes as an abandoned brothel where mattresses, bed frames and carpets still occupy the rooms.

But is there another occupant? Tenants of the other floors have reportedly heard the sound of something being dragged across the upper floor, but never find someone in the rooms when they go searching for the sound’s source.

The artifacts left behind by the shut-down brothel are haunting in their own way, as are the secret rooms under sidewalks and behind basement walls that Staudinger writes about. They add spice and intrigue to spaces that are sometimes literally pedestrian.

Having grown up in Tacoma, I have my own personal historical map of the city. New buildings are superimposed over my memories of what was there 20 or 30 years ago. I often think about the way other people must see their own memories float around a space that I’m passing through, unaware.

Staudinger’s historical details add delightful, intriguing and sometimes sobering layers to this map. That’s the point, he says.

“I’ve had people reach out and say, ‘I look at these things with fresh eyes now that I know the context to them,’ he said, “and that, for me, is what it’s all about.”

“Secret Tacoma” Book Event

• “Secret Tacoma,” book by Pretty Gritty Tours owner Chris Staudinger.
• Book event: Foss Waterway Seaport, 705 Dock Street Tacoma, WA 98402.
• Date and Time: September 5, 6:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.
• Activities: Ghost stories, bar and book signing.