When Tacoma’s streetcars were still humming and the Narrows Bridge gateway began here, 6th Avenue was already doing what it still does best. Moving people through, connecting neighborhoods, keeping the city in motion. Kmart is gone. Shakey’s is gone. PhotoMat, the tiny booth-like time capsule you drove past without thinking is gone too. But the…

Ever feel downtown Tacoma whispering? Streetcars once rolled out from the transportation barn, carrying the city forward.  A child was christened on the girders of the Rust Building – steel and blessing, high above the street. Department stores where you shopped for everything from washing machines to shoes to jewelry, you will be fascinated to…

Science has no certain answer for what lingers inside Tacoma’s longstanding buildings after the doors are locked and the lights go out. But some say the past does not rest quietly here. Have you ever stepped into a room and felt the air turn cold, as if unseen eyes were watching from the shadows? Beneath…

Science has no certain answer for what lingers inside Tacoma’s longstanding buildings after the doors are locked and the lights go out. But some say the past does not rest quietly here.  Have you ever stepped into a room and felt the air turn cold, as if unseen eyes were watching from the shadows? Beneath…

Why Tacoma is So Sweet – We are talking about candy – the kind that sticks and brings you back to being eight years old. Hear the surprising truth: some of America’s iconic candy stories began right here. Mars Candy Company, Brown & Haley, Marcoe Candy Company and Johnson Candy. Who were the men and…

The Summer of 1929 was exceptionally dry and the Fall was not better, significantly draining Tacoma’s electricity.  The shortage became so critical that Superintendent Ira S. Davisson had to cut power to homes and businesses. In December 1929, there were several discussions between the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce and lumber mill operators to shift their…

Step into Tacoma’s shadowy past. Have you heard about the 1951 vice raids – the kind of story that doesn’t just make the headlines, it rearranges a whole city. Hear about the scandal, the secrets and the shockwaves. From bootleggers and bordellos to a former city attorney who died in a mysterious fire, these aren’t…

What if Tacoma was built twice … once in lumber and brick and again in courage? Join Tacoma historian Patty Mannie (4th generation Tacoman) for a vivid presentation on “The Women Who Built Tacoma” about female entrepreneurs who saw what could be and built it anyway.  Meet Bethel Schneebeck, Miss Alice Humble, Mrs. Violet Green…

Science has no certain answer for what lingers inside Tacoma’s longstanding buildings after the doors are locked and the lights go out. But some say the past does not rest quietly here.  Have you ever stepped into a room and felt the air turn cold, as if unseen eyes were watching from the shadows? Beneath…

Science has no certain answer for what lingers inside Tacoma’s longstanding buildings after the doors are locked and the lights go out. But some say the past does not rest quietly here.  Have you ever stepped into a room and felt the air turn cold, as if unseen eyes were watching from the shadows? Beneath…

Decades ago, Tacoma had a darker side—one that operated in the shadows and was rarely spoken about openly. The Tacoma Underworld was alive and well, and during the 1970s, arson, bribery, extortion, illegal gambling, and organized crime cast a long, uneasy shadow over the city. Names like Janovich and Carbone were only pieces of a…

Science has no certain answer for what lingers inside Tacoma’s longstanding buildings after the doors are locked and the lights go out. But some say the past does not rest quietly here.  Have you ever stepped into a room and felt the air turn cold, as if unseen eyes were watching from the shadows? Beneath…