What to See in Tacoma - Top Sights and Attractions

Twin bridges crossing Puget Sound. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a pair of twin suspension bridges that span the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound in Pierce County, Washington. The bridges connect the city of Tacoma with the Kitsap Peninsula and carry State Route 16 over the strait. Historically, the name "Tacoma Narrows Bridge" has applied to the original bridge nicknamed "Galloping Gertie", which opened in July 1940, but collapsed possibly because of aeroelastic flutter four months later, as well as the replacement of the original bridge which opened in 1950 and still stands today as the westbound lanes of the present-day 2 bridge complex.

The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened on July 1, 1940. The original bridge received its nickname "Galloping Gertie" because of the vertical movement of the deck observed by construction workers during windy conditions. While engineers and engineering professor, F.B. Farquharson were hired to seek ways to stop the odd movements, months of experiments were unsuccessful. The bridge became known for its pitching deck, and collapsed into Puget Sound the morning of November 7, 1940, under high wind conditions. Engineering issues, as well as the United States' involvement in World War II, postponed plans to replace the bridge for several years; the replacement bridge was opened on October 14, 1950.

By 1990, population growth and development on the Kitsap Peninsula had caused traffic on the bridge to exceed its design capacity; as a result, in 1998 Washington voters approved a measure to support building a parallel bridge. After a series of protests and court battles, construction began in 2002 and the new bridge opened to carry eastbound traffic on July 16, 2007, while the 1950 bridge was reconfigured to carry westbound traffic.

At the time of their construction, both the 1940 and 1950 bridges were the third-longest suspension bridges in the world in terms of main span length, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and George Washington Bridge. The 1950 and 2007 bridges are as of 2017 the fifth-longest suspension bridge spans in the United States and the 43rd-longest in the world.

Tolls were charged on the bridge for the entire four-month service life of the original span, as well as the first 15 years of the 1950 bridge. In 1965, the bridge's construction bonds plus interest were paid off, and the state ceased toll collection on the bridge. Over 40 years later, tolls were reinstated as part of the financing of the twin span, and are presently collected only from vehicles traveling eastbound.^[5]

Footbridge in Tacoma, Washington. The Bridge of Glass is a 500-foot pedestrian partially-covered footbridge spanning Interstate 705 in Tacoma, Washington. It was opened in 2002 as a gift to the city. The Bridge of Glass connects the Museum of Glass on the Thea Foss Waterway to the downtown and attractions along Pacific Avenue such as Union Station, Washington State History Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum. Together, these attractions make up an area of Tacoma described as "Museum Row." The Bridge of Glass was designed by Texas architect Arthur Andersson and is decorated with artworks by Dale Chihuly. Chihuly has described the Bridge of Glass as "the gateway that welcomes people to Tacoma." It is accessible and free to the public 24 hours a day, lighting up during the nighttime.^[9]

The Washington State History Museum is a history museum located in downtown Tacoma, Washington, United States. It is operated by the Washington State Historical Society under the official approval of the Washington State Legislature. The museum opened on August 10, 1996, at a building adjacent to historic Union Station that cost $42 million to construct.

The museum maintains three permanent exhibits. One is about the history of Washington state and its relation to the Pacific Northwest, featuring artifacts from women's suffrage, industrialization, Native American tribes and items such as Clovis points. The uppermost floor of the museum contains the History Lab, where visitors can explore and learn about history in a more hands-on fashion with multiple interactive exhibits. The top floor is also home to the state's largest permanent model train layout, which covers 1,700 sq ft (160 m2) and recreates scenes from Tacoma's Union Station (which is located next to the museum) and other regional railroads. The museum hosts an annual Model Train Festival in December.^[10]

Museum. The LeMay Family Collection Foundation was born out of Harold LeMay's dream of keeping his massive car collection together and in a place where others could appreciate it. Separate from America's Car Museum in downtown Tacoma, the LeMay Family Collection is still directly owned and controlled by the LeMay family.

Today, the museum is open to the public 6 days a week. About 500 cars are on display in the collection at all times, with some being rotated into or out of off-site storage. The collection is located at the historic Marymount Military Academy, which housed a school for boys and a home for nuns before it became a home for Harold and Nancy LeMay's vintage car collection.

The LeMay Family Collection Foundation is also the site of the annual LeMay Car Show.

The LeMay Family Collection Foundation was nominated for one of King 5's Best Museums in Western Washington in 2013. It placed 14th out of more than 60 nominees. In 2015, the Collection placed in the top 5.^[13]

Museum in Tacoma, Washington. Fort Nisqually was an important fur trading and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area, part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department. It was located in what is now DuPont, Washington. Today it is a living history museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, within the boundaries of Point Defiance Park. The Fort Nisqually Granary, moved along with the Factor's House from the original site of the second fort to this park, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Built in 1843, the granary is the oldest building in Washington state and one of the only surviving examples of a Hudson's Bay Company "post on sill" structure. The Factor's House and the granary are the only surviving Hudson's Bay Company buildings in the United States.^[14]

The Greater Tacoma Convention Center, is a convention center in downtown Tacoma, in the U.S. state of Washington. It opened in November 2004 and has been described as the "second largest meeting and event facility in Western Washington". It was designed by MulvannyG2 Architecture, of Bellevue, Washington.

Located at 1500 Commerce, the center has over 118,000 square feet (11,000 m2) of meeting and usable prefunction space which includes a 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2), column-free exhibition hall, a 13,650 sq ft (1,268 m2) ballroom, and eleven breakout rooms in varying sizes. There are 400 parking spaces on-site. The convention center is also served by Tacoma Link at the Convention Center/S. 15th Street station. Buses operated by Pierce Transit also serve the convention center, with stops on nearby Pacific Avenue, as well as on Market Street and on 13th Street.

In September 2010, the Greater Tacoma Convention Center added Commerce Room, a meeting space adding over 1,800 square feet (170 m2) to the center. The Commerce Room can be used by convention groups as an additional breakout room or on its own for smaller events with a capacity for 180 people.^[16]

Theater. The Rialto Theatre in Tacoma, Washington was built in 1918 to showcase movies. Its design reflects the affluence following World War I. It reflects the character of a palace and is the result of efforts by entrepreneur Henry T. Moore and Tacoma architect Roland E. Borhek. Designed to hold 1500 patrons and retail space. The two-and-a-half-story structure is in the historic downtown of Tacoma. The area has long been associated with theaters and entertainment. The theater is freestanding, with a dramatic view on an incline with a classical façade sheathed of glazed white terra cotta. Both the interior and exterior retain most of the original design of Roland E. Borhek. The theater has an auditorium, proscenium with stage, a relocated projection booth, balcony, lobby, and commercial space. It has been altered with the removal of the storefronts and marquee. On the inside, the lobby's decorative ceiling has been hidden and the concession areas expanded.

For more information visit the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.^[17]

The Old City Hall is a five-story building in Tacoma, Washington that served as the city hall in the early 20th century. The building features a ten-story clocktower on the southeast corner, facing the intersection of Pacific Avenue and S 7th Street.

The building uses masonry bearing walls combined with numerous windows. The windows on the second and third floors are of equal size. The fourth story windows are arched at the top. The fifth story windows are smaller and narrower.

The foundation is a local Wilkeson stone, which is light gray. The walls are eight feet thick at the base and taper to six feet at street level. They are covered with a façade of red brick faced with yellow Roman brick. These bricks are believed to have been ballast from China or Belgium or to have been imported from Italy. The tower is a freestanding masonry with a clock on each face.

The building is a trapezoid in plan and reflects the Italian Villa style. Small round windows appear below the corner line; three large round windows occur below the corner on the tower.

The tower's base has heavy brackets above the corner of the main structure and narrow rectangular windows on the tower body. A group of three arched windows are at the top on each side. A row of small round windows circles the tower between the arched windows and the eave line. Terra cotta decorations embellish the tower and areas of the entablature. The tower has a clock and a set of four bells. The clock and the bells were cast by the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, the same company that cast the Liberty Bell. The bells is 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of silver bell metal. Hugh Wallace of Tacoma, ambassador to France during World War I, gave the bells and chimes in memory of his daughter on Christmas Day, 1904. The pendulum of the clock, 12 feet (3.7 m) in length, is suspended on a single wire, 40 feet (12 m) in length. The mechanism is gravity run and the motors are wound electrically.^[18]

Theater in Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma Arts Live is a 501 non-profit organization located in the historic Theater District of downtown Tacoma, Washington. Encompassing the Pantages, Rialto, and Theatre on the Square, Tacoma Arts Live manages the largest complex of theaters between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Additionally, Tacoma Arts Live Conservatory and Education Department provide one of the largest performing arts education programs in Washington state.

Since 1918, Tacoma Arts Live has been host to many famous figures and world-class artists such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Ronald Reagan, Hal Holbrook, Debbie Reynolds, Martin Short, Queen Latifah, Joan Rivers, Wanda Sykes and Colleen Ballinger/Miranda Sings.^[19]