August High 5 - How did we do?
1. Community Event - Hilltop Summer Splash & 2nd Cycle’s 10th Anniversary Party √
2. Sweet Treat - Johnson Candy Co. Ice Cream Bar √
3. Exploration & Adventure - Go someplace new √
4. Local Love - Find those patios (State Street, The Patio & Sig Brewing) √
5. Volunteering & Sharing - Oscar’s Enemies Litter Pick-up, CIS of Tacoma School Supplies Drive at Abode, 253 Club Menstrual Products Drive at The Red Hot √
5/5 for August! In July we reached 3/5, but we’re coming at this with a growth mindset.
Tacoma High 5 is our way to nudge you toward what we love about Tacoma, toward 5 things that bring balance to our life in the city. It’s a short list with a commitment to the local—it embraces the season, invites delight, encourages a spirit of exploration and some generosity as well. For September, we’re continuing with our 5 categories:
Community Event
Sweet Treat
Exploration & Adventure
Local Love
Volunteering & Sharing
This list is about choosing to participate in the place we call home, and it’s about small things that make one day distinct from another so that it becomes part of the story of summer, the kind of time about which you say, “Hey, remember when…” And it’s nothing huge like, “Remember when we broke up on Friday night then got engaged on Saturday morning” or “Remember when we adopted 6 foster dogs in 1 week?” Nope. It’s more like those small remember-whens, the remember-whens you have about a day when you just stepped outside your routine and lived in the present (that place we tend so rarely to inhabit).
Maybe we’ll see you out there this month! But if we don’t see you, we hope you’re doing okay, and that someone else saw you instead and gave you a friendly wave and a big hello.
1. Community Event - Tacoma Clay Day - outdoor studio sale
Images from Tacoma Clay Day
Sunday, September 12th
12 - 3 pm
Two Venues:
Northside: 622 N Cushman
Eastside: 5017 E “B” St
Call it a studio sale, call it a ceramics crawl, call it art appreciation, a treasure hunt, 4 hours of inspiration—call it whatever you want, but if you like handmade items, like clay, like meeting artists, like something to do on a Sunday afternoon, you will want to be there.
The Northside and Eastside locations will each have a distinct group of potters and ceramic artists (like Downing Pottery, modhome ceramics, Phi, Luanne Wilson, and Joseph Brooks) showing and selling their ceramic work from jewelry to dishes and sculpture in a wide range of techniques. To see it all, make time for both the North and Eastside locations.
RSVP and invite friends via the Facebook event
Outdoors - masks required
Images from Tacoma Clay Day
A Proof baguette, blueberry scone, and cinnamon roll from our first visit.
2. Sweet Treat - Try Proof Patisserie and Café
1314 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma
Open Daily at 8 am
Have you been to Tacoma’s new bakery on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Hilltop? Go in, say hello, try a scone, cookie, loaf, bagel, or whatever else they’re serving up when you drop in.
Grand Opening! If you want to get in on some action, visit Proof on Saturday - Sunday, September 11th - 12th for festivities including music, small business pop-ups, a coloring contest, discounts, and special pastries.
Lace-up, leash-up and head-out on the Water Flume Line Trail in South Tacoma.
3. Exploration & Adventure - Water Flume Line Trail
South Tacoma - Lakewood
3.5 miles one way
This map counts the trail miles beginning at S. 80th, but you can go either way!
The Water Flume Line Trail follows a segment of the historic wooden water flume line that once carried water from Lake Spanaway to the Hood Street Reservoir. The 2014 reconstruction of the trail is a culmination of work by community members, clubs, and city officials. They did the work, now we can enjoy it!
We like walking year round, but there’s something especially nice about going out without a rain jacket. If you’re a fair weather walker, don’t let September pass without a trip on a Tacoma trail. To walk or ride the Water Flume Line Trail, we recommend parking at South Park just off South Tacoma Way. Follow the paved path south through the park, and it will guide you across S. 54th, where the trail continues in neighborhoods, behind schools, through Oak Tree Park, and all the way to 80th and South Tacoma Way where it ends. Or, you could call that the beginning of the trail and end up at South Park. Either way—unless you set up a shuttle to pick you up—plan to walk, ride, or roll back.
Keep your eyes open for markers beside the path, like this one with information about the snowberry plant whose white berries you may begin to see in September (but do not eat!).
A favorite stretch of the trail for us is through Oak Tree Park where educational markers beside the path teach about some of the native plants you might spot along the way.
The trail is 3.5 miles one way, so you’ll probably be hungry enough to need a bite at The Church Cantina or the Main Ingredient Pizzeria (see our pizza tour below!) before you go home.
The trail is well-marked, paved, and easy to follow. We encourage you to go back again in the spring when a particularly gorgeous magnolia is in bloom. This time you might see leaves turning, squirrels stowing nuts away, and gardens going to seed.
4. Local Love - 10 Stop Tacoma Pizza Tour
This month, to get you out and about around the city, we’re focusing on a meal most people love (apologies to the gluten and dairy intolerant, this is kind of a lame list for you), a food that’s easy to take to-go, that doesn’t come with a garbage bin’s worth of plastic waste, and that you can find all across the city. Here’s the plan, choose a night of the week, say Friday, call it pizza night, and challenge yourself to get pizza from a different place around Tacoma each week when pizza night rolls around. Not only that, show up early for your to-go pie and drive, roll, cycle, or walk a block or two you’ve never explored before. See if you can find a house you’ve never looked at, a garden you’ve never noticed, a block you just don’t quiet recognize. Take your pizza to a park, or take it home and watch a movie.
We’ve chosen pizzerias that aren’t chains, that are Tacoma specific, across neighborhoods from the West End to 6th Ave and the North Slope, from the Ruston Way Waterfront to the Brewery District and South Tacoma Way. You’ll see pizza places you’ve known about for years (decades) and ones that popped up since the pandemic sent us home. We’re starting in the West End and listing the pizza places west to east and then south, not in any particular order of preference. Enjoy!
Image from The Cloverleaf
THE CLOVERLEAF
West End/6th Ave
6430 6th Ave, Tacoma
Open daily
Stone oven, cast iron, crispy, American style pizza that we love (pretty sure they have a cheeseburger pizza here)
Open since the 1950s!
Tag line: World Famous Pizza (we don’t care if that’s true, but we do like to eat it)
Image from Primo Grill
PRIMO GRILL
6th Ave District
2701 6th Ave, Tacoma
Open daily
Thin crust, Mediterranean-PNW style, wood-fired, seasonal
This is a beautiful restaurant for dining in, but they’re happy to send you on your way with your pizza, so don’t be shy
Visit Primo on Facebook and Instagram
Image from State Street Beer, photo credit Chris Daniels
STATE STREET BEER CO.
6th Ave District
606 N State St, Tacoma
Wednesday - Sunday
State Street has a legit wood-fired pizza oven now, pita pizza no longer!
Sit on the patio and watch the world go by while the string lights twinkle and your natural wine catches the glow
Thin, chewy, crusty wonder, and they make a vegan one too
We highly recommend the pickled grape pizza - it’s our particular favorite
Say hello to State Street on Facebook and Instagram
Image from Hanks Barr & Pizza
Hanks Bar & Pizza
North Slope Historic District
524 N K St, Tacoma
Open Daily
21+ locally loved establishment
12” pizzas (and calzones—if you’re that sort of person) in the cozy interior or the enclosed patio
Follow Hanks on Instagram and Facebook to get friendly
Image from Katie Downs
Katie Downs
Ruston Way Waterfront
3211 Ruston Way, Tacoma
Open Daily
Family-owned and operated since 1982!
21+ waterfront restaurant, but go ahead and order to-go if you have minors with a major need for pizza
“Deep Dish to Die For” - we love the enthusiasm from Katie Downs, but we do not want you to die for it, just to eat it if you want. Pizza with a view, do you need to know more? (Friends recommend the Great White, but with shrimp on top!)
If you do need to know more, keep up with Katie Downs on Facebook and Instagram
Image from Puget Sound Pizza
Puget Sound Pizza
Downtown
317 S 7th St, Tacoma
Whooping it up over a delicious pie (pre-Covid, which means it’s been waaaay too long!) at the good old E9 Brewing Co.
E9 Brewing Co. - Pizza & Beer Works
Brewery District
2506 Fawcett Ave, Tacoma
Wednesday - Sunday
21+ establishment, but as with the others, you can take this to-go for an all ages experience
14” pizzas on house-made dough started from their very own Tacoma wild beer yeast strain (it is delicious, we’d be willing to taste test it again for you though if you want us to be really, really sure)
Need more good news? There’s a patio!
Need to know what the pizza of the week is? Follow E9 Brewing Co. on Facebook and Instagram
Image from Sig Brewing Company
Sig Brewing Company
Brewery District
2534 Tacoma Ave S, Tacoma
Closed Monday
Minors welcome until 7 pm, and Sig offers both indoor and patio seating (pups welcome on the patio too - woohoo/woof!)
13” pizzas baked fresh at 800 degrees - basically, baked really hot
We very much loved the shrimp pizza on a recent visit, and think you might have some fun with their (generous) dipping sauces like the Crunchy Garlic Chili Umami Oil
These folks are sharing their pretty food photos and good news on Facebook and Instagram for your enjoyment
Also: cheesecake (we’ll leave it at that)
Image from The Main Ingredient Pizzeria
The Main Ingredient Pizzeria
South Tacoma
5419 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday
Dine-in and take-out with a commitment to crust - and we need to make a commitment to get over there and try the pizza!
12” or 18” fresh and from scratch (and wings, we know that’s a food group to some of you)
Look for familiar pies like the “Supreme” but keep your mind open, we spotted a “Prosciutto, Arugula & Egg” on the menu too
These folks moved to Tacoma in 2016 because they fell in love with our city, go make friends on Facebook and Instagram (and at the pizza joint, of course!)
That’s Michael outside the original pick-up window in full Covid disguise mode, looking about as mysterious as the new location of Tacoma Pie!
Closed while they open their own new location with a beer garden and bocce court - yes, please!
Detroit style, Sicilian style, Grandma style
Deep dish - the crust is thick and high, and crisp, and soft, and so much lighter than it looks - delicious!
Follow Tacoma Pie on Facebook and Instagram to catch their new location and re-opening.
P.S. 1 of these pizzas turned into 3 meals for the 2 of us (we usually eat the whole thing!)
5. Volunteering & Sharing - 2 Opportunities in September
Image from Lutheran Community Services Northwest
LCSNW - Helping Refugees Build a New Life in the Northwest
Have you been wondering if there’s some way you can help as refugees fleeing Afghanistan join us in the Pacific Northwest? Get in touch with the Tacoma branch of Lutheran Community Services Northwest to find out how you can give support.
Opportunities include:
Transportation
Household item and furniture donations
Family mentorship
Financial donations
Co-sponsoring (together with a church or organization) to be a “welcoming committee”
Call 253-444-6846, follow LCSNW on Facebook, or visit the Refugee Resettlement page to learn more.
Image from Oscar’s Enemies - You too might get this lucky and win a prize from a local business!
Oscar’s Enemies Litter Pick-up Day
Saturday, September 18th
9 - 11 am (meet at 8:45 am)
Hong Kong Market Parking Lot
S. 38th & Yakima
Oscar’s Enemies is meeting up for a Lincoln District neighborhood litter pick-up and you are invited!
Register here, bring a litter-grabber and a plastic bucket and Oscar’s enemies will provide the rest (gloves, bags, organization, prizes + a free litter grabber for the first 5 volunteers who show up).
We know we’ve included this a couple of times already, but we’ve enjoyed it so much. It’s organized, rewarding, friendly, and the impact is important! See you there!
Keep in touch about Tacoma life, community, events, homes, and a bit about us.
