Tacoma, Washington
You may be looking for Takoma or Tacoma class frigate.
Tacoma is the county seat of Pierce County6, located on Commencement Bay and the Tacoma Narrows. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 193,556.
It is the home of such international companies as Labor Ready, Inc. and the Russell Investment Group, as well as institutions of higher learning, including Pacific Lutheran University, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Community College, and the University of Washington's Tacoma campus.
The Museum of Glass opened in downtown Tacoma in 2002, showcasing glass art from the region and around the world. It includes a functional glassblowing studio. Tacoma is also the site of the Washington State History Museum.
One of the largest urban parks in the U.S, Point Defiance Park, is located in Tacoma. Another park in Tacoma is Titlow Beach, which is a popular scuba diving area.
Tacoma is famous in the Puget Sound region for smelling bad. The "Tacoma aroma," a distinctive, unpleasant odor that was a byproduct of local paper manufacturing, pervaded much of the city for decades. However, in 1999 Simpson Paper shut down a large paper mill, and an urban renewal program has replaced many of the other industrial odor sources, so the aroma has mostly dissipated. (A faint smell is reportedly still detectable during temperature inversions.)
Many well known people have come from Tacoma, among them singer Bing Crosby, authors Richard Brautigan and Frank Herbert, serial killer Ted Bundy, serial sniper John Allen Muhammad, actress Dyan Cannon, conspiracy gadfly Fred Crisman, auto racer Pat Austin, prize fighter Sugar Ray Seales, glass artist Dale Chihuly, and musician Neko Case.
History
Tacoma was inhabited for thousands of years by Native American people, predominantly the Puyallup people. It was visited by European and American explorers, including George Vancouver and Charles Wilkes, who named many of the coastal landmarks. The town was originally settled by pioneer and postmaster Job Carr (a replica of his home and post office has been erected near the site of his original cabin). Tacoma was officially incorporated on November 12, 1875.
Tacoma was named after Mount Rainier, whose original name was Mount Tacoma, which derived from the Puyallup tacobet, or "mother of waters."
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 162.2 km² (62.6 mi²). 129.7 km² (50.1 mi²) of it is land and 32.5 km² (12.5 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 20.01% water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 193,556 people, 76,152 households, and 45,919 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,492.3/km² (3,864.9/mi²). There are 81,102 housing units at an average density of 625.3/km² (1,619.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 69.08% White, 11.24% African American, 1.96% Native American, 7.57% Asian, 0.93% Pacific Islander, 2.94% from other races, and 6.28% from two or more races. 6.85% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 76,152 households out of which 30.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.6% are married couples living together, 13.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.7% are non-families. 31.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.45 and the average family size is 3.10.
In the city the population is spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $37,879, and the median income for a family is $45,567. Males have a median income of $35,820 versus $27,697 for females. The per capita income for the city is $19,130. 15.9% of the population and 11.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.6% of those under the age of 18 and 10.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
There is no international airport within Tacoma; however, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is located halfway between Seattle and Tacoma in the city of SeaTac between Burien and Federal Way. It serves Seattle, Washington, Tacoma and the Greater Puget Sound Metropolitan Area.
Sports
Tacoma, in addition to the professional sports teams of Seattle, has one minor league baseball franchise, the Tacoma Rainiers, a Triple-A team playing in the Pacific Coast League as a farm team of the Seattle Mariners.
The city has struggled to keep a minor league hockey franchise, having lost the Tacoma Rockets of the WHL to relocation and having the Tacoma Sabercats of the former West Coast Hockey League go defunct due to financial woes. The Tacoma Dome does still host traveling sports and pseudo-sports events such as pro wrestling, figure skating tours, and the Harlem Globetrotters.
Tacoma in pop culture
Neko Case's song "Thrice All American", featured on her album Furnace Room Lullaby, is an ode to Tacoma, which she considers her hometown. The album also includes a song caled "South Tacoma Way."
Richard Brautigan wrote of his Tacoma childhood in his autobiographical short stories "Corporal," "The Armoured Car," "The Auction," and "The Ghost Children of Tacoma."
Tacoma is also prominently mentioned in the 1977 Steve Miller Band song "Rock 'N Me" (I went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma, Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A.).
A running gag in the 1985 Tom Hanks film Volunteers is the repeated references to Tacoma by John Candy's character, "Tom Tuttle from Tacoma, Washington."
The movie Ten Things I Hate About You was also filmed at Stadium High School, a local high school.
Toyota has named a popular line of pickup trucks the "Toyota Tacoma" after the city.
External links
- Official site of City of Tacoma (http://www.cityoftacoma.org/)
- Port of Tacoma (http://www.portoftacoma.com/)
- Tacoma Watersheds (http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/waterServices/surfacewater/watershed.htm)
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| Regions: Central Washington | Columbia River Plateau | Eastern Washington | Inland Empire | Kitsap Peninsula | Olympic Peninsula | Okanogan Country | Palouse | Puget Sound | San Juan Islands | Western Washington | Yakima Valley | |
| Largest Cities: Auburn | Bellevue | Bellingham | Bremerton | Edmonds | Everett | Federal Way | Kennewick | Kent | Kirkland | Lakewood | Olympia | Redmond | Renton | Richland | Seattle | Shoreline | Spokane | Tacoma | Vancouver | Yakima | |
| Counties: Adams | Asotin | Benton | Chelan | Clallam | Clark | Columbia | Cowlitz | Douglas | Ferry | Franklin | Garfield | Grant | Grays Harbor | Island | Jefferson | King | Kitsap | Kittitas | Klickitat | Lewis | Lincoln | Mason | Okanogan | Pacific | Pend Oreille | Pierce | San Juan | Skagit | Skamania | Snohomish | Spokane | Stevens | Thurston | Wahkiakum | Walla Walla | Whatcom | Whitman | Yakima | |
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