... we've decided to pull the plug on ourselves rather than watch another month go by without new posts.
It was fun getting to know our readers online and in person. It was fun making t-shirts and having several of our t-shirts stolen. It was fun crafting inappropriate photo illustrations. [...]
You know we GritCitizens are devoted fans of the Big Buck Hunter arcade game. But when it comes to warfare with actual animals ...
The hundreds of elk that stamp around yards and chew up fruit trees in the mountain towns near Mount Rainier have given residents fits for years.
But [...]
Quick, you have approximately 45 minutes to abandon work or whatever it is you people do and get to TCC:
This fall the Artist & Lecture Series at Tacoma Community College presents comedian and writer Larry Wilmore. Wilmore will speak on campus Oct. 15 at 11:30 [...]
It's about time.
I have been a good sport for the past few months, politely watching other sports with my friends. Don't get me wrong, it's great to see the Hawks again. But the massive letdown of the Mariners this year and my decision to [...]
After having spent the waning days of summer soaking my 27-year-old bones in an Oregon hot springs, I come home to this.
Rain. Cold. A hungry cat who wants to know why I left the window ajar and the heater off.
Today may be [...]
Former TNT arts critic Jen Graves (hi Jen!) thinks you have a sexual problem.
She cites three suggestive marketing messages from T-town that she's had the "pleasure" of discovering since this summer. So what gives? Are you feeling a little feisty lately, Tacoma?
If you were going to write a suggestive [...]
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Not that this has much to do with Tacoma and its surroundings, but it's dominating the news cycle today and dominating much of my concentration. One of my besties lives in Houston and is drinking heavily and hunkering down in hopes that the [...]
I apologize on behalf of all of us for the lame state of things here on GritCity. Yes, the mood around here has been somewhat hectic and depressing at times, but we're looking for a way out of this funk.
But first, let's submerse ourselves in the funk as [...]
A while back I wrote about the Dead Gentlemen, Tacoma filmmakers whose comedy "The Gamers" has won several major geek awards since its release in 2002. The team will attend the Penny Arcade Expo for a screening of the sequel, "The Gamers: Dorkness [...]
Tacoma's rollerderby chicks are moving into the National Guard Armory at 715 S. 11th St. As far as I can tell, it's not a coup in the making. It's just the acquisition of a new practice space, so they say. We'll see.
In the meantime, you can catch their next match/bout/pummel-skating [...]
The next season of HBO's "Entourage" is upon us, and I haven't been having much luck with my ill-advised search for local entourages. We ran an invitation in that print thingy we do. But I thought maybe a post might help generate some interest.
Here's the idea: Tell me about [...]
Please excuse the camera-phone pic, but I had to share the cool new sign hanging at Satellite Coffee. Gotta dig the curlicue font and tattoo-like style.
It's by Chris Sharp, of course. You've seen his work at the Rosewood Cafe and Corina Bakery and other places I'm forgetting. [...]
Today's Wall Street Journal has a story about Tacoma native Dale Chihuly.
Some of the quotes from the review include "nauseated by the grotesque, gleaming, pointless excess" and "Disney-like."
While one San Francisco art critic dismissed Chihuly as an interior decorator, this reviewer says: "I wouldn't go that [...]
I would like to please direct your attention to one of our morning updates:
Olympia mailman wants kilts added to uniform
Any kilt wearers in the house want to speak to this?
[...]Every once in a while, I like to do something really wild and crazy like forget to pay a parking ticket. Did I say forget? I probably meant willfully ignore.
Well, gentle reader, no more. I have been suitably chastened. The sight of a city meter maid/man-maid in orange vest and [...]
He's done it in practice.
Tacoma's Mark Kirsch, owner of World Strongman Entertainment, is going to try to pull a Boeing 767 at least 100 feet this Saturday at Boeing Field. The event is a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound, and it coincides with the 80th [...]
Ralph Porter, longtime host of the Ha-Ha Tuesdays comedy night over at Jazzbones, is moving up in the world.
Ralph recently sent me an e-mail letting me know he was headed to Los Angeles for some high-profile tapings, appearances on BET's "Comic View" and HBO's "Def Comedy Jam."
I talked [...]
Hi.
I'm Bill.
But enough about me.
I just got word from John Munn, owner of Comic Book Ink over on Tacoma's East Side, that his store has received its fourth Eisner nomination. For you non-comic-book geeks, the Eisners are the comic-book world's Oscar equivalent. It's a big deal.
John is headed [...]
So a B-2 stealth bomber just flew over my house. No doubt part of the air show at McChord this weekend.
Unless, of course, it's working for Google maps.
[...]Tomorrow I get the pleasure of hosting my parents, brother and his family. Naturally, being a n00b (as kalvyn so 1337-ly put it) I am at a loss of what to do. It is a daunting task because 1. I need to entertain my parents, two 30-somethings (happy birthday Angie) [...]
I have found my version of hell, and it is the intersection of Sixth and Sprague. I have lost most of my youth waiting to turn left onto Sprague at this demonic location. Alas, I must go there every day. The light always taunts me as I approach. This brilliant [...]
Clean up your yard and put away the recycle bins. It appears that Google is filming the streets of Tacoma this week to add to its [...]
An alert reader spotted this nugget in the July 2 edition of Cascadia Weekly ("serving Whatcom, Skagit and Island Counties and lower B.C.").
Border Disorders
On June 22, a cab driver from Tacoma celebrated his fare after he dropped the customer off at Peace Portal near the international boundary [...]
Hey remember when I posted that sexy photo of Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto in her competition swimsuit? Turns out I could have posted a few more provocative pics had I only known...
The Miss Washington Scholarship Organization has called a news conference for 3 p.m. in Tacoma to respond [...]
It's that time of year when everyone and his mother is telling you to be safe for the Fourth of July.
So in the tradition of obvious and condescending advice on how to stay alive during routine summer activities, we present GritCity's Lucky 13 Summer Safety [...]
100 years ago today: July 2, 1908
The W.W. Seymour conservatory in Wright Park was completed on time, and the keys to the building were turned over to the Metropolitan Park Board.
Frank C. Ross and Anna Robinson at the conservatory at Wright Park, circa 1915. (Washington [...]
... are you really going to?
Reportedly hundreds of thousands of people are going to show up to Tall Ships. But, considering everyone who reads this blog is antisocial, what are your Tall Ships protest plans? If you are going to hide in your closet instead of seeing [...]
With the interns coming in from wherever we are all from, I am reminded of a few instances regarding Tacoma's location.
A week or two ago I was sitting next to a person (I won't identify them for safety's sake) while they were talking to their family about the recent [...]
This sign made me inexplicably happy today. Or maybe the sun has finally gotten to my brain. Try a nachos.
[...]
Since it's summer, that means it's time for road trips and mental vacations (if you haven't noticed by our lack of posts this month).
But even when I'm away, I always keep an eye out for all things Tacoma. It's a horrible side effect of blogging.
On one [...]
It is true, GritCity has a new contributor, and it is me, the intern.
I guess it is a dream come true of sorts. Long ago, I added the GritCity page on my Facebook. Once I found out about getting the internship here, I longed to have my neck included in [...]
Now, there's no denying we work hard here at GritCity. It takes effort to not get paid to write only one post about every two weeks.
But luckily, The News Tribune has welcomed a crop of interns for the summer and one of them actually wants to play with us.
Brian [...]
Like the best of drug dealers, Satellite Coffee gave me my first shot for free.
It seems like just yesterday.
(cue music)
::::::::
It was Super Bowl Sunday. I was headed to work and in a sullen mood. I stopped by Satellite and co-owner Pat "Rock Hands" Brown* offered me a free blueberry [...]
Last month I was told that my idea for "Plant a Beer Nut Day" was the winner in Rusty George Creative's "Create Something Weird" contest. The result:
Today is Plant a Beer Nut Day!
Today also happens to be GritBaby's first birthday, so June 19th is [...]
So, as has been previously reported, Top of Tacoma does not have a Big Buck Hunter Safari edition.
Tears were shed.
However. It does have a Big Buck Hunter Pro – that is, the version in which you can shoot big horn sheeps and elks and deers and mooses and other [...]
I went in to Satellite a few minutes ago for my morning cup of coffee. When I went to pay, owner Pat Brown presented me with a question: Want free coffee or to make someone else's day?
Sometime this morning, an anonymous coffee drinker paid for their morning cup and [...]
I was reading The New York Times Magazine and saw this story about Seattle-based Destee Nation that sells retro-looking T-shirts that feature small businesses – mostly neighborhood bars and restaurants. A cut of the sales goes to the business that was represented on the sold shirt. Everybody wins.
Now [...]
It's hard to remember when we had sunshine. But this week's GO cover story – you can read it Friday – on waterfront dining makes me think of my first blissful summer sunset dinner in Tacoma.
It's been almost four years now, if you can believe that.
It was August. [...]
Loyal reader NihilistForHire tipped me off this evening that one of these babies is rumored to be making its home at Top of Tacoma:
I'll report back when I know more. May the digital blood of wildebeests bestow good luck upon you all.
[...]Quick, name that city:
The draw of a neighborhood bracketed by an Interstate and a Superfund-listed river is obscure.… Then in the late 1990s, displaced artists and artisans drawn by cheap rents started moving to (redacted) to open tile works, Vespa repair shops and glass blowing studios.
You would be forgiven for [...]
Predicted low tides at Commencement Bay this week:
Today: Minus-3.9 feet at 11:05 a.m.
Wednesday: Minus-4.3 feet at 11:52 a.m.
Thursday: Minus-4.2 feet at 12:40 p.m.
Friday: Minus-3.6 feet at 1:29 p.m.
I always think it's cool to walk around the tip of Point Defiance during [...]
This is quickly making its way across the tubes, so I thought I'd pitch in and help. The Spokane Chiefs hockey team won the Memorial Cup (the Canadian League's championship prize). Apparently it's a really big deal, but I wouldn't know it since I don't follow hockey. The Chiefs are [...]
The UK's Daily Telegraph recently published a profile on Washington State resident Edward Smith, 57, who engages in what is known as "mechaphilia" -- or, sexual attraction to machines. Smith's machine of choice is the motor vehicle and admits to having sex with at least 1,000 of them since [...]
I've been a fan of FOUND magazine and its Web site for years. I used to think I would go around finding weird, funny stuff to send in to them, but I never did. I always keep an eye out though, and indeed, my compulsion with picking up things [...]
First he shuts out cancer. Then tonight Jon Lester no-hits the Kansas City Royals.
This blog posting by Scott Fontaine back in October sums up why the 2002 Bellarmine Prep grad's story is so great.
Here's a picture of Lester back in his Prep days. Anybody go [...]
I don't know what kind of perverted magnetic forces are at work here, but it's taking a toll on our homes.
Personally, I blame errant GPS guidance systems.
I'm sensing a trend:
May 14: No one home, no one injured as police car backs [...]
So a gnome IM'd me the other day.
How does a gnome end up on IM anyway? I imagined him tossing the unicorn some extra alfalfa, popping a Diet Coke, then hopping on Facebook to see if anyone hot on his friends list has been dumped recently.
Maybe that's [...]
First, an update: As some of you know, I've been covering politics for the past five months. If you didn't notice ... really? You didn't notice? Not once did you wonder where I was at? Well, that makes me feel great.
Deep breath. Serenity now. I missed you.
The reason [...]
Last night at the Tacoma Dome was a Sesame Street extravaganza called When Elmo Grows Up, "a musical show-and-tell of the possibilities of all kinds of careers."
I didn't go, but I can guess what happens: Elmo gets older, his voice gets deeper and he starts to get fur in [...]
I hate cutting and pasting news releases, but this seemed interesting and might save us all some money:
[...]Tacoma Art Museum offers free admission to Bank of America credit, check and ATM cardholders on the first Saturday and Sunday of every month. The offer is valid through May 2009.
I was sad to hear that Stadium High School grad Irv Robbins died this week. That's Robbins, as in Baskin-Robbins, as Kelly once wrote.
As one reader pointed out, isn't it true that all good things come from Tacoma?
"We sell fun, not just ice cream," [...]
Stimulus-Response: Here's a more accurate depiction of what we're buying with our stimulating checks.
[...] How are we Tacomans spending our economic stimulus checks?
And by "grit" I mean "gasoline."
What should we add to this pie chart?
[...]A closer look at the hacked-up tree at Chambers Bay Golf Course reveals only one thing is keeping it from toppling ...
It's Tilt! A favorite drink of Tacoma's car thieves and other degenerates.
Wannabe lumberjacks must also have a weakness for lemon-lime flavored caffeinated [...]
We've got this story today about a renegade sea lion, removed from its salmon-eating perch on the Columbia, that died under anesthesia at Point Defiance Zoo during an exam.
A wildlife biologist said the critter's weight might've led to its demise.
“It was extremely obese. Very, very [...]
That's the question that someone called to ask today.
He was thinking it was either the second of March or the fifth of March.
The editor responded with a straight face: "That would be the fifth of May."
Cinco. De Mayo.
[...]
Kelly's post on Monday started an interesting discussion about how everyone ended up living in Tacoma. (Apparently, we all moved here from from the Midwest via Syracuse, N.Y.)
Now that we've solved that, I have a slightly different question: I want to know how you ended up [...]
Is there such a thing as candy gentrification?
After five years of research and development, Tacoma's own Brown & Haley recently unveiled its Roca Buttercrunch Thins, as Dan Voelpel writes today.
The latest evolution of the candy seems even classier than its foil-wrapped predecessor. It has a [...]
Yesterday marked the 25th birthday of the Tacoma Dome's grand opening, and I can't believe nobody threw a celebration with big domed party hats.
Just think of all the RV shows, monster truck rallies, prayer breakfasts, concerts, SuperSonics games, indoor-soccer rug burns and high school state championship games [...]
I saw this little mention on my favorite national home design (read: sofa porn) blog, apartmenttherapy.com, about Tacoma's Posh Home on Sixth Avenue. I always drive by and ogle the windows – in French, they call that lecher les vitrines (literally: licking the shop windows) – but I've never [...]
If you don't have enough rainy-day work to do in your own yard, there's Parks Appreciation Day going on until noon today at area parks.
After that, if you want to get a jump on spending your Economic Stimulus Check (can people get a payday loan for that?), there's [...]
I get a lot of strange spam sent to my e-mail here at work, but I'm really not sure what this one is all about. Any ideas?
"ДЭИР" - Школа Дальнейшего
ЭнергоИнформационного Развития
I'm thinking some Cosmonauts brought back an odd substance from space, and now [...]
If you’re waiting until the last minute to mail your tax return, the post office at 4001 S. Pine St. in Tacoma will be open until midnight.
That is all.
Oh wait, one more nugget of wisdom: If you get a refund, spend it locally. What will you be buying?
[...]My Friday unfolded just as promised: Hub pizza** (after a long but tolerable wait in an elbow-to-elbow dining room), followed by the Tree Roots in the Basement show at the Helm. I flirted briefly with King's Books, but did not linger.
I snapped a few shoddy pics from [...]
Instant human, just add espresso!
(beat)
The fact that I just wrote that unironically is evidence of the overdose of vitamin D I'm enjoying via my office windows.
No, I'm not out cart-wheeling down Sixth Avenue. Yet.
But I'm rather excited at the happenings around town tonight.
My evening is shaping [...]
Man, I bet they wish they wouldn't have replaced all those hops with daffodils.
Personally, if I were a Puyallup Valley farmer in the mid-1920s, I would have planted opium poppies. Who wouldn't love a Poppy Parade?
Among other things, it would probably include tasty muffins.
[...]
"Sit down, you're blocking the beverage cart."
Today's civic lesson: Don't ever let people tell you they're flying into Seattle.
For example, this Associated Press caption says: "In this photo released by Virgin America, musician Avir Mitra of the band Bamboo Shoots entertains passengers Tuesday en route to [...]
Well this is a sad way to start the day: Stadium Bistro just sent out an e-mail to everyone on its mailing list announcing that it's closing after today. Here's the e-mail:
Our Last Day is Today...
Come on down to the Bistro one last time!Today, Saturday, April 5, is [...]
Technically, it's a siamang jumping on a lowland anoa, but why let the facts get in the way of a good headline?
Update: Mike Harrnacker, who shot the video, tells me: "I was just having a day out with my girls (Mabelle and Helen). We make it there 2 or 3 [...]
They mowed the grass in front of my building today for the first time this year.
Ah, spring.
That's not my lawn, but let's take some artistic license
Anyone doing anything especially seasonal this weekend? There's an arts walk Saturday down Alder Street beginning at 6:30 p.m. Here's [...]
Commenter goddesslunacy says...
...I was on my way to work and it was then that I noticed a note had been slipped onto my windshield at some point last night or this morning. I wanted to reach out and grab it as I was traveling at high speed on the freeway, [...]
We're on Facebook! Won't you be our fan? So far we only have nine. Well, five, not counting us.
Also, if you still refuse to give up on MySpace, we're on there too.
[...]I'm a firm believer in news-by-flier, and there have been some gems around T-town lately.
Take the postcard I snagged the other day at Blackwater, published by Rusty George Creative, a local marketing firm.
It seems that today is Create Something Weird Day.
Says RGC:
We know what you're thinking. We forgot [...]
Few things are as quintessentially Northwest as a Bigfoot art chainsaw carving contest.
The roadside event over the weekend was part of Pemco Insurance's "We're A Lot Like You" campaign that highlights the stereotypes of the Northwest.
You might have seen some of the ads, such [...]
This is absurd. It's actually sticking. Is anybody out there catching flakes on their tongues? If so, you shouldn't do that you know.
[...]
If there's one thing I can't stand in sports, it's a team that considers itself anointed to the throne (see John McGrath's column today for more on that). [...]
If you like Terry's Berries (and I do) then you'll be happy to read this.
[...]Is it snowing anywhere else or do we work in an especially cold corner of Tacoma here at South 19th and State streets?
This has got to hurt today's Slurpee sales at the 7-Eleven.
Kelly says if the computer system hadn’t decided to disallow her password, she would’ve written:
Holy smokes, [...]
With the appropriate word in the blank spaces, this 100-year-old editorial can still apply to Tacoma today.
What word should it be?
Looking Back: March 24, 1908
Editorial excerpt from The Tacoma News:“Any action that tends to embarrass or even slightly delay the progress of this city in any [...]
It's only a matter of time until the robots are telling us what to do. Thankfully, for now, we have humans like this on our side.
Congratulations to the Tacoma School of the Arts team that's headed to the international championships in April in Atlanta.
[...]It's finally here: A comprehensive guide to Tacoma's restaurants. And the best part: You get to add your thoughts to it.
I was planning to highlight some of the site's features, but that would be boring. So instead, just go check it out for yourself and play around with [...]
On the way to the meet 'n' eat at Frost Park today, GritPup and I walked through an empty Fireman's Park. The giant totem pole whispered to me that it was lonely. How sad!
Maybe we should have progressive park lunches?
Anyway, it was fun to finally meet some people [...]
Kelly and Laura and I are e-mailing each other, and we keep saying the same thing: We want to post something, but we don't have anything to write about. Maybe we're just lazy. Maybe we need Niki to come back from Olympia.
So it got me thinking, Has everything already [...]
It's time for another verse of our favorite anthem, "O, Tacoma, how do we love thee (when few others do)".
Today's installment comes courtesy of one of my favorite design-porn blogs, apartmenttherapy.com. The writers, based in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and LA, champion green living, greenmarkets, shopping local, nice [...]
Back when the neon "art" in the Tacoma Dome was actually in style, there was an indoor soccer phenomenon called the Tacoma Stars. And I'm kind of sad I wasn't around for the height of the fanaticism. It's a different level of Tacoma love.
But thankfully, someone managed to record [...]
