Old Town Tacoma: "Hidden gem" of city traces its history, blending old and new

The budget outing: Tucked between Museum Row and Point Defiance Park is the Tacoma that could have been.

Old Town, a historical section of the Commencement Bay waterfront and a four-block stretch of North 30th Street south of Ruston Way, once was destined to be a city. Today it's a quiet business district, divided by the railroad tracks that have played a role in its history since the 1800s.

"It's like a little hidden gem," says Kathy Robinson, who interrupted a jog to pick up salmon at Johnny's Sea Food next to a beach where she and her two sons spent the morning hunting for crabs. "Not many people know about it, but once you do ... "

Cafés, a few restaurants, a museum and historical buildings dot the area that attracted Tacoma's founder, Civil War veteran Job Carr, to the Puget Sound area in 1864.

Carr staked a claim on land he hoped would be the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and became mayor of what then was called Tacoma City. But Carr missed the mark slightly, and the rail line ended two miles east in what became "New Tacoma."

Residents there formed their own government, and the communities eventually merged into the city of Tacoma. Tacoma City became Old Tacoma, which developed as a neighborhood servicing the boat builders and lumber mills along Commencement Bay.

All of these businesses are gone today, replaced by restaurants and waterfront parks, but traces of the past live on in a handful of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and in the tiny Job Carr Cabin Museum, a replica of Carr's original log home.

The best way to see what's old (and new) is to pick up a free brochure for the Old Town Historical Walking Tour from the Job Carr Cabin Museum at 2350 N. 30th St. (open 1-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays ), or print out a Web version at www.cityoftacoma.org.

Make your first stop at Jack Hyde Park, off Ruston Way just east of McCarver Street.

Plaques tell how Croatian immigrants introduced purse-seine fishing here in 1885 and describe a once-thriving retail area with barbers, grocery stores and taverns. West of the park, next to Johnny's, fishermen mended their nets at the Old Town Dock, where locals today fish for squid.

Across the railroad tracks is the Spar, a tavern and coffeehouse in a red brick building at 2121 N. 30th St. This was the original site of the Old Tacoma Saloon, opened in 1884. East of the Spar, at the intersection of North 30th and Starr, is a pocket park with a few picnic tables and a fish sculpture with pictures of Old Tacoma embedded in glass tiles.

Other buildings worth noting are Saint Peter's Church, 2910 N. Starr, the oldest church in Tacoma, built in 1873, and the Job Carr Cabin Museum, where volunteer docents Bill and Cyndie Carr (no relation — they're from California) enjoy showing visitors Carr's family photos and original diaries.

Sidewalk plaques along North 30th recall the stories of some of Tacoma's pioneering women. One honors Thea Foss, founder of the Foss Launch and Tug Company and a Norwegian mother of four who used the family food money to buy her first boat.

Shopping op: From the $1,200 chest from Romania to the $1 wooden ear pickers from Japan, "this store is totally dedicated to our family," says Linda McElroy, who with her brother and sister runs the Barker Road Collection at 2225 N. 30th at Carr Street.

The gift shop is inside the Stambuck building, which housed a saloon, a billiard hall and furnished rooms in the early 1900s. A mural outside depicts what Old Town looked like in the 1890s. Inside, the merchandise reflects the tastes of the siblings who grew up in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia with a father who worked for Boeing and a mother born in China.

Their buying missions have yielded some special finds. Check out the hand-carved walnuts used by Chinese to do hand exercises ($5) and the miniature glow-in-the-dark rubber ducks ($2 each).

Good eats: Café Divino, 2112 N. 30th, serves goodies such as baked brie with pears and smoked salmon quesadillas in a white-tablecloth setting. Perhaps the most impressive building in the neighborhood, Carr's Hall, built in 1888 and restored in 1983, houses Grazie's Italian restaurant, 2301 N. 30th, with a deck and waterfront views.

Locals recommend the homemade banana bread and mocha smoothies at the Spar cafe. Feeling guilty about too much caffeine? Ask them to add a shot of flaxseed oil.

The marquee outside Johnny's Sea Food, 2201 Ruston Way, advertises alligator meat, frog legs and baby octopus. I can't vouch for any of them, but I can recommend the oyster cocktail, a quarter-pound of plump Hood Canal oysters served in a paper cup with sauce and lemon for $2.75.

Costs: $10 covered two oyster cocktails from Johnny's and an Italian soda, latte and slice of banana bread from the Spar. Plus gasoline for the round trip.

Getting there: Old Town Tacoma is 40 miles south of downtown Seattle. Take Interstate 5 to I-705 North, and exit at City Center (Exit 133). Follow Schuster Parkway, which becomes Ruston Way. Turn left at McCarver Street (across from Old Town Dock and Johnny's Sea Food). North 30th Street crosses McCarver on the south side of the railroad tracks. Street parking is free.

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