[Moving] to Tacoma, WA - Seeking protips, neighborhoods, beard length requirements, etc...

Straygatsby

So the mystical fate catapult is launching me and my from the far SE to the far NW, completing my nomadic quest to live at the four corners of this fine country. Unfortunately, I have no firsthand experience with the greater SeaTac conglomerate. I'm still poring over maps and whatnot, but the long and short of it is that my better half will be working out of Lakeside, WA (which looks to be either a part of Tacoma or a SW suburb), and we will be looking to live in a modest apartment (no kids, very city savvy, 1k or less/month rent target) within commutable distance (we both have reliable cars). I'll be looking for work all the way from Seattle to Tacoma, so I'm open to advice all the way up the interstate, though I think we'll be most likely to be living in Tacoma proper.

If any of you fine folks have any tips for the city and its surrounding, specifically what neighborhoods are currently in/out/good/bad, how the traffic up what looks to be the majory interstate artery is (I assume it's pretty ugly), and really anything you'd like to share about living there, I'd appreciate it all.

Thanks!

Mr_Richard

with standards like that, you don't even need preparation. You can just wander into Tacoma and find what you're looking for without effort.

Seattle Thread

Yeah, 1K will get you a palatial manor in Tacoma. Hell, one of my co-workers rents down there, he pays $700 for a 3-bedroom apartment. $700. That won't get you a studio in some neighborhoods up here.

I suggest ditching the car and relying on our local transportation services: Sound Transit (greater Puget Sound area), Pierce Transit (greater Tacoma area), and Metro (greater Seattle area). The Sounder makes several direct trips from Tacoma to Seattle every day, and it's absolutely the best way to commute should you land a job in Seattle proper. Traffic is a bitch along I-5 during rush hour, and at random times during the day. Poke around on Pierce Transit website and check out some of the major lines--living near one of those will make your life much easier.

One thing to note--it's gonna smell funny on occasion, usually when there's an east wind. You'll get used to it after a while, and just be glad that you weren't around pre-2000, when it was ever-present and all-consuming.

Straygatsby

Good to hear, thanks folks. We figured Tacoma was sometimes looked at as the dirty cousin that Seattle didn't like to hang out with even though they went to the same high school, but that's about our speed right now (between a graduate intern and a low to mid-level IT guy working on his second career we're not exactly in the downtown Seattle condo financial caste yet). I'll check out the mass transit. After a decade of living in cities without it (well, without light and commuter rail at least), I'd forgotten how wonderful it is.

If any other Tacoma area folks care to chime in, it's all welcome advice. Thanks again. We've got until the end of July to plan the convoy out, but it sounds like it'll be a pretty fun transition. It'll certainly be nice to get out of Hades class weather again.

UPDATE EDIT:

Thanks so much for the following replies, folks. I didn't want to artificially bump the thread with another reply. All the information really helps paint a picture before we get boots on the ground! We're both really looking forward to the Pacific Northwest culture (and weather!).

Aioua

Straygatsby wrote: »

Good to hear, thanks folks. We figured Tacoma was sometimes looked at as the dirty cousin that Seattle didn't like to hang out with even though they went to the same high school, but that's about our speed right now (between a graduate intern and a low to mid-level IT guy working on his second career we're not exactly in the downtown Seattle condo financial caste yet). I'll check out the mass transit. After a decade of living in cities without it (well, without light and commuter rail at least), I'd forgotten how wonderful it is.

If any other Tacoma area folks care to chime in, it's all welcome advice. Thanks again. We've got until the end of July to plan the convoy out, but it sounds like it'll be a pretty fun transition. It'll certainly be nice to get out of Hades class weather again.

Well... Seattle really only has good transit of you're going to/from downtown Seattle. I've never lived in Tacoma, so I don't know what their local busses are like. I know they built their section of the light rail system that kinda runs through their downtown, but it doesn't connect to anything else at the moment. The Sounder train is great though, assuming you want to get to downtown Seattle.
But if you're trying to get to any of the suburbs around Seattle for some reason you pretty much need a car. Unless you want to spend three hours on the bus.

big l

South Tacoma is frankly kind of ghetto. Higher crime, lower property quality, not much fun, vibrant nightlife for young people. Hilltop is also a sort of ghetto neighborhood. I would recommend something in the area around the University of Puget Sound. That said, because Tacoma is nothing special, and if you don't care about living in the city itself, you could live in one of the nearby suburbs. The area right around the Lewis/McChord base isn't that great, but Puyallup, just to the east, isn't too bad. Or depending on where you get work, farther north up I-5, though probably no farther than Federal Way. The ugliest traffic along I-5 in the area is around where I-5 and Highway 18 meet, just to the south of Federal Way, Highway 167 is also a traffic nightmare but they have a toll lane you can pay to use that is reasonably fast.

If you are going to get a job in Seattle, maybe you'd want to live a little farther north. I don't know how much of a commute you can tolerate. Agree with Aioua about transit only being good going to/from downtown Seattle. I wouldn't count on it working for you.

Anyways, I don't live in Tacoma but this is what I know, if you have any other questions I can try giving them a shot.

tech_hunter

I live fairly close to downtown Tacoma, the neighborhood isnt too bad. Although I live between two hospitals and a fire station, so at times it sounds like I live in a war zone. The transit system in Tacoma is fairly good I tend to drive to the Tacoma Dome Transit station and take the Express to downtown Seattle for work. I really do not recommend driving to and from Seattle from Tacoma unless you have a schedule that will totally miss the morning and evening parking lots on I5. Also yes the weird smells in Tacoma are a thing, but you get used to it.

The transit system here has a phone app, one bus away its pretty neat and quite handy.

DoctorArch

I will second looking up near the University of Puget Sound area, or potentially University Place as well.

GnomeTank

Coming from the south, you're in for some culture shock up here Couple of things to note:

"Ghetto" does not mean the same thing here it does in most southern cities. While SeaTac and Portland have their shady neighborhoods and their prostitute strips, it's NOTHING like South Central L.A. or Acre's Homes/Fifth Ward in Houston (I use those examples because I lived in those cities, but someone from Atlanta or Jacksonville could give you other examples I'm sure).

Public transit is actually a thing here, a thing that works. I haven't used Seattle public transit since I worked at Microsoft, but from what I remember, it wasn't as bad as people are describing it. I lived on the east side of Lake Washington, and I was able to get around without owning a car just fine. I never owned a car the entire time I lived in the Seattle metroplex, and it was never a huge issue.

SeaTac isn't quite as hardcore about this as Portland, but be ready for lack-of-chain-restaurant shock when you first get here. At first this will suck, eventually it will rock because you'll find tons of local fare you love. This one may depend on where you come from, but coming from Houston (the Mecca of chain food), this was a HUGE deal for me and the wife.

You'll also just find more local businesses in general up here...people tend to be on the level when it comes to supporting local stuff.

And lastly, welcome to the Pacific Northwest...it rocks up here It's like Canada without the reverse hell cold.

Seattle Thread

GnomeTank wrote: »

SeaTac isn't quite as hardcore about this as Portland, but be ready for lack-of-chain-restaurant shock when you first get here.

I believe you mean "Seattle and Tacoma." It sounds like semantics, but SeaTac only refers to the general area around the airport, named as much because it's between the two cities. And for some double-semantics... SeaTac is nothing but chain restaurants.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Anyone who refers to "the ghetto" as though seattle or portland have one (at least, without a lot of qualification) can pretty much be ignored

mrt144

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

Anyone who refers to "the ghetto" as though seattle or portland have one (at least, without a lot of qualification) can pretty much be ignored

Qft.

My dad lives near point defiance zoo and overlooks the tacoma narrows bridge and ots awesome

Aioua

Makershot wrote: »

GnomeTank wrote: »

SeaTac isn't quite as hardcore about this as Portland, but be ready for lack-of-chain-restaurant shock when you first get here.

I believe you mean "Seattle and Tacoma." It sounds like semantics, but SeaTac only refers to the general area around the airport, named as much because it's between the two cities. And for some double-semantics... SeaTac is nothing but chain restaurants.

SeaTac is also a city in its own right. Ever since 1990!

GnomeTank

Makershot wrote: »

GnomeTank wrote: »

SeaTac isn't quite as hardcore about this as Portland, but be ready for lack-of-chain-restaurant shock when you first get here.

I believe you mean "Seattle and Tacoma." It sounds like semantics, but SeaTac only refers to the general area around the airport, named as much because it's between the two cities. And for some double-semantics... SeaTac is nothing but chain restaurants.

Yes, but typing "Seattle and Tacoma" eight times in one post is a lot of work, and since I don't live there and mostly don't care about local semantics, I shortened it :P You're welcome to call Portland PDX to your hearts content, we all do.

e: Okay, so I actually only typed it twice...but hey, if you multiply two times four, it generally makes eight.