Greater Tacoma Convention Center

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass is Tacoma's stunning link to the Thea Foss Waterway and the Museum of Glass. The 500 foot pedestrian bridge holds three amazing Chihuly glass installations, open to the public 24 hours a day. Linger at sunset on a date, and you'll see why its one of the most romantic places in Washington. Seaform PavilionFrom Pacific Avenue, you'll cross under the arches of the Washington State History Museum and arrive at the first glass installation, the Seaform Pavilion. The pavilion ceiling was created with over two thousand glass objects, and you will feel like you are underwater at a great coral reef of beautiful glass shapes. The crystal towers at the center of the bridge capture daylight and shine as if they have a light of their own. The blue translucent crystals call to mind images of cool blue glacial ice, and change their appearance at different times throughout the day. At night, they are illuminated from below and add to the night skyline. Venetian Wall 109 Chihuly sculptures fill the eighty-foot long wall (pictured above, with the Museum of Glass Cone behind). With a variety of sculptures throughout, including some of the largestever blown, you will emerge from the Bridge with a newappreciation of glass art

America’s Car Museum (ACM), an entity of America’s Automotive Trust, is an international destination for families and auto enthusiasts to celebrate America’s love affair with the automobile and learn how it shaped our society. Based in Tacoma, Wash., the stunning 165,000-sq.-ft. facility has been recognized as one of MSN’s 10 Best Automotive Museums worldwide, USA Today’s 10 Best Museums in Seattle and KING5’s 2015 Best Museum in Western Washington. America’s Car Museum serves as an educational center for students of all ages, features 12 rotating exhibits and hosts five annual Signature Events.

Ever wonder what Tacoma Art Museum's event spaces would look like transformed for your corporate seminar or networking event, wedding reception, prom or company event? Discover Tacoma Art Museum as the perfect setting for your next private event. Tacoma Art Museum's on-site Relish Catering offers value priced culinary delights to suit your needs. Our menu features hors d'oeuvres, themed buffets, dessert stations, and beverage services. In addition to your catering needs, we can also coordinate any rental equipment, table linens and settings, room decor, and catering logistics. Tacoma Art Museum is pleased to offer our private events clients the option of choosing from our list of preferred caterers.

All glass, all the time. Experience contemporary glass art in a breathtakingly beautiful museum on Tacoma's revitalized waterfront. Noted for its distinctive architecture, the massive 90-foot-tall stainless steel cone houses the world’s largest Hot Shop Amphitheater. Feel the heat and watch artists in action—see a chalk sketch transformed into a beautiful sculpture or, as the artists push the limits, a pile of broken glass on the floor. In the galleries, experience extraordinary 20th- and 21st-century glass art with changing exhibitions alongside the Museum’s permanent collection. Create your own art in the Education Studio, watch a Museum-produced documentary or attend a lecture in the Theater, grab lunch or a sweet treat in the Museum Café and take home a treasure from the finest museum store around. Outdoors, the unique architecture of the plazas and three reflecting pools provides an evocative public setting for glass sculpture and leads to the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, the spectacular pedestrian walkway that features three installations of colorful glass created by Tacoma’s native son, Dale Chihuly.

We love this city, and are working hard to bring you the best Tacoma has to offer. Fabulous gifts for everyone, souvenirs for folks near and far, beautiful jewelry and fantastic customer service. We promise to provide a well curated gift shopping experience, to show you things you have not seen before and to wrap it all up in a beautiful package.

Welcome to Gig Harbor, the site of the American gondolier. Gondolas are our passion, and Gig Harbor is the perfect place to enjoy this leisurely water tour.

Spend the day with nature! Northwest Trek is the premier wildlife and adventure park of the Pacific Northwest, featuring native Northwest animals of all sizes. Enjoy a comfortable Discovery Tram Tour through 435 acres of stunning meadows and forests. For 50 minutes, you'll get an eye-to-eye view of fascinating animals like massive bison, majestic moose, regal Roosevelt elk, shaggy mountain goats, and others as they explore their natural habitat in the Free-Roaming Area. A friendly naturalist narrates each tour, sharing fun facts about the animals you're seeing. Every season offers something new: babies in spring and summer, elk bugling in the fall, and animals in thick woolly coats in winter. In the core area of the park, stroll along paved pathways to see bears, wolves, cougars, foxes and others in naturalistic exhibits. Plus, see small animals up close and learn about their unique adaptations during Animal Trailside Encounters. Need to unwind? Let the kids’ imaginations run wild at Kids’ Trek, the nature-inspired play area. Here, they can climb through a massive “tree trunk” with nets, build forts in the construction zone, explore an imitation beaver lodge, play in toddler-sized log cabins, and splash in a bubbling stream. Adventurous types can challenge themselves on ziplines and aerial obstacles at Zip Wild, where five exhilarating courses run through Northwest Trek’s breathtaking tree canopy. Different levels of difficulty are available, from the Super Kid course (ages 5 & up) to the ambitious Sensation Course. See a new side of Northwest Trek through special programs. Learn how to call an elk, watch the morning feeding of animals, take a tour designed for optimal photo-taking opportunities, and more. Northwest Trek is a place to unwind, play, and discover. Enjoy tasty treats at the cozy Forest Café, soak up beautiful Northwest forest scenery on five miles of paved and natural trails, and keep an eye out for wildlife everywhere you go!

This 106,000-square-foot museum features interactive, multimedia and storytelling exhibits on the state, its people and places. The permanent exhibit, Hall of Washington State History, captures the stories, spirit and soul of Washington's native people, history-makers and everyday citizens.

We offer "pay as you will" so that all families can come to the Children's Museum of Tacoma. We believe play is the elemental component of children's learning. Our museum engages young children and their adult caregivers in self-directed play through innovative design that celebrates imagination and encourages creativity. The museum's playscapes and programs support children's growth through play by addressing age-appropriate development, especially in the areas of creativity, social and emotional skills, cognitive and critical thinking skills, gross and fine motor development, and early literacy learning. Core early childhood experiences form the platform for play in the Museum's five main areas: Woods, Water, Voyager, Invention, and Becka's Studio.

The mission of the Foss Waterway Seaport is to celebrate Tacoma's rich maritime heritage past, present and future. Located on the waterfront in a century-old wooden wheat warehouse, built for cargo arriving by rail and departing by sail ("where rails met sails") during the early years of Tacoma. The Foss Waterway Seaport is Puget Sound's premier maritime heritage, education and event center where families, students and entire communities come to discover, explore, work and play.

Point Ruston is the northwest’s premier waterfront neighborhood, offering living, dining, shopping, entertainment and recreation on water’s edge in one convenient and picturesque location. Situated on 97 acres along nearly a mile of Puget Sound shoreline, this new Built Green® community is only minutes from revitalized downtown Tacoma, I-5 and HWY 16, featuring superb water and mountain views.

Most of the zoo's animal residents are native to the Pacific Rim. Enjoy the 5-acre Asian Forest Sanctuary, a lush habitat for its denizens, which include Sumatran tigers, clouded leopards, siamangs and Asian elephants. The Rocky Shores habitat is home to seals, walruses, otters and puffins. The Arctic Tundra exhibit features such cold weather-loving mammals as polar bears, reindeer and musk oxen, a shaggy-haired, formidably horned relative of sheep and goats that is native to the Arctic areas of Canada and Greenland. The North Pacific Aquarium showcases the myriad marine creatures that inhabit Puget Sound, including sea horses. The South Pacific Aquarium displays tropical fish and sharks. Kids' Zone is a play area for children that has animals from around the world.

Point Defiance Park is Tacoma's 760-acre jewel, which is home to the acclaimed Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, which is the only combined zoo and aquarium in the Northwest.

Do you appreciate the hard work and craftsmanship that goes into making a delicious brew? Yes?! We do too! We invite you to join the Craft Crawl and taste over 100 of our locally made beers and ciders, from the fearless artisans that reign the region. South Sound? You better believe it. From Tacoma to Olympia—more than 40 artisanal breweries and cideries (20ish off course). A rising craft culture that’s just being tapped. Tasting rooms Brewpubs Distribution-only brewers What exactly is the Craft Crawl? Glad you asked. With your course and passport in hand, collect stamps at each location you visit. Fifteen stamps get you a prized growler. Swing by any course location marked with a trophy icon on the passport to show off your stamps and pick up your prize. You can also pick up your growler at the Travel Tacoma + Pierce County Visitor Information Center Monday-Friday 10am-4pm or Saturdays between 10am-3pm.

Channing Baby & Co. offers an expertly curated selection of easy-to-use equipment to safely keep baby clean, fed, rested, and entertained. Our fashion-forward clothing labels will keep your baby looking trendy all the while. Because, ultimately, happy baby equals happy parent(s).

Exceptional greeting cards and gifts since 1974

Destiny Harbor Tours offers Sightseeing, Charters and Eco Tours of Tacoma Narrows Bridges, Gig Harbor, Salmon Beach, Point Defiance, Thea Foss Waterway and the Port of Tacoma. We operate two authentic, restored U.S. Navy boats that are U.S.C.G. certified for up to 33 passengers each. Our boats 'Destiny' and 'Maritime' are named for Tacoma the city of Destiny and Maritime for Gig Harbor, the Maritime City.

Founded in Olympia Washington in 1998, Compass Rose offers beautiful and thoughtfully curated collections of jewelry, paper goods and home decor items. We carry a wide array of products, including brands renowned internationally and Pacific Northwest inspired and crafted artisan pieces. From lovely stationary to swank kitchen supplies and incredibly fun gifts, Compass Rose is your one stop daily gift shop. We have two locations, in historic downtown Olympia and in Tacoma's charming Proctor District. Our professional and friendly staff and our fabulous customers have helped make Compass Rose one of the Pacific Northwest's leading independent retailers. We are embedded in our local Olympia and Proctor communities and are firmly committed to sustainable, innovative and ethical business practices.

It's been a great 5 years in Tacoma. Vast improvements have happened to our area since we have opened. The Big construction project on Pacific Ave is over. The Rain gardens and lighting Downtown has created a great neighborhood We completed our first 5 year lease and negotiated another 5 years in our current location with one stipulation. We had to get a new Air Conditioning system. After a year of planning and over 3 months of construction, it was finally ready. The new HVAC system has made Dorky's a very pleasant experience in the Summer. Another benefit is the air quality has improved greatly now with the proper ventilation. It was a huge undertaking but was defiantly worth it. It has lead to countless other improvements. We built a new Bar, new games like the Star wars Battlepod, KISS pinball and Jurassic Park, Improved Seating area, updated DJ booth w/Killer new sound system and more. We still have a lot of improvements planned, the biggest being the awning and sign replacement outside.

Landmark 1911 railway station with Romanesque architecture and striking copper dome. Now a federal courthouse with public rotunda exhibit of extraordinary glass sculpture by internationally-acclaimed Tacoma native Dale Chihuly. Built in 1911, Union Station began as a grand tribute to the prosperity the Northern Pacific Railroad brought to Tacoma. The landmark, domed depot was designed by Reed & Stem, the architects who created New York's Grand Central Station. When it opened, Union Station was proclaimed the grandest building north of San Francisco, its massive Romanesque revival architecture topped by a magnificent copper dome. The station served rail passengers until 1983, when Amtrak moved its operations east of downtown. Then in 1988 Union Station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and complete renovations began. All was restored to its original splendor at a total cost of $57 million, plus a new a Federal Courthouse wing was added. Union Station reopened on May 15, 1992, its historic rotunda open and free to the public. Currently it exhibits dramatic glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly, including one of his signature chandeliers hanging in the center of the rotunda.

Carved into a hillside, Fireman's Park provides expansive views of Commencement Bay, Mt. Rainier, and the Port of Tacoma. Fireman’s Park also features two public art installations. Fireman's Park has been a fixture of downtown since Tacoma began making improvements c. 1890 to this bluff bounded by A Street and Cliff Avenue between South Eight and Ninth Streets. At that time, landscape gardener Ebenezer Roberts planted elm seedlings along A Street for the park's beautification. Fireman's Park takes its name from Engine House No. 6, built by the city in 1891 at the southern edge of the original acreage. The park's boundaries have altered considerably over the decades, as the original Cliff Avenues gave way to the new contours of Schuster Parkway in the 1970s. The totem pole, carved in 1903 on commission by wealthy Tacoma businessmen, stood for decades near South Tenth and A Streets; it was moved to Fireman's Park in 1953 and restored there in 1976 with the dedication of the new park.

Located in the heart of downtown Tacoma's Theater District, the Broadway Center is the largest performing arts complex between Seattle and Portland.