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APIZZA
No one could have told Tacomans 5 years ago we would be on our way to having the best pizza selection in the South Sound. There was almost nothing around, there were the chains and possibly one or two moms and pops that serviced the neighborhood they were located but we did not have the pizza prowess we do today. Getting a slice is the easiest it’s ever been without going to the mall for something franchised and downtown Tacoma is leading the charge with the latest arrival - APIZZA.
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Last September a man named Marshall started tilling the soil to plant his flag in the downtown area as a restaurateur and he chose the second building on the North side of the 9th and Pacific Ave. It’s a beautiful space, once a gallery owned by the inspiring artist Lisa Kinoshita called ‘Matter’. I first bumped into him on an early morning heading into the office. He was trying to understand why there was a line of people so early in a very quiet downtown. It was during this first encounter that he mentioned his intentions in short and told me to keep things on the hush. So I did. He waited awhile but as renovations began to come to a close the soil was primed and that flag went from planted to beautifully painted across the front of the building. An Italian flag, a statement and bullseye simultaneously. It says, come try an authentic slice as opposed to the gourmet or fusion pies that have amassed popularity in Tacoma. Prior to opening, restaurant owner Marshall was featured in local press explaining his purpose with APIZZA (pronounced ah-beetz) is to provide pizza with heritage to its origin - Southwest Italy. So far the slices are standing true to the talk and he’s providing gelato as well adding a new option to downtown’s variety. I recommend the cheese and get two or your mouth will be watering waiting for the next slice to finish cooking to its most authentic self. The fan favorite in our office was the pesto.
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It was only a few months ago they plugged in the silver neon backlit APIZZA sign but they are getting glowing reviews.
Address:
821 Pacific Ave S
Tacoma, WA 98402
United States
Current hours (subject to change):
Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 4–9 PM
Thursday 4–9 PM
Friday 4–10 PM
Saturday 4–10 PM
Sunday 4–8 PM
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Umi’s Corner Tacoma: ORCHESTRATING CHANGE
NW SINFONIETTAThe Northwest Sinfonietta is the premier chamber orchestra in the Puget Sound and has been blazed a trail that helps them lead the charge in a way most wouldn’t expect. It began in 1991 and has received international nods for not only high level performance but also unique community efforts to be inclusive. It’s a mission they continue to make their main focus, partnering with local arts community advocates and businesses to evolve their audience. It’s not a secret that the world of classical music is still very White and a lot of that has to do with enough exposure to the art form for it resonate not only with the ears but the feelings and cultures of other backgrounds, races and ethnicities. Traditionally the areas, venues, composers and even orchestra members are predominantly White, but that isn’t to say that people from other backgrounds haven’t contributed to the art form since it’s beginnings. But like many other arts their contributions have been hidden, forgotten or undocumented altogether. NW Sinfonietta is doing the work to rediscover, uncover and introduce works from composers and musicians of other races and places. The Artistic Partner model they adopted in 2015 is keeping a rotation of different ethnic backgrounds involved, at the selection of the NW Sinfonietta, and allowing more input for the musicians themselves. Karen Choo is a large part of why the connections are being made here in Tacoma for discovery and changing of the old guard. She helped to onboard Tacoma artist and arts advocate Neon Dion with the help of Spaceworks Tacoma. Their work together on the NW Sinfonietta’s premiere of Grammy nominated Black composer Carlos Simon’s Graffiti saw the Pantages theater lobby and seats filled by a very diverse and excited audience. That was a win in the right direction for the NW Sinfonietta and they plan to double down on their results. They recently began collaborative work with Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, T.U.P.A.C. is a Black lead ballet group. In addition, the NW Sinfonietta have been offering discount codes to their performances sometimes making tickets as low as $10, as well as, connecting with small businesses to do ticket giveaways. In Tacoma, the NW Sinfonietta wants to remove the invisible barrier to entry for spaces like the Rialto and Pantages Theater where many non-whites have felt as though the space is not for them and does not cater to their culture or community identity in any way. We recommend keeping your eye on their website for what’s next to come but if they keep making the right connections and pushing for change the chances are you won’t have to go looking for it anymore. Tickets for This Land f/ T.UP.A.C. May 20th & 21stnwsinfonietta.orginstagram253-383-5344
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Outpost Sandwiches - Secret Sandwich Society
I have always said that Tacoma is a sandwich town but when the owners of the outpost, originally Outpost Kitchen now Outpost Sandwiches, first moved to downtown Tacoma they were right options for a unprocessed sandwich were dismal and unexciting. Tacoma is fortunate they decided to do something about it. Since their opening Outpost continues to grow as a staple in the downtown Tacoma lunch service. It was interesting to see the growth in real time. It felt as though it was all word-of-mouth. Someone would leave the office on a lunch adventure and return to the office with a sandwich sleeved in parchment paper and I’m sure the questions arose. “Oh, that’s smells good, oh where did you find that? Oh, how much was it? Oh, how long have they been around?” Eventually, the questions stopped and the praise began, local clothier and community business eTc Tacoma has collaborated with their downtown neighbor Outpost in the past as well. Outpost has also done community outreach and given back through portions of proceeds going to feeding kids for the Summer via specialty lunch meals, put together for Daz Deal community programming another downtown activation. The owners are a handsome couple and one treat of the experience is seeing how in unison they are preparing lunch orders, call-in orders and moving seamlessly together. The food is so good they’ve even had IG accounts start their content rollout with just their sandwich offering. There’s a lot of reasons to love this business if you can find it.
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The Grand Cinema - The People’s Popcorn
There’s almost too many good things to say about the Grand Cinema in Tacoma. At its core function, it stands for art with a hyper focus on cinema in the best way. It’s a nonprofit, providing a pathway to pop culture while keeping its doors and programming open to local and international film enthusiast, supporters, directors, and film industry professionals. All of that speaks to and sticks to the heritage that began at the Grand Cinema, once the Grand Theatre, in 1997. Two years prior in 1995 the cinema was closed after being freshly built, but was saved and turned into a nonprofit by to Tacoman film enthusiasts. Since then it’s functioned well, and only continues to stay head of the curve culturally while doing its civic duty, provide entertainment and service, at a high-level.
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Make It To The Show: DUMMY
When the internet became ubiquitous, and access to the entirety of pop music history was suddenly at everyone’s fingers, suddenly a whole generation of bands were armed with reference points that were heretofore only available to crate-digging record obsessives. Slamming two disparate sounds together, just to see what happened, became a thriving part of the music landscape. Certain genres would get a little more attention than others, depending on the time – dance-punk, New Wave indie twee, psych-electronica, just slapping a Bruce Springsteen filter onto any old genre, and other experiments all had their day in the sun in the first decade of the ‘00s. Nowadays, with this mixing and matching having effectively been gamified, it’s refreshing to run across a band that combines sounds in interesting ways.