I saw this article at BoingBoing, and had to look it up.
From Wikipedia:
The Aroma of Tacoma, also known as the Tacoma Aroma, is a putrid and unpleasant odor associated with Tacoma, Washington, United States.[1] The smell has been described as similar to the odor of rotten eggs.[2] The odor is not noticeable throughout the city, but is rather concentrated in the Tacoma tideflats and is frequently smelled by motorists traveling that section of Interstate 5.[2]
I’ve never been to Seattle, but I knew about the Tacoma Aroma from playing Shadowrun for so many years (The default setting is Seattle)
Tacoma is basically like The place where you get your catalytic converter stolen And no seattleites go there for any reason except maybe to get soul food or attend a rave at the Tacoma dome. Truly the valley the light does not reach lol.
When I visit Tacoma it’s for the McMenamins Elk’s Temple. Shows in the basement, food in one of the restaurants.
Seattleites don’t go to Tacoma because they’re elitists.
We aren’t known for our soul food lol
Yeah you are. Go to Pacific Southern or Southern kitchen sometime
Neither place has good soul food. Southern Kitchen’s fried chicken is bland, dry, and depressing.
Tacoma’s food scene largely revolves around pizza and burgers. We’ve got some great Vietnamese food as well.
I’m someone who’s lived in Washington State all my life, all over the state. Seattle and Tacoma are like brothers but only if you knew their parents first. Totally different personalities. I lived in Seattle for 20 years and going to Tacoma was always so weird. And people in Tacoma would rather be anywhere in the world than Seattle
In Shadowrun, they’ve merged. Not being American myself, I was surprised to discover they were actually distinct cities!
They are pretty much connected with the suburban areas between them. Driving on the freeway it’s like patches of purposely reserved green spaces but you could easily drive from one to the other in a couple hours by regular roads with business buildings along the way