Pacific Northwest – (2) Gig Harbor

Crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge takes you to both the harbor and city of Gig Harbor. As to its name, during a heavy storm in 1840 a captain brought the captain’s gig (a small boat) into the harbor for protection. Later, when a map was published, Gig Harbor was written on the map, and, the harbor and city were thus both named Gig Harbor.

Gig Harbor is one of those picturesque towns (it really is not big enough to be called a city) that charms you with its downtown harbor with shops and restaurants all along the waterfront. It is small enough to be walkable, and, parking can be found! We visit Gig Harbor at least annually, trying a new restaurant each year. This year we ate at the Tides Tavern. Preparing ourselves for a long wait (social distanced, of course), we were standing in line when a young man handed me a pager, saying “this is your lucky day!” which cut down our wait time measurably as, he decided to leave.

As Gig Harbor became more popular with its historic and picturesque downtown area, there was the issue of how to handle growth while still maintaining the character of the city. The city decided to aggressively annex the surrounding areas and convert them into high-density commercial and housing districts. Although the policy changed the character of the surrounding farm areas, it kept the charm of the downtown area.

Gig Harbor was an isolated area until the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was built in 1940. With the opening of the bridge on July 1, 1940, Gig Harbor prospered. Its prosperity was short lived, however, with the spectacular collapse of the bridge just four months later on November 7. The construction workers had nicknamed the bridge “Gallopin’ Gertie” because of the motion of the bridge when it was windy. Google collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and watch a short video, and, the nickname becomes readily apparent! It was the most spectacular failure in bridge engineering in history, and, miraculously, the only death was one dog. His owner went back to get him, but, the dog bit him as he tried to pull him from the car. Sensing the gravity of the situation, he left the dog in the car.

The bridge was rebuilt and opened in 1950, the delay due to WWII. That bridge still proudly stands and opened Gig Harbor, which now is a suburb of Tacoma. We cross it on a regular basis and can affirm to its sound engineering!