Tacoma Community College

Tacoma Community College is a working two-year campus on S 19th Street in west Tacoma, and for most Enjoy Tacoma readers its usefulness is practical rather than scenic. The campus occupies roughly 150 acres between S 12th and S 19th, with its own Pierce Transit transit center at S 19th and Mildred — one of the busiest bus interchanges on this side of the city, and the reason TCC turns up in car-free planning far more often than a college campus otherwise would. From that one stop you can reach downtown Tacoma, Point Defiance, the Tacoma Mall, University Place, Lakewood and Gig Harbor without a car. It is a campus first, not an attraction: buildings are classroom and clinic space, parking is permit-controlled, and visitors are expected to behave like guests. What is genuinely worth a detour is the Babe and Herman Lehrer Japanese Friendship Garden at the north end of the campus, a dry karesansui garden with a stone waterfall arrangement and a twelve-foot pagoda, built as an expression of friendship with Tacoma's sister city Kitakyushu and with the South Sound's Japanese-American community. The open Campus Commons and the campus walking trail are the other spaces a visitor can reasonably use. A note on geography that trips people up: the 98466 ZIP code is shared with University Place, but this campus is in Tacoma. TCC's Gig Harbor campus is a separate location and is not covered here.

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What to know

• This is an active college campus, not a public park: park only in stalls marked VISITOR, and expect classroom buildings to be in use.
• Campus closures happen — TCC publishes a campus-closures notice, and it is worth checking before a trip made specifically for the garden.
• The Japanese Friendship Garden is covered here as part of the campus; TCC does not publish separate garden hours.
• The 98466 ZIP code is shared with University Place, but this campus is in Tacoma. TCC–Gig Harbor is a different campus.

Editor's tips

• Arriving by bus puts you at the campus edge with no parking question at all — the transit center is on S 19th at Mildred, a short walk from the Campus Commons.
• The Japanese Friendship Garden is at the north end of the campus, away from the S 19th entrance; walk through the Commons rather than circling by car.

Where this leads

• University Place

  The campus transit centre is the usual connection point for bus trips between Tacoma and University Place, the separate city immediately south-west.