Editing Tacoma, Washington (section)

===Early 20th century===
[[File:PostcardTacomaWAPacificAveNorthFrom13thStCirca1907.jpg|thumb|right|Downtown, early 20th century]]
[[File:Asarco Tacoma 1909 postcard.jpg|thumb|left|A 1909 postcard image of Tacoma with its ASARCO smelter smokestack]]

From May to August 1907, the city was the site of a smelter workers' strike organized by Local 545 of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW), with the goal of a fifty-cent per day pay raise.<ref name="IWWYearbook1907">{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/iww/iwwyearbook1907.shtml |title=IWW Yearbook 1907 |last=Hermida |first=Arianne |website=IWW History Project |publisher=[[University of Washington]] |access-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601110035/http://depts.washington.edu/iww/iwwyearbook1907.shtml |archive-date=June 1, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="IUB V1 N20">{{cite news |author=<!-- No author listed. --> |date=July 13, 1907 |title=To Whom It May Concern |volume=1 |issue=20 |page=2 |newspaper=[[Industrial Union Bulletin]] |url=https://archive.org/details/v1n20-jul-13-1907-iub}}</ref> The strike was strongly opposed by the local business community, and the smelter owners threatened to [[Blacklist (employment)|blacklist]] organizers and union officials. The IWW opposed this move by trying to persuade inbound workers to avoid Tacoma during the strike.<ref name="IUB V1 N12">{{cite news |author=<!-- No author listed. --> |date=May 18, 1907 |title=The Strike at Tacoma |volume=1 |issue=12 |page=2 |newspaper=[[Industrial Union Bulletin]] |url=https://archive.org/details/v1n12-may-18-1907-iub}}</ref> By August, the strike had ended without meeting its demands.<ref name="IWWYearbook1907"/>

Tacoma was briefly (1915–1922) a major destination for big-time automobile racing, with one of the nation's [[Tacoma Speedway|top-rated racing venues]] just outside the city limits, at the site of today's [[Clover Park Technical College]].

In 1924, Tacoma's first movie studio, H. C. Weaver Studio, was sited at present-day [[Titlow Beach]]. At the time, it was the third-largest freestanding film production space in America, with the two larger facilities being located in Hollywood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/companies/H/hcWeaverProdInc.html |title=Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List |website=www.silentera.com}}</ref> The production studio was also the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest<ref name="stover">{{cite book |last1=Stover |first1=Karla |title=Hidden History of Tacoma: Little-Known Tales from the City of Destiny |date=2012 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-1-60949-470-4 |pages=125}}</ref> The first film produced in Tacoma was ''Hearts and Fists'', which starred [[John Bowers (actor)|John Bowers]] and premiered at Tacoma's [[Rialto Theater (Tacoma, Washington)|Rialto Theater]]. The studio's importance has undergone a revival with the discovery of one of its most famous lost films, ''[[Eyes of the Totem]]''.
{{wide image|Asahel Curtis panorama of Tacoma manufacturing district and tide flats, 1912 (cropped to rectangle).jpeg|1000px|Tacoma manufacturing district and tide flats, 1912.}} In 1932, the studios burned to the ground in a mysterious fire, and the production facility was never rebuilt. Several films were destroyed in the fire as old nitrate-based film did not survive.<ref name="stover"/>