Tacoma starred in ’10 Things I Hate About You.’ It wasn’t the city’s first time on film

Filmed almost 25 years ago, beloved “10 Things I Hate About You” showcased the sights of a Tacoma high school and neighborhood

But it wasn’t the first time Tacoma was the backdrop of film productions.

A Tacoma Public Library post featured motion pictures that had scenes filmed “mostly” in Tacoma. Some of the films can be accessed through the library’s catalog.

Several films were made in Tacoma in the early 20th century, including Pacific Coast Motion Picture Company’s Gog-Gle-Hi-Te in 1916 and short comedy Listen, Look, and Laugh from 1921.

Producer Harvey C. Weaver began making major motion pictures in Tacoma in the mid-1920s. He opened up H.C. Weaver Production, a filmmaking studio with a laboratory, in the Titlow Beach area in 1925, according to the Tacoma Library.

The following year, its first production was released: “Hearts and Fists,” a silent drama about a man who inherits an almost bankrupt lumber company from his father and attempts to turn it into a successful business. The movie’s scenes were filmed around the Kapowsin area and at the Clear Fir Lumber Co., according to the library. The film played at the Rialto for a week in January 1926. The film was lost and no copy was ever found, the library’s post stated. Weaver Production came out with “The Eyes of the Totem”, a drama about a woman who moves with her husband and daughter to Tacoma , where her husband is murdered. The film showcases Tacoma streets and the Crystal Ballroom of the Winthrop Hotel downtown. The film is available to stream through the Tacoma Historical Society. The Heart of the Yukon also came out in 1927.

The production company closed in 1928. The studio was converted into a ballroom that burned down in 1932, the library’s post stated.

Some films were shot in Tacoma from the 1930s to the 1960s. But filming began to take off in the 1970s in the City of Destiny, according to the library.

Cartoon-inspired action/crime film “99 and the 44/100% Dead” came out in 1973 and starred Richard Harris and Chuck Connors. The film starts with a high-speed chase along the Commencement Bay tide flats area.

The 1975 film “Cinderella Liberty,” about a lonely Navy sailor who falls in love with a hooker while on extended leave, shows Pacific Avenue and Puget Sound Hospital. The film stars James Caan and Marsha Mason.

Sweet Revenge, a 1976 film, was shot almost entirely in Tacoma, featuring North 21st Street, Pacific Avenue, the County-City Building, and the Carnegie section of the Main Branch Library. Starring Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston, the film is about a car thief fixated on stealing a Ferrari Dino sport car. He is befriended by a public defender.

Filming in Tacoma slowed after the 1970s. Only four films considered big-budget production visited Tacoma, according to the library.

“I Love You to Death,” a comedy and crime film, came out in 1990. The cast featured Kevin Kline, William Hurt, Tracey Ullman, River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and James Gammon. Kline plays a philandering pizzeria owner. Ullman, his wife, finds out her husband is cheating and plots his demise. The pizza parlor is located in the Bostwick building downtown, and other movie scenes show Bob’s Java Jive on South Tacoma Way.

Psychological thriller “The Hand the Rocks the Cradle” features the main character’s home on North Yakima Avenue. The 1992 film revolves around a pregnant widow (Rebecca De Mornay) who loses her child and goes on a mission to kill the woman (Annabella Sciorra) she blames for ruining her life. The cast also includes Julianne Moore and Ernie Hudson. The movie was set in Seattle.

“10 Things I Hate About You,” a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” was also set in Seattle, though it features Stadium High School, renamed Padua, and a North End home. According to The News Tribune archives, filmmakers decided to shoot the movie in Tacoma because of the romantic, Renaissance look of the brick school. They paid the Tacoma school district $650 for each day the school was used. Stadium High School has been called the prettiest high school in the U.S.

Chase scenes were filmed on Tacoma’s hills downtown and on South 15th Street for “Get Carter,” a 2000 remake of the 1971 Mike Hodges film, starring Sylvester Stallone.

Tacoma’s former Northern Pacific Railroad Northwest headquarters was featured in “Three Fugitives,” a 1989 film.

For those interested in learning more about Tacoma and Washington’s film history, you can call the library at 253-280-2814 or make and appointment to visit TPL’s Northwest Room.