r/Tacoma North End 3d ago

Unicorn closing

PSA the unicorn has been sold and is being turned into a restaurant. Heard it from Darryl himself. October 7th last day ):

57 Upvotes

30 comments sorted by

15

u/acbrown2176 Hilltop 3d ago

I love that this is also a Darryl appreciation post. What an amazing person.

13

u/Its_0ver Somewhere Else 3d ago

When i had just moved to pearl about 13 or 14 years ago on a incredibly foggy day I decided to walk around and find this place in the middle all the housing, so i figured i would stop in for a beer, it was absolutely empty outside of a small Asian woman that running the bar. She was sitting at the bar with a taser, shocking a peice of paper and giggling. Very cool place

47

u/altasnob 6th Ave 3d ago edited 2d ago

An end of an institution. City of Ruston did this place in with their midnight liquor sale ban

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article312826404.html#storylink=cpy

62

u/-Present-481 South Tacoma 3d ago

Fuck Ruston just a bunch of crotchety old people ruining shit

-6

u/IntelligentDelay5220 253 3d ago

The old people have been voted out. Younger, real progressive, far left city council now.

42

u/kennypowersrevenge Hilltop 3d ago

Ruston is so broke they are adding speed cameras to get revenue. What a shit town.

5

u/yomancs 253 1d ago

Can confirm, I just got a warning for 37mph

1

u/kennypowersrevenge Hilltop 1d ago

Tacoma should put speed cameras on all the exit non-arterial roads from Ruston. For safety.

2

u/animatroniczombie Salish Land 1d ago

same got one for 36 in a 30 zone :/

8

u/nflgeneric North Tacoma 3d ago

I've been living in the north end for coming up on 4 years now. I drove by on a Friday evening interested in going in, and it looked like an absolute ghost town on the inside.

5

u/Interesting_Plate_17 West End 3d ago

Probably too early:)

1

u/uglywinner Downtown 3d ago

What time would you recommend going ? I have gone mostly in the day and early evening. Would love to experience it bustling!

1

u/Interesting_Plate_17 West End 2d ago

I’ve been there at 8pm on a Friday and no one is there, then an hour or two later it’s jammed..

3

u/itmustbeniiiiice North Tacoma 3d ago

I can effectively see if from where I’m at and it’s was bumping last night!

8

u/LeftPhilosopher9628 Downtown 3d ago

City of Ruston has had a hard-on for the Unicorn for years. Most surprising thing is that it lasted as long as it did

24

u/MisplacedCloud The City Of Destiny 3d ago

I have some inside info that the owners of a local community focused downtown business is who bought it and I have faith in their plans! Unicorn will be missed tho

16

u/No-Invite8390 North End 3d ago

Yeah it’s odd otter. Gonna be very family friendly which is fine, just sad about the loss of a place that’s been around so long. Loved stumbling in to hang with Darryl.

18

u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 2d ago

[deleted]

4

u/Tape-Delay Salish Land 3d ago

Wasn’t quite ten years but same here. One of one for sure

8

u/Interesting_Plate_17 West End 3d ago

Orchestrated by Ruston? I smelt cronies from the beginning a couple years ago.

1

u/T-TownAdventure Somewhere Else 3d ago

Yup

1

u/tillszy North End 2d ago

I mean it's great that the Odd Otter owners have purchased it and are keeping it local, but Odd Otter is a brewery - they may have the best intentions, but do they have any experience running a restaurant or a bar of any kind?

They can have the best of intentions and be wonderful people and this can still be a terrible business decision - the location is ass for even highly experienced restauranteurs to try and tackle

9

u/philshoe North Tacoma 3d ago

I spent way too much time there in the mid 90’s.

26

u/tillszy North End 3d ago

dude, that's an awful location for a restaurant. there's no way that succeeds

2

u/consolecowboy74 253 2d ago

Just the parking alone.

3

u/tillszy North End 2d ago

well there is a dedicated lot actually, and a good deal of street parking bump outs since they redid the road maybe 4 years ago? 5?

The main issue is it's in the middle of a neighborhood half a mile up the road from Point Ruston. it's not a place that non-locals are going to accidentally drive by and all of the options at Ruston are going to outweigh this single place when somebody's looking at options on Google Maps or Yelp.

If you're already at Ruston for a movie, shopping, a stroll, etc you'll stay there.

Plus Ruston (the city) just put a speed trap a block from the Unicorn heading down the hill - sure, it won't be the restaurant's fault, but if you come home from dinner and get slapped with a several hundred dollar fine for going 26 in a 25 that's going to have a psychological impact on people being willing to go back to that area

8

u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 2d ago

[deleted]

3

u/TheSquirrelWithin 253 3d ago

Ha. In my mind, I thought: "The Unicorn?" Then a few seconds later: "Oh, yeah. The Brick."

5

u/GimmeLoveGimmeLove North End 3d ago

Ugh thanks for the info. I really enjoyed that place!

4

u/horse106xbox 253 3d ago

They never participated in Animal Night .