Stadium High School

Stopped by while weekending in Tacoma and was blown away by the architecture — it is a grand beauty (originally built as a luxury resort overlooking the bay) and definitely worth a visit.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful school. Great architecture, great view, just beautiful. I love the movie, «Ten things I hate about you». It was filmed there. If you get a chance to drive by and see it, you’ll be amazed. Definitely worth the time.

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to one of the most beautiful high schools in the state! I first came here when I was in middle school for a state competition, and of course was then in love with the place having been a huge fan of 10 Things I Hate About You. Since I was there for a competition, I was able to go into the school, which was really cool, to see where certain movie scenes were filmed such as the cafeteria and hallways. And of course the best scene in the film is when Patrick Verona is wooing Kat from the bleachers at the stadium, and you can see the stadium on the left side of the school through the gate. (I love how the film kept the school colors of the high school of blue and yellow.) Since I was already in Tacoma I decided to revisit and it’s as beautiful as ever. It’s a historic building that was built for a château-​like hotel, but was purchased by the City to serve as a public high school. I love that its location is on a hill that overlooks the water, and is walking distance to the Stadium Historic District neighborhood.

Beautiful school. Lucky kids who go here!
We managed to seek inside through the back door.
The inside has these never ending stairs and standard classrooms.
I believe I saw a stage that was pretty – below the stairs.
That black and white check board tile is what makes it feel luxurious.
Next time, I am going to explore more.

10 Things I Hate About You is one of my favorite movies and this is the school they used in the movie. It’s more breathtaking in real life and I still can’t believe I was able to see it in person. I might of had the urge to go down and reenact a certain dance number from the movie. But the football team was there and I prefer not to embarrass myself. I dislike driving and traffics but this destination made it all worth it.

The most gorgeous location in the 253. Obviously, this was the setting for the major motion picture, 10 Things I Hate About You, but that’s old news. Just park in the parking garage off 3^rd after hours, and come walk around the campus at sunset. Totally worth the time and light exercise. So beautiful.

You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
You’d be like heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I’m alive
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you…
Remember when Heath Ledger sang this serenade in «10 things I Hate About You?» If you were a teenage girl at that time, you must admit you and your girlfriends swooned at that scene.
Getting more on topic… I love-​love-​love jogging at the stadium at Stadium High School. The stadium is not a full size track BUT water view in combination with jogging next to a building that looks like a castle more than makes up for it. You’ll see the hard-​core athletes practice running up and down the many steps here as well.

Stadium High School was originally conceived as a luxury hotel — but through a series of fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on who you are) events — the city of Tacoma bought the shell of the building and completed it in 1906. The school looks just as it did on completion (
).
The building and the bowl are the primary architectural jewels of Tacoma, which makes the addition of the new building that obscures the façade perplexing and a whispered disappointment to many residents. If you look to the right in this picture (
) you will see the new building… if you come to visit, that’s what you’ll see from the street. You have to walk onto the grounds or go on a side street to get a proper view of «The Castle».
Inside, it is a typical high school — stuffed to capacity with almost 2,000 students. The building’s beauty does not make it impervious from rival schools referring to it as «Stay Dumb, Stay High». Yes, several things have been filmed here… point being, it IS a lovely building (if tough to see easily) and worth a stop if you visit Tacoma!

You’ve seen this place in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. We went there on a school day so kids were in classes though some of them were milling about outside the school. It’s a great place to stop and take a few pix. Grab a coffee at Tully’s and stop by. It’s well worth the detour.

Don’t know how the school itself is, but when I finally visited Stadium High School during my last visit to Tacoma, I was pretty impressed with how nice it really was. It’s a gorgeous building with a stadium that overlooks the water. The field was in disrepair but it looks like they were prepping to resurface it at some point. Definitely a neat stop to check-​out if you have any 10 Things I Hate About You fans in your midst.

I couldn’t figure out what this place was but I detour by here almost every day on my way home because I love the Harry Potter movies. Is that so wrong of me?
I didn’t go to school here but really wish I had because i’ve always wanted to meet Prof. Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid and Luna Lovegood. :o)
Such a cool place. I wonder if they do tours?

I graduated from The Castle in 1981. If you think the facilities are lacking, you should have seen it in the 1980’s! This is the most spectacular high school campus in the United States, and the City of Tacoma supported this by renovating this landmark in spite of the extraordinary expense to do so. Today’s Stadium is up to date.
I can’t speak to today’s sports teams. When I was a student, we only won 1 football game in 2+ seasons. But I was blessed to be watching my team play in the Stadium Bowl. Win or Lose, I enjoyed a fantastic experience by virtue of our locale.
Tacoma’s Stadium High School is not about today’s sports «success» …
It is about History, Pride, Spirit, Community Support, and the Students who study in our Castle today. Stadium stands alone in its value and history, we are truly blessed.

This school sucks at sports in general and is overflowed with students. Tigers suck, go Falcons.

So I might be a bit biased being a student, but this is just about the prettiest building in all of Tacoma.
Stadium is that kind of picaresque place where people dream of going to school and I’m just that fortunate.

I saw the same scene Maria L is talking about in 10 Things I Hate About You and it actually inspired me to spend part of my honeymoon in Tacoma just so I could see Stadium High School. Go ahead, call me a loser, I can take it.
Seriously, though — the architecture of this place is incredible. And besides the beauty of the school, how about playing on a football field that overlooks the sound! It was definitely worth the little detour to see this place. And yes, I have the greatest husband in the world to agree to plan our honeymoon around something I saw in a movie.

I remember wondering what beautiful, sleepy New England town this school was located in when I saw that last scene in «10 Things I Hate About You» with the helicopter shot and Letters to Cleo playing on the roof.
Click here to see Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington.