SUZY STUMP: CALENDAR GIRL >>>

Tour of Urban Living
OK, you live here â€" here being the suburbs. Mrs. Kravitz next door drives you insane with her uptight attitude. Kids jumping their Schwinns off wooden ramps irritate. And the neighbor’s dog? I know. That neighborhood is not you.

It doesn’t take a Microsoft employee to realize that downtown Tacoma is now an urban center capable of entertaining and sustaining a downtown populace. Condos and apartments are sprouting up at a rapid pace with the coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques to support them. Whether you plan to leave the burbs or not, this weekend is an opportunity to sneak a peek into how the other half lives. The Tour of Urban Living is a foot-on-the-ground and up-the-elevator tour of condos, townhomes and apartments in the city of Tacoma.

[Downtown Tacoma, Oct. 11-12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free, self-guided tour, Pantages Theater homebase (maps, coffee), Ninth and Broadway, Tacoma]

Haunted Asylum
With all the political and international turmoil, this is shaping up to be the scariest Halloween ever! For instance, artist Ben Isitt and the Freighthouse Square have teamed up to resurrect the Black Lake Medical Asylum. The following release has been, er, released:

Of course, the timeliness of this announcement leads some of us journalistic types to suspect that the haunting is not for real. And it doesn’t matter. With the help of professional actors, outstanding artistry and high-tech gadgetry, the transformation of the Freighthouse Square from a happy shopping center to a blood-curdling nightmare is possible, even if down deep we know it’s not based on fact. Or is it?

The Rain City Hearse Club will hold a rally at the Asylum tonight, too.

[Freighthouse Square, Oct. 11, 6 p.m. to midnight, $13 per patient in advance at participating Freighthouse merchants or at the door (there’s an ATM on-site; those things scare me every time), 2501 E. D St., Tacoma]

LINK: ViVA South Sound arts and entertainment calendar