McChord Field

On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza (now Blue Steele) Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer. Five people, all friends and family of Clemmons, were convicted of crimes associated with aiding his escape and enabling him to elude capture, but most convictions were reversed on appeal, based on court findings of misconduct by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office.

Lakewood station is a commuter rail station in Lakewood, Washington, United States. It is the terminus of the S Line of the Sounder commuter rail network, operated by Sound Transit in the Seattle metropolitan area. The station, located along Pacific Highway Southwest, includes a 620-stall parking garage and several bus bays served by Intercity Transit and Sound Transit Express. Lakewood station was originally scheduled to open in 2002 as part of a Sounder extension, but plans were delayed due to funding issues and the state government's work on the Point Defiance Bypass project. Construction on the $33 million station and garage began in March 2007 and it opened for use by buses on September 18, 2008. Sounder service to Lakewood began in October 2012 and the pedestrian bridge opened a few months later.

McChord Field Historic District is a historic district located within the McChord Air Force Base in Pierce County, Washington. The base is located at the base of Puget Sound. The 31 contributing buildings and 3 contributing structures included in the district all date to the establishment of McChord Field and its role in World War II. Additionally, the district is significant for its architecture representative of the period from 1938 through 1952. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 2008.It is the 24th property listed as a featured property of the week in a program of the National Park Service that began in July, 2008.

Washington High School in Parkland, Washington, United States. It serves grades 9-12 in the Franklin Pierce Schools. Its boundary includes most of Parkland and small portions of Tacoma.

The Clover Park School District (CPSD) is the fourth largest school district in Pierce County, Washington, United States, and the 28th largest public school district in the state.

The McChord Air Museum is an aviation museum located at McChord Field near Lakewood, Washington. The museum is broken up into three separate areas: the main gallery, located at the south end of McChord Field in Building 517; the Heritage Hill Airpark, which overlooks the McChord Field runway; and the aircraft restoration and maintenance facility in Building 301.

Clover Park Technical College (CPTC) is a community college in Lakewood, Washington. There is also a smaller campus located at Thun Field in Puyallup, Washington (South Hill), for Aviation Training.

Tacoma Speedway (sometimes called Pacific Speedway or Tacoma-Pacific Speedway) was a 2-mile (3.2 km) (approximate) wooden board track for automobile racing that operated from 1914 to 1922 near Tacoma, Washington. In its time, the track was renowned nationwide and was considered by some to be second only to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Notable racers such as Barney Oldfield, Eddie Rickenbacker, Ralph DePalma, and both Louis and Gaston Chevrolet, were drawn to race for purses of up to $25,000 (approximately $573,000 in 2012 dollars). Before long, the track acquired a reputation for being dangerous. After an arson fire destroyed the wooden grandstands in 1920, the facility was rebuilt but failed financially and racing ended two years later. The site later became an airport and then a naval supply depot during World War II, and today is occupied by the campus of Clover Park Technical College and neighboring commercial sites in Lakewood, Washington.

Manuel Ellis was a 33-year-old African American man who died on March 3, 2020, during an arrest by police officers in Tacoma, Washington. The Pierce County Sheriff's Department initially claimed that Ellis had attacked a police car and then attacked officers, leading to the arrest. State prosecutors quoted civilian witnesses as saying that Ellis did not attack the police car or officers; they also said it was the officers who initiated the use of physical force on Ellis after a conversation. Video of the incident showed officers repeatedly punching Ellis, choking him, using a Taser, and kneeling on him. State prosecutors stated that "Ellis was not fighting back", citing witness statements and video evidence. A police radio recording showed that Ellis said he "can’t breathe". Ellis told officers "can't breathe, sir" multiple times, according to prosecutors. Ellis was hogtied, face-down, with an officer on him, for at least six minutes, and a spit hood was placed on his head in this position, stated prosecutors. Ellis died at the scene while receiving medical aid from paramedics.In early June 2020, Ellis's death was ruled by county medical examiner Thomas Clark as a homicide due to "hypoxia due to physical restraint", and with "contributing conditions of methamphetamine intoxication and a dilated heart". Prosecutors, in May 2021 documents, quoted Clark as saying that additional evidence that emerged after the autopsy concluded indicated that "Ellis's death was not likely caused by methamphetamine intoxication", and further indicated that restraint caused the death.After Ellis's death, four Tacoma police officers were placed on paid administrative leave; they returned to work two weeks later, with the Tacoma police department stating "there were no known departmental violations". The Pierce County Sheriff's Department conducted a three-month investigation into Ellis's death before disclosing that a Pierce County deputy was present during Ellis's arrest. As a result, in mid-June 2020, Governor of Washington Jay Inslee ordered a new investigation by the Washington State Patrol, while the Washington Attorney General would decide potential criminal charges. In May 2021, Washington prosecutors charged two Tacoma police officers, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, with second degree murder for the killing of Ellis, and charged another Tacoma police officer, Timothy Rankine, with first degree manslaughter.

Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. PLU has approximately 2,700 students enrolled. As of 2023, the school employs approximately 238 full-time professors on the 156-acre (63 ha) woodland campus. PLU’s academic programs into four colleges: the College of Health Professions; the College of Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Social Sciences; the College of Natural Sciences; and the College of Professional Studies.

Pacific Sports Center is a 52,000-square-foot (4,800 m2) multi-purpose arena, in Tacoma, Washington. It served as the home turf for the Tacoma Stars of the Professional Arena Soccer League prior to 2014.

Lakewood Playhouse is a theatre in Lakewood, Washington.