253heart
In the sacred geography of the 253—where grit meets soul and rain carves story—there exists a quiet ritual, older than the city itself: the shared pint.
Here, in this archetypal gathering place we call Doyle’s, the walls are thick with laughter, memory, and the faint echo of rebel songs. When you lift a glass in this temple of oak and amber light, you’re not merely drinking—you’re partaking in an ancestral rite. A communion of kindred spirits who built this town on elbow grease, heartache, and a stubborn kind of hope.
Captured through the lens of Rebecca McKee, our town reveals itself in shadow and glow—like an old soul remembering its youth. Each photo, each moment, each sip of Guinness isn’t just nostalgic—it’s encoded with the cultural DNA of Tacoma’s destiny.
And so, when Mark Virgil waited—patient and reverent—for that first pour, it wasn’t just about taste. It was about timing. About honor. About drinking from the cup only when it’s time.
In the 253, the pint is more than a beverage.
It’s initiation.
It’s camaraderie.
It’s home.
Sláinte, Tacoma.
A Pint in the Heart of the 253
Esquire Magazine named Doyle's Public House one of the best bars in America. Go get a 253 Guinness and introduce yourself.
The Oracle of the Ink: 253 Octopus
Every town has its myth-keepers. Ours is Linda DeSantis.
In this next chapter of the Artist Series, the spotlight spirals into the depths—where tentacled wisdom and fluid imagination meet. The 253 Octopus isn’t just art. It’s an emblem, a sigil, a spirit creature rising from the saltwater subconscious of Tacoma’s collective dreamscape.
Summoned from the ether by Linda of DeSantis Designs, this piece pulses with meaning. Each tendril wraps around a memory, a myth, a heartbeat of the city. It is Tacoma embodied in ink and intuition.
Linda isn’t just an artist. She’s a freelance sorceress, a conjurer of the beautiful and strange, shaping stories with brush and flame while constructing her mythical yurt on the edge of the world. Out there on the peninsula, she walks the liminal path—watching the tree line, whispering back to Bigfoot, gathering visions that find form in creations like this.
253 Octopus isn’t decoration.
It’s invocation.
It’s a mark of those who rise, not by chance, but by choice.
It’s the spirit of Tacoma, drawn from grit, for those chasing something greater.