Seattle neighborhood main drags/commercial strips (Lind, Roy: condos, hospital, closing)

[horuscope]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me the exact coordinates of "main drags" or commercial strips in different Seattle neighborhoods? I'm moving to Seattle soon and am looking for somewhere to live that is within walking distance of the main drag. The neighborhoods I am considering are: Capitol Hill, Fremont, Ballard, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Green Lake, and Greenwood.

I have tried to find this info on Wikipedia, Wikimapia, and on this forum, but the info is either vague or my searches miss it somehow. For instance, Wikimapia gives the commercial strip for Capitol Hill, but not the exact coordinates and I couldn't find info for any other neighborhoods of interest. It would be great if it said something like "along Broadway from John to Roy Streets." Wikipedia will say that the "main thoroughfares" are along certain streets, but again, not the exact coordinates. Just to be clear, I'm only interested in the main drag, not every single one.

If anyone can tell the exact coordinates of the main drags in these neighborhoods, or update the Wikimapia, I would be very grateful.

Thanks!
Sean

[redrum]

As you said, the main drag in Capitol Hill is Broadway. Shops/restaurants go from the Broadway/Roy St intersection at the north end, down to around the Broadway/Union St intersection at the south end.

I don't know the other neighborhoods well enough to give exact intersections, but I would recommend you check out City Guides by Citysearch or Yelp, which contain a lot of local restaurant and bar reviews. They both allow you to drill down by neighborhood, and by looking at the neighborhood listings it will become apparent which streets are the main drags. For example, if you search from restaurants in Queen Anne, you will see a lot of restaurants on Queen Anne Ave N, which is the main drag there.

[jabm67]

Originally Posted by horuscope

The neighborhoods I am considering are: Capitol Hill, Fremont, Ballard, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Green Lake, and Greenwood.

I don't know Capitol Hill or Queen Anne enough to help there.

Greenwood: 80th St from about Linden Ave west to 8th Ave NW is commercial; the core is from Greenwood Ave itself to about 3rd NW. Greenwood Ave is another important N-S arterial with lots of commercial stuff, from about 70th St north perhaps as far as the 5-way intersection with Holman Rd/Northgate Way. Aurora Ave, of course, is THE major N-S arterial and has everything (good and mostly bad) that entails, starting at Winona Ave and extending northward forever from there.

Wallingford: 45th Street, from Fremont Ave east to I-5, is a commercial strip, albeit a narrow, congested, and parking-challenged one. Stone Way south of 45th is mostly commercial.

Ballard: Market St from 14th Ave NW west to about 25th or 26th Ave NW is commercial. 15th Ave NW for its entire length is the major N-S arterial route, with the commercial stuff you expect. That Market St corridor includes 56th St except between 15th and 17th NW. Leary Way is another important arterial route, and though this is oversimplification I'd say everything on the water side (that is, S and W) of Leary Way all the way from the Fremont Bridge to where Leary Way ends is industrial rather than commercial, with commercial along Leary itself. The triangle between Market, Leary, and 15th NW is a mix; note there's a hospital in there. There's a little bit of 24th Ave NW north of Market which is commercial also. West of 24th Ave NW and south of Market St is again more industrial than anything else.

Fremont: See comments about Leary Way under Ballard above.

Green Lake: there's a little pocket of commercial activity on the NE side of the lake within a block or two of Green Lake Way, north of 71st St going around NW to Meridian Ave or so, but since the Albertsons' closed up there I'm not sure it has what I'd call the critical mass to call it a commercial area.

[horuscope]

Cool, thanks for the info!

[SaltyDawg]

The earlier poster was right that the Albertson's closing changed the dynamics, but ground has broken on a huge development in the main strip that will include condos and a new grocery store, for what it's worth. Don't think it will be ready until 2009 though.