What is Seattle's Old Money/Upper Class like compared to New York City's (Bellevue: neighborhood, school)

[DevanXL]

The Nordstroms are pretty old money.

[Ira500]

In New York, you're old money if you can trace your ancestry to the Dutch settlement of the 1600's. In seattle, you're old money if you can trace your ancestry to Seattle in the 1920's. Evidently Bill Boeing Sr. wasn't old money enough, and he wasn't allowed to live in Broadmoor, so he helped co-found The Highlands.

[Professor46]

While there are of course "legacy families" in Seattle (and old money) -- most of the "old money" only goes as far back as the 1980's and 1990's -- at least as far as *REAL* (major) wealth goes. If you want to know what being very wealthy in the Northwest looks like, simply look at Bill Gates and his lifestyle. It really is that simple. I used to see him and/or Melinda in the grocery store. :-)

[Professor46]

But Bruce Nordstrom is only "Oprah rich" -

Originally Posted by DevanXL

The Nordstroms are pretty old money.

[Professor46]

This really sums it up well . . . in my 13 years of experience!

Originally Posted by SaltyDawg

Plenty of old money... it's very quiet and hidden though. The older lakefront neighborhoods that are nearly impossible to navigate if you're new (Laurehurst, Viretta Park, Denny Blaine) and secluded dead ends on the Eastside (Hunts Point, Meydenbauer Bay) have a mix of old and new money.

They tend to keep to themselves... Seattle Tennis Club, Seattle Golf Club, Broadmoor, Glendale, Inglewood, WAC, Rainier Club... lots of places to congregate and keep the cash in play.

No Trump-types around here. Paul Allen is the closest thing, and he's new money. And he also actually tries to improve the area, rather than just plaster his name on every monstrosity.

[CrazyDonkey]

The Weyerhaeuser, Stimson (see Stimson-Green Mansion), Bullitt (KING), Fisher (KOMO/Fisher Flour), Green (shipping/banking), Wright (construction/Space Needle), Skinner (shipping/lumber), and Boedel families are about as "old-money" Seattle as you can get. The Stimsons and Bloedels come from lumber/timber money ("lumber barons"), as do, obviously, the Weyerhaeusers (although they are more "Tacoma old money").

Many of the early pioneer families which amassed riches, such as the Dennys, Yeslers, Borens, Bells, Terrys, etc., lost or failed to hold onto them, due to the boom-and-bust nature of the Seattle economy, starting with the Panic of 1893, the Great Depression, the Boeing Crash, and so on.

[JMTSmall]

It seems like Seattle has taken off any sign of the Christmas Ball
in Seattle for debutantes during the early part of the 1960s that took
place in the Grand Ballroom of the Olympic Hotel.
Why is that? I spent my teen years in Seattle and read
about that ball in July of the early 1960s when the tea was held at the RD Merrill house
and then in December on the 22nd of those years in the Seattle Times
I moved to Washington, DC back on November 28, 1965
and have lived in that area ever since.
I love checking my home computer for interesting
information about those times.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

I wouldn't consider those people "old money" since Gates / Allen made their money in the 80s and 90s. Bezos made his money in the late 90s / 2000s.

At least when I think of old money, I think of the Rockefellers, Kennedys, Hiltons, etc. At least a few generations.

I think that Seattle doesn't really have old money...at least none that make their presence felt. Bill Gates and Paul Allen probably are the most noticeable since you drive around downtown and you see the Bill & Malinda Gates foundation, EMP, etc. And without knowing it, you see a lot of Paul Allen's real estate everywhere through Vulcan.

My friends who are members of the Bellevue Club say that Bill Gates plays tennis there sometimes. I found it a little hard to believe since I am pretty sure he has his own tennis courts at his house but whatever.

Pretty much. Whoever is related to the people who started Filson, Boeing, or Weyerhaeuser would be considered old money. Seattle is an adolescent city compared to New York. NYC has been around since the 17th century. Seattle since the mid 19th century. NYC has more of your traditional old world/colonial American past. Seattle was founded by pioneers and loggers going westward.

[cmswazey]

NY old money would be Cabots, Lowells, Rockefellers, Astors, Vanderbilts. Rich Gates may be but he's not old money.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Go hang out at the Seattle Yacht Club Seattle Country Club (Highlands) and the Sand Point Country Club and you will see old money, but they are starting to drop off, with the long time members being 80-90 now.

This is the thing. Some of the "old money" has trickled down to heirs and doesn't amount to that much, anymore, so that niche has been replaced with newer money. Other "old money" was used to start obscure charitable foundations that benefit the Seattle area and Western Washington. Those are still going strong.