2 Quick Observations about Seattle (Woodland, Starbuck: apartment, renting, neighborhoods)

[BostonJad]

1) Every coffee shop I've entered seems to source their pastries from Macrina bakery think Spinach & Cheese Bun. Its good stuff I'm not complaining but amazing how they would have a monopoly in a region kinda like coffee shop needs to sell their pastries for the right to operate.

2) Why is there such a dearth of parking spots? Its nearly impossible to visit any establishment without having to go through the pain of finding street parking and having to pay using the PayByPhone app. I can understand having to do that in the inner city but seems to be the case even for breweries as far as Fremont or Ballard. If thats not far fetched even having to visit MOHA I had to find parking near the South Lake Union Google campus and walk. Maybe I am spoiled but where I come from restaurants and establishments come with dedicated parking just for their patrons.

[pnwguy2]

Seattle has been anti parking for atleast two decades. Of course this a problem in the more urban areas of the city. In Lake City or Wedgewood not an issue. The idea was to promote mass transit. I suppose it works on some levels, but cars need some love too. Just keep everything moving with all transit and vehicular in the mix.

[Hemlock140]

Yes, pnwguy is right, the City Council would like to eliminate cars from Seattle. When a new apartment is approved that is reasonably close to a bus stop, they are not required to provide any off-street parking. The city assumes they will all take the bus or Uber. Then they move in with their two cars and fight for any street spots. People are pretty much forced to pay for the parking garages, which have plenty of room now with so many working from home, but they have not reduced the prices. The garage nearest my office in Seattle (Belltown) is $19 for all day, $270 for non-reserved monthly parking. That's great for the City, with their 14.5% parking tax.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by BostonJad

1) Every coffee shop I've entered seems to source their pastries from Macrina bakery think Spinach & Cheese Bun. Its good stuff I'm not complaining but amazing how they would have a monopoly in a region kinda like coffee shop needs to sell their pastries for the right to operate.

2) Why is there such a dearth of parking spots? Its nearly impossible to visit any establishment without having to go through the pain of finding street parking and having to pay using the PayByPhone app. I can understand having to do that in the inner city but seems to be the case even for breweries as far as Fremont or Ballard. If thats not far fetched even having to visit MOHA I had to find parking near the South Lake Union Google campus and walk. Maybe I am spoiled but where I come from restaurants and establishments come with dedicated parking just for their patrons.

OP, it sounds like you haven't been to many coffee shops. Do you share your observations as an occasional visitor, or as a new resident?

To find good coffee shops with their own parking lots (yes, they exist), you have to explore the neighborhoods, not downtown or Capitol Hill. Try: Ballard, the far north end of Seattle (Victory Heights/Pinehurst, Greenwood), West Seattle, probably Magnolia, and so on. Probably Madison Park (a delightful, park-like little area on Lake Washington), and our Seattle members could probably suggest others. Look for locally-owned coffee shops, not chains like Starbucks. For the best bakery selections, with fresh bakery items made on-site, look for bakery-cafes. There's a nice little Jewish bakery-cafe that specializes in traditional breads of various sorts, on 15th Ave. NE just north of the east end of Northgate Way sharing a parking lot with a few other small businesses. It's in a nice, rural-feeling neighborhood with lots of cedar trees and greenery, pleasant to stroll through just east of that 15th NE corridor. When I lived there not too long ago, there was a working farm in the neighborhood!

I Google a map of Ballard, and see scads of bakeries with cafe sections, and aside from those, there are quiet little coffee shops selling baked goods not from Macrina Bakery, lol, with their own parking lot. I've been to a couple of them, so I know they have off-street parking. It's easy to do neighborhood searches like this.You can call these places to find out of they have parking.

[fnh]

FYI, Macrina's coffee shop on Capitol Hill has its own parking lot.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by fnh

FYI, Macrina's coffee shop on Capitol Hill has its own parking lot.

lol! There you go, OP! Seek, and ye shall find.

[jabogitlu]

Seattle is a city full of urbanists. Very few people here want to see more parking, unless it's underground as part of a building redevelopment. That's just how Seattle is. Sorry it isn't Boston, but did you come here, after all, not the other way around.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by BostonJad

Why is there such a dearth of parking spots?

On-street parking is at an extreme premium in the close-in 'hoods (Downtown, Belltown, Pioneer Square, ID/Chinatown, Lower Queen Anne, Upper Queen Anne, SLU, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Madison Park, etc.), many of which have legacy apartment buildings from the streetcar era and new construction without off-street parking, as well as in short supply further out (Central District, U District, Ballard, Wallingford, East Magnolia, North West Seattle, etc.). It is for that reason that many recommend eschewing renting a car and relying on transit to visit these areas.

Venues with off-street parking: Pike Place Market, Seattle Center, Seattle Asian Art Museum/Conservatory (free), Fishermen's Terminal (free), Gas Works Park (free), Flight Museum (free), Burke Museum (free after 12pm on Saturdays and all-day on Sundays), Ballard Locks (free on Magnolia side), Arboretum (free), Magnuson Park (free), Green Lake (free), Woodland Park Zoo, Discovery Park (free), Kubota Gardens (free).

[homesinseattle]

[quote=CrazyDonkey;64531927]On-street parking is at an extreme premium in the close-in 'hoods (Downtown, Belltown, Pioneer Square, ID/Chinatown, Lower Queen Anne, Upper Queen Anne, SLU, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Madison Park, etc.), many of which have legacy apartment buildings from the streetcar era and new construction without off-street parking, as well as in short supply further out (Central District, U District, Ballard, Wallingford, East Magnolia, North West Seattle, etc.). It is for that reason that many recommend eschewing renting a car and relying on transit to visit these areas.


I agree with many of these places as being parking challenged. Madison Park, however, is easier than you think, we live here. There are almost always spots in or near the little business district, pretty easy also to park on closeby side streets.

[Ruth4Truth]

Notice, OP, that someone started a thread today on a nice breakfast place in Ballard. This is a person who comes to Seattle for medical treatment, and either drives to the city or rents a car. So he did need parking. I assume the restaurant he visited either had parking, or there was street parking nearby.
https://www.city-data.com/forum/seat...e-ballard.html

I disagree that parking is in short supply in Madison Park, Wallingford and Northwest Seattle. Businesses in Wallingford often are in buildings that have their own parking, or in clusters of buildings that share a lot. I was just there a few weeks ago, and was able to park in a lot shared by one of the businesses I was visiting. There's parking in the U District, too; you just have to know where to find it. And a number of the restaurants and coffee shops a block or two away from University Way have their own parking lots.

If you're new to Seattle, you wouldn't know where to look for establishments with parking, or for free on-street parking without meters. Give yourself time to learn your way around, and you'll start having better experiences.