White Center?

[backdrifter]

Just my two cents here, but I was in White Center recently and it really didn't seem too bad at all. The parts I saw looked nicer than about 75% of Portland. Definitely pretty quiet and not a lot going on. I know appearances can be a little deceiving and I agree with the poster who said you wouldn't be doing City Year in a good, nice area, but WC seemed alright by me.

[west seattle gal]

White Center does have some gang activity, but the downtown area is fairly small and kind-of funky in a good way. Big immigrant population. Some really cool businesses there -- homemade ice cream, delicious gourmet pizza, grocery market w/ lots of fresh produce & unique items, real Vietnamese food, etc...

[azoria]

I go to White Center all the time to shop in the immigrant markets. One particular little store where I always go to buy laundry detergent, the price has gone up about $3 in the last year, but still a pretty good deal at $12 or $13 for 5 or so kilograms, imported laundry detergent that still has phosphates (yesss!). It actually gets the clothes clean.

Just went for a sack of detergent and some yummy Mexican food about a week ago. A couple of beers and smokes at Marv's Broiler. Great day out. White Center still retains a little bit of unlegislated freedom--very hard to come by around here.

[Masika]

Originally Posted by Ira500

White Center has some places very much worth going to: Full Tilt Ice Cream. Proletariat Pizza. El Paisano Rosticirea Mexican roast chicken. Uncle Mike's BBQ. Just north of White Center is Westcrest Park, one of Seattle's better off leash dog areas.

We drove past some of these places yesterday going to Westfield Center, and plan on trying all of them (: We live near Greenbridge and love going to Dubsea coffee. Yesterday they had a table where two Muslim women were being tutored. This is the kind of diversity we've been looking for, so if we have to be a little more careful in some places we don't mind. On the news you hear about horrific murders/rapes in what people consider safe neighborhoods. Gang activities can be ignored,the colors, the hand signs are obvious, but the serious crimes are committed by people who many thought "were the nicest, most normal looking". You should watch yourself where ever you go.

Thanks for the names, I've written them down.

[Ranges]

I love to go to pho Tai.
It's my favorite Vietnamese food in WC.

[Bimmerfanboy]

White Center is one of the poorer areas in Seattle but being from Detroit and Chicago I don't find White Center to be even remotely as dangerous. Seattle doesn't really have a true "ghetto," which is a good thing.

[Votre_Chef]

My mom grew up there, just off of Ambaum (114th street, that McDonald's I remember from when I was a little kid in the late 70s but it's been remodeled--the 'Plaza Discount' store on the other side of 114th was for years a Chinese restaurant). She and her siblings when to Evergreen HS and when she was growing up in the early 60s, the only fast food place her dad like was the Dairy Queen on Ambaum and 143rd (still there, but remodeled) My Grandmother's brother drowned in Hicks Lake (at Evergreen HS). When I was a little kid, we lived on 32nd Ave SW. I remember our family and my Aunt and her family going to the Shakey's Pizza on 152nd in Burien. White Center, Burien, West Seattle (where my dad grew up). Brings back a lot of memories.