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I hope to move to Seattle next spring. I'm from Colorado and have lived all over the country. I've appreciated reading all the information on this site and since I just visited Seattle for the first time, I thought I'd post my opinions too. Sorry it's so long, but I like seeing everyone's different opinions, so hopefully mine will be helpful too.
Pioneer Square - Several people recommended this area. It was one of the first places in the city I went to and it was a little overwhelming. The old brick shops are cute, but there are a lot of street people (homeless looking or whatever pc appropriate term you like). There was a parking lot with around 50 just hanging around, maybe waiting for the mission to open and more walking around. Thinking that this was one of the better neighborhoods, it made me nervous about what the rest of the city would hold. There were many middle to upper class people walking around there though, so I think it's probably pretty safe, it's just not what I was expecting.
The Waterfront - This was a fun tourist spot I found after Pioneer Sq. The views of the water and islands are beautiful. It has a traditional boardwalk feel with some cute shops, fish and chips, ice cream shops, the ferris wheel, etc.
Queen Anne - Beautiful homes. It looks similar to the Berkley Hills. Cute shopping/restaurant area. It was definitely a higher end area, but it didn't feel snooty and self important like rich areas of San Diego. People seemed laid back and relaxed. The Thai Kitchen was delicious!
Fremont - Cute, artsy, hippie, with a vibe that felt friendly to 20 & 30 somethings and for families. Nice shopping/restaurants and cute homes. Troll Bridge, statue of Lenin, naked Solstice Festival
Wallingford - The area on 45th near Hwy 5 was a little sketchy, but once you go more west there's a cute core with shops, food, bars, and the surrounding neighborhoods are beautiful.
Columbia City - Many people on this forum talked this neighborhood up, but I wasn't very comfortable there. I drove down the main strip and it looked like there might be some nice hole in the wall finds, but not anywhere that I would want to spend much time. North of that strip was kind of run down and sketchy and people there seemed a little more sad or down and out. There were some cute homes around the shopping area though.
Whidbey Island - I was considering moving to one of the islands because I like being in nature and cities overwhelm me a bit. The ferry ride was pretty, chilly, and quick. Langely and Coupeville were beautiful and small. A few streets of shops and restaurants. I'm more liberal, so Oak Harbor with the military vibe wasn't a big draw for me. It seems like a nice town for a military base though. Overall, the island seems like a nice quiet place to go for a BnB weekend or for retirement, but it's pretty sleepy otherwise. The main roads through out felt like drive through Massachusetts with bushier trees.... you can't really see what's around you because there are so many tall trees.
University area - The little part of the University District I was was just okay... not bad, but not great. The actual campus area was beautiful and the University Village looked upscale and new though a bit commercial/yuppy feeling compared to the rest of Seattle.
Bothell - Main street looked like an old folks home. Farther into the hills it looked pretty and lush with what looked like many business campuses that people might commute too.
West Seattle - California Avenue to Alki Beach felt very much like a SoCal beach town. It seemed safe and tucked away. Lincoln Park was a beautiful walk down to a beach and a community pool right on the coast line.
Kirkland - Looked like a upscale area to raise a family. More yuppy/conservative looking folks than in Seattle.
Ballard - Old Ballard was cute. The rest of Ballard was just ok, but I'm not sure I saw all the cute parts. It looked a bit more like Southern Cali to me.
Lake Forest Park - I was thinking this might be a nice community to be close to the city but tucked away. The neighborhoods look nice for raising a family, but there is really only a run of the mill shopping center there. Too boring looking for me after seeing the other communities. (I'm 31 and single)
Pike Market was great. I would definitely recommend taking an edible tour of it. Learning about the history and passion behind the market made it all the better.
The Salmon Ladder at the Ballard Locks was fun to see. There is an underwater viewing room where you can watch them swim and it was peaceful and interesting. Cool to see the boats going through the locks too.
Restaurants around the city were a lot more expensive than I'm used to in suburban Colorado, but the grocery prices were about the same. It was nice that most restaurants have local and organic ingredients.
I was only there for 5 days, but I tried to cram in as many places as I could to get a feel for each area. The buses were very easy to get around on. Traffic was interesting... sometimes I would get stuck at a small residential intersection for an eternity, but the hiway traffic didn't seem that bad after living in Boston, Austin, and San Diego.
I'm a liberal/greenish, 30 y/o who is looking for a safe, pretty, quiet neighborhood with things to do. The top fits for me are Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, but there are several other areas in Seattle proper that feel comfortable and everything seems close by and reasonably easy to get to.
That's my take on the area. I hope that helps someone.
My experience with the much spoken of 'Seattle Freeze' -
I've been all over the country and I didn't notice any coldness in Seattle. There were many times on my trip that I asked a stranger a question about how to get somewhere or advice on things and everyone was very pleasant. I generally measure the friendliness of a place on whether people hold doors open for each other. Seattle passed mostly in that respect.
I didn't feel any of the edge that you come across on the east coast nor where people inviting me over for dinner. (But now that I think about it, the people I rented a car from picked me up and dropped me off at the airport and wouldn't take any extra money for the trouble, and the house I stayed in had owners that were exceptionally accommodating)
I feel like every state I've lived in, it was all about the effort that I put into meeting people. Depending on my actions, I could easily say that any place I've been was easy or hard to make friends. I feel like the places where people are overly nice to everyone (Minnesota or the South), they may not really like you that much and might talk behind your back. I would rather have a saltier person be honest with me than a nice person be fake.
Many people in Seattle are transplants anyway, so I imagine it's hard to stereotype them. If you want to make friends, get hooked up with some meetup groups where you will hang out with other people who are actively looking to make new friends. Voila!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Thx for the update / review for others.
Since I immigrated to WA from Colorado (30 yrs ago...)
Consider your favorite activities when deciding on a place to call home. I biked and swam everyday in Colorado. Neither have worked for me in PNW (We have no pools in SW WA, and NONE of the schools have them... very weird). roads are VERY narrow, dark, slick for serious biking, and drivers do not see bikes in PNW.
Mistakes I made... moved next to a School so I could swim daily (before realizing schools did not have pools here... our town of 30k in Colorado had 3 indoor pools. town / metro of 300k in WA has ZERO)
Brought NICE bikes west. very sad... they got RUSTY even in the GARAGE ! I should have not bothered, I had NO RUST on anything when I brought it... now tools, bikes, motorcycles, antiques... all rusty or at least oxidized. If you value it and it rusts... DON't BRING it. leave it with a friend.
First house in PNW had few south facing windows. It was a SICK house... we were sick for months. Get a house in the OPEN with LOTS of windows on the SOUTH, (north windows / roof / siding get mossy)
DO NOT get a house tucked in the trees. Many coworkers moved from Colorado to Marysville and went home to CO in a yr, or were divorced, and spouse went back to CO (some things are much ezr single).
Get good raingear SOON... I saved (got soaked) for years to get a Helly Hansen coat. (only to have it stolen in one month). SEW YOUR NAME all over it.
Enjoy MUD if you like to garden. Everything grows FAST here (After May 15th). fun to garden, very messy
Get wiper blades annually (in Oct). I don't think I bought more than 2-3 sets in 25 yrs in Colorado, but, you need fresh ones every year here. (summers seem to bake them)
Do NOT bring a VW to PNW... I have bunches of them. Mine ALL LEAK in my current climate (100+" of drizzle / yr). I can never remember having a car 'steam up' on interior before moving to WA. Now I have to wear 'overshoes' to drive my VWs between Oct and July 5th (I have a tough time finding a non-VW that gets 50 mpg on free fryer grease). 50 mpg since 1976...
If you like bluegrass, consider making trips to find it (I'm flying to CO this week to enjoy some)
Be prepared to wear long underwear to get warmed up in winter. in CO I had one pair for COLD (very cold) days. In PNW I have 6 pair and wear them everyday in winter.
There are many things to do, places to go. You should have a great time, BUT.... it is DIFFERENT, very different.
One of the BEST things is being close to Canada and OR coast. + very cheap fares to CA (and CO) for sunshine.
NO INCOME tax was nice when I had income (I retired pre age 50, so WA is not so attractive without income ($38/day property taxes... up from $3/day))
You won't notice the 'freeze' until you are sick in bed with a terminal illness and wish you had a 'neighbor'. In WA, they notice you're sick when your remains get to stinking. YMMV. BUT... everyone is very nice
Since I immigrated to WA from Colorado (30 yrs ago...)
Consider your favorite activities when deciding on a place to call home. I biked and swam everyday in Colorado. Neither have worked for me in PNW (We have no pools in SW WA, and NONE of the schools have them... very weird). roads are VERY narrow, dark, slick for serious biking, and drivers do not see bikes in PNW.
Mistakes I made... moved next to a School so I could swim daily (before realizing schools did not have pools here... our town of 30k in Colorado had 3 indoor pools. town / metro of 300k in WA has ZERO)
Brought NICE bikes west. very sad... they got RUSTY even in the GARAGE ! I should have not bothered, I had NO RUST on anything when I brought it... now tools, bikes, motorcycles, antiques... all rusty or at least oxidized. If you value it and it rusts... DON't BRING it. leave it with a friend.
First house in PNW had few south facing windows. It was a SICK house... we were sick for months. Get a house in the OPEN with LOTS of windows on the SOUTH, (north windows / roof / siding get mossy)
DO NOT get a house tucked in the trees. Many coworkers moved from Colorado to Marysville and went home to CO in a yr, or were divorced, and spouse went back to CO (some things are much ezr single).
Get good raingear SOON... I saved (got soaked) for years to get a Helly Hansen coat. (only to have it stolen in one month). SEW YOUR NAME all over it.
Enjoy MUD if you like to garden. Everything grows FAST here (After May 15th). fun to garden, very messy
Get wiper blades annually (in Oct). I don't think I bought more than 2-3 sets in 25 yrs in Colorado, but, you need fresh ones every year here. (summers seem to bake them)
Do NOT bring a VW to PNW... I have bunches of them. Mine ALL LEAK in my current climate (100+" of drizzle / yr). I can never remember having a car 'steam up' on interior before moving to WA. Now I have to wear 'overshoes' to drive my VWs between Oct and July 5th (I have a tough time finding a non-VW that gets 50 mpg on free fryer grease). 50 mpg since 1976...
If you like bluegrass, consider making trips to find it (I'm flying to CO this week to enjoy some)
Be prepared to wear long underwear to get warmed up in winter. in CO I had one pair for COLD (very cold) days. In PNW I have 6 pair and wear them everyday in winter.
There are many things to do, places to go. You should have a great time, BUT.... it is DIFFERENT, very different.
One of the BEST things is being close to Canada and OR coast. + very cheap fares to CA (and CO) for sunshine.
NO INCOME tax was nice when I had income (I retired pre age 50, so WA is not so attractive without income ($38/day property taxes... up from $3/day))
You won't notice the 'freeze' until you are sick in bed with a terminal illness and wish you had a 'neighbor'. In WA, they notice you're sick when your remains get to stinking. YMMV. BUT... everyone is very nice
Seattle high schools do have pools. My kids swim them, there are swim teams??
All pools used by Seattle public schools are open to the public - they are in community centers.
Exactly... which doesn't contradict what SR said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit
Mistakes I made... moved next to a School so I could swim daily (before realizing schools did not have pools here... our town of 30k in Colorado had 3 indoor pools. town / metro of 300k in WA has ZERO)
I knew one of my HS had a pool, but even that wasn't even opened to the students-- our swim teams had to go to the Mt. Rainier or Foster community pool. The pool @ the school was reserved for the special needs kids.
Since I immigrated to WA from Colorado (30 yrs ago...)
Mistakes I made... moved next to a School so I could swim daily (before realizing schools did not have pools here... our town of 30k in Colorado had 3 indoor pools. town / metro of 300k in WA has ZERO)
Get wiper blades annually (in Oct). I don't think I bought more than 2-3 sets in 25 yrs in Colorado, but, you need fresh ones every year here. (summers seem to bake them)
NO INCOME tax was nice when I had income (I retired pre age 50, so WA is not so attractive without income ($38/day property taxes... up from $3/day))
You won't notice the 'freeze' until you are sick in bed with a terminal illness and wish you had a 'neighbor'. In WA, they notice you're sick when your remains get to stinking. YMMV. BUT... everyone is very nice
Thanks for your info StealthRabbit
Luckily most of the negatives you posted don't concern me. I don't bike, so no worries there. I am very excited about all of the steep hills and staircases around the city to keep me in shape. I am constantly hot, so I welcome the cold. When I visited Seattle, 2 days were in the low 60s and overcast and 3 days were 70s with blue skies... I preferred the cool days. I don't mind mud and I won't be paying property taxes. Thanks for the note about wiper blades and reminder about lots of south windows.
I live in Fort Collins, CO (pop. 146k) and we don't have swimming pools at any of our 4 high schools. I think the new high school in Loveland has one, but I wouldn't assume it was open to the public. We use community pools or health club pools. seattle dot gov /parks /pools .asp says there are 8 indoor pools, 2 outdoor pools, and over 30 wading pools around the city.
I've lived all over and I never assume that a neighbor will help me when I'm sick unless I've gone out of my way to develop a close friendship with them. I have no idea what my neighbors are up to.... though I will say that if I happened to see a neighbor who needs help, I am happy to assist. Also - I lived in Denver for a while, in Capitol Hill, and when you walk down the street, other pedestrians strictly avoid eye contact and it felt cold. In Seattle I didn't see that.
Inkpoe, it does contradict what he said, which is that if he moved next to a school to swim, Seattle would have "zero". Ballard's pool is in the building adjacent to Ballard High school, if he live nears Ballard High then he also lives near Ballard pool. Some schools use multiple pools, some of those pools are at rec centers adjacent to the high schools. West Seattle and Sealth share a pool across from Sealth. So not all schools are completely removed from the pool. StealthRabbit says his "town of 30k has 3 indoor pools", we have many more than that. I know he is implying a pool open to the public, as clearly any pool inside a school would not be open, and rightfully so during school hours. But the post sounds as if there are no pools near any schools in Seattle so moving near one does no good, and this is simply not true. Most high schools have pools very near by and in walking distance so the kids can get there, many are almost adjacent or directly on the shared property, like Ballards. If he were to move near any of these schools, he'd have access to a public pool.
Last edited by happyhunting; 08-04-2012 at 11:50 PM..
Speaking of this so-called "freeze" phenomenon, I have not experienced it at all. In fact I literally just moved here TODAY, and already had to complete strangers go WAY out of their way to help me out.
Also I pulled up next to two pretty ladies who had "Santa Cruz" sticker on the back of their CRX, who were also very nice and friendly to me.
I don't want to jinx it, so I'll knock on wood, but so far this balmy weather seems to have defrosted the locals
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