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We are planning a move to Seattle in the next couple of months. We need to be near Whole Foods and Ballard or Fremont Markets (which is better for organic produce etc?) I am unfamiliar with PCC...is this similar to or better than WF?) and a hospital. My child was born at Providence quite a few years ago. I believe it is now called Swedish? We need easy and quick access to an ER at all hours of day or night so cannot be too far away. I drove down Lower Queen Anne Streets on Google Earth today and so so pretty. I drove down some streets in Ballard near market etc. and, well, not too inspiring. Where is the nice part of Ballard.
Drove past WF on 15th and loved the parking lot with parking spaces galore! After San Diego and Santa Monica WF parking I said, never again!! Thrilled to see ample parking available.
My child is now a teenager and while we are past the young family with baby strollers type of neighborhood stage I am hoping for a great neighborhood with teenage kids. We homeschool but would like to transition in the next year or so. I'm raising a budding filmmaker and there seems to be a good film school in Seattle.
We lived in Sequim for several years in the late 90's and one winter was the wettest on record. Wrist slitting weather was how our neighbor affectionately referred to it. I was swallowed up by SAD. I am trying to remain upbeat and positive about the winters as I do suffer from SAD. My child however suffers from an illness which causes severe intolerance to heat, bright sun, etc. so we are very much looking forward to the relief the cloudy climate will provide as well as the opportunity to be able to get outside and actually engage in some sort of activity instead of being cooped up inside due to heat, bugs, etc.
We are an intellectual family, cosmopolitan yet down to earth, love hiking, the outdoors, kayaking, organic food markets, community vibe which thrives on sustainable living, technologies etc without going rogue left.
We love the modern concrete and steel structures going up in Seattle and tend not to love the craftsmans much anymore. Dark, etc. Hoping for a rental with lots of light in one of the aforementioned areas while we look for prop to purchase. Looking around Queen Anne conjured visions of England complete with hedges and hollyhocks. God Bless Seattle. It is a beautiful city! Unique in the world. The water, the landscapes, the gardens, the dog walkers, joggers, markets, houseboats, great restaurants and of course, the mizzle (tryin' to love it). We are so looking forward to this move.
Any specifics regarding streets etc. in neighborhoods mentioned? One more thing, all of our doctors are right in downtown. I am a Pike's Place Market devotee as well. Can't wait!!!! Real food!
Is Lower Queen Anne the best place for us? We are open to suggestions. We are looking for a 3 bd. with on site parking. No street parking. Garage, even better but not required. Would love loft living but elderly family member and elevators, stairs no go. Budget $3500. (enough for LQA? Not enough?). If I had my way we would live on a houseboat but not practical for our situation right now.
My opinion only for better or worse is that PCC is better than Whole Foods...local and all organic produce and food (except for some strange conventional grapes I saw the other day)...WF sells a lot of conventional produce but I take them over mainstream supermarkets any day...The farmers markets are the absolute best for local organic food...everything you could imagine is available and then some. Ballard and the U District Market are two of the best in the city. Ballard's is every Sunday. U District on Saturday
As to rent, I think you can find something for the rent that you mentioned easily but I was more concerned about you needing to be so close to the ER..Queen Anne is not close to an ER. The nice part of Ballard would be up the hill in an area called Sunset Hill off of 34th street...it would be very close to the small Swedish ER where I have had to take my daughter any number of times...It is a great hospital but small in stature. From Queen Anne you would need to get up to Swedish or Virgina Mason...UW and Harborview too far...So that piece of it gave me pause since that seemed like the most important part of where you would want to choose to live. I would not want to be rushing across the city to an ER from Queen Anne...
Our modern architecture that is being imagined in Seattle now is some of the best I have seen in the whole country..inspired, interesting, unique! You can find it next to a Dutch Colonial on Queen Anne or on a block of Craftsman homes in Ballard or tucked into a great block in Wallingford. One is being built on my block now!
I think there are other neighborhoods you should consider if the ER piece is the most important. I would be happy to answer any other questions..please feel free to message me.
Gosh, Whole Food is awful. You should be supporting something more local like PCC, Metropolitan Market, et. c. Fresh/Organic produces and that sort of thing isn't really a big deal because... well it's everywhere. Seattle has the kind of demography to support that movement that even our grocery stores, even the national chains follow it.
LQA isn't really a family place... it's more for professionals getting their start on. UQA might be too stroller-happy, but would have more of the kids around than LQA. Definitely Ballard would have the teenagers around as the HS is there (Queen Anne has no HS, so the kids go up to Ballard HS). You can also look to the Ravenna area which has Roosevelt HS which is the best Seattle HS in the district (I know you mentioned the homeschooling, but I'm only thinking of the teenager aspect) and is also more family oriented. Given your hospital requirement, I'd also point out Capitol Hill which has the best access to most of the main 5. Capitol Hill towards Broadway is very trendy (also very gay friendly), but towards the east and north is where its more family-like. There's a couple more popular neighborhoods to check out, but I'm not sure how far is too far (from home to hospital). Your budget is actually very reasonable for Seattle.
Beautifulseattlehomes and Inkpoe, I am so appreciative of your detailed responses! They were very very helpful to me. I have been researching what you suggested and am quite torn.
Beautifulseattlehomes I did look at Sunset Hill and thought it was beautiful, the road abutting it's western edge with the views. omg. It's gorg!! I very much like the idea of better air quality in a place like Sunset Hill versus more inland. I believe there are several Swedish medical centers and I cannot be certain the ballard location is the one where my child was born. The Ballard location. I like that this is a smaller hospital rather than large level 4 with long wait time in ER. That is my nightmare.
When I went into labor I had planned to go to University Hospital but my midwife waited until the last minute to truck us all the way to Swedish. We literally almost died. We owe our lives to the good doctors at Swedish, whichever location it was. We were renting a house in Ravenna I believe. I remember being driven over the bridge after passing the Univ hospital. I am a bit embarrassed I can't remember the location of our rental at that time. It was near a two story GAP store with a pottery barn nearby I believe and a gourmet market. The neighborhood was so beautiful, hilly with a view over the neighborhood. I wish I knew where it was. Close to Univ. hospital. We rented the house solely to be in town for the birth.
I did drive by Ballard High on google earth and it looked a bit prisonesque with a touch of WWII barracks thrown in for good measure. My child and I are artists and very sensitive to a bldg's architecture. Ballard would not work I'm afraid so Inkpoe I did look into Roosevelt. Wow. $100 million renovation. Light and bright and great student reviews. Nice architecture. Not Taj Mahal but very nice. The students seems very pleased with the academic program etc. Seattle schools like so many others in the nation are battling mold issues and this is a huge concern for us. It seems mold was part of the impetus to renovate Roosevelt. One hopes they remediated properly.
I am torn however. I believe, through your helpful emails, that I have narrowed it down to two locations each having: WF, PCC market (Inkpoe, I hear you on the local, sustainable front and do concur, most shopping would be done at the farmer's markets, WF for supplements etc and late night anytime emergencies, do not know if PCC sells supplements or is open late, WF on 15th better parking, Roosevelt location parking not too bad), Ballard or Univ Markets, Compounding Pharmacy, close proximity to good hospital, Ballard better air quality and Golden Gardens park a huge plus! Ravenna-Univ area poorer air quality but close to Madison Park which I love! etc.
However, Ballard High would not work for my child. Roosevelt is def a better school with a 100 million dollar renovation to boot. Roosevelt is close to Univ area and Ravenna both lying within close proximity to Interstate 5 so air quality will not be as good there as in Ballard-Sunset Hill area.
There is a very good chance my child will never be able to attend Roosevelt as we journey forward toward his recovery however I would like to put my child in an enviro with like minded teens. Brilliant minds, creative, forward thinking, independent thinkers, studious. I looked into private schools and their locations but did not see any in either Ballard or Ravenna etc. locations. Source: Greatschools dot com. Ravenna is quite far from the Pike's fish market (oops! Pike Place) but perhaps the Univ market will have similar offerings. I would prefer Ballard-Sunset hill (thank you beautifulseattlehomes) but am concerned about my child's future. School. Friends. Etc.
I also looked at Magnolia and Magnolia Ave is gorg is well! Might be too far however as you mentioned. Any thoughts there? No schools however.
If there are any other potential spots that I am perhaps overlooking please let me know. Good high school, private preferred, secular open to good public, hospital, WF/PCC, good air quality, farmer's market, compounding pharmacy, etc.
Beautifulseattlehomes I was so encouraged by your post about the concrete and glass homes and do agree that some of the most phenomenal examples of this modern arch/design can be found in Seattle. Any streets in particular? I am mold phobic and am very concerned about ending up in a rental with mold issues. You had mentioned 34th street in Sunset Hill, did you mean 34th Ave? That is the street I "drove" up on google earth.
The cloudy skies prevalent on nearly every drive in every neighborhood on google earth did actually make me pretty depressed and I felt noticeably better when the weather cleared as I "drove" up a particular street. All images were recorded in summer season and it drove home the concept of making sure one has plenty of distractions when facing a winter in Seattle when one suffers from SAD. I am concerned but hopeful for my child that this climate will bring relief. Cool, cloudy, rare bright sun, etc.
Thank you both, again, for your responses. I found them very very helpful. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Is Ballard an up and coming area, not in the West Seattle area sense of up and coming but in terms of more businesses, more interesting architecture, changing demographics, etc. ?
Last edited by DancesWithSalmon; 02-12-2013 at 10:10 PM..
Ballard is probably the highest growth area in the city aside from south lake union. Honestly that was one of the reasons I decided to buy on the west side vs some place like Ravenna or maple leaf.
You're right on the air over here, this is the cleanest air area I've ever lived in being a few blocks from the sound and with no major roadways.
Thank you mkarch. I agree, the air quality is a big factor for us. We have so many criteria and when dealing with illness and the various needs which accompany that illness it becomes more difficult to balance those needs and determine which is at the top of the priority list. Air quality is in the top two I believe. You post is very encouraging. Thank you. One more thing, any insight into the kind of growth you are seeing in Ballard?
West Seattle is not really "up and coming"... it's pretty much established. Ballard is getting/building more and more urban, which is why its now "up and coming" because the energy of the place is going through a transition into a new identity. Wallingford is next door and is such an old, long-time trendy neighborhood. You also could check out Beacon Hill, Mt. Baker/Seward Park/Columbia City, maybe even Central District/Leschi-- but I didn't mention them earlier because it might too "in-transition" and the HS are not exactly that great though some of of them (like Garfield HS) offer elite programs. West Seattle is a huge area and got a good thing going on; the HS there isn't too bad.
We do have reports about air quality and I'm not so sure Roosevelt area would be worse than Ballard area. I do remember reading an article in the paper where it said that in the Seattle area, the more wealthier the neighborhood, the less pollutants and polluting factors it had.
Seattle is extremely homeschool friendly, so don't be afraid to check more into that aspect. Our public school districts also offer their own Homeschooling support network.
If you're going to WF because of supplements, you could check out one of our stores: Super Supplements. It pretty much has everything, and it's great.
The Ballard growth is happening due to several factors. The "downtown" area has been targeted for higher density development for a while now, along with some major arterials. It's become a hot neighborhood for restaurants and entertainment. The SFH areas are attracting young families. It's not quite as established as some of the NE neighborhoods, but the development is newer and noticeably different than the areas that gentrified 10-20 years ago.
Roosevelt has worse air due to I-5 and to a lesser degree because its east of more population. The neighborhoods on the western edge near the water have a lot less dust and smoke in the air. Granted, the industrial part of Ballard is as dirty as you'd expect, but still not the Duwamish.
Inkpoe perhaps I misunderstood what I'd read in the archives regarding WS. I understood that it was only recently gentrified. My mistake. Thank you for the clarification. The more I'm hearing about Ballard the more I am leaning toward this area being the spot for us for renting and eventually buying. I checked out Super Supplements and they seem to have one location further south than WF so WF wins on that one if we end up in Ballard which seems most likely now. I did learn that the homeschooling set in Seattle is very progressive so that is where we'll be for the time being.
mkarsh, SFH? I'm afraid I don't know what that is.
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