How are Queen Ann, Magnolia, Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods? (Seattle: apartments, for rent)

[eugene_b]

Hi, apologies for making another thread about neighborhoods but would appreciate some data points on these places. We’ve mostly scanned through Bellevue/Kirkland apartments and moving on to Seattle now. In general our priorities are: quieter feel, good commute to downtown Seattle, climbing gym near by, walkable and safe. Hoping to finish compiling the list of places, both east side and Seattle soon, and embark on our apartment hunting trip next weekend.

From what I managed to gather online, we really liked these places but having never stepped my feet there, I might be missing something. Also, on the map I can see lots of train tracks going through there and I am wondering whether that creates noise.

[homesinseattle]

Eugene, great choices:

Queen Anne: closest of your choices to Downtown Seattle. Two parts. Lower Queen Anne (think Space Needle) swarming with people and things to do as it is so close to Amazon and other companies. Great cultural events (ballet, opera), fabulous summer festivals at Seattle Center. Loads of restaurants and pubs. Upper Queen Anne. A little older vibe. Beautiful residential streets with nice homes. The core (Queen Anne Ave) certainly has restaurants, shops, a few pubs. Definitely quieter and more sedate than Lower Queen Anne.

Ballard: vibrant, lots to eat and do. Old town Ballard has a neat vibe. Shilshole Beach and Golden Garden Beach (sunset, bonfires, picnics, real beach volleyball) are very nice. Ballard has become quite congested and tough parking with all the apartments that have sprung up. Great live music at the Tractor Tavern. Highly regarded restaurants. As you mentioned, excellent climbing gym (Stone Gardens). Check out the world class Scandinavian Heritage Museum and the amazing Ballard Locks (where the boats run through) with pretty gardens, trees and the ability to go underground to see loads of salmon migrating up the fish ladder.

Magnolia: peaceful, Discovery Park (great woods, hiking, bluff, beaches) is beautiful, parts of Magnolia are a longish drive to get to town, feels at times suburban. A few stores and restaurants in the core but mostly residential. Lots of places with good views. Fishermans Terminal is interesting with restaurant, seafood store and large boats that go to Alaska. Palisade Restaurant on south side of magnolia has stunning views, cool spot to eat.

Fremont: Still a little funky in a city that doesn't have as much of that anymore. Easy commuting access to a number of places. Again, very good pub, restaurant choices, a bit bohemian, hundreds of naked cyclists each year and amazing creativity at Solstice parade. Very good live music at Nectar Lounge (my favorite) and the High Dive, good access to Fremont Cut and Lake Union for kayaking, boating. Great access to Burke Gilman bike trail. Don't miss the Lenin Sculpture, the awesome Troll under the bridge, the microbreweries or Theo organic chocolate.

Can you tell I live in Seattle ?

[Gardyloo]

Originally Posted by eugene_b

Also, on the map I can see lots of train tracks going through there and I am wondering whether that creates noise.

Train noise is close to nonexistent in Seattle. The bulk of the train traffic runs along the Puget Sound waterfront in a narrow corridor; impacting mainly the commercial and industrial areas immediately adjacent to the tracks. There are some waterfront areas in north Seattle where the tracks separate the houses from the beach, but these are not areas you're examining.

I'd suggest you add a couple of neighborhoods to your list, namely Madison Park and Green Lake. From your prior posts it sounds like you might value peace and quiet over other amenities, and these areas offer that while still being quite accessible to/from downtown.

Do some research here: Seattle Neighborhood Guide - findwell

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by eugene_b

Hi, apologies for making another thread about neighborhoods but would appreciate some data points on these places. We’ve mostly scanned through Bellevue/Kirkland apartments and moving on to Seattle now. In general our priorities are: quieter feel, good commute to downtown Seattle, climbing gym near by, walkable and safe. Hoping to finish compiling the list of places, both east side and Seattle soon, and embark on our apartment hunting trip next weekend.

From what I managed to gather online, we really liked these places but having never stepped my feet there, I might be missing something. Also, on the map I can see lots of train tracks going through there and I am wondering whether that creates noise.

Train noise can be an issue in west Ballard - west of 30th, but much less east of there. Stone Gardens is near 30th. You can also get train noise in east Magnolia and west Queen Anne. Fremont should be free of train noise.

[tkz4]

Also you might consider northern and eastern Capitol Hill, which are more residential, quiet neighborhoods with very good access to the liveliest parts of town. There are lots of non-traditional apartments for rent (homes and older buildings that have been restored.) So you can sort of get the best of both worlds. This area also has great transit access both to downtown, highways and public transit.

[SaltyDawg]

Look at Bryant, as well. Close to the hustle and bustle of UW and Uvillage, but a quiet neighborhood on it's own. Frequent bus service downtown and also with access to the Husky Stadium light rail station. Surrounded by other really nice neighborhoods as well (View Ridge, Laurelhurst, Hawthorne Hills, Wedgwood). Near Magnuson park.

[homesinseattle]

I'll throw in Phinney Ridge, Greenwood and Maple Leaf, Wallingford. Those are conveniently located with lots to do but you can find quiet streets. Some more favorite neighborhoods of mine are Columbia City, West Seattle, Madrona, Leschi.

[eugene_b]

Thanks for the info, all the replies are, as always, extremely helpful! Will scan these neighborhoods over the next couple days and will compile the final list of places to see. Will probably keep West Bellevue / Kirkland and Magnolia / Queen Ann / Fremont / Ballard (plus Green Lake probably) in the 1st tier of places to see and the rest in 2nd tier. Some of those other places are really nice too, just a bit far from climbing gym (big criteria for us lol). Location-wise, the ideal place we are looking for should have less than 1hr commute (the smaller the better), have quite residential/suburban feel but be walkable to downtown-ish areas with restaurants and stuff, have bike trail near by and climbing gym, and be safe. Super specific, I know, but we are hoping to check off as many items as possible off that list and these neighborhoods feel like the best fit so far.

Can't wait to walk and see those place in about a week or so!

[homesinseattle]

Hey mate,

Nothing wrong with being specific. Yeah, I think Ballard/Fremont, or the area in between known as "Frelard" (think Leary Way) is your spot. Frelard gives you great access to the Burke-Gilman Trail, good commuting location and you can even bounce over to Stone Gardens climbing gym by bike. Great organic breaky place (our fave) called Portage Bay Cafe right next to Stone Gardens. You could also live in a peaceful neighborhood about 5-7 blocks north of Stone Gardens, in West Ballard or Sunset Hill. That would take you a bit away from the main part of the Burke Gilman but you can still access it pretty easily and there is a nice bike path out past Shilshole all the way to Golden Gardens Park.

[CrazyDonkey]

Rents go up the shorter the commute. Most of what you're looking at seems to be south of N. 65th St. There are places for less in east Magnolia and west Queen Anne because of the Interbay rail yard. Access to Magnolia can get backed up, with only three access points. I lived on west Queen Anne on 13th Ave W, south of Gilman Drive, for 13 years and enjoyed it very much. I liked being mid-way between Lower Queen Anne and Ballard, but not in either. There was rail yard noise, particularly in the summers with the windows open, but I was far enough away for it not to be that irksome.

Fremont blends into Ballard (Frelard, a semi-industrial zone along the canal). Upper Fremont has transit options that Lower Fremont doesn't (#44 to U District/UW and #5 to Downtown), plus close to the north are Phinney Ridge, Woodland Park/Zoo, and Green Lake. To the east of Lower Fremont is Gas Works Park on Lake Union (Northshore area of Wallingford).

West Ballard, which is where I currently live, and Sunset Hill are their own unique areas - both are much slower and quieter than central Ballard, but walking into Ballard proper is not hard. As long as you have a buffer between you and the railroad bridge crossing the Shilshole Bay, it shouldn't bother you much - the noise from the bridge is very intermittent, not constant. You can have five trains in a day, or 20.

West Ballard has the #44 trolleybus, but you need to transfer to go Downtown (to #40 or D-Line RapidRide). Street parking is tough, because of all the townhouses that have been put in there, but traffic is very light. You'll be walking distance to Stone Gardens, the Ballard Locks, and Golden Gardens Park/Beach.

I lived about half a year in Sunset Hill, just a block off south of N 65th St and half block east of 32nd Ave NW - it was the quietest place I've lived in Seattle (and I've lived all over), just stone quiet. That background city "hum" was entirely absent. A drawback for Sunset Hill is that the only bus running on 32nd Ave NW is the #17x, which only runs on weekdays during the morning and afternoon peak commute times - for all day bus service you have to walk south (to N 54th St) to catch the #44 or east (to 24th Ave NW) to catch the #40.

Anyway, these are names and lines on a map, but in reality they all blend into each other, except where there are natural or man-made barriers. Instead, pay attention to the bus routes, which are the real life lines, especially for commuting.