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That's typical behavior in New York City. New Yorkers always stride forward, keeping their eyes averted from all other eyes. On elevators, everyone stares into space, eyes averted.
I've heard it's a coping mechanism in crowded areas like Manhattan. When you have so many people crammed into such a small area, people retreat into private spaces.
Bronx, you of Guyanese descent or from Guyana originally? I had a great walkabout a few years ago in Guyana. The Rupununi area in the south was amazing.
That's typical behavior in New York City. New Yorkers always stride forward, keeping their eyes averted from all other eyes. On elevators, everyone stares into space, eyes averted.
I've heard it's a coping mechanism in crowded areas like Manhattan. When you have so many people crammed into such a small area, people retreat into private spaces.
I find it ironic people will compare the residential streets of Ballard with the streets of urban Manhattan. First of all, when you are walking down the street and nobody else is around but you and the other person passing by, I find it very awkward and strange to not just smile or say hello. Literally, you see the other person and they see you and then they turn their head and pretend you are not there as they walk by you on a street with no other people walking down it but the two of you. That is very awkward and it makes a more social, friendly person like, myself, feel uncomfortable and awkward. I understand walking down a busy street with lots of people passing by you are not going to wave, smile and say hello. But, a more sparsely populated residential neighborhood street it is common in most places in the country to just say hi or have a friendly face, rather than act hostile, cold and pretend to ignore the person you konw you were looking at for a couple minutes as they come approach and walk by you.
No, this is not normal behavior and I have only experienced so much of this living in Seattle and found Ballard to be the worst experience of all. Everywhere you go, people just ignore each other, have cold looks on their face and pretend that you are not a human.
I wish I could describe it better. However, living in Portland, it was common to smile and say hello when walking by a person in a non-threatening environment. Obviously, walking down a dark city street at night in a sketchy neighborhood, nobody is going to want to be too friendly. However, acting the same way on a nice bright sunny day walking down a residential street as you do in a dangerous neighborhood at night, just gives you a very strang view of the humanity of people in this area.
I'm not saying that the people are inherently mean or bad people. It is definitely a cultural phenomenon and I think it stems from people being a bit self-absorbed, introverted and insular. I actually got use it by the end of my time living there and I also put on my cold face, turned my face when walking by and pretend the other person didn't exist either. You definitely pick up the unfriendly culture and it even rubs off a little on you.
One thing I will say is there is some good Samaritans even in Ballard. I got my truck and car carrier stuck when I was moving into Ballard. This guy who was a truck driver, took his time and helped get me out of the mess. I respected the guy a lot and appreciated him helping me in a bind. I could have been just lucky that he was walking by, but I am not saying every person in the area is awful. However, just living day to day, it felt like a pretty lonesome and a cold existence.
I am just getting sick of bars in general, but I did spend a little time frequenting some of Ballard's bars, since I was walking distance to them. I found local bars in places like Fremont, Wallingford and even a few on the outskirts of Ballard to have way more friendly and social people than in the main drag of Ballard. It really feels like a pretentious, self-absorbed yuppie vibe. Some of the dive bars in Ballard are also pretty sketchy and have a very weird variety of locals who seem to despise outsiders and love shoving their political views and opinions down your throat. The too cool for school attitude is quite prevalent. It's not a very Live and Let Live environment.
On another note, the Fremont area had a more youthful and friendly vibe to it. It still had the Seattle reserve, but it felt like people who spent time in this neighborhood were a bit more social and friendly.
Last edited by RotseCherut; 05-08-2018 at 02:12 PM..
Many years ago I visited NYC... while exploring Fifth Ave, I was amused at how people were hurrying along like characters in a Charlie Chaplin movie... but after a few minutes, I realized I was starting to walk that way too! Monkey see, monkey do. Surely not everyone you passed in Ballard really is indifferent to others' existence... they're just conforming to convention. But how did that convention get started?
I find it ironic people will compare the residential streets of Ballard with the streets of urban Manhattan. First of all, when you are walking down the street and nobody else is around but you and the other person passing by, I find it very awkward and strange to not just smile or say hello. Literally, you see the other person and they see you and then they turn their head and pretend you are not there as they walk by you on a street with no other people walking down it but the two of you. That is very awkward and it makes a more social, friendly person like, myself, feel uncomfortable and awkward. I understand walking down a busy street with lots of people passing by you are not going to wave, smile and say hello. But, a more sparsely populated residential neighborhood street it is common in most places in the country to just say hi or have a friendly face, rather than act hostile, cold and pretend to ignore the person you konw you were looking at for a couple minutes as they come approach and walk by you.
No, this is not normal behavior and I have only experienced so much of this living in Seattle and found Ballard to be the worst experience of all. Everywhere you go, people just ignore each other, have cold looks on their face and pretend that you are not a human.
I wish I could describe it better. However, living in Portland, it was common to smile and say hello when walking by a person in a non-threatening environment. Obviously, walking down a dark city street at night in a sketchy neighborhood, nobody is going to want to be too friendly. However, acting the same way on a nice bright sunny day walking down a residential street as you do in a dangerous neighborhood at night, just gives you a very strang view of the humanity of people in this area.
I'm not saying that the people are inherently mean or bad people. It is definitely a cultural phenomenon and I think it stems from people being a bit self-absorbed, introverted and insular. I actually got use it by the end of my time living there and I also put on my cold face, turned my face when walking by and pretend the other person didn't exist either. You definitely pick up the unfriendly culture and it even rubs off a little on you.
One thing I will say is there is some good Samaritans even in Ballard. I got my truck and car carrier stuck when I was moving into Ballard. This guy who was a truck driver, took his time and helped get me out of the mess. I respected the guy a lot and appreciated him helping me in a bind. I could have been just lucky that he was walking by, but I am not saying every person in the area is awful. However, just living day to day, it felt like a pretty lonesome and a cold existence.
I am just getting sick of bars in general, but I did spend a little time frequenting some of Ballard's bars, since I was walking distance to them. I found local bars in places like Fremont, Wallingford and even a few on the outskirts of Ballard to have way more friendly and social people than in the main drag of Ballard. It really feels like a pretentious, self-absorbed yuppie vibe. Some of the dive bars in Ballard are also pretty sketchy and have a very weird variety of locals who seem to despise outsiders and love shoving their political views and opinions down your throat. The too cool for school attitude is quite prevalent. It's not a very Live and Let Live environment.
On another note, the Fremont area had a more youthful and friendly vibe to it. It still had the Seattle reserve, but it felt like people who spent time in this neighborhood were a bit more social and friendly.
Holy crap, dude. Ballard and Fremont's bar areas are separated by like 10 blocks. There is literally no way you're getting drastically different clientele. You rant over and over about how bad Ballard is, but everyone else that lives here and has posted in any of your threads says they don't get a negative vibe at all. If you really hate it that much LEAVE and stop posting in threads here just to put down one area over another.
I've said this before, but if you're the only one experiencing the issue and everyone else is nice to each other, then maybe you're the problem.
I find it ironic people will compare the residential streets of Ballard with the streets of urban Manhattan. First of all, when you are walking down the street and nobody else is around but you and the other person passing by, I find it very awkward and strange to not just smile or say hello. Literally, you see the other person and they see you and then they turn their head and pretend you are not there as they walk by you on a street with no other people walking down it but the two of you. That is very awkward and it makes a more social, friendly person like, myself, feel uncomfortable and awkward.
Everyone is different.
Maybe you feel awkward, but not everyone feels the same way you do.
Do I have time to smile and say "hello" to every stranger I walk past even though there are not many people around?
I'm walking somewhere.
Someone else is walking somewhere.
Whether a stranger smiles and/or says 'hello' is very trivial.
Holy crap, dude. Ballard and Fremont's bar areas are separated by like 10 blocks. There is literally no way you're getting drastically different clientele. You rant over and over about how bad Ballard is, but everyone else that lives here and has posted in any of your threads says they don't get a negative vibe at all. If you really hate it that much LEAVE and stop posting in threads here just to put down one area over another.
I've said this before, but if you're the only one experiencing the issue and everyone else is nice to each other, then maybe you're the problem.
It is posts like this one that did inspire me to leave Seattle and especially Ballard. You have only proven my point. And, I have every much as right as you to share my opinions on City Data as you do. Although, I am sure people like you are the ones who go around trying to tear people to pieces who have any type of conflict of opinion or belief from yourself. Try lightening up a little buddy and being a bit more accepting that people will not always agree with you and may have their own opinions.
As far as the whole Fremont/Ballard experience, let me just share a few thoughts.
Fremont and Ballard are not much alike, even though they have some similarities. I wonder how much time you spend in Fremont, as many people who live in Ballard seem to live there like it is its own city. I'm not saying Fremont is my favorite place, but I found the Fremont area to be a much more friendly and down to Earth than Ballard, which just has this cold, pretentious and insular persona. It also has a very strong San Francisco yuppie vibe to it on the Ballard Ave drag. I spent time in some of the local divier haunts like Hattie's Hat and Olaf's and found them to be about the most unfriendly local bars I have ever went to. People just sat around ignoring you and the bartenders would take your order and I don't think I saw a smile on any of their faces on the many occasions I went there. However, there are a few divier blue collar bars, like Thunderbird and such that had more friendly blue collar Joe crowd and were much nicer. The whole drag of Fremont is full of fun neighborhood bars that cater to middle class and working class. There are a few upscale bars thrown in, but they too are a bit more mixed crowd, as they will attract a lot of younger people too. Ballard is a mix of seedy local bars with very upscale and pretentious restaurants/ bars that cater to Seattle's elite and the California Yuppie crowd. I always loathed spending my nights in Ballard, but took a hop to Fremont and had a good time.
Of course, you may get all emotional, angry and chew me out as you have done on every other post on this thread, but oh well, I tried being sensible and having a conversation. I know that is not an easy thing to do in the land of passive aggressive people who are so easily "offended".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Returning2USA
Everyone is different.
Do I have time to smile and say "hello" to every stranger I walk past even though there are not many people around?
No, you sure don't have to.. If you want to have a cold stare and turn your face you are welcome to do so. Do I have to like you though? Isn't it also my right to smile and say hello and think you are rude and unfriendly if you just turn your face and ignore me? I respect your right to be unfriendly, can you please respect my right to be friendly? However, you do have some benefits over me. I am told smiling does cause aging in the face and results in more wrinkles. Having a constant cold stare with the lack of use of facial muscles means you will probably have younger and less wrinkled skin as you get older.
Your posts have only confirmed my feelings of the area and why I am glad I have left and actually glad I am leaving the Puget Sound as a whole. However, I will say people in Tacoma are friendlier, even with all the weirdness and grittiness of the South Puget Sound. I don't like Olympia at all, but even in Olympia people don't give you the cold dreadful stares you get walking around Seattle and especially Ballard. This behavior really seems to be concentrated in Seattle and somewhat dissipates as you go further from the city.
Holy crap, dude. Ballard and Fremont's bar areas are separated by like 10 blocks. There is literally no way you're getting drastically different clientele. You rant over and over about how bad Ballard is, but everyone else that lives here and has posted in any of your threads says they don't get a negative vibe at all. If you really hate it that much LEAVE and stop posting in threads here just to put down one area over another.
I've said this before, but if you're the only one experiencing the issue and everyone else is nice to each other, then maybe you're the problem.
It's ok. In a little over a month now, he'll be gone. Then he'll be Portland's problem.
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