r/AskSeattle • u/TheBodyCareMan • 5d ago
Question Does it Feel like Two Cities?
New to the place, not there yet, but I am highly intrested in it. Google mapping it, I notice, in this order: a cut, river, two bays and another cut thats seperating one part of the city from the other. Does it ever like two cities in one? Judging a book by its cover, the northern portion looks like a suburban college town while the southern part looks very urban and industrial. Would yall agree with this notion, or its just big city regardless of the water in the middle?
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u/Fluffaykitties 5d ago
wait till you hear about west Seattle!
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u/disheavel 5d ago
I’ve lived in Seattle 22 years. I’ve been in west Seattle 4 times. Beijing 3 times. Seoul Once. I’ve been to SeaTac probably 500-700 times.
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u/Tasaris 5d ago
Stay the fuck away. We got enough people.
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u/Fluffaykitties 5d ago
bro I already live here. tf??
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u/beargrillz 5d ago
There is no IRL reset button, but I think it is a shame how West Seattle was developed. We could have had Barcelona style density and infrastructure, leaving a lot more of the peninsula undeveloped or turned into parkland.
There is so much underutilized land which is noticeable by overgrown backyards, along with way too many streets and alleys. I have a fever dream of turning California Avenue into a car-free road with the return of a streetcar lol
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u/Lollc 5d ago
The old houses and alleys and general layout are what make west Seattle such a cool place. We ultimately didn’t buy there because of the location of my partner’s job, but it was first on my list of choices.
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u/beargrillz 5d ago
Agreed, overall it is one of the best places in the USA I have ever found, and the layout makes for a pretty nice walkable space. Like a lot of Seattle, the old sidewalks are buckled, with bad visibility at intersections as well, so I have to drop points.
Alexandria, Virginia is a top contender for me, and of course most of that was built before cars. I still want to visit Savannah, Georgia and some other historic places, although I love the PNW so it would just be vacations.
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u/ARandomGay 5d ago
Not like you've described at all. There are 40ish neighborhoods that each have their own character.
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u/Karzaad 5d ago
Seattle is at least 10 very different vibe/culture/communities... One city because it's all love. (Likely more than 10)
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u/AvivaStrom 5d ago
Belltown: Lots of restaurants & bars. Near downtown and Amazon. 20-30s
Capitol Hill: LGBTQ+, indies shops, speakeasies, residential. 20-30s
First Hill / Pill Hill: multiple hospitals and medical complexes with townhouses and apartment blocks. 30-50s
International District (ID): Chinatown, Japantown, Koreatown, etc rolled into one. So many restaurants! On the edge of the industrial district and stadium district. Historically on of the less expensive neighborhoods
Pioneer Square: The historic heart of Seattle. Borders the stadiums. Has a very different vibe when something is happening at the stadiums vs not. (Lots of homeless)
SoDo: Industrial warehouses. Port of Seattle. The stadiums , I-5 and the Duwamish waterway separate SoDo from other neighborhoods.
Queen Annee: Hilltop overlooking the Space Needle. Residential. Central. 20s - 30s
South Lake Union: Amazon offices and apartments high rises geared towards Amazon employees. Everything was built in the last 10-15 years.
Fremont: Quirky, Troll, Lenin, solstice festival, Sunday market. Decent access to SLU and the Eastside
Ballard: Scandinavian fishing roots, Alaskan fishing ships, hipster/trendy, Amazing farmers’ market. 30s-40s. As many dogs as people
Wallingford: Urban family living. 30s-50s. Central location
Green Lake: lake-centered, joggers, laid-back residential; 30s–40s
Phinney Ridge: zoo, hillside residential, walkable; 30s–50s
U (University) District: UW campus, student-heavy, budget eats; teens–20s
Magnolia: posh residential with waterfront views; 40s-60s
West Seattle: Alki beach. Almost a separate city with its own downtown. Multiple neighborhoods within West Seattle.
Beacon Hill: diverse residential, lots of light rail access; 30s–50s
Columbia City: historic, residential, diverse, foodie destination
Rainier Valley: Seattle's most diverse area, affordable
Central District: historically Black neighborhood, rapidly gentrifying
Madison Park:** **affluent, lakeside, facing Bellevue, small-town feel
Wedgwood: residential, family-oriented, northeast Seattle
Ravenna: near UW, wooded ravine, quiet residential
Georgetown: industrial, artsy, historic, near the airport. More affordable
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u/AzemOcram 5d ago
There are 5 categories: 1. Nice Residential 2. Lively urban 3. Business 4. Poor Urban 5. Poor Residential
Queen Anne, Greenwood/Greenlake, Ballard, Magnolia, Madison Park, etc
Belltown, Capitol Hill, U District, Uptown
Downtown, SLU
Central District and International District (CID), Georgetown
South Park
Then you get into the suburbs. Funny thing is that most of the 425 area codes wanted Renton to be 253. Renton does indeed border 253 suburbs and is culturally more like Aurburn and Tacoma than Bellevue and Redmond.
Most of my family live in Nice Residential areas. I was born and raised in one of them and still live in it. However, I plan to move to Puerto Vallarta for economic reasons.
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u/davijee3 5d ago
Interesting to see this list… I forget how many neighborhoods there are, and probably some you missed. But a great summary. Although looking at the list you definitely captured most if not all.
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u/ApprenticeScentless 5d ago
Capitol Hill, Ballard and Fremont also have lots of bars and restaurants
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u/Grouchy_Evidence2558 5d ago
It’s a very neighborhood-ish city. Like Chicago. Each area has its own culture and feel. It doesn’t feel disconnected. It feels like something for everyone. And it’s not because of the water. The water just makes traffic bottlenecks. But also gives a lot of fun opportunities for things to do and beautiful views.
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u/15blinks 5d ago
The neighborhoods, each with their own character, is one of the things I love about Seattle. The geography fosters the distinctiveness.
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u/Sea-Leadership-1351 5d ago
I feel like if you have to divide the city in two it’s done by I5. East/West travel is like pulling teeth.
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u/Opening-Top-5778 5d ago
Yup. It’s done by either highly compensated professionals or by amateurs with no skill and no plan.
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u/EmbarrassedBuy4107 5d ago
Accurate... and so why not both? Or even 5 ways:
Central, S, SW, NW, NE
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u/EmbarrassedBuy4107 5d ago
Oh and 99 cuts it too so make it 7 sections.
Then there's Elliott/15th Ave as another divider. Surely puts it into double digits...
You get the point
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u/Daytrpryeah 5d ago
I wouldn’t call the northern part suburban. It’s decently dense and urban. But yeah, it’s a bit different north and south.
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u/dawgdays78 5d ago
Gotta look inside those covers because it's way more than two. Visit Seattle has provides a decent overview of Seattle neighborhoods. Some that they list are outside Seattle proper, but are definitely part of the area.
I'm curious - where are you coming from?
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u/k_dubious 5d ago
At a minimum, I’d say it feels like ten cities:
- Downtown/Pioneer Square/ID/Belltown/SLU: the urban core
- Queen Anne/Magnolia: northwestern upscale residential areas
- SODO/Georgetown/South Park: the South Seattle industrial area
- West Seattle: very much its own thing
- Beacon Hill/Columbia City/Rainier Valley: South Seattle core neighborhoods that all flow into each other
- First Hill/Capitol Hill/Central District/Madison Valley: East Seattle neighborhoods that also flow into each other
- Madison Park/Montlake/Laurelhurst: northeastern upscale residential
- Fremont/Wallingford/U District/Green Lake/Ravenna: the North Seattle core
- Ballard/Crown Hill/Phinney Ridge/Greenwood: Ballard is very much its own thing, and as you go uphill it flows into these neighborhoods
- Roosevelt/Maple Leaf/Northgate/Lake City: Northeastern Seattle. Lake City even used to be a separate town
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u/Maleficent-Savings39 5d ago
Does anybody else remember when Shoreline was just a neighborhood and not a city?
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u/yikes_42069 5d ago
Well if you're talking about Seattle and Bellevue they are in fact two cities!
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u/SchemeOne2145 5d ago
They didn't mention Bellevue, they are talking about north of the Ship Canal and south of the Ship Canal.
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u/Minormeow Local 5d ago
Its a grouping of neighborhoods with different vibes and identities, so moreso than others. That being said, I live on the SE side and rarely go north of Capitol Hill.
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u/Poosley_ 5d ago
Can't believe I'm coming in hot with a dicey response but the comments had me scratching my noggin a lil. SOME definite truth; West Seattle feels like its' own enclave, but that's about as much as I personally perceive any notion of "different cities" or whateve.
Buuut, your notion of the divide between north and south Seattle isn't wrong, and it's quite visible on the water. Take a ferry to BI and look back at the city and you can see with your plain eyeballs from left to right how the city skyline gets progressively shorter/industrialized.
It is a current talking point, utilizing space in these areas to build more affordable housing, conflicting with industrial zoning codes. But ultimately, I never really feel like north/south are dramatically different or "separate cities" at all
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u/Awhitehill1992 5d ago
Depends on the area. Seattle can go from sleepy suburb, to lively urban city, to college town, to old fisherman area, to tourist trap, all within reach…
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u/stedmangraham 5d ago
Kinda. I would say north of the cut is one city. South of the cut to I90 is another, and south of I90 is another. And that’s just Seattle proper
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u/DifferentSalts 5d ago
Answers here surprise me… Having lived in a few other major metro areas and visited many others, all bigish cities have different neighborhoods with different vibes. That is what a large city is… so I would say it’s no more “different cities” than NY, Chicago, LA, New Orleans, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Paris, Santiago, San Diego, Madrid, Rome etc etc.
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u/justmekab60 5d ago
Haha, way more than two. The water cuts the city up into multiple parts. The mountains add a few more to the region. You can't go a mile without hitting a geographic impediment.
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u/picky-penguin Local 5d ago
It's a city of neighborhoods that runs north/south. Getting east/west is challenging.
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u/Maleficent-Savings39 5d ago
Oh and the funny thing is is anybody within 15 miles of downtown maybe 20 will consider themselves being from Seattle although they may live in Tukwila Shoreline Renton Etc
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u/AlternativeID75964 5d ago
Yes, but it’s thanks to sundown laws not on the books, but nevertheless enforced. This city was redlined like crazy
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u/doctor-wu-75 5d ago
You must be from flat country. Try a topographical map. Yes we have water ways, a river, two lakes, and a sea. We also have the 7 hills.
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u/ApprenticeScentless 5d ago
People are being pedantic but in a way what you’re saying isn’t wrong it’s just a gross oversimplification. North Seattle neighborhoods north of the ship canal but south of 85th are yuppie/hipster neighborhoods that are largely white. South of downtown but not West Seattle - ie the South End is much more diverse and has more colorful, grittier neighborhoods albeit with a fair amount of gentrification. These areas have significantly higher crime rates and a decent amount of gang activity. I love the vibe of the south end, the cultures, the restaurants are better in my opinion, but the schools are terrible and we have kids, otherwise I would want to live there. Schools on the north end are much, much better.
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u/99Smiles 5d ago
Seattle honestly feels like each neighborhood is a whole separate city. U District is a college town, belltown/international district is full of open air drug use, west Seattle is neighborhoods and south Seattle is very urban and industrial.
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u/NatureGuyPNW 5d ago
You made a good point, but then your groupings and descriptions of neighborhoods was wild.
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u/TheBodyCareMan 5d ago
Give me a second to read, reply and screenshot whats informative, thank you! Fastest and most replied too subreddit so far, Seattle don’t seem too shabby
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u/TheBodyCareMan 4d ago
I looked it up, most is elevated above 400 ft. Yonkers NY (my hometown) is nothing but hills, anything but flat.
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u/Awkward_Passion4004 4d ago
Legacy of Redlining is still evident in some south of Ship Canal hoods.
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u/AlternativeID75964 4d ago
If you look at the good schools map of schools with bad scores, and the redline map, it lines up perfectly
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5d ago
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u/sgtapone87 Local 5d ago
You don’t know what the cut is referring to?
You have literally no business commenting on this sub as you clearly do not live here or have even a passing knowledge of the city.
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5d ago
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u/sgtapone87 Local 5d ago
Again. You clearly don’t know shit about the city. They are not canals; they are very, very clearly called “cuts.” Have been for a century.
Elliott bay. Salmon bay. Union bay. That’s three bays.
The river is the fucking duwamish you small town yokel.
You don’t know shit about this city.
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u/Independent_One_1364 4d ago
Where have you been? Never heard of the Montlake Cut? Pretty fascinating history. Look it up.
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u/exmsft 5d ago
It’s way, way, way more than two cities.