Seattle Under Glass -- Take In The Bits And Pieces That Set Each Neighborhood Apart
THERE ARE MORE than 100 neighborhoods in Seattle - and more than 200 groups organized to protect them.
As the city grows, people are striving to define an area over which they have some control. That may be why folks in Seattle, for the most part, feel more of an affinity for their neighborhood than for the city as a whole.
Those residents know that their sometimes-odd pockets of civilization are what make Seattle Seattle, and they love the little hangouts, the kitschy storefronts, the unofficial "mayors" that run the hardware stores.
They know what sometimes is forgotten by the bureaucracy: that the neighborhoods are the city's best urban resource.
Some of those neighborhoods are gritty, some pretty. Some lie astride ridges, some dig their toenails into hillsides that dangle wedgelike over a lake. Others spread their blankets over valley floors like perennial picnickers. Some offer lattes, some 3-inch curving fake fingernails. Some turn just-plain-people into activists by way of chicken-soupy cafes; some mix and stir their human ingredients into crowd concoctions at community centers.
Altogether, they give the city its soul. Without the Buckaroo, without the Elephant Car Wash sign, without the Koffee Kup or Elbow Room - well, Dorothy could still be in Kansas.
Ballard
Roots: Developers designed Ballard to attract Scandinavians to work in the pulp and cedar shingle mills along Salmon Bay. It worked: They clear-cut the place for job security. Taverns and churches were early cornerstones; legend has it an ordinance dictated that at least one church be constructed for every three taverns.
Who calls it home: North of Northwest 85th, 6,200 residents; south of Northwest 85th, 27,982 residents (figures include such mini-neighborhoods as Crown Hill, Sunset Hill, Loyal Heights, Whittier Heights, North Beach, West Woodland and Blue Ridge). Find a Ballard bungalow for about $140,000; prepare to go higher in Blue Ridge/North Beach. About 80 percent of the people own their homes; median age is older in the north (43) than south (37).
What riles 'em: Gentrification. A while back there was a fight between yuppie newcomers ("carpetbaggers" to old-timers) and natives. The new tree-huggers wondered why there weren't any trees in Ballard. The old-timers insisted trees are to be measured in board feet and are messy to boot, and that Ballard's heritage is one of open sky, flowers and shrubs. Who's winning? Recently, the community planted 1,100 trees. Other issues: The Fred Meyer store on the Ship Canal, monitoring Shilshole Marina expansion, rehab of Ballard High School, crime.
Signature: A deep-seated personality crisis. It's a source of pride to Ballardites that they are the butt of jokes on "Almost Live," but they simultaneously think the jokes are damaging to the area's self-esteem. Find residents at Ballard Smoke Shop, Denny's, Scandies; sailing types at Sloop Tavern; drinkers at Traders Tavern ("coldest beer in Seattle"); evening crowd at Shilshole eateries and Backstage.
Roadside attractions: Larsen Bros. Danish Bakery (Loyal Heights) for kringle ($4.25 Tuesday special) and Johnsen's Scandinavian Foods, where you can pick up a jar of lutefisk for the boss.
Phinney Ridge/Greenwood/Green Lake
Roots: Since RollerBlades hadn't been invented, Green Lake John wore boots when he blazed the first trail to Green Lake in 1870 so he could live as a hermit on the shore. Tourism ruined his hideout; settlers bought the glacial lake and turned it into a mini-Disney World. Tourists from the big city of Seattle flocked to the Auto Tourist Camp in the 1920s.
Who calls it home: Baby boomers (Green Lake) and the "overeducated and underpaid of Seattle" - teachers, public servants and government employees (Phinney Ridge). About 12,000 come home to Green Lake, 9,000 Greenwood, 15,000 the Ridge. Houses in Green Lake range from small bungalows for $160,000 and up, less in Greenwood. Desirable Phinney Ridge pulls in from $170,000 to $275,000-plus. In Green Lake and Phinney Ridge, 55 percent are homeowners (east of the lake, 70 percent rent); in Greenwood 58.6 percent own homes. Median age is 35.
What riles 'em: Congestion from the zoo traffic to almost everyone converging on the city's most popular playground, Green Lake. Oh, yes, never say the words "swimmer's itch" out loud.
Signature: Daily betting by picnickers on whether the novice RollerBladers will make it across the street from Gregg's Greenlake Cycle; elbow-bending at the Greenwood Bakery, Woodland Park Pub and Home Espresso Repair (they serve espresso, too). The Phinney Neighborhood Center even rents tools.
Roadside attractions: The City Light Hoffman Substation (just north of Greenwood at Fremont Avenue North and North 107th Street) is a tiny electrical park with whirligigs made of everything from old hiking boots to coffeepots, courtesy of Emil and Viva Gehrke. The question is, is the weird couple real?
Fremont
Roots: Originally a mill town, during the Depression Fremont was where the down-and-outs settled. In the '60s this proved irresistible to hippies and bikers, and from there the charm spread to middle-class, sweat-equity types. It's rumored there was a tunnel under 35th and Fremont to let speak-easy patrons escape from raids during Prohibition.
Who calls it home: Contrary to popular belief, they aren't all artists (only 16 percent; the citywide average is 17 percent). Of the 9,444 residents, some live in houses valued from $150,000 to $350,000 (views), but it's a rental community - only 36.25 percent own their own houses. Median age is 34.
What riles 'em: Integrating apartment dwellers into the community, traffic, parking, Burke-Gilman Trail extension.
Signature: "Waiting for the Interurban," the Richard Beyer sculpture, is a sort of political spokesthing - residents get all tanked up on caffeine and drape trappings of the latest controversy on it. The unspoken rule is that you have to wait one week before redecorating the statue. Lots of hangouts, but look for Fremonters at the Buckaroo and Still Life.
Roadside attractions: The June Fremont Fair and Solstice Parade is fast becoming the Mardi Gras of Seattle. Offbeat shops offer used clothing, old Reagan masks and new brews. The streets offer hidden art, granola-head hangouts (a smokeless tavern!) and a weird artists' garden next to the Still Life called the Garden of Everyday Miracles.
Wallingford
Roots: One of the city's early residential neighborhoods for the middle class. Tracts of houses went up toward the end of the 1890s. When the Gas Works plant was operating, Wallingford was plagued by air pollution, but after the plant closed they could breathe again. If you remember the Grandma's Cookies sign towering above Lake Union, you're close to being called a native.
Who calls it home: Baby-boomers, for the most part; 12,203 live here. Houses average $170,650 in value, but only 29.48 percent are homeowners; median age is 31.
What riles 'em: To make Wallingfordites happy (and keep your blood pressure down), don't ever use North 45th Street. And don't park in front of their houses, no matter which movie you're going to. Worries include car prowls, protection of single-family areas from apartment development, future of the Lincoln High building.
Signature: Storefront corner groceries still grace the neighborhood, and Wallingford Center in the old school building is a booming success. Find the residents (and everyone else in the city) at Honey Bear Bakery.
Roadside attractions: Stop trying, you can't see anything from the windows, but do go inside Marzi-Tarts Erotic Bakery. There are other draws, too: Wide World Books & Maps, the Guild 45th Theatre. Composting worms hang out at Seattle Tilth in the old Good Shepherd Center.
Maple Leaf
Roots: This close-in neighborhood evolved from a middle-class, family community to a mostly retired one, and now it's swinging back again. Residents fought to get the first covered mall, Northgate, close by - but now see it as a mixed blessing.
Who calls it home: 7,748 people, including a plethora of kids who attend the popular elementary schools or the two private schools; 70.5 percent own (renters are mostly on the north end) houses valued at $130,000 to $150,000; median age is 36.3.
What riles 'em: Traffic spilling over from Northgate, land use, car prowls/thefts, playground improvement.
Signature: The only neighborhood that has a reservoir at its center. Look for the water tower with the neighborhood logo - a maple leaf, of course. Find residents with picnic baskets at Maple Leaf Park, over a brew at the Reservoir Tavern or chomping down at the Maple Leaf Grill.
Roadside attractions: Buried away in the basement of the local council's headquarters is a shrine to Camp Fire Mints, the Camp Fire Boys and Girls Museum.
Ravenna
Roots: Visitors to that cool, long wooded ravine that became Ravenna Park in 1888 paid a quarter to get in. No exceptions: Even Theodore Roosevelt had to come up with his two bits.
Who calls it home: Used to be all UW profs; now there are 6,887 mostly professional residents; houses run over $250,000, and 65.3 percent are homeowners; median age is 37.15.
What riles 'em: Family values. This is the family nabe, and residents say they aim to keep it that way. They tear their hair out over diners racing their cars toward the big draw: the Santa Fe Cafe on 65th.
Signature: Ties with the U District for the whitest community in the city. Find residents at Puget Consumers Co-op, Guido's Pizza.
Roadside attractions: Muse over gravestones of priests and nuns at Calvary Cemetery. On hot days, cool off in Ravenna Park, where it's several degrees cooler down inside than up top.
Laurelhurst
Roots: "Uncle Joe" Surber, Seattle's first police chief (and entire force), homesteaded here on what became the town of Yesler. It was a mill town until the mills burned. In 1900, 50 well-to-do men built the Seattle Golf Club. Eventually, the club moved and realtors coined the name Laurelhurst to sell lakefront lots.
Who calls it home: 7,433 wealthy professionals live in houses in the $400,000 range; 73 percent are homeowners; median age is 38.
What riles 'em: Expansion of surrounding facilities (Battelle, Children's Hospital), new businesses in the residential area (e.g., health-club facility), UW growth.
Signature: Those sweeping lawns flowing down toward the lake are the result of the lake being lowered. Second only to Broadmoor in top tax bills. They don't really hang out, but do jaw some at Sand Point Thriftway and Mr. Peeper's Gifts.
Roadside attractions: Just drive through and live vicariously for a few minutes or go to the Home Tour in the fall. The gardens at Children's Hospital are worth a look, especially the heather collection.
Magnolia
Roots: Some nearsighted explorer mistook madronas for magnolias and Magnolia was born. Magnolia was a dairyland from which milk was hauled to Queen Anne Hill and Denny Hill. Fort Lawton was established on the bluff in 1898 during the Spanish-American War and battleships became a part of the neighborhood culture.
Who calls it home: 11,920 mostly-married residents; houses are valued at $260,000 to $280,000 on average (more on top of the hill, of course); 58.5 percent are homeowners; median age is 39.
What riles 'em: Not crime, that's for sure. Magnolia has one of the lowest crime rates in the city. West Point Secondary Sewage Plant, noise from Port of Seattle terminals, FAA flight paths, concerns about proposed expansion of Native American cultural center at Discovery Park.
Signature: This is latteland, truly. At last count there were seven places selling lattes, at an average of 200 to 500 lattes a day each, 3,500 daily total, 10,500 lattes monthly. Residents have tongues only slightly in cheek when they call it "Camelot"; after all, there are only three ways in and out. It's so exclusive that it's shrinking: from 1980 to 1990, it lost 8.3 percent in population.
Roadside attractions: Discovery Park is a habitat for birds, including a pair of nesting bald eagles. Join the joggers on Magnolia bluff's 2.1-mile trail.
Queen Anne
Roots: In the 1890s a counterbalance was used to get old trolleys (and old lumber barons) up the hill, and now we have a road called The Counterbalance. Who is Queen Anne? She's an it: the hill was named for the style of architecture favored by the bearded barons who settled it. Oldest building (1889) is in the 1600 block of Fourth Avenue North.
Who calls it home: Everybody wishes they did. The loyal live here - the 30,000 residents average 16.99 years duration on the hill; you can find a house for $250,000 but it'll be a fixer-upper; expect instead over $300,000; 43.5 percent are homeowners; median age is 36.
What riles 'em: The worried Queen Anner thinks about views being blocked (south side), noise (east), and rezoning of residential areas (everywhere). And they wring their hands over traffic and parking, what the port's doing below and the possibility of the TV towers being extended.
Signature: A cafe society where the women outnumber the men and where almost everyone is divorced. The Thriftway wine department is rumored to be the best place in the city to pick up young successful women. Other hangouts? Ken's Market, The 5 Spot, McGraw Street Bakery.
Roadside attractions: Renovated Uptown Cinema (great on rainy days). Bigelow Avenue has been nicknamed Jog Avenue for the hundreds of half-naked, sweaty bodies seen there. Might spot resident John Corbett of "Northern Exposure" hanging around the hill, too.
Eastlake
Roots: The "You've come a long way, baby" neighborhood, Eastlake was once forested and threaded with Indian trails, then cleared for orchards and farms. By 1910, houseboats were built for the working class, and by the '20s there was a boom of apartments. In the 1960s I-5 came roaring smack through the middle, and residents said "Enough!" in the '70s when developers proposed over-the-water condos. The Battle of Roanoke Reef prompted today's city shoreline laws, though some might say it was a short-lived victory given the proliferation of giant restaurants surrounding the south shoreline.
Who calls it home: 3,000 in a mix of students, seniors, in-home and downtown workers that mostly rent (23.7 percent own houses); the few houses go for from $275,000 to a million (classy houseboats).
What riles 'em: Overdevelopment, gentrification, parking, traffic, view blockage, Seattle Commons plans - you get the drift. Residents have put together the Eastlake Tomorrow plan with building design guidelines, a town center and re-design of Fairview Avenue.
Signature: Houseboats and the strip around The Zoo tavern. A substitute for the Stairmaster is the joggers' favorite staircase (211 steps) at East Blaine from Lakeview to Broadway. For news about buying a houseboat try Pete's Market bulletin board (they have a good wine selection, too).
Roadside attractions: Residents shun the glitzy restaurants at the south end and instead meet at Lake Union Mail, Patrick's Fly Shop, small groceries, Tio's Bakery, Pete's Market and The Zoo. The original Red Robin is by the University Bridge.
Capitol Hill
Roots: Those big houses were a sign of prestige in the city's early days. And that park was first named City Park and then, after the Spanish-American War, Volunteer Park. Vestiges of the city's Auto Row remain along Pine and Pike from 10th to 12th in the garage/showroom doors that grace current businesses.
Who calls it home: Gay groups say 30 to 40 percent of the hilltop residents are gay or lesbian. If you include Miller Park, Stevens and Broadway, there are 30,150 mostly apartment-dwellers on the hill where 20 percent own homes; east of 15th 73 percent own their quite expensive houses; houses go for from $250,000 to over $300,000, not including the mansions; median age is 33.5.
What riles 'em: They don't want Highway 520 widened because it'll eat up more residential area. They're worried about the siting of more group housing on the hill and about development along Pine and Pike. Hands wring over crime, panhandling (they have a successful voucher program) and gay bashing.
Signature: A melange where gays walk hand-in-hand, grungers hang out, boomers hit the restaurants and seniors hang at the QFC. Volunteer Park has a subculture of its own: nights - a gay cruising place; days - a place to let the kids wade. The strip on 15th is filled with doctor-and-nurse types from Group Health.
Roadside attractions: The '50s live again at Dick's Drive-In; the bodies live again in memory at Lake View Cemetery, where the city's early elite are buried (along with the not-so-early Bruce Lee); oil moguls thrive at General Petroleum Museum (look for the neon Pegasus in the second-story window). The famous dancing steps on Broadway are still cha-cha-ing. And don't forget it's a hill: There's an exquisite moon-on-water view at 15th Avenue East at Garfield Street, and one of the best free views of the city is from the Volunteer Park Water Tower - 106 steps up.
Madison Park
Roots: Once Seattle's Coney Island (complete with Ferris wheel and even horse racing), the beach community also used to be called White City, a puzzling moniker considering that it referred to the proliferation of prostitutes offering theirs wares on the shores.
Who calls it home: 6,458 mostly white, wealthy family members and professional types; almost half the houses are valued at over $400,000; 58 percent are homeowners; community somewhat older than elsewhere, with the median age being 43.
What riles 'em: Neighbor faces neighbor over the expansion of the Burke-Gilman Trail; everyone is on the same side (against) when it comes to increase of multi-family units; big effort goes into filling hanging baskets.
Signature: Lola McKee of Madison Park Hardware is the unofficial mayor of the village. Little upscale shops include a great cheese place. Madison Park Bakery draws the early morning crowds.
Roadside attractions: Madison Park has a lifeguarded beach that has attracted the gay crowd (north side) as well as families (south side).
Madrona/Leschi
Roots: Leschi was named for a Nisqually chief who was hanged after an Indian attack on settlers (see Beacon Hill). The Madrona Playfield was the stomping ground of the Black Panthers during the late 1960s; they had their headquarters in a storefront on 34th.
Who calls it home: 4,218 old-timers and newcomers live in rediscovered Leschi; 11,474 live in Madrona, where men outnumber women; houses on the ridge are expensive, but throughout average $250,000 to $350,000 (less in Leschi, about $170,000 to $190,000); 48 percent own in Leschi, 81 percent on the east side of Madrona, 55 percent on the west; median age is 34.
What riles 'em: Leschi worries about overbuilding on its trademark slopes; Madrona worries about crime, safety on streets and parks, promoting local business area.
Signature: Ask people where they live in Madrona and they'll say, "Y'know where the Hi-Spot is? We're three blocks over." In Leschi, houses cling to the hillside, all vying for a peek at the lake.
Roadside attractions: Nitrate-free sausages are a specialty at Leschi Market (see Steve), and Metro bus No. 27 offers a sometimes harrowing ride down hairpin curves through Leschi. Madrona Playground has tennis courts that are actually vacant at times.
Central District
Roots: The CD to almost everyone (and the Central Area to everyone else), the area was settled by African Americans after World War II. William Grose was first CD landlord, first community church was First African Methodist Episcopal. Later, Jackson Street became the center of the neighborhood. The old Mardi Gras Parade in the '40s and '50s was an elaborate affair: a week of dancing in the streets where the old Birdland nightclub used to be. (Some say it was the forerunner to Seafair; others pooh-pooh that idea.)
Who calls it home: 5,175 in CD proper, some say 36,000 in entire area including parts of Madrona, ID and Capitol Hill; predominantly African American and another place where men outnumber women; they live in houses averaging $80,000 to $120,000 in value, some less as part of inner-city housing incentive program; 30.95 percent own. Median age is 37.
What riles 'em: Crime and gangs, I-90 access ramps between I-5 and Lake Washington that have cut through the neighborhood, economic development for local businesses.
Signature: Brightly painted Cherry Street business area is from 23rd down to 30th. There's lots of action at the community hub, the Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP). Residents hang out at Dill Pickles, Catfish Corner, Ms. Helen's Soul Food restaurant, Mama's Kitchen, Ezell's Fried Chicken.
Roadside attractions: What's happening? Pick up The Facts or The Medium, two lively community papers. Or go to Kwanzaa, African Christmas celebration, or Juneteenth, celebration of African-American history at Gas Works Park.
International District
Roots: There's too much history here, so the community is recording it in an oral history project. The ID began as a bachelor community in the 19th century when Chinese men were recruited to work on the railroads. The first Chinese man in Seattle, Chin Chun Hock (he had 13 wives), started Wa Chong Co., labor contractors, near the waterfront. Later, the contractors filled in the tide flats to develop what is now the ID. The Japanese came in 1879, and the Vietnamese settled here in the 1960s. It was called Chinatown until 1964, when then-Mayor Wes Uhlman proclaimed it the International District.
Who calls it home: Approximately 2,500 residents, primarily Chinese and Filipino men, live mostly in apartments or flats above shops (98.7 percent rent their homes, paying under $199 month).
What riles 'em: Still reeling from the way I-5 roared through the neighborhood, activists worry about public safety, fear of development, impact from Kingdome and Union Station redevelopment, housing, parking, drug crimes.
Signature: Balconied flats above shops and intricate tiles, herbalists, Chinese groceries, alley culture, and the 27 tongs still in existence. At Maynard and King in Hing Hay Park, the "newspaper wall" is a protected landmark. Little Vietnam is on Jackson east of 12th, with a conglomeration of beauty parlors, Southeast Asian clothing stores and Vietnamese groceries. Find the residents at Tai Tung, House of Hong, Four Seas and (especially) ID Drop-In Center.
Roadside attractions: For food, try Uwajimaya's, Viet Wah Market, Eng Suey Plaza and Asian Plaza. For fun, come to the ID Summer Festival and Street Fair, or the Vietnamese New Year, Harvest Moon Festival, Chinese New Year.
Mount Baker
Roots: Those park-planning Olmsted Brothers did the street layout for this early planned community. Seems it was an architects' playground; the renowned Ellsworth Storey built the Storey Cottages at Colman Park in 1911. Things went downhill: In the 1960s, many houses were threatened with condemnation, but the feds helped with subsidies and the neighborhood was spruced up.
Who calls it home: 11,139 residents - professionals with ritzy houses on the ridge overlooking the lake to the east; working types facing Rainier Valley to the west; houses are valued from $400,000 to $500,000 along the ridge, $125,000 to $250,000 elsewhere; 64.45 percent are homeowners; median age is 35.4.
What riles 'em: During the Seafair races, residents boil at the imposition of cars/partiers; future of Colman School building; speeding traffic; rapid transit; crime prevention.
Signature: "A politician on every corner." The mayor lives here. This is a strong and savvy community: When the community clubhouse burned down in 1992, they rebuilt it in just 10 months. They hang out at Mount Baker Park, Baker's Beach Cafe.
Roadside attractions: On Bicycle Saturdays and Sundays (summers), bicyclists can pedal down scenic Lake Washington Boulevard unimpeded by cars.
Seward Park/Lakewood
Roots: Originally called Bailey Peninsula, acquired by the city in 1911. As late as 1916, someone claimed to have seen a cougar at the park. The men wanted to organize a hunting party, but city officials decided it was a mythical cougar and put the kibosh on the hunt. A year later, a streetcar conductor had the unenviable job of cleaning a dead cougar off the front of a streetcar.
Who calls it home: 4,676 residents live in houses that range in value from $150,000 to $1 million (lakefront); 79.5 percent own; median age is 37.6.
What riles 'em: Restoring Seward Park's family-oriented atmosphere, reducing loud noise (the fine for playing your boom box too loud is $190).
Signature: If Seattle has a Jewish community center, this is it. There's even a deli with the phone number 722-NOSH, and the parade of women with furs to and from the Ezra Bessaroth synagogue is the weekly event.
Roadside attractions: Old-growth fir forest in the park - and the best view of Paul Allen's new Mercer Island complex (from the park, too).
Columbia City
Roots: Developers saw the timber in Columbia City and the rest of Rainier Valley, platted the land, set up a mill and proceeded to build houses. The incentive to move there was the new streetcar line built by the land developer (a trick used by other neighborhood landholders of the day). He even added such amazing amenities as stores, a church and a school. By 1892 the city petitioned King County to incorporate. It was named for the song, "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean."
Who calls it home: 5,363 people who really love it here, including lots of single families; more long-term residents live here than most places in the city; it's one place you can buy a house for $100,000 or less; 44.7 percent own their homes, median age is 31.7.
What riles 'em: Crime, traffic on 42nd Avenue South, health of business district, local beautification. Complex plan developed here to maintain family atmosphere is one of the few neighborhood plans approved by the city.
Signature: Japanese cinema, cafes and small shops. Residents can be found at the sparkling library, Betty's Grill (famous for hamburgers; the old-timers call it "the Hole in the Wall"), or the Elbow Room for drinks. There's a historic society restricted to members who've lived here for 50 years or more.
Roadside attractions: The business district is 100 years old and most of the medical and law offices, banks, stores, bars and restaurants are in historic buildings that make up a movie-set town. The Columbia Funeral Home deserves a place in the history books, too.
Beacon Hill
Roots: The first farm on South Beacon Hill was established in the 1850s by Dutch pioneer Henry Van Asselt. Early settlements were burned by Chief Leschi in the Indian Wars of 1855-56 (see Leschi), but Van Asselt rebuilt his. Unfortunately, The Pesthouse, for those with contagious diseases, and the Lazy Husbands' Ranch, where fathers who neglected their families were sent to work, burned down in 1915. The community became a mix of ethnic groups when the mostly Asian communities moved away from a hostile Seattle and onto the hill. An oral history project documents the early days.
Who calls it home: 30,805 people in houses valued around $130,000 to $200,000, depending on view; 54 percent own houses; median age is 33.
What riles 'em: Crime prevention, greenbelt preservation, airplane noise, preserving the area's multicultural character in the face of big-ticket property buys by Hong Kong interests.
Signature: Restaurants offer everything from Southern-style barbecue to the Chinese version, and, of course, espresso. This long valley-and-ridge neighborhood gets more rural the further south you get until, in South Beacon Hill, you can still walk along streets that have paths instead of sidewalks. El Centro de la Raza is the hub of North Beacon Hill; to the south there's Holly Park with its very vocal community activist groups. Jefferson Golf Course buzzes with activity (there's a restaurant and lawn bowling club, too, along with a playground for kids). Business groups meet at South China Restaurant.
Roadside attractions: Though some say they're in the CD instead of Beacon Hill, an eclectic group of businesses cluster just south of Dearborn on Rainier: Remo Borracchini's Italian Bakery and Mediterranean Market, Mutual Fish and the Imperial Bowling Lanes, where you can eat udon noodles to the music of roaring bowling balls.
Rainier Valley
Roots: Once named Boeing Engineer Hill because of all the Boeing workers there, the valley has a history of farms and more farms. Many houses were postwar welcomes.
Who calls it home: About 23,413 people live in the bunch of communities in the valley, including Brighton, Dunlap, Rainier Beach and Rainier View; their houses are valued at $95,000 to $150,000; 63.7 percent own; median age is 33. Rainier Beach is where the toddlers are - it has the most kids under 5 in the city.
What riles 'em: They get really excited about improving the status of senior citizens beginning with Bus Watch, a bus-stop adoption program, improving the high infant-mortality rate, jobs and crime prevention, preservation of Kubota Gardens and protecting single-family zoning.
Signature: At the Rainier Beach Community Center things are buzzing. In one room there's drill-team practice, in another kids playing pool, in another adults in a pool - and there's a middle school right smack in the middle of it all. The valley is resplendent with signs like "Macedonian Church of God in Christ" and the "Greater Victorious Church." Businesses range from a Harley-Davidson dealership to a Thai video store.
Roadside attractions: Remember when Martin Luther King Jr. Way was Empire Way? The folks at the Empire Way Tavern do; they even have the old street signs to prove it. Pritchard Island, a little community on the lake, has a great swimming beach and is a little enclave of its own with 1950s-ritzy homes on the water.
Georgetown
Roots: Georgetown once had 26 all-night saloons. This one-time party town grew as the fortunes of the Seattle Brewing and Malting Co., forerunner of Rainier Brewery, grew, from 1892 until Prohibition busted the parties.
Who calls it home: 1,238 residents who pay the lowest taxes in the city and live in clapboard houses built before 1940; houses are the cheapest in the city, from about $60,000 to $100,000; 30 percent own; median age is 34.9.
What riles 'em: Airplane noise, protecting single-family housing from business park/industrial encroachment, keeping the prostitutes out, renovating the Rainier Brewery plant and the steam plant at Boeing Field. Residents really, really hate to see Julius Rosso's nursery move, but the county, which owns the property, says it's in the way of progress.
Signature: Kids and containers. The kids play in side streets within view of container trucks idling at loading docks. The Koffee Kup Cafe has been in the 'hood for 30 years, and, if the residents aren't there, they're at Andy's Diner or Randy's Restaurant. Artists are increasingly grabbing up the cheap warehouse lofts.
Roadside attractions: The City Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places. The old Hat & Boots gas station on Corson Way South should be.
Alki/Admiral
Roots: In the "dream on" category, Seattle's founders had visions of a future New York when they gave the sunny point the name Alki, Chinook Indian for "by and by." The beach eventually became the city's playground, and people flocked to an elaborate natatorium of baths and swimming pools built in 1905.
Who calls it home: 18,008 youngsters (age 25 to 34) in Alki's beachfront apartments and disappearing beach houses and an older well-off crowd in Admiral; lots of houses go for $100,000-plus in Alki, non-view $170,000 to $180,000 and appreciating, North Admiral houses average $230,000, view houses rise into the $260,000-plus range; 62.5 percent are homeowners in Alki, 58.7 percent in Admiral; median age is 39.
What riles 'em: All eyes are on the Port of Seattle's plans for the terminal below; some worry about increased multi-family zoning; traffic and parking are perennial problems.
Signature: MUP (multi-use-permit) signs appear on beach house-lawns like buttercups in spring, and apartments are eating up the funky old beach houses; artists have replaced swimmers in the old bathhouse; volleyball games abound on any sunny day. Find the residents trying to say Me-Kwa-Mooks at Dulce's Bakery, Alki Bakery, Alki Homestead (in old motor lodge building where residents swear they find the "best fried chicken after Ezell's and wonderful martinis"); in Admiral, they hang at the Peace Cafe.
Roadside attractions: Moby Duck, the Seafair Pirates' weird rig, arrives on the beach at Alki Point to herald Seafair's beginning (don't worry, they have a designated driver). In Admiral, the Admiral Twin Theater is one of the few art-nouveau theaters actually saved from greedy bulldozers.
Fauntleroy
History: This is bagpipe country: Early Scottish settlers came in by boat around the turn of the century, landing at the small beach/cove. (A besotted sailor named the spot after his girlfriend, Ellinor Fauntleroy.) The Scots had clear priorities: First thing off the boat they started the community church, still central to the neighborhood.
Who calls it home: About 8,460 residents; houses valued primarily in the $200,000 range, though waterfront/view property can go up to $795,000. Almost 80 percent of the people own their homes; median age is 40.
What riles 'em up: Some say the small-town feel is disappearing as small beach homes are replaced by ritzy view-hungry mansions. Then there's worry over drug use in Lincoln Park and an ages-old fight over the Vashon/Southworth ferry terminal.
Hangouts: Cat's Eye Cafe, YMCA, Georgie Cafe.
Roadside attractions: Lincoln Park and its old-fashioned outdoor saltwater pool. Go see the very Scottish, staid brick houses with neat yards on winding streets. (Jim Whittaker came from here, as did Gypsy Rose Lee, but you won't see them here anymore.)
West Seattle
Roots: The Junction was where the trolleys from Admiral Way, Fauntleroy and downtown met. That made this a mini-boomtown, the story of which is all in a book called West Side Story.
Who calls it home: Ivar counted clams here, and now there are about 16,053 residents in all the little communities herein (e.g., Fairmount, Gatewood, Genesee Hill, The Junction, Seaview); 35th is the dividing line for house value; on top of the hill, they run $200,000 to $300,000, higher closer to the bluff, with Genesee Hill the highest; no view or anything, about $140,000-plus.
What riles 'em: That Urban Village plan, for one. And hands wring over the Port of Seattle's expansion of container terminal, traffic, graffiti, crime, crime again, high-rises.
Signature: The dolled-up Junction hung on to the Rexall Drug sign and added building murals; the street clock is still there; one of the city's most picturesque view streets, California Avenue Southwest, offers views of both the Cascades and Olympics. Find residents at Husky Deli ("an institution - been there 40 years"), Blake's Bakery, Capers, California and Alaska Street Brewery.
Roadside attractions: Walker Rock Garden would, in England, be considered a "folly." Milton Walker created the series of towers, walls, miniature mountains, lake, paths and more with thousands of semiprecious stones, rocks, glass and crystals. West Seattle also has its own brewery, the Alaska Street Brewery.
Delridge
Roots: Appropriately named for the dell that sits between two ridges west of the Duwamish Waterway; the people on the hill (Pigeon Point) were shipbuilders and sailors, down the hill were fishermen and steelworkers. Italians settled around Bethlehem Steel.
Who calls it home: 24,853 people, increasingly apartment dwellers; houses are valued at around $100,900; 49.9 percent in upper Delridge are homeowners, 52 percent own in the rest of the valley; median age 30.5.
What riles 'em: The snobs in the rest of the city looking down their noses at them. This is the Rodney Dangerfield of West Seattle, says one resident. At one point Delridgites got tired of "gettin' no respect" and formed their own district council to heighten the image of the neighborhood. The urban village threat has residents squirming, and fighting crime has top billing.
Signature: Bunch of little neighborhoods (Pigeon Point, Youngstown, Puget Ridge, Cottage Grove, Highland Park, High Point, Riverview) make up one big one that has a penchant for developing good community centers and playgrounds. Why? As antidote to poverty in the projects and crime.
Roadside attractions: Check out the South Seattle Community College arboretum and its coming attraction: an extensive Chinese garden to be designed by a team from Chongquing, China. Try your hand at rock climbing on Schurman Rock in Camp Long or explore the Animal Tracks Nature Trail there.
Some of this information was gleaned from "`The Seattle Survival Guide II" (Sasquatch, 1993) by Theresa Morrow. Population, age and house ownership figures are from the 1990 census for census tracts (and partial census tracts) encompassed in a specific neighborhood. This is not a comprehensive list of Seattle's neighborhoods.
Christine E. Cox is a Seattle Times news artist. Harley Soltes is Pacific's staff photographer.