Seattle, Washington

I used to live here, too, in Pill Hill, which is vaguely near Capitol Hill, the town's big GLB, artsy population. My neighborhood was just home to Harborview hospital and a stone's throw from I-5 (literally!)

Weird things unique to Seattle:

• Kurt Cobain's house
• The graves of Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee
• The Fremont Troll
• The grave of Jimi Hendrix
• The Boeing Museum of Flight, including an SR-71 and many other cool planes
• The Pioneer Square underground and subsequent tour
• The Space Needle revolving restaurant
• Pike's Place market

According to Robyn Hitchcock's maddeningly chirpy song 'Viva Seattle' it has "the best computers and coffee and smack."

Once upon a time it had America's highest concentration of 'seamstresses' and a serious problem with back-firing lavatories because of the messed up water pressure system in the city.

It also has some really nifty underground streets that predate the building of the proper mud-free pavements and other fancy modernisations at the end of the nineteenth century.

Population: 536,978
Popultaion Density: 6,400/sq. mile
Population Growth (1990-1998): 4.0%
Area: 83.9 sq. miles
Unemployment: 3.6%
Per capita income: $33,373

History: First setled in 1851. Incorporated in 1869. Suffered sever fire in 1889. Played prominent role in Alaskan Gold rush, 1897. Heavy growth followed the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Has been a center of American Aircraft Industry since World War II. Also close to the town of Redmond, where computer giant Microsoft makes their headquarters.

Web sites: http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us
http://www.seattlechamber.com

A large city in Washington State, where I have the good fortune to live. Seattle happens to be the home of Starbucks, Amazon.com, and Microsoft (well, Microsoft is technically in Redmond, which is across the lake from Seattle), but don't hold it against us.

Seattle has a reputation for getting a lot of rain, but that depends on how you look at it. In inches, it doesn't get any more than most cities. However, there are a lot of days where it rains just a little, and even when it's not raining, it's often overcast. On the plus side, it hardly ever snows.

For some reason Seattle has become a catch phrase for people interested in the whole WTO and free trade versus fair trade issue. Maybe it had something to do with the riots. They were interesting to watch on TV, lots of policemen in black riot armor looking like Darth Vader, but I wouldn't want to have been tear gassed.

The most interesting neighborhood in Seattle is probably Fremont, which has a life-size statue of a troll clutching a real VW bug (under a bridge, of course), a statue of Lenin imported from the ex-Soviet Union, and a rocket ship. Other tourist attractions are the Space Needle and the Pike Place Market, where you can watch them throw fish.

Seattle is definitely the most beautiful city in the world.

My intention for this node cluster is to put a ton of links to nonexistent nodes, so others may take chunks of this documentation project out of my hands. Please. If you know of good nodes that need to get linked in here, /msg me and I'll hook it up.

Weather

Despite its reputation as a place where natives grow webbed feet, less precipitation falls here than in many Eastern United States towns like Chicago and New York. I think what causes the reputation is the fact that for 9 months of the year, we have tin grey skies and a light mist -- just enough to cause a little melancholy for those who are susceptible. Average rainfall is between 30 and 40 inches. Temperatures are moderated by the Puget Sound, and storms are moderated by the Olympic Mountains which shield the sound from major storms from the west. Snowstorms are very infrequent in the winter, and temperatures over 95 degrees are very infrequent in the summer. All in all, a lovely environment.

• Wettest Months: November through December, averaging about 6 inches per month
• Driest Months: June through August, averaging a little over 1 inch/month
• Warmest Month: August, averaging about 75 high, 55 low
• Coolest Months: December and January, averaging 45 high, 35 low

Environment

One of the reasons to move here. The Puget Sound Basin is amazingly beautiful country. Carved out by the last Ice Age and kept interesting by the fault lines...Anyway:

Puget Sound ♦ Lake Washington ♦ Olympic Mountains ♦ Mount Rainier

The Neighborhoods

Because of the particular geography of Seattle -- that is, there are big swaths that are difficult to get to from other swaths -- the neighborhoods used to be very different from each other. Now, with the Belltownification of Seattle, everything's dissolving into the same look: Thrown-up pastel condos. See Seattle while it still has a shred of interest, kids...

Northgate ♦ Ballard ♦ Wallingford ♦ University District ♦ Fremont ♦ Queen Anne ♦ Belltown ♦ Capitol Hill ♦ Downtown ♦ Pioneer Square ♦ International District ♦ Ranier Valley ♦ West Seattle

Higher Edjumacation

Just a few here...But I'm probably not remembering them all. /msg me, folks.

University of Washington ♦ Seattle Pacific University ♦ Seattle University ♦ Cornish College of the Arts ♦ Art Institute Of Seattle

Seattle Culture, Happenings, & Attractions

Coffee. And being polite. Okay, it may not be limited to only that. There's also complaining about Californians...

The Battle of Seattle ♦ Seattle Mardi Gras ♦ Seattle's Best Coffee ♦ Seattle Bands ♦ Bumbershoot ♦ Space Needle ♦ Seattle Center ♦ Seattle Monorail

people who rule for corrections & submissions: prole

Seattle may not have the greatest architecture but the climate and the greenery more than make up for it. The grass is green and the flowers bloom 365 days of the year while also having variety in weather(unlike other always green places like California). And while the days are overcast the rain is always light and any place that a tree or aflower or vines would fit is stuffed full of lush greeness. Also the beautiful houses and apartment complexes provide hours of pleasure for the urban geographer as they are densely located in the most unsuspecting of places. The weather is never ass-frying Hot and Never ass-freezing cold. Always mild. To the west is the Sound and the beautiful San-Juan Islands, to the North is the path to neato Vancouver where gambling and drinking is available to 19 year olds and To the south is smelly but always interesting Tacoma. Look to the the East to see the closest one of the three ranges of beautiful beautiful mountains that are within view. Just beyond the Mountains to the East lie a very weird and intriguing midland desert.

The cost of living keeps getting higher and higher and Gridlock is the third worst in the nation. (its best not to enter a car between the hours of 7am-11am and 3:30-8 pm.)

Panhandling is legal and the panhandlers lurk on the fringes of any highly public area. But the various neighborhoods are pretty safe at all hours. Very inviting for those late night walks essential to helping one get over the loss of a love or any promising prospect.

The current Mayor is a complete dufus, the crowds are overly-rowdy and politcally passionate and billionaire Paul Allen owns a large amount of the city...those amounts growing by the month(bye-bye KCMU). But due to the UW many parts of the city cater to The college age. That includes yuppies, freak, geeks, and musicians (throw a rock and youll hit a musician) and whatever else you can think of. For the most part, theres always something to do.

But I love Seattle. Seattle is my home.