About West Seattle

Getting to know West Seattle

I live and work in West Seattle, IMHO Seattle's best neighborhood. Life is better on this side of the bridge.

Things I like about living and working in West Seattle:
  - Longfellow Creek (beaver pond in the middle of the city anyone?)
  - no parking meters!
  - few street lights, more trees, green space, & wildlife than the rest of the city
  - the beach: close and clean, long and varied
  - Schmitz Park, old growth in the city
  - knowing that California Ave SW is the longest straight street in Seattle
  - alleys, lots of alleys.

I live on SW Seattle St, in Seattle. And no one even knows there's a Seattle St, Seattle, all 5 blocks of it. North Admiral, the oldest neighborhood in West Seattle.

The absolute best web site about West Seattle is the crypticly named West Seattle Blog. They wish to remain anonymous but they're the most famous nyms in the hood.

West Seattle is actually a collection of neighborhoods, north and south: Alki Beach, Admiral, Alki, Arbor Heights, Delridge, Duwamish, Duwamish Industrial Center, Fairmount Park, Fauntleroy, Gatewood, Genesee Hill, Georgetown, Harbor Island, High Point, Highland Park, Morgan Junction, North Admiral, North Delridge, Riverview, Roxhill, Seaview, South Delridge, South Park, West Seattle, Westwood. And yes, this will be on the final.

I've been playing around with Google Maps, building ones with markers for various West Seattle landmarks. Additions and corrections are welcomed.

I love Frederick Law Olmsted parks. I've lived around them my whole life in Cleveland, Ann Arbor, Boston, and now West Seattle. Examples of Olmsted landscape architecture in West Seattle include Alki Beach Park, Hamilton Viewpoint, Hiawatha Playfield, Lincoln Park, Schmitz Park, South Park Playfield, Longfellow Creek Green Space, Beach Drive, Schmitz Boulevard, and West Seattle Stadium. Here's a bike map of West Seattle Olmstead Parks. Seola Park I'm not sure about. The City of Seattle has information online about Olmsted Parks in Seattle.

As I ride around on my bike I stop and take pictures of Tibetan prayer flags. It's funny, I mention to friends were our new house is an the minute I mention that it's the one with the prayer flags, everyone knows which one it is.