Seattle Mag
West Bellevue: Seattle’s Best Neighborhoods 2013
Location, location, location.
Given that tried-and-true Seattleites find it difficult to “cross the bridge” for anything, living on the Eastside really challenges certain attitudes. But those of us in West Bellevue know—and don’t care what others think—that the main ingredient that makes Eastside living so palatable is so very cliché: location, location, location. The top five reasons I…
Wallingford: Best Seattle Neighborhoods 2013
Home to a kicked-back community spirit.
From Lake Union to NW 60th Street, sturdy old houses with large, friendly evergreens stand guard against grey skies. Yards and parking strips are dotted with carefully tended gardens, where kale stalks and rose bushes live in lush harmony. While the primary business district lining N 45th Street between Stone Way N and Interstate 5…
West Seattle: Best Neighborhoods in Seattle 2013
Where fried chicken, French pastries and pho live together in perfect harmony.
When my husband and I were house hunting, West Seattle was so far down our list, it was barely clinging to the page. Sold on its enticing affordability, once we bought here, we discovered (much like our predecessors John Low and Lee Terry) that West Seattle is actually super-cool. From the beach culture at Alki…
Ravenna: Best Seattle Neighborhoods 2013
Where your neighbor has your back.
Laced with Seattle history—did you know that Ravenna Park was originally part of a private estate and that a streetcar line ran along it?—Ravenna nowadays mixes the best of the urbane (coffee shops and sushi) with suburban perks such as small leafy streets replete with backyard retreats and front-yard chitchat. But the spirit of community…
Columbia City: Best Seattle Neighborhoods 2013
A deliciously eclectic pocket of the city.
Neighbors stop to catch up outside of Empire Espresso, untangling leashes as dogs sniff and weave around ankles. Saturday mornings bring lines out the door at the stellar Columbia City Bakery, and over at Bob’s Quality Meats, a staple in the heart of Columbia City that’s been open more than 100 years, baby back ribs,…
Kirkland: Best Seattle Neighborhoods 2013
The best of lakeside living.
With its breathtaking lakeside setting, spectacular sunsets, miles of trails, sweet micro ’hoods, terrific indie shops, fine dining, fabulous schools, plethora of parks and community passion for nature and the arts, Kirkland is easy to love. In summer, especially. When the sun is out, light dances on the water, the sky is bluer, the trees…
Capitol Hill: Best Seattle Neighborhoods 2013
Where wildlife meets wild life.
When I first lived on Capitol Hill in the ’90s, I loved living within a short stroll of great movie theaters, coffee and any number of dimly lit bars that tended to me and my vintage-clad peers. But I truly fell for the Hill on a dusky fall run. A couple of wrong turns and…
New Century Theatre Company: Trial Blazers
This top local fringe theatre company plans an innovative staging of a Kafka classic.
Franz Kafka was a master at crafting absurd yet convincing scenarios (perhaps most famously in his man-turns-cockroach story, The Metamorphosis) and capturing the particularly human feeling of existential dread. You might have experienced a similarly surreal sense of displacement if you ever had the misfortune of being an immigrant detained for days or weeks at…
Farewell Old Friend: A Last Meal at Rover’s
My last meal at Rover’s was delicious. Of course, I could say that about the six or seven previous meals I’ve enjoyed there. Long a standby in the Seattle restaurant scene, Rover’s gets overlooked in many “Seattle’s Best Restaurants” lists–why, I just don’t get. It’s a truly classic restaurant, from the thick curtain separating the…
The Power of Two: Joule and The Whale Wins
Joule and The Whale Wins join the growing trend of restaurants finding strength in numbers.
Restaurants and stores have long relied on shared traffic to drive business. As counterintuitive as it may seem, several restaurants in a cluster tend to generate more business for everyone, rather than stealing customers from each other. Funny how that works. Lately, Seattle is seeing independent restaurateurs go a step further: They’re teaming up with each…
See Art in Bellingham
The Lightcatcher in Bellingham showcases the work of Jim Olson
WHERE: The Lightcatcher at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, for the exhibit Jim Olson: Art in Architecture (3/10–6/9; 250 Flora St.; 360.778.8930; whatcommuseum.org). WHY: It’s the first comprehensive exhibit of work by famed Seattle architect Jim Olson, half of Olson Kundig Architects. Fifty years’ worth of sketches, plans, models and photographs of Olson designs—including the…
It Takes Two to Kizomba
A sexy dance craze slinks into Seattle.
You’ve swung the West Coast swing, spiced up your salsa and topped off your tango—what’s next? Time to kiss up to kizomba. This Angolan dance style first caught fire in the 1980s, and has since spread across Europe and recently landed in Seattle, at venues such as Century Ballroom (centuryballroom.net), which offers drop-in classes for…