Also, welcome to Seattle!
― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 11:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 16:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― nicely (brother loves dub), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 17:04 (seventeen years ago) link
I wouldn't call anything west of 12th the pit of despair, but you are in highly-overpriced territory. Anything between 13th and 19th is probably a little nicer and cheaper actually.
Also, don't be afraid to go south of Pike St. Some friends of mine are super happy to have found a place around 17th and Union. (They moved from Austin, and apparently they bringing tons of their friends along to move here as well... which isn't surprising, given both are both smallish, centralized, tech-y cities... surely the same is happening with PDX as well.)
If you don't smoke, don't have pets, and don't mind a carpeted pad, your task will be a gazillion times easier to find a one-bedroom rental, speaking from experience.
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 18:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 21:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 21:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― dar1a g (daria g), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 21:44 (seventeen years ago) link
the advice to walk and look around is the best thing mentioned on this thread. a great apartment next to my house sat open for 6 months because all the (lazy) landlords did was put a sign up on one utility pole.
― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 21:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 22:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 23:11 (seventeen years ago) link
As for a fap, it'd be fun to have one outside. play ping pong or croquet and drinkdrinkdrink. We must welcome A Lingbert!
― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 23:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 23:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 23:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 13 July 2006 00:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― timmy tannin (pompous), Thursday, 13 July 2006 01:23 (seventeen years ago) link
http://mlb.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMLB2-109672reg.jpg
― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 13 July 2006 01:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 13 July 2006 01:38 (seventeen years ago) link
!!!
We have a croquet set in storage over there, and will gladly contribute food, booze, and cleanup labor.
Can you get those hats from Ebbets Field Flannels? I know they still make the Rainers one. But those Pilots caps are amazing!
Matos - so so otm.
― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 13 July 2006 02:48 (seventeen years ago) link
I used to live in a big old haunted house in Madrona, but it's been years since I've been back. It'll be nice to be back.
― mikef (mfleming), Thursday, 13 July 2006 04:33 (seventeen years ago) link
Lots of great suggestions. I was only in Seattle for about 2 days last month, so I obviously didn't get to see everything, and my impressions of the areas are fairly vague. I decided on Captol Hill as my first choice based on some positive things I'd heard/read about it and the little of it that I saw. What sold me (at the time, anyway), I think, was the neighborhood leading down to Washington Park (I'm pretty sure I have my geography straight here, but maybe not). It looked so pleasant and green, but maybe that's a super-expensive area that I won't be able to afford anyway.
I thought Ballard was a nice area, but maybe a little far from things and maybe a little too tranquil. I liked Fremont a lot, but it seemed like a place to visit rather than live in. Upper Queen Anne seemed generally uninteresting and overpriced (though nice views, of course), but I'll definitely have to give Lower Queen Anne a good look. I don't know if I saw much of Belltown or Wallingford at all.
I'm also thinking I might have to finally break down and get a cell phone. If I'm going to be wandering around most of the time when I get there, I don't want to miss any calls from prospective rentals. 28 years I've avoided having one, but I suppose maybe it's time. Where does someone even shop for cell phones? Malls? My friend says he likes Sprint. I guess they have Sprint stores, don't they?
But yeah, I'd totally be down to FAP should one materialize.
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Thursday, 13 July 2006 06:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 13 July 2006 07:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 13 July 2006 07:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 13 July 2006 11:34 (seventeen years ago) link
I mean, the Funhouse, Seattle Center, Larry's, Easy Street, Pagliacci, Racha, Roti, Blue Water Grill, Mirabeau, Ladro, post office, Bamboo Garden, McMennamins, more thai... all within easy walking distance. I don't think Hollywood allows for this many places to be this walkable from one place -- having grown up in west part of L.A.
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Thursday, 13 July 2006 13:17 (seventeen years ago) link
Then again, you said you'd rather visit than live there, and that's a very fair assessment of Fremont.. especially now. (I'm just riding out the construction issues)
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Thursday, 13 July 2006 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 13 July 2006 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 13 July 2006 14:11 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah, a bad example wrt walkability, but it seemed to fit in the sense that it's filled with a fair amount of cool commercial places, but also felt a bit empty. my impression might well be unfair - i only spent a little time in a little stretch of it.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 13 July 2006 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Thursday, 13 July 2006 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― jergins (jergins), Sunday, 23 July 2006 07:38 (seventeen years ago) link
Anyway, I signed the lease on a place in Lower Queen Anne yesterday. I found looking for a place to be extremely frustrating, and so when I came across this place, I just said fuck it and signed. I was able to talk them down to a 9 month lease, and it's fairly cheap (also small. 300 sq ft studio, and it has a gorgeous sidewalk-level view), and the neighborhood does seem cool. I'm only a few blocks NW of the main area. I figure I'll use the 9 months to get a better feel of the city and find a better place then. No big deal (though I'm kinda bummed because I got a call from a place I liked better later that night, but by then it was too late. Alas).
So yeah, thanks for all the tips everyone. I move in next weekend. Tomorrow I start job hunting. I'm looking for something temporary until I finish my EMT stuff in December, so maybe I'll try and hit up one of the neighborhood places. I'm going to talk with a temp agency tomorrow hopefully, too.
Also, Seattle is confusing as hell to drive in.
Also, the downtown library is the coolest library ever.
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Monday, 24 July 2006 03:03 (seventeen years ago) link
Very true. When I moved there, I wanted to be sure to live in sight of the Space Needle, so I'd have a landmark to find my way home. Also, lower QA is where the differing grids of the two guys who laid out the city meet up in chaos. (Arthur Denny and Doc somebody - read Sons of the Profits for enlightenment; v. funny esp. the rivalry between Tacoma and Seattle.)
― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 24 July 2006 09:49 (seventeen years ago) link
Went to the Japanese Garden today. It's nice, but I really really really really wish it wasn't right next to a busy street (Lake Washington Blvd?). The traffic noise ruins the ambience.
I briefly drove through (and stopped a couple times) the Washington Park Arboretum. It manages to be just far enough away from the busy street that the traffic noise subsides to a dull roar and you can actually hear the animals and the wind. I'm looking forward to going back and spending more time there.
Has anyone been to the Hoh Rain Forest? Once I get settled in, that's at the top of my to do list. Should I be as excited about seeing it as I am?
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 00:24 (seventeen years ago) link
That book was written by the guy who originally started the Underground Tour, whose name has completely escaped me. Bill something or other.
― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 00:31 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah, there's no way to avoid that initial "GAWD I HATING DRIVING IN THIS FUCKING CITY!" breaking-in period... but it does go away once you find ways to maneuver around the streets that don't end prematurely, get collided into 5+-way intersections, or get confused with the whole directional suffix. (i.e. Denny Way, Boren Ave, Westlake Ave., Taylor Ave., Hwy 99/Aurora, etc. -- ok Westlake becomes Nickerson St. just south of Fremont, but the street swerved to become east-west so that makes some sense at least).
The worst thing is trying to get to the other side of Aurora Expressway, and the sad truth is.. you just have to know which streets go underneath or over it, and which streets don't -- the hard way.. since that cement center divider knows no exceptions (south of Winona Ave. that is.)
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 00:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 00:33 (seventeen years ago) link
also, psst... Mt. Rainier
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 00:37 (seventeen years ago) link
The Hoh is awesome! I drove over that way initially to see what a town named Humptulips would be like, but hiking in the rainforest was the best. Once when we were there in November, a herd of elk were munching away right next to the trail. Also, in the spring I've seen families of river otter playing. Another cool thing to do on the peninsula is the ocean beaches - all kinds of tide pools - and the hot springs at Sol Duc.I'm there, maan.
What is this "Mt. Rainier" you speak of, gabbneb? Is this some obscure local attraction?
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 01:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 02:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 02:05 (seventeen years ago) link
And if you haven't noticed, Seattle drivers are.. ur.. bad. But they're very polite and slow bad drivers, so you can see the dumb thing a driver is going to do 5 seconds ahead, allowing you to roll your eyes, and just slow down and/or maneuver around him or her.
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 02:09 (seventeen years ago) link
The one time I was in Seattle was during the grand opening shindig, and it was pretty cool. But man, is that place going to look dated in 20 years.
I'm moving to eastern Washington in a week, so I'm probably going to get to Seattle more often now as it will be the closest "real" city. Spokane is big-ish compared to whare I'm from and where I'll be, but it dosen't quite cut it.
― joygoat (joygoat), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 03:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― joygoat (joygoat), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link
haha I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the "STOP FOR ME IT'S THE CLAW" sign that someone posted on another thread is right here in Seattle.
The downtown library looks kinda dated now, actually, but it's still cool. Though maybe I'm still in the passionate beginning phase of the relationship where everything is lovey-dovey and wonderful and the sex is fantastic, but soon the novelty will wear off.
― A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 05:52 (seventeen years ago) link
our library in a scene from battlestar galactica: http://www.kriskrug.com/images/vancouver-library-battlestar-galactica.jpg
i was just in seattle briefly to tour the U-W campus' student union building in advance of a similar project at SFU. how does the university district fit into the city as a whole, culturally? both of vancouver's universities are relatively quite isolated from the city centre.
― derrick (derrick), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 06:47 (seventeen years ago) link
sorry to derail the thread. i'm just trying to prompt some similar photos of the seattle library.
― derrick (derrick), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 06:48 (seventeen years ago) link