Pros And Cons Of Seattle’s Top Neighborhoods

Christian: [0:11] Another episode of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host Christian Nossum of the Awesome Nossum Group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc, and today we have a very, very special guest, the one, the only Mr. Find Me in Seattle, Connor Cason.

Conner: [0:23] Oh, thanks for having me.

Christian: [0:24] Yes. So Connor, why don't you explain who you are and why you're here to talk about some of Seattle's pros and cons of Seattle's best neighborhoods? So f- let me explain who you are.

Conner: [0:33] Yeah. So I'm Connor. You can find me at Find Me in Seattle- … anywhere on the internet. You can find me in Seattle. Yes. It, uh… It was a very clever name. Yes. Yes. Didn't really think about that in the beginning, but it seemed to work out for me. Yeah. Yeah. And how this all started was I was selling advertising door-to-door around Seattle. I was making these little map guides to the city, so Fremont, Capitol Hill, Ballard. Uh, they were kind of guides to all the local businesses. Yeah. And I started using Instagram as a tool to not only network with all the businesses, but really to show my girlfriend, now wife, what I was doing every day- Mm-hmm 'cause most millennials aren't doing door-to-door sales at all. No.

Christian: [1:08] Yeah.

Conner: [1:08] And it went from my girlfriend, and my family, and my friends following all the businesses I was visiting every day to just a bunch of strangers- Mm-hmm … and it just kinda like- Like me. Like you. Right? I, I mean, yeah, we probably met- I don't know early. That was probably '16, '17, '18- Yeah … uh, when we first connected online. Yeah. And yeah, I've just been doing that ever since, and networking through the internet and through real life. And now I'm a full-time content creator here in Seattle.

Christian: [1:31] Yeah, and you are available for hire if anyone wants to- Yes create some content, so just throwing that out there. Trying to give him some love for coming on the podcast today. Yeah, I appreciate that. So, um, so today's episode, we are going to go over the pros and cons of some of Seattle's top neighborhoods. Um, and that's why I thought, "Hey, let's bring him in. Let's bring him, give him some love, bring him in the podcast. Have him explain kind of his favorite hotspots in each neighborhood." So how this is gonna work, we're gonna first talk about the neighborhood. I'll explain where that neighborhood is located in the city, and then we'll give you some pros and cons, and he'll give you some hotspots that maybe you haven't heard of yet. So- Let's start with one of the biggest neighborhoods in Seattle, and that is Ballard. Ballard is located in kind of the northeast, or northwest corner of the city, I should say. Ballard is huge. Some of the pros of Ballard is there's a lot of great restaurants, a lot of great bars, coffee shops, little businesses, um, big businesses. It's easy to walk to, awesome nightlife. There's a huge variety. There's even tons of little pocket neighborhoods within Ballard. Little history, Ballard used to be its own city until 1907 when Seattle annexed them because Seattle had all the water, and Ballard didn't have enough. Oh, I didn't

Conner: [2:41] know it was about the water.

Christian: [2:42] Yeah, it's all about the water. Funny, funny thing. Some of the cons about Ballard is it takes forever to go east and west. Getting out of- It is far away. It is far. It's deep, and deep Ballard, like Sunset Hill, close to Carkeek Park, the water, basically. It's, it can take a while to get over there. So because of that, some people that work on the east side, even if they have to go, you know, north sometimes, they don't necessarily love deep Ballard, as I like to refer to it. Yep. Because it just takes too long to go east to west.

Conner: [3:16] If you're in that Shilshole Marina area- Yeah … or by Golden Gardens Park- Yep … it can take- an hour to get to 99, and then you even think about getting to I-5.

Christian: [3:24] Yeah.

Conner: [3:25] It's, it, it adds a lot of time to your commute.

Christian: [3:27] It really does, and that's, I mean, part of the reason why, just history again, Seattle is very north-south oriented. So the main thoroughfares are going north and south, the freeways, the highways. There's not a lot of main roads going east and west because the city is so narrow, and we have lots of hills. So that's why it takes so long to get in and out of there. Plus, there's a ton of people that live there. Like we said, within Ballard, there are tons of little sub-neighborhoods, as little as, like, Stumptown on, like, 65th and 8th, or as big as Sunset Hill. The types of homes that you kinda see for the most part in Ballard, the single-family homes that have been there for 100 years, those are more of the cool, old Craftsman that you can see everywhere in Seattle. But you're also seeing a lot more apartments and condo buildings. Those are closer to kinda those main thoroughfares, the main roads that are going east-west or north-south. The city has designed the city so that those more dense housing projects are closer to those main roads, 'cause that's where the transit is. A little bit behind that, that's where you'll start to see a lot more townhomes, and then beyond that, that's where you'll find the cool, old Craftsmans. One little-known fact is Ballard actually was very… I didn't know I was gonna go so in-depth on history today, but I'm just riffing. So Ballard was, was originally, like, a very Scandinavian neighborhood because all of the fisheries and all the fishermen were from Norway, Sweden, um, Denmark. Be- And the, the fjords in Norway are very similar to the canal right there. Yep. And so little-known fact is that Ballard actually hosts the second-largest Norwegian Independence Day parade in the world.

Conner: [5:05] Second-largest?

Christian: [5:06] Second-largest. I assume- Only to Norway.

Conner: [5:08] Okay, okay.

Christian: [5:08] Yeah, yeah, which is crazy. I've actually, as a kid, I was in that parade.

Conner: [5:12] Oh, really?

Christian: [5:13] Because my dad was Norwegian, so.

Conner: [5:15] Oh, all right.

Christian: [5:15] Yeah, so I was in that parade, and it's-

Conner: [5:17] What's the parade about?

Christian: [5:18] Like- It's called the Syttende Mai parade, 17th of May. Um, it's just their Independence Day. Okay. So yeah. The- It's not,

Conner: [5:23] like, floats and everything, is it?

Christian: [5:25] It's got some floats. They have all sorts of different… Uh, it's not just Norway that does it now. Like, other countries will join in with stuff from Scandinavia for the most part, but they have dignitaries come in from Norway. It's, it's pretty cool, pretty wide variety.

Conner: [5:38] And, and isn't there a partnership too? Aren't they- I thought there was like a sister city towns- I

Christian: [5:45] believe it's- … Conner: relationship … Speaker: Bergen, Norway, but I could be totally wrong. Bergen. I think you're right. Yeah. I think it is Bergen.

Conner: [5:49] Yep.

Christian: [5:50] So yeah, Seattle has the Nordic Heritage Museum, which is huge and massive and newer. Really cool if you've never been there before. But, uh, speaking of being somewhere, what are you- what are your favorite spots there?

Conner: [6:01] Yeah. Well, so when we were brainstorming this list of neighborhoods and businesses- Mm-hmm I, I'll, I'll start off with, since we're going through different neighborhoods, I tried to get a diversity of different styles of businesses- Yeah … diversity of ownership. Uh, and so this one might sound a little weird, but I was gonna do Watson's Counter-

Christian: [6:17] Mm-hmm … Conner: which, uh, I believe is right there on 15th. Okay. But I just learned the week that we're recording this, they closed down this weekend. Oh, geez. And so I, I think their, their lease came up- Got it … and didn't get renewed, so they are looking for a new spot, but just a little brief, Watson's Counter had just delicious breakfast food. Mm. Really popular brunch spot. Mm-hmm.

Conner: [6:38] I think at least last time I was at the Mariners stadium, you could get their food inside the stadium. Ooh. I'm not sure about this upcoming-

Christian: [6:44] Season,

Conner: [6:45] yeah … season though.

Christian: [6:45] Hasn't started yet.

Conner: [6:46] Hasn't started yet as of recording.

Christian: [6:48] Yep

Conner: [6:49] So we're gonna pivot a little bit on business Okay Uh, I'm gonna go to the opposite side of Ballard- Mm-hmm and business that I wanna represent today is Miro Tea. Cool. It's kinda right there in the heart on Ballard and Market.

Christian: [6:59] Mm-hmm.

Conner: [6:59] It's a fun spot y- if you're a tea lover. You're gonna get kinda the traditional Chinese style Gong Fu Cha. You can get like a gaiwan- Oh … traditional teapot. Yeah. Or you can get, if you're into the flavored teas- Mm-hmm any, if you're into the Starbucks flavors- Yeah … roo- rooibos, you can get all of it. Cool. And summer, they've got great summer iced drinks.

Christian: [7:18] Ooh.

Conner: [7:18] And so fun place to work. It is always very vibrant. There are a lot of people working there. If you're a- Yeah … remote worker and you're looking for an atmosphere to go in- Mm-hmm I think it's just a fun place to go hang out.

Christian: [7:29] Sounds like a great spot to, uh, as a real estate agent, I'm always looking for spots in between showings in that, in different neighborhoods, so I will definitely check that out. Uh, a nice iced tea there sounds amazing- Yeah, I- … especially on a nice day … Conner: I use that a lot, too. It's either like, "Hey, meet me at this spot, and we'll hang out and have a conversation." Yeah. Or it's that transition spot. Yep. Like, I've got 90 minutes to kill. In between. Yep. I'll go sit there. Yep. Cool. All right. Moving on to the next neighborhood. So now we're gonna talk about Fremont. Fremont's kinda sandwiched between Ballard and Wallingford, right along, uh, Aurora, Highway 99 there, to the, I guess, west of Aurora. Fremont isn't very big, but I know that you recently found the actual delineation line between Ballard and Fremont, which I didn't even know it was official. Where is this?

Conner: [8:15] It's on Leary Way. I'm not sure what the cross street is, but it is on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Okay. It's on that bike route, and I know that's like a controversial part- Yes, it is. Yeah … of the bike route. Uh, but it's right there. Yeah. There's a, a w, a maker space-

Christian: [8:27] Mm-hmm … Conner: right there, and it's right next to- Is that Hale's?

Conner: [8:30] Hale's Ale's, yes. Yeah. And I was, I was gonna say Drunkie's Barbecue, but I don't think it's called Drunkie's anymore. I don't

Christian: [8:35] know what it's called.

Conner: [8:36] Uh, but near the- Near

Christian: [8:36] that Fred Meyer kinda

Conner: [8:37] thing behind there near that Fred Meyer. Exactly. Yeah.

Christian: [8:39] Interesting.

Conner: [8:39] And, and so, uh, there's been some controversy on my Instagram posts about it. People are like, "They don't call it 'Free-lard'." But I've heard it called Freillard for years. I've

Christian: [8:46] heard it Freillard. I've heard it Belmont.

Conner: [8:49] Belmont.

Christian: [8:49] Yeah. Combine the two. There was a big debate between the two. There was a vote on Seattle Met Magazine, I believe- Oh, was there? … had a vote on there. I think they went with Freillard.

Conner: [8:58] Okay.

Christian: [8:58] Yeah.

Conner: [8:58] All right. So if, if it was voted in a magazine- … that, that makes, that makes it official. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, there, there are two yellow lines on the Burke-Gilman Trail, and it says on, on this side is Ballard, and- Hmm this side is Fremont. And it's just a silly little- Yeah … faded- Exactly … painted line. But- Yeah … if you wanna do the jump across the lines- Yep … it's the perfect place to do it.

Christian: [9:16] It's always fun to do. Countries, neighborhoods, same thing.

Conner: [9:19] Yeah. And I never, and I never saw a video about it before. Yeah. I think I saw a tweet months before- Yeah that was like, "Hey, do you know this thing l- exists?" And I was driving by. I was like, "Well, let me go find it."

Christian: [9:28] Yeah.

Conner: [9:28] And, uh, and yeah, that was like just a random video that- Really

Christian: [9:32] blew up

Conner: [9:33] Caught, caught a lot of people's attention.

Christian: [9:34] Well, and I didn't even know it was there. Yeah. So there is a lot of controversy about that neighborhood, like where it starts and ends and all that, so.

Conner: [9:39] Yeah, it's just a weird blend, and for a long time there was not really, like, a lot of activity there. Mm-hmm. It was really just, like, a thoroughway- Yep … to go to the business sectors of both those neighborhoods. Mm-hmm. But now it is growing a little bit, and there is that, there's Frelard Pizza right there- Yep uh, which is owned by Ethan Stowell. Yep. And I think that kinda, like, solidified- I think you're right … uh, and there's a few other restaurants. The barbecue place is right there, and I know there's a new, like, fine dining spot that's supposed to be opening-

Christian: [10:03] Hmm … there soon. Hmm. Okay. Some of the pros of Fremont is, one, it's the center of the universe.

Conner: [10:08] Center of the universe.

Christian: [10:09] Yeah, duh. It's got a very folksy, artistic flair to it. Nightlife is awesome. Great restaurants. Simple to get in and out of, 'cause you're not deep like Ballard. Easy to hop on Highway 99. In Seattle, we call it Aurora. To get downtown, like, super quick to get downtown. Not that far from I-5, either. It's got a great Fremont Farmers Market, and there's lots of events going on. Uh, the Solstice Parade is obviously what it's known for as well. Yes. The naked bike ride on that, um, is what everyone knows it for. But the actual parade is actually pretty cool, too.

Conner: [10:43] Yeah.

Christian: [10:44] And that's always in the summer on, I believe, like right around that solstice.

Conner: [10:47] Yeah, it's, it's always on that summer solstice, so that's like June 17- 19th … 19th. June 19th, I think.

Christian: [10:53] Something like that. 20th, 23rd. Yeah, it's always

Conner: [10:54] on that weekend- Somewhere in there … of the solstice.

Christian: [10:55] Yep. Cons. It can be a little noisy, especially the closer you get to kinda Fremont Ave, um, where the nightlife is. So it's, you know, it can get a little noisier down there, especially in, late at night. It's really pretty small. It's not a very big neighborhood. It's very narrow, and it kinda is long, kinda goes up to, I believe, the, the north border is 50th, just south of the Woodland Park Zoo, which feels like that shouldn't be Fremont anymore, but it is officially, so that's always a little weird to me. But there are some even going north and south on, I don't remember the name of that road, but that main drag. I think it might be Greenwood, actually. That, um, there's some restaurants going there, too, not just- Yeah, that might, you

Conner: [11:36] might be talking about Fremont Ave.

Christian: [11:37] I might be Fremont Ave.

Conner: [11:38] Yeah, yeah, where Paseo is.

Christian: [11:40] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Exactly, yep. And then 34th is the one going… Is that right? 34th almost- Correct … to the south going east-west. Yeah. In Fremont, there are a lot of townhomes. There's not as many condos. There's some, but really not many. There's some apartment buildings more and more being built. But for the most part, it's townhomes and then really older homes. They're not massive older homes like you'd see in Wallingford or Ballard, which is interesting 'cause it's sandwiched between there. There's a lot of really small bungalows there. Hmm. So it's kind of interesting. I

Conner: [12:09] wonder why that happened.

Christian: [12:10] I don't… I think it's just, again, Seattle is built of all these different neighborhoods, all these different old villages.

Conner: [12:16] Villages.

Christian: [12:17] And they were kinda annexed into Seattle, and I think this was more like the… At that point, it wasn't hippies yet, but it was more just, like, maybe more fishermen and stuff like that. I don't know.

Conner: [12:26] Hmm.

Christian: [12:27] I don't know. I'll have to dig into that a little more.

Conner: [12:28] Yeah, that's interesting, 'cause if you cross Aurora, but that's like the blend of Wallingford. Mm-hmm. Like, Fremont, Wallingford really blend in there- Yep … around Stone Way.

Christian: [12:35] Yep.

Conner: [12:35] And so I know there's a lot more houses there, but that Stone Way area is developing- Big time … quite a bit also.

Christian: [12:39] Yeah, exactly. What would you say, uh, your featured spot for Fremont? What do you think? So

Conner: [12:44] for Fremont, I've got a few things. Yeah. Uh, I'm not sure. Did you mention the troll?

Christian: [12:47] Oh, no. We didn't even bring up the troll.

Conner: [12:48] Yeah, the Fremont troll, I think, is, like, the destination- The thing, yes … I tell everybody. Like, "Go look at this thing- Yeah … because it's, it's huge."

Christian: [12:54] Yes.

Conner: [12:54] In the different seasons, they decorate it.

Christian: [12:56] Yep, and it's so random.

Conner: [12:58] So random. Um, and- It's cool … and, and to give some scale, the hand of the troll is covering a- VW Bug Bug Bug. And- An

Christian: [13:08] actual VW

Conner: [13:09] Bug An actual Bug Yeah. And so for the hand just to be covering the whole car- That's the

Christian: [13:13] scale … Conner: it, yeah, it really- Yeah … was like, "Wow, this thing is very big." Yeah. And it's always crowded and it's always busy, but- Yeah it's, it's just the perfect thing- It's fun … to put under- It's very Seattle … the Aurora Bridge. Very Seattle. Yeah. Um, there's also, and we didn't mention this, in Ballard, the Ballard Bridge. Mm-hmm. I would say that's a con- Yeah … also for Ballard. True. Fremont also has the Fremont Bridge- Yep … which is much busier in the summer than it is the other seasons. Mm-hmm. But for local business, I'm going with sandwiches- Mm … for this neighborhood. Yeah. And Royal Grinders, they've been there for years. Yep. It's a spot that all the locals, everyone there knows. Yep. It's all hot sandwiches. Yep. So they're all gonna be toasted, and it's right there next- Very cheesy … very cheesy. Yeah. It's right next to the Lenin statue. Yeah. It's a very- Which is also a cool statue … Conner: very cool and controversial statue. Yes, as well. There's not many neighborhoods in any American city that's gonna have, uh- A giant statue

Conner: [13:59] of

Christian: [13:59] Lenin … Conner: yeah, of, of Vladimir Lenin. Yeah. And, and there, there's… I mean, that statue's gone viral- Oh, yeah multiple times. But- I think they've done the right thing. There's messages there about, like, this is, you know- While it's there … not promoting him. Mm-hmm. It's actually exactly the opposite. Mm-hmm. There's swords in his back. There's blood on his hands. Yep. They dress him up all the time. Pride, Pride month is a really fun time- Mm-hmm to go look at Lenin, because he's got makeup on- Yep … and he's got a wig on, and, uh, it's just- He doesn't have the foghorn attached to him anymore. Does he?

Conner: [14:25] No, there was a foghorn?

Christian: [14:26] Yeah, so you used to be go, go up, and it was like you pull his finger and a big foghorn goes off.

Conner: [14:31] That's genius.

Christian: [14:32] It was hilarious. I'm sure a lot of people are pissed. I think the neighbors

Conner: [14:34] got…

Christian: [14:34] They got annoyed by that. But it was there for years. It was cool.

Conner: [14:38] And so yeah, so, so Royal Grinders, just awesome sandwich- Cool … and delicious. And what I recommend, if you go to Royal Grinders, if, if it's somewhat nice outside- Mm-hmm … it's not pouring rain, they have a few tables out front, but my pro tip is to get the sandwich and walk two blocks south to the Fremont Canal.

Christian: [14:56] Ooh,

Conner: [14:56] yeah. And sit there on that walking path- Sit on that. Yeah … which is also the Burke Gilman Trail. Yep. Um, and just sit on there and watch the boats go by on the water. Yep. It's just, like, a very peaceful, quiet place. It is. You'll see all the Google employees walking by. Mm-hmm. And it's just, yeah, one of, like, my secret spots for if you have lunch, got nowhere to go, go sit down there and, and it won't go wrong for you.

Christian: [15:13] Yeah. That's awesome. Great tip. All right, we're gonna move to Capitol Hill. So Capitol Hill is just east of downtown Seattle, kinda on the hill there up from downtown. Pros, so clearly it's super close to downtown, super close to South Lake Union. It, depending on how deep in Capitol Hill you are, it's, you know, a 10-minute walk down there. Pretty easy. 20-minute walk back up.

Conner: [15:36] Yeah. Yeah, walking up that hill can not be fun sometimes.

Christian: [15:39] They do have light rail, which is great, so if you do live there, you can easily take that to the airport. You can take it to everywhere the light rail goes. Obviously, that is expanding every single year, so that's awesome. Lots of buses. Super high energy neighborhood. Uh, you can pretty much get any type of food there that you want. The bar scene is awesome. Really incredible, some massive historic homes that are famous in Seattle as well. Some of the cons, it's a very high energy place, like we talked about. It can also get very loud. Parking is pretty tough. It's almost impossible. You can do it, but it's pretty tough. A lot of street parking, uh, is- Most of the time, that's all there is. There are some garages here and there, but for the most part it's, it's street parking, which is not easy to do in Seattle. Depending on where in Capitol Hill you are, there's not a lot of single-family homes left. They've developed so much of it to become so much more dense. So there's a lot of apartments, a lot of condos, some town homes. Quite a bit of town homes, actually. The more north you go on Capitol Hill, you get some of the massive original mansions in Seattle, which is amazing.

Conner: [16:44] Yeah, there are some incredible houses up there.

Christian: [16:45] Incredible, yeah. Just fun to drive through those neighborhoods if you've never done it. Yeah, what would you say is your featured spot there?

Conner: [16:51] So for this, I'm going with Spice Walla.

Christian: [16:54] Hmm.

Conner: [16:54] Which is located…

Christian: [16:56] I don't know this one.

Conner: [16:57] Spice Walla is located on, man, I'm thinking was it on 15th or is it on Broadway? It's on 15th, I think. Maybe… I'm, I'm not sure. I'm sorry. Google it. Sp- Spice Walla, and Walla is with, there's three As, W-A-A-L-L-A. Hmm. And it's, it's Indian street food.

Christian: [17:12] Oh,

Conner: [17:12] yeah. And so what I would recommend there is getting, uh, the, like, roti wraps. Mm-hmm. And so they put just lots of meat, marsala, curries, whatever you want in it, wrapped in the roti. Cool. And very good on-the-go quick meals. There's not a ton of places to sit in there, but it's really something that you could grab, be walking somewhere else, and eat. Are they open late

Christian: [17:32] night?

Conner: [17:32] I don't know what time they're open late.

Christian: [17:34] Hmm.

Conner: [17:34] I'm not sure of their hours. I feel like

Christian: [17:35] that'd be a great late night, like, after going

Conner: [17:38] out- It's, it's the perfect kind of food for late night. Yeah, yeah. For sure.

Christian: [17:40] One would think they are

Conner: [17:41] after that. Yeah. Oh, the last couple years the late night food scene's been so hard to track. It's true. True. Right? Because businesses are just operating on wonky hours now. Yeah, yeah. But if they are open, it's, that's a good choice. That's, that's,

Christian: [17:52] that's a good, great

Conner: [17:53] choice.

Christian: [17:53] Yes. Yeah. All right, we're gonna move a little bit north. We're going to Green Lake. So Green Lake is located just north of Wallingford, and it's sandwiched between I-5 and Aurora. It is an awesome lake. There's a trail that goes all the way li- around the entire lake. There's actually no homes on the lake. The entire thing is a city park, which is pretty unique, especially in a major city. I think the trail is 3.1 or 3.3 miles, the inner trail, and then they have an outer loop now, too, that they are continuing to expand. Just a super relaxing, fun, beautiful place to walk around. There's a community center there. Um, there's a pool there. There's a wading pool as well. Uh, lots of fields. In the summer it is the place to be. I drove by a couple weekends ago and they had a, a rowing, like, regatta going on, so that's a big thing there. It's just, it's super fun. It's a great place to take someone that hasn't been to Seattle before on a walk, in the summer especially, when it's nice. It's just fun. It makes you feel guilty when you drive by if you're not working out.

Conner: [19:01] Yeah, there's so many people just out- Just everywhere … in the grass. I mean-

Christian: [19:04] Yeah … Conner: the sports are big there. Yep. There's so many volleyball leagues- Mm-hmm … that go out there. Totally, yeah. And then, yeah, just people walking around. Kickball, softball, volleyball, all of those are always going on there, I feel like. I've been a part of some of those and it's really fun. There's a lot of restaurants and bars and coffee shops and little shops surrounding the, I guess, southwest and northwest and the north part of the lake The east side of the lake is pretty unrepresented by any sort of businesses, 'cause it's really hugging Aurora there.

Conner: [19:34] Yep.

Christian: [19:35] But it's, it's really- Oh, on the west,

Conner: [19:36] on the west side.

Christian: [19:37] On the west side, yeah- Yeah … of the lake.

Conner: [19:38] West and east are kind of, uh, no businesses.

Christian: [19:42] Yeah.

Conner: [19:42] Houses.

Christian: [19:43] Yep.

Conner: [19:43] And

Christian: [19:43] then houses. A lot of houses. Yeah. Yep. There are a lot of good… Actually, two PCCs, which is weird.

Conner: [19:49] Where's the second one?

Christian: [19:50] The second one is newer to the, on the east side. Newer development PCC there next to Rosita's and the north end. Okay, so I know about

Conner: [19:58] that one. So

Christian: [19:58] where's the other one? Yeah, the other one's on the north end, right by Aurora, right on the corner of Aurora and- Oh, you're right … whatever that street is. Right. Yeah.

Conner: [20:06] They are very close to each other.

Christian: [20:08] Yeah. Two PCCs right there. Interesting. PCC's a local grocery store, local co-op. Um, great grocery store. You can usually get in and out super quick with pretty much anything you want.

Conner: [20:16] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [20:16] So I love PCC. Cons, it's close, or the closer you are to the lake, it's really hard to find parking. Like, even if you're just going for fun, 'cause there's really nowhere to park. They have a couple public parking spots or parking lots for the actual Green Lake Park, but they get filled up in three seconds. Yeah,

Conner: [20:34] good luck finding

Christian: [20:35] that. Yeah, exactly. They do have pickleball courts and tennis. I forgot about that. I just was visualizing the, uh, parking strip, and there's, they've converted some of the, the tennis courts to pickleball. Mm. So that's a huge sport. Probably more,

Conner: [20:45] more popular than-

Christian: [20:46] Yeah, exactly … the tennis courts now. Exactly. They have a really cool library that is under construction as we speak, but really cool Carnegie library there. Beautiful. Types of homes, depending on where on the lake you are, there are some really massive homes with beautiful views of the lake. Other sides, there's a ton of apartments. There's some condos, depending on where you're at, and then there are definitely some townhomes as well. So you get a pretty good mix. Some of the homes are just gorgeous, like I said. Even a few blocks any direction of the lake, the homes are really cool, older craftsmen. Some, obviously, some newer modern houses. You can say that anywhere in Seattle, though, too. What do you wanna highlight here?

Conner: [21:27] I've got, Green Lake's got, like, a special place in my heart. Mm-hmm. I've worked with that chamber of commerce a lot- Oh, nice … for events and promoting all those local businesses. Mm-hmm. And so you have that, like, northwest side of the lake- Mm-hmm … has a, a, a dense group of- Yep … businesses right there. And so, but the business I'm promoting today is called Retreat.

Christian: [21:45] Oh, I love The Retreat.

Conner: [21:46] Yeah. Yeah. Incredible coffee shop. Yeah. Uh, it's changed a lot over the years. It has. Used to be Fix. Used to be called Four's, uh- Yep … and then it was Fix. Yep.

Christian: [21:52] Four's, then Fix, and now the

Conner: [21:53] Retreat. And now it's Retreat. Yep. And they've got beautiful murals. Yeah. It's just really got this, like, fun aesthetic-

Christian: [21:58] Mm-hmm … Conner: there that's almost like- Cool vibe … you're camping. Yeah.

Conner: [22:01] And like I mentioned with Miro Tea in Ballard, it's just slammed with people working. Always. Yeah. And so that's just always a fun vibe to go. Yeah. There's people meeting, walking by, lots of dogs. Mm-hmm. Very dog friendly- Very, yeah … cafe. And lots of, like, healthier-focused food. Yeah. Acai bowl style food. Mm-hmm. And of course, coffee.

Christian: [22:19] They have great, great avocado toast as well.

Conner: [22:21] I don't think I've had that there.

Christian: [22:22] Yeah, it's

Conner: [22:22] good. All right.

Christian: [22:23] Yeah.

Conner: [22:23] Another honorable mention, there's two things in Green Lake that I really love. One, the Chamber of Commerce does an event called the Green Lake Food Walk.

Christian: [22:30] Mm.

Conner: [22:31] The times changed a little bit, but what it is, is they sell a ticket, and you get a wristband and a map, and you get to go to all of the businesses, and you get a sample from all the businesses. Oh, cool. So like when the pizza place was there, you get a slice of pizza. Yep. You go to Rosita's, the Mexican restaurant- Yep … that's been there for 40 plus years. Which is great. Yep. Right? You'd get a taco from them. Mm-hmm. You go to Fix, and you'd get some snack from them. Mm-hmm. And it's just like a great community event. All of that benefits the Chamber of Commerce- Cool … which helps promote all those local businesses. Yeah. And, uh, it's just a really fun event. Also, in December, there's an event called Green Lake Pathway of Lights. Mm. Mm-hmm. And if the weather's bad, I've been there for some really bad- Yes … weather moments, but what they do is they get a bunch of volunteers to create these lanterns-

Christian: [23:10] Mm-hmm

Conner: [23:10] made out of paper bag and a candle. Yep. And it goes all around the three miles of the lake.

Christian: [23:14] Yeah.

Conner: [23:14] And there's just thousands of people who show up, and- It

Christian: [23:17] looks so cool.

Conner: [23:18] Yeah. And people bring lights, and they dress up, and they- Yeah … wear costumes, and they bring their wagons. They pull their kids and their dogs, and it just becomes this human parade around the lake. And so it's always in December, so you're gonna get iffy weather sometimes, but get yourself a coffee or a hot chocolate or, you know, a hot drink of choice- Yes … wink, wink. And, and do the walk, and you'll just be full of smiles. They do… They have activations around the lake, so they have carolers and- Oh, cool artists and people doing other things, so you'll always be entertained. And it's, it's one of my favorite events of the year, and it's just a ton of fun. And I think they've done a fall-focused one called Luminata-

Christian: [23:52] Oh,

Conner: [23:52] yeah, yeah, yeah … uh, that's more- I did hear about that last year. It's, that's about, like, dress up in your lights. Mm. And I think it's a little bit more weather appropriate.

Christian: [23:59] Not to be confused with the Illuminati.

Conner: [24:01] Definitely. I mean, maybe. I don't know.

Christian: [24:05] Uh, one cool thing that I like about Retreat is, you know, there's some point during the day where it's no longer coffee 30, it's beer 30.

Conner: [24:14] Beer 30, yeah.

Christian: [24:15] And they have beer and wine and cocktails and stuff, too, and they've expanded. Like, it used to be really small in there, and they expanded to the business that used to be next door. They have some great outdoor seating. It's awesome for working from. It's awesome for people-watching. It's great food. Like, it's, it's a great spot. It's one of my favorites in Seattle.

Conner: [24:33] Yeah. Get a cup of coffee. Go walk the lake or-

Christian: [24:35] Yeah … Conner: or, uh, end your walk and go get, go get a cocktail there. Exactly, yeah. All right, we're gonna go nearby. Phinney Ridge. We're just going west of Green Lake, right up the hill. So if you're looking at Green Lake, you look to the west, there's that big hill. At the top of that is Phinney Ridge. Phinney Ridge has one of the, if not the strongest neighborhood association in all of Seattle, and it's pretty spectacular. They have a very strong community because of this. I've sold numerous homes and helped many people buy and sell in that neighborhood, and when they buy, they find out how much they love the fact that there's such a great community feel. And when they sell, they realize how much they miss that. I've heard both ways. It's quite funny. Awesome views. You can go either looking west over Puget Sound or to the east looking over Green Lake and the mountains. Greenwood Ave, there's lots and lots of businesses. Red Mill Burgers has been there forever. Next door used to be Starbucks, and now I think it's a beer hall or something like that. Tons of great food. Th- it's not very big. It's pretty small, um, 'cause it's very narrow 'cause it's the ridge. It's the top of the hill. But it's, it's a great community. Everyone seems to love it when they get there. What, what's your kinda spot that you wanna-

Conner: [25:45] So I went into the Greenwood part- Mm-hmm of the neighborhood. Mm-hmm. I was going through all the different businesses, and I was like, "I know it's not Phinney, but I have to talk about this burrito- Yeah, yeah … at Gordito's." It's called the baby burrito.

Christian: [25:56] Mm-hmm.

Conner: [25:57] And they call it the baby burrito because they say it's the size of a baby. It is

Christian: [26:00] massive.

Conner: [26:00] It is-

Christian: [26:01] It's like as big as your forearm.

Conner: [26:02] Yeah. It, it- It's

Christian: [26:03] huge … Conner: it's, it's baby size- Yeah. … that's for sure. And, and they have all these pictures on the wall of people who brought their babies in next to the burrito. Go, go see it. Yes. Go try the burrito. Go check it out. Yeah. Because it's- I'm thinking about it now, I was like, "I gotta go make a video about that"- Yes, you do because, uh, I haven't, I haven't been there in a while. But it is, it's just legendary. Yeah. And I couldn't talk about this neighborhood without mentioning that- Yep … that burrito. And they've got a very, uh, they've got this, like, signature mural on the side of the wall- It's really cool … if you've ever gone down- Oh, yeah

Conner: [26:31] 85th.

Christian: [26:32] 85th, yep.

Conner: [26:33] Uh, you'll see that. It's not an iguana, it's a-

Christian: [26:35] A, some sort of lizard.

Conner: [26:36] It's, um, s- uh, I think… Is it an iguana?

Christian: [26:38] Maybe it's an iguana. I can't remember. It's like a robot iguana.

Conner: [26:40] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it's green and it's bright and- Yeah, it's cool … yeah. Gordito's, get the baby burrito. Yeah. You'll be

Christian: [26:46] very full. Take a picture, tag Find Me In Seattle- Yeah, absolutely … and the Awesome, Awesome group, and then we'll, we'll repost it.

Conner: [26:51] Yes, I will.

Christian: [26:53] Yeah. It's, it's fun. The, the housing there, I didn't really talk about that. Phinney Ridge, it's mostly single family homes, so a lot of cool old craftsmen. On the very top of the hill, there's some apartments, there's some co- or town homes, some condos. But for the most part, it's single family homes. So it's, it's a great neighborhood, though. All right. We've talked about Wallingford, but we haven't talked about Wallingford. Now we're gonna actually talk about it. We brought it up. Yeah, we've, like, circled it. We have circled it for, for sure. So Wallingford is just north of Lake Union. So if you're on South Lake Union looking north, you're looking at Wallingford in between I-5, really hugging I-5, and, and Aurora. It's really cool. Wallingford is awesome. Again, a lot of really cool older craftsman homes from the '20s. Some amazing views looking south, looking at the city. Burke Gilman runs around the, the south shore of it. Gas Works Park, which is world famous, great for watching the fireworks for the Fourth of July. That's the spot to watch it from. They have a international school, John Stanford International School, which people seem to love. It's easy to get around 'cause you're right sandwiched between both I-5 and Aurora, so you can go north-south pretty easily. You can also go to 520, get across to, to the east side pretty easily. So it's a simple commute. Cons, again, parking. It's a lot of street parking. Because these are older homes from the '20s, the driveways and the garages are built for carriages, not cars, which is why they're so tight.

Conner: [28:22] Wow.

Christian: [28:22] I don't know if you ever made that connection- Uh- but it makes sense … I never even thought

Conner: [28:25] about-

Christian: [28:25] Yeah … Conner: owning a carriage, so. Well, you're not in 1920. You're in 2020. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's interesting. There's, there's not a lot of people that are able to even park in their parking spots or driveways or garages because it's just so narrow. And because of that, everyone parks on the street. street parkings can be a little tough. So you are, depending on where in Wallingford you are, because I-5 is so high there for the Ship Canal Bridge, it could get noisy. Like, if you're closer to I-5, it, you can always hear that white noise of the freeway humming above you. So that can be a little annoying. They do have a lot of the, not seaplanes, but I guess they technically are seaplanes, that kind of buzz you when they're landing and taking off right there. So I think that's cool. I don't find that annoying, but I could see how maybe some people think that's annoying, hearing those buzz right over you-

Conner: [29:11] Yeah, certainly because they go

Christian: [29:12] pretty low.

Conner: [29:12] I live in South Seattle, and I hear the planes all the time. Yeah. And I don't think the seaplanes are gonna be as annoying as, as the, the jets.

Christian: [29:18] The, the big planes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. C, types of homes, kind of talked about that. I mean, a lot of single family craftsmen, older homes. A lot of those craftsmen in most of, most of North Seattle, like we talked about, a lot of them were the old Sears catalog homes, which I don't know if you know about this, but this is really cool. You could actually buy a home from a kit from Sears, and it would be on a train car. Like, the whole car would be your entire house, the whole package, and they would ship it out from Chicago on the train car. And they would unload it and bring it to your house, and then you build it.

Conner: [29:51] And then you build it. Yeah. So it's just all the pieces.

Christian: [29:53] All the pieces.

Conner: [29:54] What? And it was sold at Sears. Yeah. Did not know Sears was selling houses. That's

Christian: [29:58] crazy, huh?

Conner: [29:58] That is very crazy. Yeah.

Christian: [30:00] Yeah, that's way back in the day. What do you say is your featured spot there? There's a lot to choose from in, in Wallingford, so.

Conner: [30:05] There is. I love Wallingford. Yeah. 45th, I think it's, like, one of the most underrated business areas- I totally agree … in the whole city. Yeah. It, it just- Everyone who lives there knows it. There's so much- Yep … to try. The variety of food down that street-

Christian: [30:17] Mm-hmm

Conner: [30:18] all the way from I-5 to Stoneway- Mm-hmm … is, is pretty incredible. You can cover the whole world.

Christian: [30:22] Really, you can.

Conner: [30:23] Um,

Christian: [30:23] from- Hawaii to, like, anything.

Conner: [30:25] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. There's, there's a popsicle store, right? I think it's the only popsicle store in the whole city. Yep. For this time, I'm gonna promote Sissy K, which is- Hmm, I don't know this one they are on the north side of 45th, kind of like right in the center. Mm-hmm. They're a Thai restaurant.

Christian: [30:38] Mm.

Conner: [30:39] And it used to be called Mae. Anyone who knows Seattle- Mm … will know this building. Yep. It's got, like, this signature Thai style-

Christian: [30:46] Yeah … Conner: with these, uh- Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, right where that is … with this really unique roof. Yep.

Conner: [30:48] It's a two-story building. Yeah. You can only get to the, at least as a customer, to the top story through the outdoor stairs. Mm-hmm. And there's now a bar at the bottom. Beautiful place, very Instagrammable.

Christian: [30:58] Yeah.

Conner: [30:59] Same thing with the top. Very, uh, photogenic. Yep. And just incredible Thai food.

Christian: [31:04] Cool.

Conner: [31:04] I really recommend Pad See Ew.

Christian: [31:06] Mm-hmm.

Conner: [31:07] They have a couple different fried rice dishes- Mm … that are incredible. Mm. And yeah, that's, that's been a Thai restaurant in Wallingford for years. Yeah. I know when it was Mae, it was owned by Mae for decades. Mm, mm. And then it, it changed over hands a couple years ago, but I still think it's delicious.

Christian: [31:23] Yeah. And that's right by the Chevron that has the amazing, uh, signs with- The

Conner: [31:27] Wallingford sign … Speaker: yeah, the Wallingford sign, yeah. Yep. With the dad jokes. With the dad jokes.

Christian: [31:31] Yeah. I, I applaud that sign.

Conner: [31:33] Yeah. And there, there are s- there are so many places in Wallingford that I could recommend. And my other fun fact about Wallingford is Stoneway is the border between Fremont and Wallingford. If you're, if you're on- Hmm … the east side of the street- Mm … you are in Wallingford. If you're on the west side of the street, you are in Fremont. Interesting. And, uh, yeah, I, I got corrected many times for that. Yeah. But, uh, especially- I didn't realize that. I didn't think- … if you're down Stoneway- Yeah … if you're at the bottom, which all the, a lot of those businesses are gone now. Yep. They're developing those. Yep. But if you're on the Brooks building side- Yeah, yeah, yeah … you're in Wallingford, but a lot of people consider that Fremont- Mm-hmm … 'cause it's kind of right there- It's right there … where they consider Wallingford the top of the hill.

Christian: [32:08] Yep.

Conner: [32:08] I guess that's like halfway up the hill.

Christian: [32:10] Yeah, yeah.

Conner: [32:10] Also, easy access to Green Lake. They have that huge park right there. Yep. They have the pitch and putt golf course-

Christian: [32:16] True,

Conner: [32:16] yep … right there. Yep. Right on 50th.

Christian: [32:18] Mm-hmm.

Conner: [32:18] But yep, I'd go walk down 45th. You will find some- Oh, yeah … great food.

Christian: [32:22] You could sample the world- Yes … just walking 45th, from Dick's Burgers to anything really. And Dick's is a spot to go after or before a sporting event. Everyone goes there. Oh, yes. Or a concert for that matter. Or a

Conner: [32:33] concert, yeah. Yeah.

Christian: [32:34] All right. We are moving to a little bit more south. Beacon Hill, one of my favorite neighborhoods. Lived there for years. Beacon Hill is basically it starts at the intersection of I-90 and I-5, so that southeast corner. Big, giant, long hill. It's very, very long, um, but very narrow. Super easy access. These are the kind of the pros. Super easy access to I-5, I-90, SeaTac, downtown Seattle. There's a light rail station on North Beacon Hill. Amazing views. I think this has some of the most underrated views in the entire city is from Beacon Hill. You could literally be on the peak of that ridge and look both to Bellevue and Lake Washington and Mount Rainier, and Puget Sound and downtown Seattle, like full 360. It's, it's pretty spectacular, and I don't think many people even realize that you can do that there. Yeah. You get a little bit more, not as much bang for your buck, but you get a little bit more bang for your buck there. It used to be one of my most underrated neighborhoods in all of Seattle, and I wrote a blog post about this probably in 2008 or '09 that got picked up because- Yes … of the fact that this- The

Conner: [33:41] secret's out

Christian: [33:41] now. Yeah, exactly. It's been out for a while. I owned a few places there, and I bought before the light rail opened up, knowing that it was going there, and that paid off very, very well. Yeah. So that's, that's why paying attention to the path of progress, we talk about that a lot on this podcast, but paying attention to the path of progress, where things are happening, and buying before that place blows up and becomes the place everyone wants to be, it's super important.

Conner: [34:08] Yeah, and I, I assume following that light rail strategy- Mm-hmm is still gonna be effective as it's- Still … as it's gonna grow, whether it's to West Seattle or past Northgate- Mm-hmm … or to Ballard-

Christian: [34:18] Yep … Conner: whenever that gets done. Yep. To the east side. Yep. I imagine that still is a good strategy. Yeah. And I mean, it do- it's not gonna move the needle as much as it did, because everyone knows about it now, but it still definitely is going to increase in value, I would assume, when those stations do open up. So yeah, it's great. Cons. There's not as much to do on Beacon Hill as other areas. Some parts of it, there's no sidewalks Which feels a little weird, but that's definitely the case. Obviously, it's hilly, so there is a lot of… If it's snowing, you're not getting off the hill. When we lived there, it, there was a big snow storm. The only way that we got off the hill was actually hopping on the light rail, and we went downtown to dinner, and we got the best service of our lives- I bet … 'cause no one was down there. There was barely any staff available as well, but it was great. Types of homes. So Beacon Hill is interesting how it was developed. So the north end developed first, and that's where you'll find some, you know, 20s, 30s craftsmen, like we were talking about in North Seattle. Obviously now, with the light rail station opening there, they changed the zoning. You can do a lot more dense construction, so a lot of townhomes around the light rail station. Some apartments/condos there, not a ton. As you move south, they started developing that, like, mid-Beacon Hill from the VA Hospital and Jefferson Park. That was more like 50s. 50s, and then the more south you go, it goes 60s, 70s, 80s, and you'll kinda see an intersper or those types of eras homes interspersed throughout mid and south Beacon Hill. What, what's your favorite spot on, on Beacon Hill?

Conner: [35:53] Beacon Hill's, like, gone through, like, a renaissance. Totally. I think with the growth of the light rail- Yeah … and, and people moving in there and kind of realizing, "Oh, this is a great spot to live." Yep. Uh, the location is really nice if you're going- It's so nice south or north.

Christian: [36:04] Yeah, or

Conner: [36:04] east. Or east. Yeah. Uh, right there on 90. Yep. And there, I think there's a light rail station gonna open up- Yep … right there, too, right over I-90.

Christian: [36:11] Ri- Rainier and, and I-90, there's gonna be a station right there.

Conner: [36:14] Yeah, so that's gon- Yeah … that's gonna be huge. Yeah. And a bunch of really popular restaurants have opened up there. Mm-hmm. I mean, they, now they, they have James Beard Award- Yes … recognized places there. Yep. I'm not gonna give one of those businesses, 'cause that's what everyone- That's what everyone knows about … would recommend. Yeah. But on Beacon Ave, there's this section of businesses that, uh, I once, I once did a podcast and said, "This is my favorite block in the whole city." Wow. Because there's a plant store next to a custom golf store next to a bar and Chicago-style pizza spot, and then a dim sum house right next to it, and it's like I could spend all day on this block- … and just have a fantastic day. Yeah. But Dim Sum House is, is the business that I wanna promote today, because so few people know about this spot. Mm-hmm. It's not big. I think there's, like, four family-style tables in here. Wow. And it's, it's a couple that's pretty much gonna serve you every single time. Wow. But a great place to take, like, six to eight people. They're open late, right? Nice. So if you're going to that bar at night- Yeah … you can go have dim sum and then go to the concert at the bar. Cool. Or same thing, kind of. Dim sum is one of those meals that is good 24 hours a day. Exactly, yeah. And so whether you go in the morning or you go in the evening, you'll just see. That's, it's like a community spot, but, uh- Yeah … very underrated. You're not gonna hear that spot on any other podcast. Yeah. But yeah, you, you won't go wrong going to Dim Sum House. Is that, like,

Christian: [37:28] mid-Beacon Hill? I don't even know where that is. It's- I'm trying to picture it.

Conner: [37:31] It's… There's a funky intersection right there after you get off the freeway and come up. It… I don't actually know what the cross street is that goes down into Columbia City.

Christian: [37:40] Mm. So it's more like Graham or Orcas or something like that, somewhere over there.

Conner: [37:45] Yeah.

Christian: [37:45] Okay. Yeah. So like, more like mid-Beacon Hill, I would

Conner: [37:48] say. Mid-Beacon Hill, yep.

Christian: [37:49] Yeah. Cool.

Conner: [37:49] But yeah, there's some incredible restaurants all over Beacon Hill now. Yeah, there really are. And, and you'll-

Christian: [37:54] It used to be so sleepy.

Conner: [37:55] It's very sleepy.

Christian: [37:56] Yeah, the Beacon Pub was a fun place, but very, very sticky floors. Every step. That's where Bardo Corso is now.

Conner: [38:05] Oh, okay.

Christian: [38:06] Yeah.

Conner: [38:06] Okay, I was wondering- I was like- … where's this bar?

Christian: [38:08] All right … that used to be there, and it, it was so rickety that when they put the, uh, the pizza oven for Bardo Corso, it actually, the floor caved in a bit and so they had to, like, forklift it back out and reinforce the floors to-

Conner: [38:20] Wow. Yeah,

Christian: [38:21] yeah.

Conner: [38:21] Bardo Corso, incredible pizza.

Christian: [38:23] Yes.

Conner: [38:23] Uh, there's also Milk Drunk right there. Mm-hmm. Milk Drunk's got incredible, uh, fried chicken sandwiches- Mm … and soft serve ice cream.

Christian: [38:30] Oh, wow.

Conner: [38:30] That's new. That's really good. I don't know that. The Station Coffee Shop right there- Yeah, Station's great … is great community spot.

Christian: [38:35] Yes.

Conner: [38:35] That place is always buzzing with people. Yep. Yeah, Beacon Hill, also one of those underrated spots. I

Christian: [38:40] agree.

Conner: [38:40] Great food scene.

Christian: [38:41] Yeah. I feel like you could take the light rail, get off at Beacon Hill at that station, and spend the afternoon and have a great time. Like, a great time. It'd be fun. So if you haven't explored Beacon Hill, go do it. We just gave you all the places to check out. All right, we're moving on to West Seattle. Some people, especially when the bridge was closed, referred to this of the island of West Seattle which I thought was great. 'Cause once you're there, you kinda do feel like you're on an island. West Seattle is the southwestern-most, I guess, point in Seattle. It's southwest of downtown- Puget Sound, Elliott Bay kind of separates the two. Or do they, do we call it Salish Sea now? Is that what we're supposed to call it, Elliott Bay, Salish Sea? I don't know. I don't know what we're supposed to call it anymore. Whatever you wanna

Conner: [39:23] call it, it's okay. Yeah, I

Christian: [39:24] think it's all okay. West Seattle's great. I mean, it's got so many different variety of neighborhoods, but the, it is similar to Phinney Ridge where the community aspect is so strong. So, so strong. And it's great. It's so much fun. It's beautiful. The views are amazing no matter which direction you're looking. You can look out over the Olympics, you can look out back towards downtown Seattle. It's just, it's gorgeous. When the summer, if you go to Alki Beach, you feel like you're in like some hidden spot in San Diego or something. It's a, it's a

Conner: [39:56] different

Christian: [39:56] world in the summer. It's a totally different world, completely different. It's amazing. You can walk around, rent one of those little like four-person tricycle bike things. Um, we've done that with our kids before, and that was really fun. They got beach volleyball. They have bonfires. It's super fun, especially in the summer. It feels like you're on vacation even though you're still in the city. Some of the cons, sometimes you feel like you're on an island. It can get a little tough, especially with the bridge. When it was closed, it's tough to get in and out of there. It's easy to get to the airport. It's sometimes easy to get downtown. If you take transit, it can be really easy 'cause they have that figured out, but driving can be a little tough. Traffic can be a little tough. There's only a couple ways in and out, so depending on where you are in West Seattle, parking can be a little difficult as well. I think that's for Seattle in general. Types of homes, it has everything. Like West Seattle's big, similar to Ballard, where it's just a huge neighborhood with a lot, lot of sub-neighborhoods built within it. So you can find anything from beautiful condos overlooking the water to smaller, older single-family homes. Some of the old Craftsman homes are still there. West Seattle's actually where Seattle was initially founded. That was going to be downtown Seattle, like the Seattle. They moved it obviously to Pioneer Square, and that's now Seattle. But there are some townhomes there, definitely. Um, it's super diverse, all sorts of different home styles there. The closer you are to kinda those main hubs, there's numerous like community hubs where that main drag of the, of that neighborhood has all the businesses and restaurants and shops and all the fun stuff. And so, and now I'm gonna flip it to you. Where, where do you like to go? What do you- So West,

Conner: [41:35] West Seattle has three primary like business districts. Yes. There's Alki, the Junction, and Admiral.

Christian: [41:41] Mm-hmm.

Conner: [41:42] Each have their own groups of community and-

Christian: [41:44] Yep

Conner: [41:45] Businesses of all different kinds We could

Christian: [41:46] literally do an entire podcast only about West Seattle.

Conner: [41:49] Yeah, yeah. There is

Christian: [41:49] so much to go over.

Conner: [41:50] And, and each one h- has kind of everything you need. Yeah. They've all got their own grocery stores- Mm-hmm coffee shops, restaurants, bars. But I'm gonna promote a business called Il Nido. Hmm. And really the, the reason I'm promoting this one is because there used to be a restaurant in Pioneer Square called Il Corvo.

Christian: [42:06] Okay.

Conner: [42:07] And any chance I get to talk about Il Corvo, I do- Nice … because it was one of those legendary spots that's… Seattle's notorious for the lines. People love waiting for food in this city. Yeah, they do.

Christian: [42:18] Like, that's the thing to do.

Conner: [42:19] And we're not really known as, like, a foodie city- Yeah … but people will come out and wait in these lines. So Il Corvo was this tiny little restaurant that had handmade pasta. It was handmade every single day. Uh, I'm blanking on the guy's name, and his wife.

Christian: [42:32] Hmm.

Conner: [42:32] And little corridor. The line would go all the way up the hill- Wow … to Third. It was pretty much a 45-minute wait. You'd get your pasta. Hopefully you'd find a seat. You, you'd bring a friend, obviously, 'cause you wanna try all the pastas. Yep. They had, I don't know if it's three or four pastas on the menu, and that was it. Wow. And then a kale salad, and they were known for, like, these cookies. Hmm. And I'm talking a lot about Il Corvo, but it was just one of those legendary restaurants- Yeah … that everyone said if you had a lunch break, they're only open Monday to Friday- Oh, wow … during those lunch hours. Oh, wow. And when they sold out of the pasta- That was it it was like, you're done. Wow. So you h- yeah, you just… You had to show up at 11. You got in the line and-

Christian: [43:09] Hope for the best … Conner: and you were never disappointed. You're never disappointed. That's awesome. And, and I just, I miss that place dearly. Yeah. It, it will forever be one of my favorite food experiences in Seattle. So they shut down Il Corvo, and he opened up more of, like, a traditional dining establishment called Il Nido- Okay … Conner: in West Seattle, in the Alki area. Nice. And it's in this, like- house. Hmm. And so it feels like you're walking into some- It's a big house, but it feels like you're walking up someone's porch- Cool into the house, and the dining room is, like, situated through the house- Cool … which is really cool. Awesome. So it kind of, like, puts you in these different rooms. Yeah. And the pasta's just high quality. They still have some of it. I know the, the kale salad is still on the menu, but it's, it's more high-end. What made Il Corvo so great was it was extremely affordable. Mm-hmm. I think the pasta dishes were, like, $9- Oh, wow … when this was pre-2020. Yeah, yeah. And so it's, it's, it's more high-end. You're gonna have to get a reservation there. Mm-hmm.

Conner: [44:04] But if you've got an anniversary coming up- Mm … you've got something you wanna get nice- Yeah have a beautiful dinner, drink some wine- Yeah … have some great pasta, Il Nido. Cool. Il Nido's a really

Christian: [44:13] good spot. I'll have to check that out. I haven't even heard of that before. That's awesome. All right. We're gonna check into an awesome spot called Columbia City. So this is kinda South Seattle, getting closer to where you live. Yep. It's kinda located close to Seward Park and kinda east of Beacon Hill. It's awesome. They have a great bar, restaurant scene, light rail stations nearby. They call it the Columbia City Station, but it's, like, four blocks away from the downtown strip. I think they did that by design, so it doesn't go right through downtown and cut up that, but it's a little bit of a walk. Rainier Ave. has all the small businesses and restaurants and music venues and cool things like that. It's a great community as well. Very popular neighborhood. Cons, it's smaller. It's not quite as exciting as some other places. Like, homes are on the smaller side. You can feel a little bit isolated because you're a little bit further away from other parts of the city. Types of homes, a lot of town homes, not as many single family homes. Uh, there're actually… It's interesting, when I was looking at what the age of homes there were, it was more like 1910s, which is earlier than most of Seattle. And, and then there was a big gap until, like, the '50s where more homes were built there. And the ones from 1910 were, like, super small, like 7, 800, 900 square feet. So really, really tiny bungalows. And then there was another building boom in the '50s, obviously. So what do you wanna talk about for Columbia City?

Conner: [45:35] Columbia City, it's not really walking distance, but I love that Seward Park is right there. Yeah, no, Seward Park. Seward Park is, is a place that a lot of Seattleites don't even know it's there- It's true … unless it's SeaFair weekend. True, and then everyone knows it's there. SeaFair weekend. And that's the worst time to go to that park- Yeah … because it's a madhouse. Yep. But if you go there any other time, it's absolutely incredible. It's a giant forest-

Christian: [45:56] Yeah … Conner: sitting in the middle of the water. Yep. And you can walk up through the hills, and it is like you're up in the mountains. It's crazy. You don't hear any of the noises. Yeah. You don't see any people. You see all these huge trees, right? 100-year-old trees. Yep. And it's, it's like a quick escape- Yeah

Conner: [46:10] from getting away from the city. It's really cool. So Seward Park gives me a big shout-out. But for local business on Rainier Ave. is this newer restaurant called Off Alley. Hmm. And-

Christian: [46:19] Is it off an alley?

Conner: [46:20] It, it's, it pretty much is an alley. It's, it's not, it is sandwiched between two walls, but, but the restaurant is very funky. Uh, not, not a place you go with groups. Okay. I really recommend you go with one person.

Christian: [46:32] Got it.

Conner: [46:32] Because I've sat there- A little tighter … with four people. It's just an alley, right? Oh, wow. So, so there's a bar top. So you're sitting shoulder to shoulder. Mm-hmm. And then they've put, like, this, like, s- counter on the back wall. Hmm. But the total width of the restaurant- Probably 20, not 20 feet. That's way too small. Um, but it, yeah, I mean, it's like two wing spans across. Wow. There's not a lot of room. Wow. And so yeah, and if you've got people at the counter and at the bar, the server walking through, like, they're all touching each other. And so- That's crazy … but, but it's like a tasting menu, seasonal tasting menu. Oh, cool. Fun. So it's more elevated, high-end, unique, constantly rotating menu- Yeah … and just a very interesting experience.

Christian: [47:13] Fun.

Conner: [47:14] And I think they're taking advantage of the space. Like, it's such- Yeah … a tiny little… It's really an alley. Yeah. And they have built an outdoor seating area where they have two four-top tables. Mm-hmm. So if you are going in the summer, you might get lucky and get that spot. Good one. But also another place I'd recommend getting a reservation, and the menu's always gonna be different. Cool. Wine pairings are always gonna be different. Uh, but I think it's, it's a fun experience. There's nothing else- Yeah … really like it really in the city. Yeah, I haven't heard anything like that. But definitely there's nothing else like it in South Seattle.

Christian: [47:40] Cool.

Conner: [47:40] And yeah, I think what they've done with that spot is just very fun- Yeah … and a unique addition to Columbia City.

Christian: [47:46] Sounds fun. Cool. All right, we're gonna go north a little bit, one of the most popular areas, which is the Central District. So this is just east of downtown next to basically Capitol Hill. Pros, you can sometimes, this is surprising, but it's true, you can sometimes get a little more bang for your buck. It's an older, more established neighborhood, a lot of transition happening there, a ton of cultural and artistic venues, uh, lots of parks. It's- Pretty. It's really pretty. Like, it's interesting how pretty it is at, at times. Cons, nightlife isn't… I- is kind of clustered into one spot, so depending on where you are, it could be loud. Not as walkable as one would expect for being so centrally located, and because it's in a transition, there's a lot of construction always going on. Types of homes, a lot of town homes, a lot of condos, um, and those are the things that are being constructed all the time. There are some single family homes. It's one of the older neighborhoods in Seattle. Some homes built as early as 1900, so really, really old homes there. There's, there's a lot of cool and exciting, like, restaurants and, and stuff going on there too. So what do you wanna highlight?

Conner: [48:53] The Central District is, it's a very historic neighborhood- Yeah … in Seattle-

Christian: [48:57] Yeah … Conner: that doesn't get the hype that- It doesn't at all … Ballard or Fremont- No … Conner: all the other… Or Capitol Hill gets. Yeah. Central District was historically the, the Black neighborhood. Yep. And over the last couple decades, that's been going through that transition. Yeah. But within the sense of the businesses there, there has been kind of like a recapture- Mm-hmm … of getting those Black businesses and Black-owned businesses back in the neighborhood- Yep … which has been really cool to see with businesses like Communion, which Communion- Mm-hmm … might be the most popular restaurant in the whole city. It takes months to get a reservation there. Yep, yep. And that food, you'll hear that from everybody- Yep … if they talk about Central District. Yep. Uh, the business I wanna promote is called Raised Donuts. Hmm. Earlier, I talked about the fascination of waiting in lines. Yes. This was the first time I had seen that happen. This must have been like 2017, '18. Raised Donuts was just doing a donut pop-up. Mm-hmm.

Conner: [49:46] So they would have a weekend, and they'd say, "We have this many donuts." They're all yeast-raised donuts, so they're not, they're not Top Pot. Yeah, yeah. Right? Everyone knows Top Pot. They're the most famous d- donut in the city. Yep. But they're yeast-raised, they're seasonal, flavor specific. Yep. The menu changes every single month. They have, obviously their, their go-tos. Same thing every time. On Friday they have, they call it Cruller Fridays. So cruller is a, a certain type of donut. Mm-hmm. And they have a coffee cruller. Mm. Which is just like if you like coffee- Yeah you like donuts, like it's a match made in heaven. Cool. They also have these raspberry donut holes that are my favorite donut in the whole city. Wow. You just don't-

Christian: [50:22] That's

Conner: [50:22] saying something. Yeah, you don't, you don't see raspberry donut holes very often. No. But I would wait in line for this. They don't have the line like they used to. Mm-hmm. They're now in their second location. So they went from the pop-ups, had a ton of success- Yeah, clearly. Doing those. Yeah. Got their first location, and now they've outgrown it and they moved into that brand new development right there in Central District, kinda where all those new builds, businesses- Yep are coming to. Yep. And, uh, Mee Kim, she's the owner. She's just an incredible business owner. Cool. Incredible pastry chef. Clearly, yeah. And, and created a very unique, unique restaurant. And her logo's an elephant. I have an attachment to elephants. It's kinda like my spirit animal.

Christian: [50:56] Cool.

Conner: [50:57] And so when I made that connection in the first place, I was like, "Well, it's speaking to me." Yes. And, uh, what Mee Kim's created with Raised Donuts is just a center of that community now.

Christian: [51:06] That's awesome. That's amazing. That's it. These neighborhoods were in no specific order. I didn't say that earlier- Yeah, we jumped around a bit … but I probably should. We jumped around all over. Um, we did not rank them one through 10. That was just 10 popular neighborhoods that we wanted to kinda highlight. I hope this was super helpful. The whole point of our podcast is really to highlight, you know, some of the awesome aspects of Seattle, hence the name Awesome in Seattle. So if you are either new to Seattle or you've lived here for a while and you haven't checked these places out, you definitely need to go check 'em out. Like Connor, follow him at Find Me in Seattle. Just Google him. He is every platform Find Me in Seattle, or his website findmeinseattle.com. It's amazing. He is awesome. He does a great job of highlighting businesses that, you know, sometimes fly under the radar, but deserve the attention, and I think you do a great job of that. That's why I've always kinda latched on and followed everything that you're doing, 'cause it's not just the normal Instagram worthy places. But even, like, I don't know, you can tell the feel and the, and the vibe of the actual business, and you do a great job of that, so. Thank you. That's it for this episode. Thank you again, Connor. If you need some content creation for your so- social media, definitely hit him up. I just wanted to share his knowledge, because he's great. So definitely find him in Seattle. Bing. And then, yeah, and if you do need content, just reach out to him. He'd love to help you, I'm sure. So thank you. If, uh, you are interested in buying or selling a house, that's what we do. We are the Awesome Nossum Group. Uh, we help people buy and sell houses in the Seattle area, not just Seattle, but all around the Puget Sound. And so if you are interested in talking about that, you can either come to our home buyer class, which we host every single month, called beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). Uh, we do those at different bars and restaurants all around the city every single month, other than December. Sometimes we do two classes a month. Totally free. It's only an hour long. There is zero pressure at all. It's just free beer, some food at most venues, not every venue, but most venues, and it's just laid back, how to… what the market's doing right now and how to buy a house. So you can always sign up for those at beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab), or if you wanna chat with us, just go to our website, AwesomeNossumGroup.com/schedule and you can sign up for a quick chat. There's no pressure, no cost, no nothing to chat with us. We're here to help. So Connor, thank you again for your help and for, uh, this, sharing your expertise on this episode. And, um, everybody give him a follow if you don't already. That's it for this episode. We'll see you next time.