Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT: People who think WS is far away
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July 22, 2008 at 10:23 pm #587568
missaudreyhorneParticipantI just want to RANT about people (some on tv/new, some my friends) who act like West Seattle is so far away from the rest of Seattle. They act like we live on the moon or something. I know we don’t live on Queen Anne or Cap Hill, and we can’t walk to work, but we are still part of Seattle and just as interesting.
Obviously I am preaching to the choir, but I am just so very sick of people I know acting so put out when I suggest they come “all the way out here”. It’s just a bridge, people.
July 22, 2008 at 10:35 pm #632027
flowerpetalMemberRant/Rave? Its a mixed blessing I believe. If a few more people had believed that West Seattle was too far off the path we might have missed some of the condo boom that seems to be happening everywhere. Shrug their worries off. I once lived in Tukwila and someone asked me “Isn’t that near Mt. Rainier?”
July 22, 2008 at 10:57 pm #632028
JenVMemberoh missaudreyhorne, I feel your pain. I have a friend who lives on Queen Anne who NEVER wants to come out here because it’s “too far”…so we usually meet 1/2 way in Belltown. As long as I have lived here, it’s been the same old story with all my non-WS friends…they just need to suck it up and, like Patti Page, “cross over the bridge”! ;)
July 22, 2008 at 11:07 pm #632029
missaudreyhorneParticipantflowerpetal – You are right, I know it keeps our community nice and quiet and I do appreciate that. Mostly it is the attitudes of my friends that irritate me, I go to them, why can’t they come to me?
July 22, 2008 at 11:17 pm #632030
flowerpetalMemberCuz all the other neighborhoods, not just Fremont, think that they are the center of the universe.
I agree with you, its irritating.
July 22, 2008 at 11:20 pm #632031
guidosmomMemberI once had an old co-worker who told me he’d live in West Seattle if they’d build a bridge directly connection downtown to Alki. I used to brag that my commute downtown was only 10-15 min, now I try to keep it a secret. :)
July 22, 2008 at 11:40 pm #632032
RainyDay1235MemberAgreed. What can we all do to PROMOTE the fact that West Seattle is far away, LOL.
But for friends – seriously – I usually take them to Lincoln Park or a drive along California, and the complaints seem to fade away.
July 23, 2008 at 12:20 am #632033
missaudreyhorneParticipantBut there is a bridge that connects downtown to Alki, it is called the water taxi and it only takes 10-12 minutes.
July 23, 2008 at 12:26 am #632034
KeithMemberTo me it’s more like a blessing in disguise. It is weird and occasionally frustrating that so many Seattle-ites think of us as “so far away” or (my favorite) that we’re not even part of Seattle.
But I think that same sort of thinking has also helped keep West Seattle off the radar in some good ways, and I think it also contributes to the unique sense of community found here. (shhhhh)
July 23, 2008 at 12:39 am #632035
BonnieParticipantI thought West Seattle WAS the center of the universe. where does Fremont and the other neighborhoods get the idea that the are?
July 23, 2008 at 12:51 am #632036
WSBKeymasterSome citywide media folk who write columns or blogs tend to perpetuate the notion – I am too lazy to look up the link but the famous Erica C Barnett Slog post about getting stuck on a bus that was “leaving the city” and heading to West Seattle (paraphrase but that was the gist of it) still sticks with me … I’ve seen a few restaurant reviews from citywide or non-local sites that also say, more or less, “way out in West Seattle …” Everyone who wants to make sure the perception carries on, just you wait a few years. Check the “transportation” coverage category here on WSB for a few reminders why … TR
July 23, 2008 at 1:20 am #632037
michelledMemberI was born and raised in north Seattle and am ashamed to say that I kinda always had the attitude that West Sea was another world… until I moved here a year ago. :)
Now I’m just glad that the general perception of WS is what it is. I used to live in and love Ballard, but the condo boom has killed it. Luckily, it seems WS has escaped relatively unscathed in comparison. Yay!
July 23, 2008 at 2:21 am #632038
emilyMemberI have a friend who lives on Queen Anne and will not visit our house in the afternoon/evening because she doesn’t ride the bus at night – so she’d have to take a cab home – and she says that cab drivers refuse to come “all the way” to West Seattle. We tease her about getting stuck over here after the bridge “goes up” for the night. :)
July 23, 2008 at 4:16 am #632039
JulieMemberI always tell my visitors they’ll need their passports to get across the bridge ;)
July 23, 2008 at 9:09 am #632040
TrickParticipantDon’t forget to mention our W.S. I.D cards and special license plates so we know who doesn’t live here. You’ll see them feeling slightly paranoid.
July 23, 2008 at 12:55 pm #632041
KenParticipantA cab from the Westin to WS cost 25 buck back in the 90’s, I can only imagine what it cost now.
This is the reason many who don’t have cars think it is so far away. It may also be related to the reason they suggest we all ride bicycles when the viaduct gets torn down.
I still have neighbors who lament that the “new” bridge ruined WS since it raised property values when people could just get in their packard and drive over here.
July 23, 2008 at 1:05 pm #632042
MagpieParticipantThere seems to be a lot of people who have found and now West Seattle like their own. It’s funny, newcomers lament what oldtimers say about the good old days and then complain that their friends won’t come and visit since they moved here. I was born and raised here and though I have no problem with all the newcomers, there is no way you could empty out West Seattle for a morning rush hour on 1 lane anymore..heck, you can’t do it on 4 lanes (upper and lower bridge combined) in less than 3 hours..(and that’s not including the southern part that can go across the Michigan st bridge). There has been so much growth, someone is coming here!! (Maybe the visitors are just getting stuck here and never leaving…)
Our property values are so high because of our views, which I believe make up for all else…so tell your friends to come for a sunset, they may stay and never go back to wherever..
I plan on walking to work when the viaduct comes down.. it will take me less time than the bus.
July 23, 2008 at 1:54 pm #632043
SueParticipantI think bridges scare people away for some reason. When I moved from NYC to NJ, I lived maybe 20 miles away from friends/family, but you had to take 2 toll bridges to get there. You would’ve thought I’d moved to another country – almost nobody came to visit me.
And TR. that blog post you mentioned is at http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/youre_going_to_west_seattle – a little bit of colorful language at the beginning for those sensitive to that. The comments are pretty funny too. If you don’t want to read all of them, just do a search for “West Seattle” for the conversations on whether it’s a suburb or not, whether it’s part of the city, etc.
July 23, 2008 at 6:15 pm #632044
KenParticipantReading some slog posts is a good way to remind yourself that the average American has an IQ around 100.
Besides, the 11 used to turn into the 10 or the 12 and go back up the Cap hill, but now it turns into the 125 near the courthouse and makes a beeline to whitecenter? Who thought that was a good idea?
Also note, Seattle Metro seems to be the only bus system on the planet which will not put route-maps in the overhead ad space.
July 23, 2008 at 6:25 pm #632045
missaudreyhorneParticipantOh, hey Magpie, I don’t know if your comment was in reference to me, but I just wanted to say for the record that I am no newcomer. Born and raised West Seattle. I lived away for a few years, but came back.
I don’t mind going other places to visit my friends, I just wish they didn’t act like it was 50 miles away. Like a friend of mine who we met up with downtown the other day so we could carpool to Issaquah. Not that I mind going downtown to meet someone, but we drove around in traffic for A WHILE to get back to the freeway from where they wanted to meet us, when it would have taken just as much time and would have been much easier to just pick us up in the Admiral District. I’m not complaining they didn’t come “all that way” to West Seattle to get us, but it bugs me that people have it in their head that it is such a hassle when it is probably less of one sometimes.
July 23, 2008 at 6:30 pm #632046
beachdrivegirlParticipanthmm… funny a co-worker just freaked out that someone wanted them to all the way to W.Seattle after work . I work in the So-Do district and it takes me about 15 minutes to get to and from work…wow so far!
And Ken the cab rides havent increased to much. From Fremont to the Junction costs about $22 or so.
July 23, 2008 at 6:55 pm #632047
walfredoMemberKen- its important to remember sometimes that by definition, half of the population is of below average intelligence.
July 23, 2008 at 6:59 pm #632048
rs261MemberWalfredo, well, thats not really true. 1/2 would be below the MEDIAN intelligence, but not necessarily the average :-) (ex 10 20 100 100 100 100 190 170 has an average of 98.75, only 2 people are below this)
July 23, 2008 at 9:02 pm #632049
missaudreyhorneParticipantbeachdrivegirl! EXACTLY! The guy whining about West Seattle being too far away to come to us works in the International District and most often he drives there from North Seattle (Northgate-ish) every single day! It isn’t that much further, and we only ask that he comes to us 1 time out of 10. BAH!
And yeah, I have taken cabs here from a number of places in the city and I don’t know if I’ve ever spent more than $25-30.
July 23, 2008 at 9:57 pm #632050
GAnativeParticipantMy father-in-law very rarely comes to our house because it is too far from Bellevue. I work in Bellevue and drive there from WS everday. It’s not that far…
But I have to say that people living in WS are just as bad as the people living outside of WS.
When we moved here we and picked a doctor on Queen Anne everyone said “ooohhh, that’s so far away”. It’s 5 miles people!
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