Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Getting friends to visit W. Seattle is hard!
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December 14, 2013 at 7:58 pm #609925
PangolinPieParticipantI’ve lived here for about a year and a half now, and I have to say, I love W. Seattle. But it seems so hard to get my friends from other parts of town to drive out and visit. Is it just me? Seems like people see WS as a distant destination (and for those who don’t have cars and have to take a bus, I get how much of a hassle it can be to get here).
I wonder sometimes if I just need to make more friends out here…I sense that there are probably a lot of people like me here; 40s-50s, liberal, professional, maybe a little quirky/artsy/old hippie, whose idea of a good time is visiting a gallery or the farmer’s market, or just hanging out drinking wine, ordering a pizza and watching a movie. But it’s hard to meet folks, sometimes. Or, again, maybe it’s just me. Not looking for a relationship-type thing; that I have already — just some like-minded folks who want to chill without having to trek the apparently mind-blowing distance from the mainland. :)
December 14, 2013 at 8:09 pm #801481
JanSParticipantthat’s been an issue since the beginning of time, I’m thinking. I’ve been here for almost 39 years, and every time I’d say I live in West Seattle, others would chime in “That’s soooo far away.”.No, it’s not, although transportation can be iffy at times. Excluding rush hour, it’s 10 minutes to downtown by car, 15-20 minutes to Pill Hill if you go the long way. 20 minutes or so to Ballard.
If you reverse that, I suppose we could be saying :You live in Ballard? That’s soooo far away !” :)
I have friends in Wallingford who just came over the bridge last night to go to Arts West. So, it’s not out of the question. I guess the “far away”perception is what’s kept WS “quaint” (until the latest round of development.) I hope you find some “locals” to hang with. And when we have our next forum “meetup” (whenever that will be) I hope you come :)
December 14, 2013 at 8:17 pm #801482
PangolinPieParticipantThanks, Jan; I will come if I can! I’d love to meet some of the commenters here; we don’t agree on everything that’s discussed but everyone seems pretty reasonable and thoughtful.
If I plan something a few weeks in advance, I can get folks to come hang out, but a spontaneous evening movie night is hard to make happen, you know?
December 14, 2013 at 8:44 pm #801483
beefParticipantexactly. we were in lowell’s at the market 10 years or so ago and someone dining asked what the land mass across elliot bay was. not missing a beat the waitress replied “canada” and continued on her way.
December 14, 2013 at 9:04 pm #801484
PangolinPieParticipantHa! You’d think it was. Maybe people without an up-to-date passport are the ones unwilling to make the trip.
December 14, 2013 at 9:14 pm #801485
trickycooljParticipantI’ve been out here just a few months longer than you and absolutely agree. It’s even harder since I fall in the late 20s-early30s not married no children crowd so we’re night owls and not much is open around here late enough to entice my friends with. My car-less friend in the U-district attempted taking the 44 to Ballard and the the RR D/C all the way to my house for a week night football game and it took him over 2 hours to make the trip. I could visit my mom near Olympia for that kind of traveling! He’s tried a C2G now that we’re in the service area but got caught in closed viaduct traffic (no car so he didn’t know) and paid a small fortune for that trip.
So yeah I really only see my friends from the south end and the few colleagues I have in this area all are married with small kids so it’s not close to the same phase in life.
December 14, 2013 at 9:30 pm #801486
miwsParticipantYep, it’s been a forever perception.
When I started my first job, nearly 40 years ago now, working in a restaurant across from the Seattle Times in the Cascade neighborhood, (now considered South Lake Union), most everyone else that worked there seemed to live in the Northend.
One woman, in particular, lived in Lake City near the City Limits. Others, I suppose, lived in Ballard, Northgate, and such.
Their reaction was like; “….you live waaaaayyyy over there?!?!”
Back then, I attributed it to the lack of a high-level bridge, and having only the two four-lane drawbridges (until June 11, 1978), and where it wasn’t unusual to be delayed by the bridges being up, due to a ship going through, or a train passing on east end of the bridges, and sometimes both.
Once the high-rise was built 30 years ago, (and before it got so clogged with rush-hour traffic ;-) ) I would still encounter people from other parts of Seattle thinking we were way out in the Boonies!
Mike
December 14, 2013 at 10:13 pm #801487
birdrescuerParticipantYears ago when I told someone I lived in West Seattle the person responded in amazement “All year round?”
December 14, 2013 at 10:16 pm #801488
PangolinPieParticipantHahah, birdrescuer — were you tempted to say, “no, I just summer there!”?
December 14, 2013 at 10:21 pm #801489
SueParticipantI get the same reaction from people. I’m willing to drive anywhere that I need/want to get to, but to get people to come to West Seattle can be a challenge. And yet, with my energy work practice, most of my clients are NOT from West Seattle, and yet they come without problem time and time again. <shrug>
PangolinPie, we actually sound a lot alike – I’m an eccentric, liberal, 50 year old tie-dye wearing, alternative practitioner who kills time wandering the aisles of PCC when I’m bored. :) I’d love to get together sometime, as one can always use some more friends! Get in touch if you’d like at butterflybalance at gmail (and anyone else who’d like to join in).
December 14, 2013 at 11:09 pm #801490
datamuseParticipantGenerally agree with the consensus–the real distance isn’t far (I just drove from the ID, took 10 minutes) but the psychic distance might as well be as far as the moon. (A friend who now lives in Columbia City used to call it “Fortress West Seattle.” Hey, there are drawbridges…)
I wonder sometimes if the large forest on our eastern border, plus the high elevation relative to the surrounding area, affects people’s perceptions. Do people who live on Beacon Hill have this problem, I wonder?
December 14, 2013 at 11:36 pm #801491
JanSParticipantand do these same people have a problem going to Burien?
December 15, 2013 at 12:14 am #801492
TreyseaLinMemberHey Pangolin,
I’ve been here about as long as you, moved from out of state. Always welcome new friends, especially local ones. I agree; the spontaneous get together/movie night is tough to accomplish. Leaving town for the holidays but would love to meet after. Can be reached at tracylynn45, and that’s at yahoo. Happy Holidays!
December 15, 2013 at 1:02 am #801493
JayDeeParticipantI have lived here 17 years and people always exclaim how far it is. But it is really not. Except for the morning rush hour. Once you hit the Spokane Viaduct and the Bridge it is very close. Try NW Ballard or Magnolia–now they are hard to get to. Even Queen Anne–you better know the secret ways there or it is very far away. Hang in there Pangolin-you will survive, you will get by…in the words of the Grateful Dead.
December 15, 2013 at 1:19 am #801494
datamuseParticipantJanS, most of my Seattle friends who live outside West Seattle are barely aware that Burien exists.
December 15, 2013 at 3:25 am #801495
PangolinPieParticipantI was going to say the same thing; I doubt I know many people who really know where Burien is. Sue and Tracy Lynn, I will email! I knew there were like minded, interesting people here. :)
December 15, 2013 at 3:46 am #801496
SueParticipantdatamuse, even the West Seattleites thought Burien was too far away and demanded a Trader Joe’s in town. :) I personally like Burien, and even considered it in my recent move, but I just couldn’t leave WS.
December 15, 2013 at 3:52 am #801497
sam-cParticipantI have a handful of friends that love to come to West Seattle if a trip to Ma Kai is in order. of course, one of those friends has gone car-free and that trip is now a lot more complicated for her.
December 15, 2013 at 9:19 am #801498
datamuseParticipantWe got married in Seahurst Park, so clearly Burien wasn’t too far for us! But, some people think White Center is a long way from the Junction, and I don’t get that either.
December 15, 2013 at 11:02 pm #801499
PangolinPieParticipantI like Burien! I’d always rather go to that Trader Joe’s, the post office always has parking, and their little downtown area is cute. It’s a good place to visit when you need to run several different types of errands that are necessary but not fun.
That should be their city slogan. Heh.
December 15, 2013 at 11:48 pm #801500
drdclaParticipantEntice then pie from Shoo Fly Pie!! Invite them to dinner at M’ano.
December 16, 2013 at 3:59 pm #801501
JoBParticipantwe haven’t done a woman of a certain age brunch for a while…
perhaps we should broaden it to a person of a certain age brunch :0
December 16, 2013 at 4:25 pm #801502
PangolinPieParticipantAs a woman of a certain age, I am interested! ;)
December 16, 2013 at 4:48 pm #801503
JoBParticipantone of those certain age get togethers is how a lot of us met.. once upon a time.. in a land called the WSB forum :)
maybe january?
December 16, 2013 at 5:37 pm #801504
PangolinPieParticipantSure, sounds good. Coffee and treats at a bakery perhaps? Or should we get wild and have a happy hour someplace? :)
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