Home › Forums › Open Discussion › West Seattle/Delridge – neighborhood definition
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October 11, 2011 at 7:28 pm #600862
JenneMemberI’m working on a round-up of gyms in Seattle, and would like WSBer feedback on the definition of Delridge vs. West Seattle. The Seattle city clerk’s official neighborhood page shows Delridge as going as far north as Spokane Street. This puts the big Allstar Fitness that’s just south of the W. Seattle bridge technically into the Delridge neighborhood, though most of us think of it as West Seattle. You can see the conundrum on the map here:
http://seattle.fitropolis.com/f/gym/delridge
Thus, my questions are:
Delridge residents:
Do you think of yourself as a Delridge person within a West Seattle umbrella, a Delridge person separate from West Seattle, not a Delridge person at all, something else altogether?
Do you prefer being able to search for Delridge-specific places, or are you used to looking at West Seattle for things? (I wanted to be sensitive to the plight of the Delridge resident, as I know many other sites tend to blob it all under West Seattle. If that’s not problematic, it’d be good to know.)
Delridge and West Seattle residents:
Do you agree with how the Seattle city clerk map defines Delridge, or are other borders more commonly used in daily life? You can view their map here:
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/nmaps/html/NN-1550S.htm
While I visit your neck of the woods often, want to hear from folks who live and work there every day.
October 11, 2011 at 8:06 pm #736901
JanSParticipantDelridge neighborhood is in West Seattle…West Seattle extends all the way to the Duwamish on the east. No conundrum here. Delridge is just another neighborhood, just like Highland Park is a WS neighborhood, or Gatewood, etc. etc. I live in the Admiral District..another neighborhood..and if I am looking for something specific in that neighborhood when doing a search, I simply put in the words “Admiral District”..or my zip code. One could do the same for Delridge.
and, yes, the city map is correct, in that Delridge extends all the way up to Spokane Street.
October 11, 2011 at 8:09 pm #736902
DBPMemberI’ve always seen Delridge as part of West Seattle and West Seattle as part of Seattle at large.
To me, there’s no West Seattle “neighborhood” as distinct from Delridge, but other folks who are snobbier than I may disagree.
October 11, 2011 at 8:16 pm #736903
datamuseParticipantI think the problem here is contained in the subject line. There’s no “versus” involved.
October 11, 2011 at 8:31 pm #736904October 11, 2011 at 8:43 pm #736905
kayoParticipantDelridge is part of West Seattle. Looking at the map on your link, it seems odd to me that Delridge is listed as an option along with West Seattle. What about all the other neighborhoods within West Seattle (Admiral, Genessee Hill, Highland Park, Alki, Gatewood, etc., etc.)? Why is Delridge separated out? It doesn’t make sense to me and should be changed. BTW I am a North Delridge resident and consider myself a West Seattleite.
October 11, 2011 at 9:03 pm #736906
ThistlemistMemberNot sure about the supposed conundrum of All-star Fitness’s location, I have always thought of it being located in the Delridge neighborhood.
To answer some of your specific questions, I lived on Delridge Avenue for three years (just recently moved to a different part of West Seattle) and as I knew everyone in my apartment building pretty well, I can say with good confidence that we always felt that our neighborhood was a part of/included in the greater West Seattle Neighborhood umbrella, just the way Alki or Admiral is. The feeling of being cut-off from the rest of “West Seattle” only really showed in as far as public transportation, as east/west bus travel is problematic on Delridge (to the point where people in my apartment building without cars would take the bus to Capitol Hill to grocery shop as it was often quicker then coordinating a trip to the Westwood Mall QFC. The Junction area was usually out of the picture in fall/winter/spring because it involved walking down Genesee from Avalon with groceries, not fun or advisable when sidewalk is slick with rain).
As far as looking business up, I always looked under West Seattle or White Center because it is pretty easy to know exactly what is and is not available in the Delridge area. There is some amazing business on Delridge (miss you Pearls) but for the most part, you have to travel off the Ave so to speak to get most of errands done.
October 11, 2011 at 10:09 pm #736907
WSBKeymasterIn the citywide system of district councils, there is a Southwest District Council with reps mostly from western West Seattle, and a Delridge Neighborhoods District Council with reps mostly from eastern West Seattle. I understand the history behind it and also the city logistics, but otherwise, anything that tries to label something on the peninsula – from the Duwamish River to Duwamish Head to the west-facing Puget Sound to the southern city limits – as separate from “West Seattle” … makes me cringe. We proudly cover WS as one peninsula, one community.
P.S. The city neighborhood maps are close to useless, as has been discussed here a million times. More than a few West Seattle neighborhoods aren’t even listed on them.
P.P.S. Allstar is not just in Delridge, it’s in North Delridge. Which even has its own neighborhood council: http://www.ndnc.org (see our coverage of last night’s monthly meeting on the news page).
-TR, resident of the Fauntleroy neighborhood of West Seattle, and very-frequent visitor to all others
October 11, 2011 at 10:57 pm #736908
JenneMemberThanks, everyone! Great feedback, VERY helpful.
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