Amid the hustle and bustle, there's a neighborhood with feeling

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

H.J. Russell knows he has a good deal but, hey, the man has paid some dues. His former home was a Chinatown shelter; his worldly belongings were stowed in his car. A whacked-out roommate once attacked him.

Russell's luck, though, finally turned. He has a job as a downtown doorman, and he landed a corner apartment in the elegantly restored Eagles Building. His monthly rent: $445.

His windows look down the length of Union Street to the ferries scooting across Elliott Bay.

"Look at this place," says Russell, a lively redhead who speaks with a thick New York City accent. "Can you believe this? Having a chance to live downtown with a view? Hello?"

Russell is part of a remarkable migration of wealthy and working-class people back into the core of Seattle, where residents would rather bump elbows on the sidewalk of life than seek sanctuary in a suburban cocoon.

In return for accepting the aggravations of an urban center, downtown dwellers live in the epicenter of culture and commerce, surrounded by some of the state's most powerful people and institutions.

Living downtown means being able to walk to the Pike Place Market or the downtown library. When hunger strikes, there's World Class Chili on Pike Street and sashimi-grade tuna at Wild Ginger Asian Restaurant & Satay Bar on Western Avenue.

Residents usually leave their cars parked, if they own one. And why shouldn't they? They live within walking distance of 450 restaurants, 10 theaters, two museums, 77 art dealers and galleries, and about 2,000 shops, including the city's biggest retail stores.

Living downtown also means never having to rake leaves, clean gutters, mow lawns or fret when the furnace goes on the fritz.

But it also means putting up with needle-jabbing junkies, the walking wounded and threatening thugs. Sirens and jackhammers generate an urban Muzak, while greedy landlords, aggressive cabbies and befuddled tourists serve as constant irritants.

This urban lifestyle is an acquired taste and not meant for everybody. Compared to Vancouver, B.C., where 50,000 people live downtown, less than 15,000 people choose to live in downtown Seattle. Residents within the core -- framed by Stewart Street, Interstate 5, James Street and the waterfront -- number less than 2,500 people.

But it is a neighborhood all the same, this place where the Denny Party came in 1852 to lay the foundation of one of America's great cities.

Continued:


• City core is in for a major facelift
• Affordable housing in short supply
• Once-seedy area now drawing empty-nesters and families alike