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Moving to Seattle?
Moridin889
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello there. After a long series of unfortunate events, I've decided to pick up and move across the country. Currently in Illinois, but going to end up in Seattle. I've always wanted to live in a bigger city, but I know unfamiliarity with the area is going to kick my butt for a while.
Any tips/tricks for Seattle? Traffic issues, places to stay/not stay, must see stuff, etc.
Any tips/tricks for Seattle? Traffic issues, places to stay/not stay, must see stuff, etc.
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Seriously, though, traffic is terrible. The good news? Seattle's public transit is actually pretty decent for an American city and it's getting better.
The best advice I can give for dealing with Seattle commutes is to think of the greater metro region in terms of four quadrants, more or less like this:
This isn't scientific or anything, this is just my impression of the big traffic bottlenecks. Trying to cross either of the bridges over Lake Washington (90 or 520) during rush hour is a shitshow. Trying to push through downtown Seattle (highways 5 or 99) or Bellevue (405) is a mess. If you can keep your commute within one of the quadrants, or commute from a quadrant into one of the axes, you're fine. Try to cross quadrants and you're going to have a bad time.
My commute is entirely in the northwest quadrant and it's a breeze. I avoid freeways and bridges and I never hit traffic.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
My only advice is to combine Craigslist with walkability scores and consider Tacoma or various suburbs instead. Unless you have a really good software job waiting for you, in which case Seattle is your oyster.
I see that as I look around at places. I was checking out the suburbs anyway just because I don't know how parking situations are.
I'm in business management so I don't think I'll be hopeless at finding a job. Wages also seem to be higher with the cost of living increase.
The unfortunate events were basically deciding to move in with a SO and everything fell apart. Opens up a nice opportunity though.
Logistics
1.) I5 Traffic is really only awful during the usual rush hour periods, outside of those times it's a quick thirty minutes from where I live in Mill Creek into Seattle which is no big deal at all. I constantly pop into Seattle to go to concerts, meet with friends, etc.
2.) Parking in Seattle sucks all the time except at night when a lot of spots open up and the pay to park spots on the side of the road become free.
3.) Day time driving in Seattle is annoying in general. You're better off just getting a parking spot in the general area you need to get to and then walking wherever.
4.) The suburbs are indeed where it's at if you want something reasonably affordable.
5.) 3rd Avenue is...an adventure.
6.) South Seattle around SeaTac is kinda sketchy
7.) Northgate has a Light Rail stop under construction right now and once it's done I expect rent to jump around there.
8.) The 520 bridge is a toll bridge, the i90 isn't.
Stuff to do
1.) Rumba (near the WSCC, aka PAX West) has excellent food and drinks. So far it's easily my favorite hangout in Seattle and also happens to be the only place I've found that can make a Mai Tai without fucking it up.
2.) Katsu Burger will ruin burgers for you forever.
3.) Eat a bag of Dick's. Best paired with a few pints of Unicorn Jizz.
4.) The EMP Museum has rotating exhibits and is worth keeping an eye on to see what they have in. I just went to their Star Trek exhibit and it was super good.
5.) If you're into airplanes there are plane museums all over the place here. My personal recommendation is the Flying Heritage Museum in Everett. It's smaller but almost everything there has been restored and still flies.
6.) If you're into live music there's shit going on all the time. It's almost a little overwhelming trying to keep up with it haha.
7.) Welcome to the home of PAX Prime West! Come to the yearly events I host there!
8.) If you enjoy swordplay/fencing/etc. then Salle St. George in Northgate is a pretty solid school.
This is definitely the same impression I've gotten regarding traffic zones. The other way I look at it is via the exits, at least regarding my usual route. 180+ is pretty quiet regardless of time of day. 170-180 gets a little clogged up around 175, and anything under 170 is podcast/bring a book territory.
There is a bias in a lot of industries here against out-of-town candidates.
I recommend getting a local address here either by using a friend's address, or rent a UPS Store mailbox* and put that on your resume. It's not lying as long as you actually receive mail there.
* UPS stores have actual street addresses, as opposed to PO Boxes.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Are you a gamer at all? Seattle has excellent game stores, some of which serve food or alcoholic beverages. You can buy or borrow a game and enjoy it in their drinking area with a beer.
A few standouts include:
Gamma Ray Games (Capitol Hill)
Card Kingdom (Ballard)
Mox Boarding House (Bellevue, same ownership as Card Kingdom)
There are also several pinball and/or retro-video-game-oriented businesses, including:
Full Tilt - Ice cream, beer, and pinball
Unicorn - Pac-Man-era arcade games, pinball, and cocktails
Shorty's - Dive bar arcade, not safe for people with clown phobia
Add-A-Ball - Dive bar arcade, not safe for people with a phobia of Patrick Swayze
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
You can find cheaper south of Seattle, and the light-rail/sounder train/busses make it pretty easy to commute into Seattle if you get a job.
Honestly I'd focus on finding a job first before you decide where to live. You could end up working in any of those quadrants that Feral pointed out up above, and if you say get a job in Redmond, then you're not gonna enjoy commuting there from Queen Anne or what have you.
I was able to find a job before moving out here, which made the transition understandably easier.
That being said, i feel like it's not a difficult time to find a job here right now.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Also Uptown Espresso and Gameporium! I play Epic Thursday nights over there
I'm indeed big on games. Around here there's not really options for stuff like that. PAX definitely entered the equation when choosing where to go.
Still not looking forward to the 28 hour drive to get there.
I used to live in Tacoma. (I live in Dupont now) Rent averages between $400 to $2000+ depending where you wanna live. If you choose to live in Tacoma I'd recommend living West of I5. The east area is kinda shady. University Place, Steillacoom, and portions of Lakewood aren't bad areas to live. Additionally, leave early for work if you do choose Tacoma. The dome area is under permanent construction (They've been working on it for 30+ years now) and always gets congested during rush hour. If you choose to live farther south (Dupont/Lacy) expect extremely long commutes. JBLM traffic absolutely massacres I5 from 1530-1900.
If you have any questions about the surrounding Tacoma area hit me up. I'd be more than happy to help!
Really, the thing about Renton is that its got its fair share of bottlenecks but is also a great deal of unincorporated areas. So you might be in Renton, but really, you're in an independant region.
Gas prices are insanely cheap out here compared to the rest of the city. I've driven all the way back on E rather than put anything in from the city stations.
Also, anything outside downtown Renton is going to be a beast to bus out of on the weekends. I've lost track of the many people I've had to tell that they could not catch a bus into the highlands after 6 pm on a sunday.
So when do I get my certification to call it the Best Coast?
Also if anybody wants to meet-up and see Dr strange or do anything else let me know.