The Tofu Hunter published an interesting post yesterday (Saturday, April 18, 2010).
The post, a review of the Greenlake Bar & Grill (7200 E Green Lake Drive N), offered the following observations about the Green Lake neighborhood:
I don’t spend enough time hanging out at Greenlake, and was a little surprised by the reality of the parade of fit, clean, fashionable exercisers doing their thing all around. We were surrounded by elements of urbanity, restaurants, bars, cars, lots of people, etc, but all of the dirty stuff had been scraped away leaving just a gleaming, safe-feeling, eco-conscious bubble of Lulu Lemon, coffee-to-go, and high-class jogging strollers. Nothing to say here that isn’t already well ingrained in the minds of the stereotype-aware Seattleite, but it felt both wonderful and weird and left me thinking long after I left.
What do you think? Is Green Lake “just a gleaming, safe-feeling, eco-conscious bubble of Lulu Lemon, coffee-to-go, and high-class jogging strollers,” and, if so, does it leave you feeling, like The Tofu Hunter, “both wonderful and weird”?
Yes, Greenlake FEELS very squeaky and clean, but scratch under the surface and you will find a surprisingly high crime rate and even cancer rate due to it's proximity to freeways. I lived in the area for a year but never felt at home because of the lack of diversity.
I lived in Greenlake for 10 years. It is a very popular place to go but very disconnected as a neighborhood and not a completely comfortable place to live. From my perspective, Greenlake is ruined by all the busy roads around it. Not just I5 and Aurora but the loop road itself destroys what Greenlake could be. Add in all the thru roads; 80th, 85th, 50th, 65th, etc. and the place is a drivethru neighborhood. Roads always bring blight, and the bigger the road the bigger the blight.
As to Tofu Hunters comments, I think they're great. But thinking about it, I realized that Greenlake is like a massive fitness club. It draws all these hip, fit-seekers who drive in to have workout run, walk, jog, etc, maybe grab a bite to eat and a coffee, then leave Greenlake to go back to another, more comfortable neighborhood. Greenlake currently is a great place to go, not so great place to live. A great potential, ruined by roads.
Green Lake has its own culture but I would hardly call it weird. I call it the heaven of Seattle. An amazing place to live. I gotta go now and walk the path around Green Lake. It's beautiful outside. Don't miss it.
Well…I'm confused. Do we want to live in a clean and safe place or live in Tacoma? I'd much rather see “fashionable exercisers” than kids with their pants down to their knees. With all the people and the popularity of the lake it's bound to upset the “old timers” (me too). We do need better police coverage. The jogger who was attacked recently is only one of several women who have been assaulted in the last few years.
Greenlake doesn't have that “neighborhoody” feel as some other areas of Seattle (Madison Park, Magnolia, Ballard), but I think that's mostly to do with the geography of it. It's hard to have a cohesive neighborhood separated by a huge lake in the middle. When you look at property listings, it's ridiculous to see what realtors will classify as the “Greenlake area.” 100th NE & Stone? Not Greenlake, my friends. I live by the GL Bar & Grill, and I have no idea who my neighbors are, but I feel like that's a product of city living as a whole.
I love living here (though I hate never being able to park in front of or even near my house on a sunny weekend day), and I don't think Tofu's comments should be construed as negative. That stereotype may be the type of people who come and use GL, but definitely not the area as a whole.
Taking a little offense at the Tacoma comment, having lived there 3 years prior to moving to the Greenlake neighborhood. I do not feel any safer here than I did there. But don't get me wrong, I love living here, and it is mostly about the lake: having such a great running route, watching the bird life through the seasons around the lake, and being within walking distance of some great businesses. I do dislike all the influx on nice days that creates traffic and noise (makes me enjoy the bad weather days), but I suppose when you live someplace like this you have to expect to share.
Taking a little offense at the Tacoma comment, having lived there 3 years prior to moving to the Greenlake neighborhood. I do not feel any safer here than I did there. But don't get me wrong, I love living here, and it is mostly about the lake: having such a great running route, watching the bird life through the seasons around the lake, and being within walking distance of some great businesses. I do dislike all the influx on nice days that creates traffic and noise (makes me enjoy the bad weather days), but I suppose when you live someplace like this you have to expect to share.