Yo homie, I live in Seattle. It's the fucking tits. Forget the Twin Cities, fly from your friends, and you will have the experience of a lifetime out here. From reading your post I can see that you're ready for a change. I grew up in Montana and when I came to Seattle, I didn't know anyone out here. Not a soul. It was scary but it ended up being the best decision I ever made. We're home to Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Modest Mouse (well, Issaaquah is), and you can check out the history of these fantastic musicians at the EMP Museum, which looks frickin' awesome. There's also a ton of sweet science fiction stuff there, original shit from Star Trek and Star Wars and M&M's from space. Speaking of cool architecture, the Space Needle sticks out of our city like a totally bitching alien spacecraft. I'm actually waiting for that thing to take off one of these nights. Oh shit, you enjoy smoking Mary Jane Wanna? Well guess what son? It's legal here! Cops don't give a rat's ass! So smoke on up! Hell, there's a group of rasta dudes that sit around at Pike Place all the time blazing up. I've bought weed from those guys. Just gonna take a wild guess here--you enjoy consuming food. Well I've got good news. Seattle's food is incredible. We're right on the Puget Sound smack dab in the heart of the Pacific Northwest so that means fresh seafood out the ass. And if seafood isn't your thing, we've got other options too--Paseo in Freemont serves Cuban sandwiches that are off the chain. Dick's burgers are out of this world good, the best 2 A.M. drunchies you'll ever have. I'm Italian so I'm partial to Petra on 4th and Belltown for great Mediterranean cuisine. Valve's here. Microsoft's here. Amazon's here. If you've got an interest/career path in the tech field, Seattle is the motherfucking place to be. Even if you don't, (like me for example) the thousands of guys/gals employed at those places are usually pretty chill. Hell, everybody in Seattle is chill--we're all stoned! Sports fan? Me too. We've got the Mariners (who suck, but that means cheap tickets), Seahawks (do not suck, atmosphere is unforgettable) and the Sounders (cheap tickets, one of the most LIVE crowds at any MLS venue in the country). Check out Almost Live's guide to living in Seattle. It's hilarious and John Keister, one of the writers/actors on the show, taught me how to write screenplays. We're truly the only place in America where you can be a suicidal gay pothead, and not break any laws in the process! We're forward-thinking. Progressive. And it really doesn't rain as much as people say. More like, drizzle. I actually like the rain, but that's just me. Come to Seattle.
Wow, thanks for the amazing post! This honestly makes me feel a lot more excited about potentially coming out there. I am definitely a tech enthusiast, but unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of good technical experience in the field. One of the positions I applied for out there was an administrative position at the Google campus in Kirkland, though! Any advice on what neighborhoods I should be looking at for a place to rent? So far I've been looking at Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Fremont, and Ballard. Housing in the University area district definitely seems to be the cheapest, though. I'd like to live in a fun area with nightlife, etc. but I don't have a whole lot to spend. Could definitely make do with a small studio.Valve's here. Microsoft's here. Amazon's here. If you've got an interest/career path in the tech field, Seattle is the motherfucking place to be.
I moved from Ann Arbor to Seattle back in '05 - site unseen. My brother was living in Portland at the time with his girl and they wanted to check it out too, so we all moved in together. Got a place in Upper Queen. I used to walk down that crazy ass hill to hit up the bars in Lower Queen, which I affectionately refer to as The LQ. Still have no idea why that term hasn't taken off yet. Easy Street records is down there so I would kill some Dick's and then listen to records all day. Once the evening rolled around I would sit up in Kerry Park and watch the sunset behind the Olympic Fucking Mountains. Yep - Olympics to the west and Cascades to the east. It's a 50 minute drive to Snoqualmie for decent skiing at the Summit. Go a bit north to Mt. Baker for an even better downhill. Baker, btw, has the world record for snowfall in a month AND in a year. 95 feet beyotch! After that first year, I got a little sick of living with a couple so I moved to the north end of Cap Hill. I used to say it was where Hipsterville U.S.A. ended and really really old money began. I was working in the ID at the time and would usually walk home. Throw on some headphones and cut through the city up to Pine. Maybe stop by OMA's insanely progressive library, walk through Lawrence Halprin's Freeway Park - which feels like forest hiking but in the middle of downtown, and might have even ended up at Sun Liquor from time to time. That's a great little bar tucked away on the hill. They make a fantastic Manhattan. Working on 4th was great cause my lunch opportunities were pretty spectacular. Chinatown, Pioneer Square, I could even walk to the market and back in an hour. On weekends I would jog around Volunteer Park and sometimes pay my respects to the master himself - Bruce Lee. Brandon is buried right beside him too. I would cruise Broadway pumping Sir-Mix-a-Lot's 'Posse on Broadway'. Shout out to Rainier. To add to onehunna's list - Seattle is home to the Fleet Foxes, Pedro the Lion, Heart, Quincy Jones, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, and Dave Matthews. Dave lives in Wallingford I think. I hear he walks around like it ain't no thing. I even had jury duty once in the courthouse downtown and sure enough, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab was in the stands with me. It was a hung jury, but me and Ben both thought that fool was guilty. True story. And yeah, the venues are great here - small and big, easy to get to. The Capitol Hill Block Party is fun, Bumbershoot (in the City Center) is good, and just the drive down to Sasquatch along the Columbia River is worth the trip alone. It's easily one of the best looking parts of the entire country. I should also mention that the Pacific Northwest is one of the few remaining temperate rain forests on the planet with some of the oldest living trees in the world. I live in Vancouver now, but still have a handful of friends in Seattle who manage to get me down there a few times a year. I stay at my buddy's in Ballard. He has a boat now so after a bit of volleyball in Golden Gardens, we shimmy up the canal on his sunrunner and watch the fishing boats come in. Last time I was on the water, we saw a yoga class on paddle boards. No joke. That had to be the most Seattle thing ever. Ha ha! And as far as the rain goes. Just be prepared and you'll be fine. Besides, the water keeps everything super green and makes the city glisten with the most charming sparkles - be still my heart.
All of those locations are good. I've lived in Belltown, which has a ton of nightlife, but is very expensive. Right now I'm on Capitol Hill, which also has a ton of nightlife. It's the gay district, but if you don't mind getting hit on every now and then it's a lot of fun. I had a girlfriend who had a place in Queen Anne and it's nice there, and not as expensive as it is in the heart of the city. Quieter, too. The U District can be sketchy but yeah, it's cheap and fun. Tons of UW students up there. I head up there whenever I wanna get white boy wasted.
Luke, where you at in MT? I attended the University of Montana in Missoula. I can see why you'd want to get to Seattle, but Montana sure is an amazing state. I look forward to one day returning.
I've definitely been through Butte and seen the carnage that is the remains of the mine. Hard to believe that at one point it was the most wealthy place on earth. Good luck getting to Seattle. Montana is a special place to me, can't wait to someday go visit Missoula.
I can confirm that Seattle is an awesome city. My girlfriend is in grad school at UW so I visit frequently (I'm currently based in Los Angeles). The food is great, the people are fun, and the public transport is amazing. One of my biggest regrets is not getting into the UW MSTP program. I definitely look forward to applying for postdoc/residency in Seattle. Speaking of technology, there is a lot of super-cool global health innovation. Seattle is home to the Gates Foundation and PATH. Plus, there is a lot of cool work coming out of UW on the application of cellulose based devices for cheap, rapid, point of care diagnostics (the lab of Paul Yager).