Is 15th Ave. NW Really a Mini Aurora?
Kendra August 29th, 2008
Before I actually moved to Seattle, I spent 5 weeks renting a house here between leaving one job and starting another. I had been to Seattle only once before on a business trip in February and had fallen in love with this part of the U.S. but I wanted to see if living here was the same as coming for a business trip or vacation. This was during a period when Seattle had for several years made those “Best Places to Live” lists in various magazines and was getting a lot of press due to grunge, the Starbucks phenomena, etc. I have never been one to believe the hype so I took the opportunity to rent as my control in my little experiment on what it would be like to live here. I didn’t have a car while here, so I used the bus to get around from the place I was renting in Greenwood. It was easy to get downtown to the more touristy sites such as Pike Place Market, etc. However, when it came to scouting at neighborhoods, I guess the bus may have created a natural inclination towards neighborhoods such as Greenlake, Wallingford, Fremont and Ballard.
I was charmed by Ballard. At that time, the Scandinavian flavor of the neighborhood was more pronounced. There were a number of Scandinavian gift shops and food businesses along Northwest Market Street, streets lined with cottages and bungalows and few condos. An Italian friend came to visit me once and told me that she suspected I had paid people to walk around the neighborhood and say hello to her. She sputtered, “It’s like that movie ‘Pleasantville. It’s almost too perfect.”
So I was shocked to read something recently that listed the worst streets in Seattle and placed 15th Ave. NW right after 99/Aurora. My eyes bulged out at the preposterous idea that our main north and south thoroughfare could be seen as anything like Aurora. After all, Aurora has prostitutes in full view, worse traffic, businesses that make you wonder how they pay the rent and a strange cast of characters with wild eyes who mutter to themselves. There are a number of seedy motels and Ballard doesn’t even have a motel. Ballard in contrast seems like such a wholesome place. This was simply slander! I was especially appalled as a resident who lives only a couple of blocks from 15th Ave. NW.
Unable to scrub this affront of an article from my brain, I have now found myself mentally noting disturbing images on my rides up and down 15th Ave NW. Across the street from businesses needed by the community such as the QFC and Walgreens, is Daffy’s, a seedy looking place and then there is Centerfolds further down the road. While I love the fact that Crown Hill Hardware survives despite the competition from big box chains like Lowes’ and Home Depot, right across the street is the unholy trinity of: the Love Zone, the Plasma Center and the liquor store. Let’s hope that those lining up to sell their plasma didn’t make a quick stop into the liquor store first. There have been car thefts and other disturbances in my neighborhood over time and when I would hear about something, I would be so shocked as it’s the kind of community where people look out for one another. However, when I consider the kind of clientele these nearby businesses attract, even Nancy Drew would be able to draw some pretty accurate conclusions as to the spillover affect into the neighborhood.
When you consider 15th Ave. NW there is a lot of potential there, but unfortunately it’s currently a mishmash of chain stores such as Kinko’s and TMobile mixed in with small unique businesses such as the Celtic Trader and the Ballard Massage Center. Food options range from the ubiquitous fast food places like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell vs. the Scandinavian Bakery as well as Scandinavian Specialties, Jimmy’s and Lunchbox Laboratory which cater to people who like their food to be somewhat unique and not entombed in a cardboard or Styrofoam box. It makes me wonder how the development of 15th Ave. NW turned out so differently than NW Market Street. The way NW Market Street has developed has made it a desirable neighborhood for buyers and renters as well as a destination spot for tourists and hipsters alike.
When Safeway wanted to put in a gas station there was quite an outcry from residents due to its impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. I wonder why there hasn’t been as much pressure from the community to clean up 15th Ave. NW and encourage the kind of creative and independent businesses that residents could be proud of?
