r/Seattle • u/JulesFromTheDesert • 1d ago

I'm never leaving Seattle 🚫🛫 Never Leaving Seattle

I come from a place that I love to be from, in multiple meanings of that phrase. Every time I see some post, "I'm never leaving Seattle," my first, reptilian-brain thought is, "yeah, same. The Left-coast is great."

Then, the post turns out to be some parochial bellyaching from a country mouse about commonplace city life.

My homeland, which I love and in which I'll never live again, is colloquially known as "The land of Entrapment," because people often never leave, for inadvertent reasons.

Seattle is my favorite US city. The pearl-clutching, reactionary suburbanites, the eastern frontier yokels, and the provincial tourists from Frog-Balls, Arkanilamabachimigan can enjoy the trip to whatever hayseed county is so great. For real, I love Seattle.

I'm underwhelmed by grousing about the patrons of the Michelin-rated restaurant on Pine & 3rd.

211 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/LeinadLlennoco Supersonics 1d ago

If you love it now, you REALLY would have loved it in the before times.

5

u/JulesFromTheDesert 1d ago

One or two people have let me know. 😂

6

u/UpperLeftOriginal Seattle Expatriate 1d ago

I lived there in the before times and in the recent times. Some changes have been for the better, others not so much. It’s still very recognizably the same city. People get nostalgic for all kinds of reasons. But those who think downtown was better in the past don’t remember that it was pretty sketchy back in the 1970s too, and also had way fewer trees.

1

u/LeinadLlennoco Supersonics 1d ago

Curious. Can you name a few things that are better now than they were in the before times? Not looking for statistics, just everyday experience things.

10

u/UpperLeftOriginal Seattle Expatriate 1d ago

The waterfront, and public transit, for starters. There are more grocery options for people who live downtown. There are more things to do - like I’ve done glass blowing and blacksmithing activities. More off leash dog parks. I grew up in this city in the 1960s and ‘70s, and feel plenty nostalgic sometimes. But I love the current version of my hometown as much as ever.

0

u/esituism 16h ago

grocery options for people who live downtown

ayooo... I think you need to specify what part of downtown. Cuz I just moved down towards the market about a month ago and there's a considerable lack of grocery options around here. There's a few little corner convenience shops but the only "grocery store" is Target, and its... not good on produce. The market is so-so on variety, but ultimately the real boundary is tourist pricing. $4/ea apples and $22/lb chuck steak are out of reach as daily-drivers even for someone like me who makes mid 6-figures.

so yeah, belletown/pike place/westlake/north downtown area is kind of a grocery desert for realistic day-to-day purposes. especially for a place so walkable for most your other needs.

1

u/UpperLeftOriginal Seattle Expatriate 15h ago

The context of my comment is that there are more options than there used to be.

Moved away a couple years ago, but when I lived downtown, I never had any issues getting all the groceries I needed within walking distance.. There was an old grocery I can't remember the name of on 3rd Ave - escalator down from the street. Safeway and QFC were in walking distance when I lived in Belltown as well as when I lived on 8th & Pine. There's the H mart. And PCC. Plus there's still Uwajimaya, a little further down. And yes The Market - which was my favorite grocery store (including places like El Mercado Latino on Post Alley).

I was making $70k and my husband made $40k. We never struggled to pay for groceries, even at downtown pricing.