Belltown

Trendy Neighborhood

Description

This bustling area of Seattle is known for its trendy, young professional crowd--and the restaurants, coffee shops, and boutiques that come with it. Due to its proximity on the waterfront, it's one of the most densely populated (and highly popular) areas of the city. The residents of the area enjoy an urban lifestyle, which is embodied in the many lofts, high-rises, and renovated warehouses re-purposed into studios that line the streets. Originally, Belltown was called Denny Hill--a steeply rising hill that posed various city-planning challenges, including a sharp cliff that formed the hill's western border and dropped down to Elliott Bay below. Reginald Heber Thompson, the city's engineer in the early 1900s, decided to "regrade" (flatten) the hill to make way for the transit lines, hotels, apartments, and warehouses that would come to populate Denny Hill throughout the 20th century. Today, the area bustles with life and culture, making it a great place to take a walking tour if you're visiting or living in Seattle.