North Queen Anne

North Queen Anne has some lovely houseboats along the Fremont Cut. The only reason I know this is because I’ve ridden my bike past this neighborhood, on the Ship Canal Trail. It was very pleasant to take a break in the park on the shores of the canal, relax in the shade of the trees, have a snack, and watch the boats float along the water. Later we rode our bikes down to the Ballard Locks to see the salmon.

Other than the houseboats and Seattle Pacific University, it didn’t seem to have anything particularly memorable. It’s simply a charming residential neighborhood on a very, very steep hill. We did not contemplate for a moment riding our bikes up it! It looked like many of the homes higher up on the hill were single-family houses, while those lower down were multi-unit buildings. If I were to live here, I’d try to get one that wasn’t too close to the Aurora bridge. I’ll never forget the bus that went off the bridge in 1998!

I live in Lower Queen Anne right now, and would consider West or East Queen Anne also, but I’m not sure if I’d live in North Queen. It just seems kinda too quiet and harder to access. But I guess if you live close to the top of the hill, it doesn’t really make a difference which side you’re technically on.

Being deeper on the north side is definitely a different feel though. You’re closer to Fremont and north Seattle, rather than downtown and the Seattle center. If feels more like a neighborhood and less like downtown than the rest of the hill.

Seattle Pacific University keeps the neighborhood young. I considered checking out their programs because it’s so close, but there was a shooting there in 2014. Scary stuff. But there’s shootings everywhere now so it doesn’t really matter. But the school is super expensive anyways, costs like $40k a year to go there, so I’d probably look somewhere else if I wanted to go back to school.

You might be a little surprised that Queen Anne Hill, just north of Seattle, is divided into four mini-neighborhoods. And each of these has its own unique feel. North Queen Anne, on the far side of the hill from downtown Seattle, is probably the quietest and the most affordable of the four. In the north, it’s bounded by the Fremont Cut--the slice of water that pours from Lake Union towards Puget Sound. The east is bounded by highway 99, and the west by 15th ave.

Like other parts of Queen Anne, this neighborhood is also extremely steep, especially the east side.

Because of that steepness, as well as the Fremont Cut waterway, the neighborhood is pretty isolated when it comes to transportation, compared to other downtown neighborhoods. Many of the streets are too high of a grade for buses to crawl up. It can also be hard on your car. Lesson learned: don’t try to drive a full car of people with your Civic Hybrid up some of the steepest hills. It will be very, very slow going. Also, on the rare occasion that Seattle gets snow flurries that manage to stick to the ground, plan to stay home or walk, because those north-facing hills get slick, and most non-skiers don’t own winter tires.

Likewise, as you’d guess, the north side of Queen Anne Hill gets much less sun in the winter than the other sides of the hill. Since we can have pretty grey, dark winters at times, it’s definitely something to keep in mind when viewing potential places to live.

For eating out, you have two options, and both involve hills: 1. Go to the top of the hill to the downtown Queen Anne area. Lots of mid to high-priced places here, plenty of options. 2. Go down the hill to Nickerson Street, which runs parallel to the Fremont Cut--the waterway from Lake Union to Puget Sound. On Nickerson, there are a couple of Thai Places, and a Zeeks Pizza. Heading east on Nickerson, before you get to the Fremont Bridge, you’ll find the Nickerson Street Saloon (typical pub food, good vibe) and Ponti Seafood Grill, a classy place with views of the sailboats cruising past. And of course, once you cross the bridge into Fremont, you have dozens of options. Fremont is probably the best bet for a night out within walking distance.

Seattle Pacific Univeristy is based in North Queen Anne as well. It’s a small Christian school, with about 4,000 students. From my experience, the campus (a few blocks around Nickerson and 3rd) is pretty quiet, and the students are polite. It doesn’t really feel like a college part of town, compared to Seattle University or the University of Washington, which are both many times larger.

Speaking of schools, if you have little ones, there are two public elementary schools in the neighborhood--Coe Elementary and Queen Anne Elementary. There’s also the private Seattle Country Day School, with upscale buildings, and tuition fees to pay for it all. For Middle School, all students in Queen Anne, Ballard, Downtown, and Magnolia head to McClure Middle School, located near the top of Queen Anne Hill. But then for high school, the kids will head north to Ballard High School. So if you have kids going from middle to high school, they may have friends who end up at different high schools due to the Seattle’s school zones.

Parks: At first glance, it seems like North Queen Anne is lacking in easy access to great parks. Besides the cemetery, the only green space within boundaries is David Rodgers Park, which is ok, but not nearly as inspiring as some of the Seattle biggies like Discovery Park or Golden Gardens (both about a 10 minute drive, without traffic). However, there is a paved walking/biking lane along both sides of the Fremont Cut. I’ve spent many summer evenings strolling along this gorgeous, tree-lined path to get a break from the heat.

This is also where you’ll find some houseboats! Occasionally you’ll see one for rent, though the price, of course, is steep for the amount of space you get. For some, the novelty is worth the price.

Other than the houseboats, much of North Queen Anne is comprised of single-family homes and small apartments. Because it takes a little longer to get places, there’s less sunlight in winter, and there aren’t quite as many amenities as the other Queen Anne neighborhoods, the rent is just a *bit* more affordable here. But it's still in high demand, so don't expect any amazing deals. There are also some very expensive places for rent—often the ones with the best views.

Queen Anne is one of the largest areas in Seattle broken into directional sections of North, South, East and West. The north Queen Anne section is unlike its other points. This area of Queen Anne isn’t known for its shops with mostly cleaners and like businesses in the north area.

Two of the best bars in my opinion are The Dubliner on Fremont Ave N and Nickerson Street Saloon on interestingly enough Nickerson Street. Although not the most happening places in the area they have great drinks and aren’t so hip you feeling like your undressed when you visit them. North Queen Anne also has one of the best taco shops called Melena’s which is a small, mostly take out restaurant that serves some of the best tacos in Seattle. It’s worth the trip to area just for one.

The housing market in the area is all over the place with the dwellings currently available being condos and apartments. The pricing is all over the place with some homes starting in the $250,000 range and others over $900,000 thousand. The cheaper homes are defiantly serious fixer uppers or units taken in foreclosure.