Northwest

Northwest is the Spokane neighborhood to live in if you like doing sports. Golf, Frisbee, bmx, swimming, softball, baseball, soccer, skating. It’s all here.

Here are your options:

--Downriver Golf Course
--Downriver Disc Golf Course (for the rest of us, who’d rather invest in a Frisbee than in a set of clubs and a golf course membership)
--Downriver Park: with river access, picnicking, and walking trails
--Dwight Merkel Sports Complex: This place is huge! They have 5 softball/baseball fields, 6 natural turf soccer fields, 2 artificial turf soccer fields, a bmx course, a skate park, a wading pool, and picnic area. Not bad. I love that the city invested in this, because it’s so great for the community to have all these options.

Other benefits of living here is that housing is very affordable. You’re also pretty close to the Northtown shopping center on Division, and all the commercial options on Francis. Overall, this neighborhood has a reputation of being relatively safe, with a solid middle-class communities settled down in small, single-family homes.

Probably the only downside is the distance from downtown, though the commute isn’t that bad. There’s also not much of a community downtown here with shops and restaurants. They tend to be scattered on Francis, Northwest Blvd, and Wellesley.

A couple of recommendations:

--Maple Street Bistro: super cute neighborhood place with delish coffee and breakfast sandwiches. The smoothies are also great in the summer.
--Wall Street Diner: Deliciously greasy American breakfasts. Perfect hangover cure.
--The Flying Goat: A fun pizza spot with good beer.
--Rancho Chico: a down-home Mexican place with great service.