Whitman

Whitman includes the second main retail part of town. It centers around the Northtown mall, which is bigger than the downtown mall with a better variety of stores.

There’s also a big retail strip here along Francis, with some of the big retailers like Lowe’s, some grocery stores, and plenty of fast food.

The rest of the neighborhood is just housing, mainly single-family homes, like much of north Spokane. The houses here tend to be on the smaller, more affordable side—you can find a 3 bedroom house with yard and driveway for about $700 a month.

There are a few new apartment buildings with slightly higher rents, but overall the neighborhood could probably use a bit of a face lift in the future. It’s really not bad though, for how affordable it is.

The streets are arranged in very neat grids of north/south and east/west streets.

Franklin Park is a draw to the area, though technically in Northtown neighborhood east of Division. There’s a big baseball field, as well as picnic areas. But the best part is the playground and the interactive fountain. It gets HOT in Spokane in the summer, so kids (and grown ups!) love splashing around here.

A few suggestions:

--Allies Vegan Pizzeria and Café: A vegan place in Spokane!!! And it is super delicious too. A great option for lactose-intolerant people who still want to eat pizza. Or cheese sticks. Or ranch dressing. Or nachos. Or cheese cake. And miraculously, they make everything in-house, and they do it all well.
--Phontip Style Thai Restaurant. Surprisingly good food for such a little place! I can recommend the Pad Thai and the dumplings. Super affordable too.