4 ms·

Seattle reminds me of London. Sure the weather sucks and it is raining all the time, but the people make up for it by being awesome to each other. People in sun

by nikcub 16y ago

Seattle reminds me of London. Sure the weather sucks and it is raining all the time, but the people make up for it by being awesome to each other. People in sunny cities tend to be dicks[1] Some of my fav cities in the world are those I least expected to be awesome. [1] not a scientific study but exhibit A: Los Angeles

potatolicious 16y ago
Have you heard of the Seattle Freeze? Basically it goes like this: the locals here (people who grew up/went to school here) are incredibly resentful of "transplants" who came from elsewhere, mostly to work in the tech industries here. We're blamed for anything from turning Seattle from a sleepy laid-back town into a monstrosity of big-city lights (it... isn't), to raising housing prices, to making everything suck more, to driving out the local music scene, etc etc (some of which have merit). In any case, Seattle's social scene is almost comically obviously divided into locals vs. transplants. I've been here for over a year, have made many friends, and only one of which is a local Seattleite. Transplants are forced to keep to themselves, and I'll just add a slight note that the vast majority of the transplant population is male (software, surprise!) People who visit Seattle often mistake our distant politeness and geniality as friendliness. It isn't. People will give you directions to the bus stop, we'll tell you the best places to get coffee, and we probably won't yell at you for cutting us off on the highway (much), but this is really just politeness, not friendliness. Culturally speaking people form social circles early on in life (high school or latest, college) and do not appear at all interested in expanding them. This is in contrast to some other cities I've lived in where everyone seems constantly eager to meet new people. It's also one of the more racially homogenous places I've seen (granted, my history is in Vancouver and Toronto, where at last count half the population was immigrant). Good Japanese food? Few and far between, pricey to boot. Good Chinese food? Does not exist. Good Indian food? Maybe one place waaaaay over on the east side, and this is despite having MS and Amazon's Indian engineer population feeding the demand. Good food is basically limited to "pretentious fusion attempt" and "Northwest seafood". Ethnic foods? Fuggetaboutit. You have greasy stuff only a notch or two above Panda Express, and that's about it. The food scene in this city sucks. Transportation? It's one of the few cities I've lived in (and I've lived in some shitty towns in the middle of nowhere, Ontario) where living in one of the central neighborhoods (Capitol Hill, for reference) makes me feel legless. The bus system sucks, the light rail is pathetic for any use except getting to the airport, and the "streetcar" can be beaten by a granny on a bicycle. Couple this with the fact that Seattle has no centralized city planning (it's a very loose collection of neighborhoods) and getting around without a car is a gigantic pain. Hell, it took me 45 minutes this afternoon to travel 1.0 miles on the bus (one of the most frequent routes, in fact). Mass transit effectively does not exist, and even when the government occasionally has a bright idea about effective, fast mass transit to finally connect all of the neighborhoods, the class-warfare-happy upper-middles on the east side are quick to attempt to torpedo anything. Our current initiative to make light rail finally useful, and for the first time get an effective mass commute option in the city is currently being fought tooth and nail by rich homeowners and builders fearing the "undesirables" will be able to move about too easily into their gated meccas. Yeah, the summers are gorgeous, the beer scene is delicious, the availability of the great outdoors is incredible... but overall I find this city to be incredibly insular, completely antisocial, stuffed to the brim with pretention (yuppie urban high-rise style and pretentious suburban rich style all rolled up into one, oh boy!). The only good thing about this damned place is the employment. So, if you want to make a fair bit of money, enjoy the weather, and hermit up writing code all day (or having beers with other coders... or having coffee with other coders... or going to dinner with other coders... or hitting the club with other coders, full of coders dropping mad dollaz trying to get laid...), come right on in. I'll even buy you a beer and start a pool on how long it takes for you to run screaming out of this town. The current average is 2 years. Note: This is a very harsh post. But, if you are married (or seriously involved), ready to settle down in a nice, peaceful suburb with good schools, Seattle's not such a bad place. There is so much nature around for you and the kiddos - I wouldn't mind growing up here at all. If you are however young, possibly single, and looking to meet interesting folk from diverse backgrounds and enjoy the urban lifestyle... consider carefully.
- RyanGWU82 16y ago
  Yes! Glad to see I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I moved to Seattle in 2008 and only stayed for about 7 months before I had to leave. The people were friendly and polite, but it was impossible to get to know people on more than a superficial level. There were a lot of activities going on -- concerts, summer festivals -- but they weren't good for meeting new people. I didn't have any trouble meeting people in other cities, so I do think it was the Seattle Freeze in action. Seattle was a perfect city on paper. It's beautiful in the summer and there's waterfront views in every neighborhood. There's a good arts scene for a city of its size, and the cost of living is pretty reasonable. But without any way to build a core group of friends, it was really difficult to handle living there. I had to leave before I went crazy!
- jscore 16y ago
  +1 Awesome insider post. I would say I feel like this more or less across the entire West Coast.
- sosuke 16y ago
  I'm from Austin and I've blamed transplants from other States for the exact same problems. I've decided if I can't beat them it's time to join them and I've got a long plan (years) to move up to Seattle and become a transplant myself!
- Splines 16y ago
  I don't know what it's like in other big cities (SF or New York), but the traffic in Seattle sucks. Driving anytime between 8-10AM and 5-7PM is a surefire way to get annoyed at stop-and-go freeway traffic. I avoid I-405/I-90 just so my commute's transit time can have lower variance. I'm from central Canada, and traffic in Regina and Winnipeg is a breath of fresh air compared to how it is around here (a 30 minute drive is considered exceptionally long). I'm tempted to move back to a smaller city just because of how much time I waste driving around.
  - potatolicious 16y ago
    It's unavoidable - Toronto and Vancouver are much the same. That's also why you live in a city where driving is not a requirement - where you can reasonably live without owning a car, or at the very least get your daily commute done 100% car-free. Then you get the perks of a big city with none of the gas-brake-honk. Seattle pretends to be such a city, but its transit is so ludicrously broken that it's actually a PITA. The buses are so notoriously bad that UW developed a mobile app (OneBusAway) that tracks where the buses actually are, as opposed to where they're supposed to be. It is pathetically typical for a every-15-minute route to have buses delayed by 14 minutes. And don't even get me started on the light rail line, ugh. Or worse, Paul Allen's pet streetcar. FWIW, I've had extensive experience with transit in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, London (Canada), Windsor, and Montreal. None of the above are anywhere close to craptasticness that is King County Metro or Sound Transit.

by nikcub 16y ago

potatolicious 16y ago

Have you heard of the Seattle Freeze? Basically it goes like this: the locals here (people who grew up/went to school here) are incredibly resentful of "transplants" who came from elsewhere, mostly to work in the tech industries here. We're blamed for anything from turning Seattle from a sleepy laid-back town into a monstrosity of big-city lights (it... isn't), to raising housing prices, to making everything suck more, to driving out the local music scene, etc etc (some of which have merit). In any case, Seattle's social scene is almost comically obviously divided into locals vs. transplants. I've been here for over a year, have made many friends, and only one of which is a local Seattleite. Transplants are forced to keep to themselves, and I'll just add a slight note that the vast majority of the transplant population is male (software, surprise!) People who visit Seattle often mistake our distant politeness and geniality as friendliness. It isn't. People will give you directions to the bus stop, we'll tell you the best places to get coffee, and we probably won't yell at you for cutting us off on the highway (much), but this is really just politeness, not friendliness. Culturally speaking people form social circles early on in life (high school or latest, college) and do not appear at all interested in expanding them. This is in contrast to some other cities I've lived in where everyone seems constantly eager to meet new people. It's also one of the more racially homogenous places I've seen (granted, my history is in Vancouver and Toronto, where at last count half the population was immigrant). Good Japanese food? Few and far between, pricey to boot. Good Chinese food? Does not exist. Good Indian food? Maybe one place waaaaay over on the east side, and this is despite having MS and Amazon's Indian engineer population feeding the demand. Good food is basically limited to "pretentious fusion attempt" and "Northwest seafood". Ethnic foods? Fuggetaboutit. You have greasy stuff only a notch or two above Panda Express, and that's about it. The food scene in this city sucks. Transportation? It's one of the few cities I've lived in (and I've lived in some shitty towns in the middle of nowhere, Ontario) where living in one of the central neighborhoods (Capitol Hill, for reference) makes me feel legless. The bus system sucks, the light rail is pathetic for any use except getting to the airport, and the "streetcar" can be beaten by a granny on a bicycle. Couple this with the fact that Seattle has no centralized city planning (it's a very loose collection of neighborhoods) and getting around without a car is a gigantic pain. Hell, it took me 45 minutes this afternoon to travel 1.0 miles on the bus (one of the most frequent routes, in fact). Mass transit effectively does not exist, and even when the government occasionally has a bright idea about effective, fast mass transit to finally connect all of the neighborhoods, the class-warfare-happy upper-middles on the east side are quick to attempt to torpedo anything. Our current initiative to make light rail finally useful, and for the first time get an effective mass commute option in the city is currently being fought tooth and nail by rich homeowners and builders fearing the "undesirables" will be able to move about too easily into their gated meccas. Yeah, the summers are gorgeous, the beer scene is delicious, the availability of the great outdoors is incredible... but overall I find this city to be incredibly insular, completely antisocial, stuffed to the brim with pretention (yuppie urban high-rise style and pretentious suburban rich style all rolled up into one, oh boy!). The only good thing about this damned place is the employment. So, if you want to make a fair bit of money, enjoy the weather, and hermit up writing code all day (or having beers with other coders... or having coffee with other coders... or going to dinner with other coders... or hitting the club with other coders, full of coders dropping mad dollaz trying to get laid...), come right on in. I'll even buy you a beer and start a pool on how long it takes for you to run screaming out of this town. The current average is 2 years. Note: This is a very harsh post. But, if you are married (or seriously involved), ready to settle down in a nice, peaceful suburb with good schools, Seattle's not such a bad place. There is so much nature around for you and the kiddos - I wouldn't mind growing up here at all. If you are however young, possibly single, and looking to meet interesting folk from diverse backgrounds and enjoy the urban lifestyle... consider carefully.

RyanGWU82 16y ago
Yes! Glad to see I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I moved to Seattle in 2008 and only stayed for about 7 months before I had to leave. The people were friendly and polite, but it was impossible to get to know people on more than a superficial level. There were a lot of activities going on -- concerts, summer festivals -- but they weren't good for meeting new people. I didn't have any trouble meeting people in other cities, so I do think it was the Seattle Freeze in action. Seattle was a perfect city on paper. It's beautiful in the summer and there's waterfront views in every neighborhood. There's a good arts scene for a city of its size, and the cost of living is pretty reasonable. But without any way to build a core group of friends, it was really difficult to handle living there. I had to leave before I went crazy!
jscore 16y ago
+1 Awesome insider post. I would say I feel like this more or less across the entire West Coast.
sosuke 16y ago
I'm from Austin and I've blamed transplants from other States for the exact same problems. I've decided if I can't beat them it's time to join them and I've got a long plan (years) to move up to Seattle and become a transplant myself!
Splines 16y ago
I don't know what it's like in other big cities (SF or New York), but the traffic in Seattle sucks. Driving anytime between 8-10AM and 5-7PM is a surefire way to get annoyed at stop-and-go freeway traffic. I avoid I-405/I-90 just so my commute's transit time can have lower variance. I'm from central Canada, and traffic in Regina and Winnipeg is a breath of fresh air compared to how it is around here (a 30 minute drive is considered exceptionally long). I'm tempted to move back to a smaller city just because of how much time I waste driving around.
- potatolicious 16y ago
  It's unavoidable - Toronto and Vancouver are much the same. That's also why you live in a city where driving is not a requirement - where you can reasonably live without owning a car, or at the very least get your daily commute done 100% car-free. Then you get the perks of a big city with none of the gas-brake-honk. Seattle pretends to be such a city, but its transit is so ludicrously broken that it's actually a PITA. The buses are so notoriously bad that UW developed a mobile app (OneBusAway) that tracks where the buses actually are, as opposed to where they're supposed to be. It is pathetically typical for a every-15-minute route to have buses delayed by 14 minutes. And don't even get me started on the light rail line, ugh. Or worse, Paul Allen's pet streetcar. FWIW, I've had extensive experience with transit in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, London (Canada), Windsor, and Montreal. None of the above are anywhere close to craptasticness that is King County Metro or Sound Transit.