SEATTLE: Walking in Wallingford

mSeattle · #1 Posted **Mar 16, 2012, 8:08 AM**

Late February and it wasn't raining, soooo it was a good time to take a walk in one of Seattle's neighborhoods. Wallingford is an area immediately north of Lake Union roughly between SR-99 and I-5 (all north of downtown). Wallingford is surrounded by Fremont to the west, Greenlake to the north, the University District to the east. North 45th Street is the main drag going east-west and connects Ballard to the University District. There are no highrises in Wallingford, but the street is narrow and makes for a decent pedestrian strip IMO.

Here's a shot taken at a different time showing some of the lowrise Wallingford area:

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

North 45th Street (E-W) intersects with Stone Way (N-S). I was planning to go to the corner but saw something I hadn't noticed before.

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

I continued walking southeast to Stone Way to check out a couple of sites:

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

I reached the current Big Kahuna of the latest projects. A dinky Safeway grocery store with parking lots north and south used to sit here. It was demolished and hole dug for a project before sitting vacant for a number of years. It's finally changed for the better:

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

That's it for this walk.

LMich · #2 Posted **Mar 16, 2012, 8:13 AM**

Interesting little neighborhood. Looks like a village. The sidewalks are awfully narrow, though.

seaskyfan · #3 Posted **Mar 16, 2012, 2:52 PM**

Great tour. Nice to see my neighborhood! The large red brick building is the old Lincoln High School which is now used to house students from other schools while their buildings are being renovated. I think there's currently two elementary schools in there now.

arkitekte · #4 Posted **Mar 16, 2012, 5:04 PM**

Nice looking neighborhood.

mhays · #5 Posted **Mar 16, 2012, 7:18 PM**

Wallingford is a good neighborhood. Not dense enough for me, but the spines are getting denser. I still have an emotional connection to the bungalow vernacular. It's prosperous and has a good business mix not dominated by chains. The neighborhood needs a skybridge or two to the U-District other than the car-dominated 45th and 50th overpasses and way down the hill under the bridge. Likewise, Aurora is a barrier to the west as a divided highway.

And PS, the Thai restaurant is one of my favorite buildings in Seattle. Looks even better on a bright day.

novaCJ · #6 Posted **Mar 16, 2012, 7:41 PM**

Looks quite pleasant. I like it.

OhioGuy · #7 Posted **Mar 17, 2012, 5:09 AM**

It's a cool little neighborhood!

mSeattle · #8 Posted **Mar 17, 2012, 5:10 PM**

I have a number of pictures taken on brief visits to Wallingford that I've been meaning to put together.

2006

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

2007
These are along N 40th, an even smaller and mstly residential street but still heavily traveled. I view Wallingford in thirds, Lower Wallingford along the water, Middle Wallingford (N 40th) and Upper Wallingford (N 45th).

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

2009
You can see the tops of highrises in the University District.

by mSeattle, on Flickr

by mSeattle, on Flickr

This pedestrian overpass over Aurora/SR-99 connects Wallingford to Fremont.

by mSeattle, on Flickr