This contrast explains the type of people you are likely to run
into in Downtown—dressed up business folks and dressed down tourists.
Indeed, with Seattle’s eye-popping
new library, world-renowned
Pike Place Market,
Benaroya Hall,
Westlake Shopping Center, the soon-to-be-unveiled new
Art Museum,
and other attractions, many weekend tourists don’t even bother to leave
the neighborhood. The businesses downtown include mostly banks, law
firms, and insurance companies—the hipper software companies tend to be
based on the Eastside.
Traditionally the Seattle businessperson worked and shopped
downtown but tended to commute from a home in West Seattle, North
Seattle, or across the lake. Increasingly, though, Downtown is
becoming a desirable place for professionals to live. Major new condo
projects are under construction and some experts estimate the Downtown
area will add over 10,000 new living units by 2010.
Seattle’s Downtown is the historic heart of the city, financial center
of a diverse economy, and—increasingly—a viable option for living.
Unlike most other towns where downtown describes the part of town that
is “down” on the map, or south of mid-town, Seattle’s Downtown is
literally down, at the foot of the tall hills that surround it. The
streets rise sharply from the Puget Sound waterfront and encompass both
the city’s tallest skyscrapers and many of Seattle’s premier tourist
attractions. 
