The University District is a fundamentally low-income neighborhood kept vibrant and dynamic by the daily influx of tens of thousands of students to the
University of Washington, the premier state university and one of the most respected educational institutions in the country. This northeast Seattle neighborhood offers the odd contrasts of fantastic restaurants adjacent to payday loan stores, Nobel Prize winners waiting at crosswalks next to drug dealers, opulent sororities across the street from halfway houses.
In the 110 years since the university moved from Downtown, the neighborhood has always been tugged between the two extremes. The heart of the tug-of-war is “
The Ave,” as University Way is commonly known, the main boulevard that is home to a wide variety of quality dining, shopping, academic services, and street musicians. Other points of interest include the upscale
University Village shopping center and
Scarecrow Video, one of the world’s largest and most eclectic video rental stores.
In 2002 the city spent millions expanding sidewalks, adding painted benches, and improving lighting in hopes of making the Ave shopping experience a little less gritty. That the changes, while nice to look at, seem to have made no difference is a sign of the strength of the neighborhood’s culture, for good or bad.
