Montlake

This nabe is everything you would expect from an urban seattle area. This place has world class coffee, one of the best bike shops, and great dining. The neighborhood has the Arboretum and Montlake Playground, great for dogs, kids, and picnics. Montlake also has a beautiful new branch of the Seattle Public Library, and an easy commute to UW, Capitol Hill, and Downtown. Strategically placed to let you take advantage of everything Seattle has to offer this nabe is perfect for young people and active families. Neither the most expensive nor the cheapest nabe, you will find many young professionals calling this place home. This place truly is the very definition of comfort.

Montlake is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Seattle. Surrounded by the waters of Lake Washington and Lake Union, Montlake offers its visitors the most amazing views of the mountains to the East of Seattle. Tudor houses here are legendary, many of them built in the 1920’s. The most thing about these houses is that they are all slightly different. All of them are two-story, have high ceilings and parquet floors. One can say that Montlake is an outdoor museum. Even Montlake elementary school is an old brick building, distinct from other schools in Seattle. University of Washington is within a walking distance, a person just has to cross Montlake bridge. Downtown, Capitol Hill and Ballard are also close. It is not cheap to live in Montlake, but well worth a couple of days to visit.

I am shartruce with envy for those living in the green little berg called Montlake. Growing up on the other side of Washington I always just pictured Starbucks Coffee, Microsoft, and Kurt Cobain when I thought of Seattle. Then, when I was eighteen I was sitting in a car with all my friends parked on one of the streets in Montlake. I noticed the sidewalk being drowned out by pathches of grass on either side. The trees reaching up and branching out as if to hide the secret of the charming houses below. I noticed moss growing on rocks and the smell of green. Yes, the smell of green. I realized , if most of Seattle is like this, I could probably be happy living here. The truth is, a lot of Seattle is like this, but none of it’s quite as good as Montlake itself.

I am charmed, smitten, maybe mildly obsessed, assuredly in love. Lost in the woods and smattered by leaves and wet winds, Montlake is gorgeous. Like gorgeous beyond words gorgeous. It is sort of like living in a medieval forest, one in which the residents have filled it with unique houses that must been ripped straight from the pages of Lord of the Rings. In fact, Middle Earth is an apt descriptor for a nabe that feels stuck somewhere in between reality and the Misty Mountains. if I were to raise kids somewhere in the land of Seattle, it would probably be here, I feel as if they would come out so damn cool, and chill, just like Montlake.

To be a tad more serious for minute, Montlake is pricey as hell, but you do get what you pay for. It has a vibe that is more east coast than west, with old cottages sitting next to older mansions, all buried under a hundred years of moss growth. If it sounds perfect, it’s probably because it is. There are even some great restaurants, and enough mom and pop stores to meet your wildest desires, as long as they aren’t that wild.

Home of one of the greatest Spite Houses, the Montlake Spite house is 55 inches at the south end and 15 feet on the north. Originally the front yard of its neighbor house in the 20’s, a judge allotted the front yard to the wife of a divorced couple and the house to the husband and child. She built a house there out of spite. A spite house is usually built out of spite from one’s neighbor, blocking or impairing their view or privacy. I guess it can also be done when you hate your ex husband.

Other than that, this nabe probably feels like living in a forest, being surrounded by either the Aboretum or Lake Washington. Other than the fact that you can see tall buildings from pretty much anywhere (east is bellevue, north is the U District, and southwest is Seattle). The two main streets Boyer and 24th cut through the nabe, with some commercial development at the center of 24th like the Montlake Alehouse, or it’s public library.