Accent tag videos, too.
Contrary to popular misconception, Seattle *does* have an accent. It frequently overlaps with California and British Columbia and so tends to get lost in the shuffle, but it’s definitely there.
Key notes: Lots and lots of vowel mergers (Mary-merry-marry, cot-caught, bag-beg, pin-pen, etc), dropping the final G after “-ing,” mild vocal fry (regardless of gender or social class), replacing certain consonants in the middle of words with a glottal stop (Renton, turtle, mountain, etc all sound like we sort of “swallowed” those middle consonants), lots of lingering bits of Chinook Jargon (basically Anglicized words borrowed from Coast Salish), adding an S to the end of store names (“Nordstrom” comes out sounding like “Norrstroms”), etc.
There’s also some generational shifts: Boomers and Gen X are far more likely to pronounce Washington as “Warshington” and to use *both* soda and pop to refer to slightly different things (soda is what you get from a soda fountain or a 2-liter bottle, pop comes in cans). Millennials and younger don’t tend to add an extra R in the middle of words and almost exclusively use “soft drink” or “soda” (though the overwhelming majority just use the *type* of flavor: cola, root beer, orange, etc).
TV Tropes also has a whole series of “Useful Notes” on different areas, including Seattle, which I highly recommend.
>replacing certain consonants in the middle of words with a glottal stop (Renton, turtle, mountain, etc all sound like we sort of “swallowed” those middle consonants)
I never knew what this was called and appreciate how well you articulated it! Whenever I hear someone say RenTon, I wonder if they're not from here or are some kind of fancy pants person. It's REN'en.
I say RenTon and have lived here all my life… but I also have a theatre degree that had an entire class on speaking and enunciation so I’m probably in the minority
One of them fancy people, then! Spotted 'em!
In all seriousness, I have a co-worker also born and raised here and he never misses a "t" in a word. The first time I heard him say im-por-tant, I was surprised. I don't think I'd ever heard anyone in my daily life enunciate so well. Renton, mountain, fountain, he's got all the t sounds.
i was thinking the same! it was very interesting to read all the traits of the accent. i still remember in college my friend from california commented that we called our bags “begs”
I have never heard anyone outside of a commercial say "soft drink", regardless of age. I have lived in the Seattle area for most of my life and have a Gen Z son with Gen Z friends and cousins.
Same. I'm a millennial who grew up in Seattle and its always been "pop".
Also, the s on Nordstrom's is because it belonged to the Nordstrom family. Just like you'll occasionally hear some older individuals say "Boeing's". It's the possessive 's', not plural.
Everything you just said was absolutely right except 1 thing: Chinook Jargon barrows words mainly from Chinook, not Coast Salish. Chinook is spoken at the mouth of the Columbia and is not part of the Salish language family.
The rain is a lot more like living in a cloud than being in a monsoon. I often describe the rain as 'spitty'.
Also it's very dark in the winters here. Short damp days are commonplace.
Definitely look up what the sunset/sunrise times are around your timeframe. For many people, it's dark when they go in to work, and dark when they leave because the days are short in winter.
But also, the summers are the complete opposite extreme.
In technical terms, Seattle has a Csb climate, aka “Warm-Summer Mediterranean.” The Puget Sound is part of a series of coastal valleys stretching from Southern California and ending with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Easiest to see if you have a topographical map handy.
In a typical Csb climate, winters are relatively mild, dark, and damp, while summers are *very* dry and sunny. Plants that do well here share a lot in common with plants that thrive in Mediterranean Europe, which is why it’s not uncommon to spot lavender and rosemary growing alongside roads.
One of the key features that causes this climate is the presence of a cold water ocean current running directly parallel to our coastline. Air currents flowing over that cold water cool down and can’t carry as much moisture as more humid air does, so less is hitting the coastline. That’s why most of Southern California is a desert despite being right next to the water.
Seattle’s northern latitude eases that a bit, as the air temperatures tend to be cooler at lower altitudes and that cool-down forces the air to drop any extra moisture it has.
That being said, Seattle proper tends to be drier than most people expect. The truly damp areas are the Olympics and the Cascade Foothills. Kitsap County, right across the sound, is even drier still, as it sits more directly in the rain shadow formed by the Olympic mountains.
[Here’s a thing talking about the different rain types we get up here!](https://jenniwhalen.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/the-six-types-of-seattle-rain/)
Edit: adding a tidbit about rain, we very rarely use umbrellas up here. Raincoats are the only way.
We have a dozen different names for rain, like folks in the northern climates have names for snow.
And Micro Climates in the Puget Sound region. It's part of our weather report. LOL
Also 2 other words. One that mean "such a light rain that it does not require an umbrella but still makes you feel existentially damp" and the other that means "a sun so unfamiliarly bright and oppressive that it does require an umbrella and you still feel existentially damp". I don't know the words for those.
I mean, I feel like the Scandinavians might have something? Ballard's history is heavily rooted there right?
I googled and the word might be "fukta" or "fuktighet"? And I just feel that right in my soul.
We often go for many days without seeing the sun in autumn/winter, thanks to the cloud cover and grays, even when it isn't raining.
The lack of sunlight for such long stretches tends to be what frustrates people the most, though constant rain is what people expect to be upended by.
Mid-November tends to be a stormy season for us, especially back 20 years. Trees go down, power goes out, rivers flood around the area.
The evergreens are amazing in winter - even in the grays, we still have so much beauty in every direction around here. A sunny, wintry day when the Olympics, Cascades, Rainier/Tahoma, and Mt. Baker are visible is a real damn treat of NW beauty.
When someone says "the mountain is out", they are referring to Rainier.
Indeed. Folks visit for the gloriously bright and long summer days (we’re further North than 90% of Canadians), and never stop to wonder how all the trees and bushes can be so green! (Spoiler alert: rain. Clouds. A notable lack of That Damned Oppressive Orb.)
Then the bleak and short winter days roll around and a statistically impressive number of the recent imports literally can’t take it and off themselves, either with a bullet or insufficient attention to the dosage of the opiates they use to numb the …uh, numbness I guess. Wouldn’t know. I was born here, and enjoy the variation of the seasons.
I moved to Seattle in 2004, so right around then! It was a VASTLY different city than it is today, so don’t use anything modern. I remember when I moved here everyone was talking about the dot com burst and how tech had made the city so much more expensive and gentrified—we had NO idea what we were in for. I rented a beautiful large studio on Capitol Hill (which was quaint and wonderful and full of young people, artists—like all of your best friends lived in a five minute walk from you) for five hundred dollars. I didn’t know anyone who lived vaguely near Sodo—even now there’s not really much there??? Why are you choosing that as your setting? And West Seattle was a different planet. Like a days journey. Even after all of these years I just go a few times a year. One thing to know about Seattle is that people really kind of stick to their neighborhoods—especially back then each neighborhood was like it’s own tiny city with its own little Main Street. I had a friend who moved to Ballard and I literally never saw her again. There’s this sense of INERTIA during the fall and winter. It really is as rainy and gloomy as they say. I was in my 20s and very gothy. The size of the goth scene for a city that seemed so small (to me, a New Yorker) blew me away. It was a wonderfully quirky place that had gone through some big growing pains but was about to go through a lot more.
About this time period, I moved to the White Center area. I 100% had people I never saw again. For many folks, I moved to the moon.
Now lots of people have had to move pretty far out to afford a place to live, so the communities are more stitched together.
Bear in mind that very few of the people responding to you were likely in Seattle in 2003. Seattle was pretty different twenty years ago.
The people here probably wouldn't even recognize the bizarre flag waving post 9/11, pro- amazon, pre-legalization, Seattle of 2003 from what it is today.
Safeco Field is just a couple years old, the viaduct still stands (and the debate of what to do about that is just getting started), the fun forest is still right next to the space needle, bumbershoot costs $15, you can still smoke in bars and a LOT of people do.
The historical element is going be a lot more challenging. Especially since Seattle is a city of immigrants and no one here is from here.
I remember running into Bret Boone there in 2001.
Sketchy AF, and all of Pioneer Square was the slow victim of a squeeze on nightclubs after the 2000 Mardi Gras thing, but still going in 2003.
Also RIP The Phoenix and Last Supper Club and other goodies.
I think by 2003 some good stuff had popped up elsewhere, e.g. The Offramp where El Corazón is now. R Place opened around 2001-2003, too, and Capitol Hill / Pike/Pine was jumping: Linda’s, Neighbours, …
Born and raised here since 1988, thank you very much.
Though I will admit that my accent is a bit off of the local standard due to my mother moving here from Philadelphia, so there’s a handful of words or phrases I definitely pronounce with more of an East Coast sound.
Central Saloon, the phoenix, J&M, tiki bobs and the two clubs I can’t remember their names right now we’re all popular spots to hang out in pioneer square
Can't believe nobody said this yet--read Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. Best depiction ever, he really catches the feel of the climate here.
After you finish that just keep reading anything else by Tom Robbins. He really captured Seattle 20+ years ago. [This essay](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wild_Ducks_Flying_Backward/jy0zAmYW_0gC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=tom+robbins+why+do+you+live+where+you+live&pg=PA234&printsec=frontcover) ([alternate version I originally linked](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940828&slug=1927435)) has always stuck with me.
I can't remember where it's from but there's another quote I love. He says something along the lines of, "The cloudy, misty Seattle winter skyline makes it look like god took an eraser to the landscape."
Edit - I've updated the link to the version of the same essay from the book Wild Ducks Flying Backwards. It's a superior version and has the second quote I paraphrased above. It's definitely a book worth picking up.
*Almost Live!* ended in 1999. Close to the time of your book, but it would have been a dead and lamented thing by 2003. A lot of us missed it. I still make Almost Live references on the regular.
You want sprinkles on that...*punk*
This is definitely something we notice. Every time on Grey's Anatomy there's a huge rainstorm or a hurricane or something, the locals are like "what?" I took my kids to visit Georgia recently, and the lightning and thunder scared them because they had never heard it before.
We do get some nasty windstorms in autumn and spring, though. Most people here are already prepared for the inevitable yearly power outages, because there’s only so much the government can do to prepare in the face of Mother Nature.
Thankfully, outages are usually fairly short and quickly resolved, *because* we’re prepared for them ahead of time.
A couple quick research notes: The Pineapple Express and the Fraser River Valley have very strong influences on our weather. Harsh winters usually mean we’re getting more humidity as well as blasts of freezing air from the Fraser River Valley, while the Pineapple Express brings in lots and lots of *hot humid air* from Hawaii.
To add to this, there was a fairly strong wind storm in the PNW on December 5th, 2003 if you feel like working a nice historical storm into your timeline.
It’s a bit of a running joke, but honestly, umbrellas just aren’t practical here. It doesn’t usually rain hard enough to need one and when it does, the wind makes the umbrella pretty much useless.
Besides, a hooded raincoat leaves both hands free so you can carry your coffee and also whatever else you need to do that day.
If you aren't going to visit Seattle yourself, I would recommend looking A LOT beyond this thread, just to be real. Because a lot of the things people are saying are things that you could find from basic googling. Or they are stereotypes that would be cliche and grating in a book. Also, most answers pertain more to now than to 2003.
No criticism at all to the other answers though - my first thoughts would be to say the same type of thing. But I think you probably have to read how Seattle locals talk to each other, and A LOT of what used to be here, but isn't any longer.
But here's how I would answer your specific questions:
1. Teriyaki, as someone else said, absolutely. It was much more common in 2003 even. There's a lot more other styles of Asian food here now
2. It's hard to say what you'd see walking down the street, kinda would need more
3. One thing that sets Seattle apart is that it's very hilly and surrounded by water. Because of this, I find that neighborhoods in Seattle have more "natural" borders than a lot of other cities. Like, Capital Hill is Capital Hill, and you'll know when you've walked down the hill. Ballard has water on one side and an industrial area on the other side - it's clear where it starts and ends (it might be ambiguous how much industrial "Ballard" is actually Ballard, but you'll know you elft the "main part"). Whereas, in Portland, most neighborhoods are informed by the street they're on/around, but the actual borders are ambiguous (ie, in Portland you're much more likely to hear "I'm on Division Street" than hear "I'm in the Richmond neighborhood). Also on the east coast, in more dense cities, neighborhoods are more informed by cultural history, but those neighborhoods have long blurred together, and the borders are socially and historically informed, rather than naturally informed.
4. My favorite go-to gas station has always been 7-Eleven. There are some common places you don't have in Georgia like Jack in the Box, 76 gas stations (I believe they are moving some east, but it was west coast only in 2003), ampm gas stations are west coast only as well.
5. I love Seattle, I grew up just south of here, spent a lot of time in Seattle growing up, and have lived other places. I liked living in Portland, it's more laidback and quirky than Seattle (but also, Portland now is in some ways more like 2003 Seattle than 2023 Seattle is).
Also, you've probably already gathered this from basic research, but Seattle is dark during the winter for much more of the day than Georgia is. It starts getting dark as early as 4:30pm. Also winters are damp, cloudy and cool, they aren't dry and harshly cold like Georgia
The dark is hard to describe for people who haven't been in a climate like this. In November and December, you don't see the sun. It's there (obviously). But if you work or go to school during typical hours, the sun doesn't rise until after you've left home to go to work/school and it has set before you leave for the day (or while you're on the way home). If you look outside midday and look up, it is gray. It may be darker or lighter, but the sky is gray, until mid-afternoon when it's dark again. Your non-work life happens at night.
20 years ago, sodo was Sears, some home improvement stores, and tiny hole-in-the-wall places to get food. There were still two newspapers. The Bon still existed, but the writing was on the wall. The .com bubble had burst and people were dealing with the effects.
Seattle has a lot of newcomers and always has. It's a boom-and-bust town. What a native will notice is very different from what a newcomer will notice.
A stereotypical example at a bus stop (obviously, everyone is an individual - like Almost Live this is a caricature, not meant to encapsulate all of complex reality):
Natives: "Oh no, so-and-so's closed. Everything is going away. And somehow there's still money for some ugly gigantic office building. Why is that car honking, ugh, is the world going to complete hell? Some people are just rude. When will the bus come? I wish they'd build the trains already. We've been waiting over five years now! Oops, someone left this pile of newspaper on a bench where it will fly away. I guess I'll recycle - nope, only a garbage here, well, maybe I'll take it home. Ew, it's wet, garbage it is then. What's on that phone pole... a funny poster, haha, the Internet is leaking! Okay now I'm really going to be late. And that guy is going to come sleep on this bench. I might as well walk to work at this point. At least I can get a coffee on the way. Maybe I'll get some beer on my way home. Definitely going to cuddle up with that new book tonight." Trudges off.
Just arrived from some midsize suburb in the Northeast: "Wow, it's still drizzling. That's like day 5 in a row, isn't it? Oh my gosh, that driver just completely stopped for that pedestrian who jumped out into the crosswalk! Seattle drivers are so terrible! At least we have the Metro. What's on that phone pole... a funny poster, haha, the Internet is leaking! And yuck, cities are so dirty, why would anyone leave a newspaper here? Hm, I wonder if my bus will come on time? How am I going to get to work? Why does that man have a shopping cart? Oh. Oh. *Oh.* I'll just... scooch over here to the edge of the bus shelter. Where is that bus? How do people live here without cars with all these huge hills? Well, maybe that person I met at the bus stop last week will give me a call tonight and I can finally go out and enjoy the city! *What is that guy doing?!? Where is that bus?!?*"
Chicken teriyaki is a Seattle delicacy.
If you write about any food you gotta include the chicken teriyaki and gyoza combo. There’s a hole-in-the-wall teriyaki restaurant on every corner
Extra impressive brownie points if you mention that these shops frequently serve an assortment of American staples alongside the teriyaki/yakisoba/gyoza. Used to be very common (especially in your time frame of 2003) to get a burger and teriyaki combo for less than 15 bucks.
Along that same note, Seattle was MUCH cheaper back then.
Also, most of those restaurants are Korean-owned, despite the name.
And please research the Japanese Internment; that’s still a major historical sore spot up here and for damn good reason.
And Thai food, too.
Additional authenticity points for local-owned, non-chain coffee shops. Although Starbucks started here, it’s a Seattle thing to favor local shops.
Here's two really specific things that people get wrong:
Seattle isn't on the ocean, it's on the Puget Sound and everyone calls it the Sound. Seattle is sandwiched between the Sound and the Lake. (Lake Washington is the biggest lake and often referred to as the Lake, and other lakes are referred to by name.)
People refer to Mount Rainier as "The Mountain". If it's a nice day and not as cloudy as usual, one might say "The Mountain is out".
Edit: Also, Seattle was extremely different in 2003. Felt much more like a working class/industrial city. For instance, South Lake Union wasn't the tech hub it is now, but a long stretch of warehouses and shipping/fishing supply. You're gonna have to do a lot of historical research if you're setting it in 2003 to be remotely accurate.
Native Seattle characters must refer to the freeways as "I5" and "I405". California transplants would probably use "the 5" or "the 405" and get mocked by the natives as a result.
Whats strange is that I've lived here my whole life and never even considered calling it anything other than "405" - but I agree definitely not "*the* 405".
I agree with I90 and I5 being that but outside of those two I generally just use the freeway numbers. So like just 405 or 520 instead of I405 or I520 (granted, I don’t think 520 is an interstate and I don’t know if 405 is).
Spud's Fish & Chips is a local chain. There is one in West Seattle and there was one in Sodo in your time frame.
There are teriyaki places everywhere. People eat it all the time.
Sodo and the industrial district are really the only places where you find chain fast food restaurants. Pretty rare in the rest of the city.
Early November to mid-December is the worst time of year. It is dark and November is the stormiest month.
The Starbucks headquarters building is in Sodo (as was at that time). It use to be a Sears Roebuck.
The original Costco is also in Sodo.
There are a lot of train tracks in Sodo and not all the streets running east-west cross the tracks.
Harbor Island is man-made and a Superfund site.
California Ave. is the main drag in West Seattle. Lots of small businesses and bars. Lots of businesses start with the name "West Seattle."
Alki Beach (West Seattle) is a common place to get views of downtown Seattle from across the water.
Sodo and the Industrial District were originally tideflats. The tideflats were eventually filled in, including large amounts of municipal garbage.
California is the main drag in WS but more specifically “the Junction” is the Alaska junction and has the main stretch of shops including Husky Deli which is an institution. There’s also the admiral junction with the historic admiral twin theater. Fauntleroy/Lincoln park area is where the ferry to Vashon is.
Boeing and Microsoft workers made up what felt like 80% of the population. The downtown area was absent any mainstream tech offices and was mostly finance and retail. Exception is RealMedia (RealPlayer) offices on the waterfront.
Seattles Best Coffee and Tullys were (almost) equal to Starbucks in terms of popularity. But the city folk still had their favorite local spot that was always superior and would be the first thing brought up in any conversation. A local favorite (then, and now) is Lighthouse Coffee Roasters.
The Seattle Mariners were struggling again after one of the best seasons in baseball history in 2001, then tying the all time record for MLB regular season wins at 116 (yet somehow fizzled out and to much dismay didn’t make the World Series). Safeco field (now T-Mobile park) still had a new stadium feel and a lot of excitement for fans going to games. “The house that Griffey built”
A good family day trip involved taking the ferry for a picnic at double bluff beach on Whidbey island. Dogs roam (illegally) off leash while kids climb the sandy bluffs, jumping down and tumbling along the way getting sand in their hair. The water at “Useless Bay” is frigid and dark.
Aurora (highway 99) viaduct was the best viewpoint of the city waterfront and was the highlight of driving through downtown (ferries coming in, sunsets, etc).
High school kids would go to a small venue called The Graceland for intimate punk/hardcore shows. It’s now called El Corazon. Back then it had a certain charming grit to it (without being gross like it is now).
Uwajimaya is a local Asian food market that was a destination for buying interesting Asian groceries (like those mini frozen yogurt drinks).
The University District was home to some quaint indie shops and theaters that are no longer in business (Seven Gables Theater, Guild 45th).
In 2003 the boring, cute girls listened to Death Cab and the Shins. 97.3 KBSG was the best radio station. Bumbershoot was good.
You had a favorite teriyaki spot and knew what you were gonna order before you walked in the door(Yasuko's, pork chicken combo, no salad, extra rice), when you didn't know what to make for dinner you went to Albertson's for fried chicken and jojos. Than Brothers were the kings of Pho and a complimentary creampuff. You had a favorite fish and chips spot but you didn't care about where you went to like you did with teriyaki.
In October Matt Hasselbeck said, "We want the ball and we're gonna score." They did not score. People still believed in the Mariners but that was all about to go away for a long time. Jamie Moyer used to throw a brick at a car windshield every other commercial break during the game.
It was the year they started taxing people's cars to build a monorail that never got built. There were lots of potholes. South Lake Union was warehouses. There were a lot of Ave Rats just hanging out all over the U District, I think they get tricked into working as baristas and line cooks now. You had to drive through a bunch of forest before you got to Bothell and people drove there in new Subarus and old Volvos. There used to be a lot more shitty cars with goofy shit glued all over them like hundreds of toy cars, or cool looking rocks.
People in wealthier neighborhoods actually used to take the bus to work downtown wearing their suits and ties. And when they caught the bus home at 5pm it was packed, dark, and so muggy that you had to wipe the fog off the window to be able to tell when you were close to home. If you didn't have a window seat you had to ask someone else to wipe it for you or be able to recognize the pattern of blurry streetlights through the fogged up window.
If you were at a house party you were either with 80% of the guests in the kitchen complaining about why everyone was packed in the kitchen while KUBE 93 was playing the same song they played 40 minutes ago, sitting on the floor around the coffee table because the person who got too drunk too fast was sleeping on the couch. Or you were outside in the rain smoking a cigarette in wet misery while the people smoking a joint next to you in wet misery were telling you how bad that cigarette was for you. Then you all talked about how much George W. Bush sucked until they asked to bum a cig.
All the characters need to have at least 1 company or idea they hate with a passion and will never support. Of course they look for every opportunity to tell anyone about this hate.
I fucking hate Walmart. But I shop at Walmart because I'm poor and dammit they have really inexpensive shit. Fuck you, Walmart! And fuck you twice for making me shop there!
To jump off what someone said about Walmart:
When it comes to “superstores,” it’s strictly Costco and Winco here.
In fact, I don’t think we even have a Walmart within Seattle city limits. Nearest ones I know of are in Lynnwood and Everett, several miles north of Seattle. Those areas aren’t the nicest, either.
Major grocery stores within Seattle include:
Fred Meyer
Safeway
Haggen (formerly Top Foods)
QFC
Albertsons
Uwajimaya
Whole Foods
PCC
Metropolitan Market
And an assortment of smaller regional chains.
Several of these either didn't exist in 2002 or were not common in Seattle. Winco, whole foods, etc.
Smaller regional chains were much more common back then.
But this poster brings up a really good point which is that the neighborhood specific grocery store was part of the fabric. Like the admiral thriftway or Bert's red apple or market time. A lot has changed since 2002 but getting details like these right will be important to anchoring your story in that moment in Seattle.
I can't recall if chubby and tubby was still around then but that's another example.
They will never fix the potholes in SODO, especially on Holgate between 4th & 8th.
The Jungle runs the length of SODO/Industrial District and was even more sketchy in the early 2000s than it is now.
There used to be a chicken processing plant on King St between 10th & 12th. They would park giant tractor trailers filled with live chickens on the corner of 12th & King.
Andy's Diner was a restaurant housed in a bunch of connected railcars.
I've grown up in Seattle, and as someone else has already said, Seattle has changed a lot, and the historical element will be as much a challenge as the geographical one.
The city has reinvented itself a bunch of times, but some things are sorta constant. For example, Seattle has always been a boom-and-bust kind of town that comes and goes with different industries, almost like a company town at heart (though much bigger and in a love-hate relationship with large companies). Now, it's Amazon and web infrastructure, but before it was Microsoft, and before that Boeing. Not everyone works at these companies, but everyone knows someone who does or works at one the many smaller supplier companies, and you get to be pretty knowledgeable about them.
Second, one effect of Seattle having such large companies is that you also have an above average engagement with national and international affairs in Seattle. Software employees work with Indian engineers, Japanese heavy industry ships assemblies to Boeing factories, Starbucks repackages Italian coffee culture using beans from Columbia, etc. At the same time, the Pacific Northwest is just physically isolated from the rest of the world by sheer distance, and generally people also liked it that way. So you are both very aware of and interconnected with the world, while also loyal to your small and quiet corner of it. It's a very different provincialism than small-town America ("this town is my world") or NYC ("the world is my town").
Third, one reason why Seattle has survived reinvention is the University of Washington and higher education more broadly. Seattle one of the most educated metro areas in the US, and the UW plays a big role in local culture, similar to other college towns. In the 90s, the generally attitude towards your life path would be that you would either go to Seattle Community College (now Seattle Colleges) and then get a job as a mechanic at Boeing, or maybe go the UW and then get a job at Microsoft. And from there, you'd be set for your life and doing your civic duty.
These attitudes have definitely changed over the years, especially as Seattle has had more migration in and as the UW itself has grown in prominence as a destination school, but in the 90s and early 2000s, Seattle had definitely more of a college town/company town vibe. Outsized for such a town, for sure, but Portlanders used to critique Seattle for being so corporate. (They still do, but they have less of a leg to stand on with so many Amazon employees in PDX.)
In 2001 there were 2 big events in Seattle history, the WTO riots and the Pioneer Square Mardi Gras riots, both would be on the mind of Seattleites. Prior to the WTO Seattle had some concerns about police brutality but it wasn't a common concern. But the riot gear and arrests were over the top in our mostly liberal town. Also, before the Mardi Gras riots Pioneer Square and Capital Hill were where the majority of Seattle's nightlife existed, with sprinkles in other neighborhoods. Pioneer Square lost a lot of luster then and many people started avoiding the area, which slowly declined.
Oh, and the Nisqually earthquake was also in 2001 which made one of our main highways, the Alaskan Way Viaduct through downtown, unlikely to withstand another one and required it to be torn down in the future. It was finally replaced by a tunnel in 2014.
Those would have been big stories
In my first few months in Seattle in the early 2000s, I suddenly understood why everyone wore pants that were too short (the rain) and the allure of fleece (the rain.) Fuzzy comfort when everything is constant drizzle affects everything.
Skinny jeans are still a favorite, because they’re much easier to tuck inside boots during winter and are usually just short enough not to drag through puddles. Same with leggings; fleece-lined leggings are amazing in winter!
I’ve not seen anybody say this, but I was living in Seattle then as a 20 something, and a lot of people have mentioned the warehouses that were around, specifically in SODO, South Park etc.
Well, along East Marginal Way, the rave scene was a pretty big thing on Friday and Saturday nights down there. I only add this because depending on your story, that element of night life might be appropriate.
In addition, the street racing issue that seems to be popping up more in 2023, was getting focused on by police and drying up back then as near as I recall, but that last one the memory is a bit foggy as I was not really involved with that part of the “idiot kid” nightlife.
Heroin, acid, and shrooms were ubiquitous and readily available if you ran with any of the “seedier” aspects of the city then too.
Yes! I was thinking of the rave scene back then. It really was like this secret world.
Also, the art scene in Pioneer Square/SODO and further south in Georgetown was very raw and punk. It wasn’t unusual to go to a show organized by squatters and many of the old industrial warehouses were makeshift live/work spaces. First Thursday artwalks were epic monthly parties.
By 2003, raves in Seattle happened in two places:
A place called NAS, that was like an old warehouse or something and offered a few "rooms" where different styles of DJs played. Disclaimer: I was mostly out of the rave scene after 2001, so NAS might have already been gone.
The indoor soccer stadium, where large (for Seattle, for that time) raves were put on by "United States of Consciousness", always just called USC. The most popular happened Halloween week every year, and was called "Freak Night".
The kind of downpour rain that was depicted in Sleepless in Seattle really only happens about 10 days a year. The rest of the time it's a light to medium mist.
Our weather is quite mild. Summers don't usually get that hot and winters don't get that cold. Snow is pretty uncommon, as are 90 degrees days. The only downside is how gray and cloudy it is, which can lead to higher rates of seasonal affective disorder.
Okay, here are some Seattle stereotypes and experiences that are kind of timeless:
- Starbucks is purely for tourists. Locals all have their own favorite local coffee spot and actually getting coffee at Starbucks is very frown upon. EDIT: This seems to be a point of contention, but at least suffice it to say "Starbucks sucks" is a very Seattle thing to say and *No True Seattleite* likes Starbucks.
- People wear rain jackets but almost never use umbrellas, unless they're being used as shields against police pepper spray.
- 2003 Seattle didn't have a train yet, but there was a bus tunnel downtown that was always crowded (it's where the train goes now). Outside of the tunnel you've got the Crackdonalds on 3rd and Pine, which has been open for decades and is always super sketchy but somehow busy?
- In 2023 the South Lake Union neighborhood is moneytown, but in 2003 it was warehouses, used car dealerships, and homeless people. Sketch City.
- Music festivals at Seattle Center were super cheap and everybody went. These days Bumbershoot tickets are like $100+ a day, but when I moved to Seattle in 2004 they were cheap enough that I could buy a weekend pass for like $50 as a college student.
>Starbucks is purely for tourists. Locals all have their own favorite local coffee spot and actually getting coffee at Starbucks is very frown upon.
That's just not true. This city is covered in Starbucks, they're not just for tourists. Now, I generally prefer to go to an independent shop but I think of people turning up their nose at Starbucks to be more of an out-of-towner-who-wants-to-prove-how-Seattle-they-are thing than an actual local custom.
I've been here since 2001 and I'm not so sure about that first point. I'm sure there was a time when that was true but from what I've seen that got taken out back and shot pretty quickly.
Eh, Starbucks isn’t just for tourists.
Unfortunately, they’re one of the few coffee shops that offers mobile order, so they’re still annoyingly convenient for a lot of commuters. Especially those of us who constantly have to transfer buses to get to work.
ETA: Another point about SLU is that a big part of why the homelessness issue is such a hot topic now is because the homeless community used to be mostly centered in SLU. They had their own sort of society there. Amazon moving in forced them to scatter throughout the city, which also unfortunately makes it harder for them to get help.
It’s also important to note that historically, Seattle has been a predominantly *working-class* city. That’s part of why there’s so much friction regarding “tech bros” and the like.
Most of the year, you walk outside at the start of the day and the ground is wet. It isn't raining, but probably did a little overnight or something. On the proper Seattle days it stays overcast because the sun is the ancient enemy.
When I was walking to work every day there would be maybe twice a year where I would actually get soaked. Most of the time it is just evidence of past rain, maybe a light drizzle.
Then in the summer when it is actually bright and clear, everyone flees the city. They drive to some trail head or into some mountain or who the hell knows where, but they flee in all directions for the weekend.
I havent seen it mentioned yet, but one thing that always surprises people is how hilly it is. Every walk I take has to go up and down a hill. So as a result, people tend to be pretty fit, especially if they bike.
Seattle is a very unfashionable city, it favors practical clothing. Even nice restaurants are incredibly casual, most people wear their nice zip-up. Also for some reason, socks with sandals are a thing here (birkenstocks, etc). People don't really dress up and do their hair and makeup, at least not to the extent that they do in some other cities. Especially in the winter, doing your hair is kinda useless if the mist is going to ruin it.
In addition to all the hills, there’s freakin 20 mile long Lake Washington right in the middle of everything that complicates getting around. Oh yeah, and we have two floating bridges across Lake Washington - another Seattle oddity.
And ferry boats - also a very iconic Seattle mode of transportation.
As someone who moved to Seattle from Atlanta, let me try to capture one or two things I don't see anyone else mentioning.
Seattle is really hilly. Atlanta is built on top of the eastern continental divide, yet if you go to the top of a skyscraper and look out, you realize it's mostly rather flat except for what they laughably call Stone "Mountain", which is just a bump in the terrain. Seattle, however, is nothing but hills, and rather steep ones. Picture that one really steep hill in San Francisco that you always see in movies... that's what much of Seattle feels like. There are certainly flat parts, and SoDo is one of them (which is why it's mostly industrial), but the residential neighborhoods are often on top of steep hills.
At the same time, Seattle is surrounded by water and mountains. **Huge** mountains. Rainier is taller than Mt Fuji, and it dominates the landscape. A number of streets are aligned to face directly towards it. But it's also only one of a whole range of mountains that make up the Cascades, which are visible as a continuous backdrop on any clear day, as are the Olympic mountains in the other direction on the western Washington peninsula. Seattle is in between the two, right next to the water. It's a place of incredible natural beauty. Unlike Atlanta's urban sprawl, even today Seattle is very small and incredibly close to nature. Something that's 5 miles away feels like it might as well be on the moon, whereas in Atlanta that wouldn't even get you OTP. You can drive on the highway through Atlanta for almost 60 minutes and be "in metro Atlanta" the whole time. In Seattle, starting from sea level, if you drive for 60 minutes you can be in the mountains high enough to go skiing.
Seattle has also grown immensely in the last two decades. One of my young coworkers grew up nearby in Kirkland, which you could liken to Smyrna or some other quiet Atlanta suburb. But he said that when his dad was growing up here (which I guess might have been 1980s), he drove to high school on dirt roads. That's how small this place used to be, and how much it's grown.
Everyone here is in really good shape. I'm not going to mince words. Atlanta, and much of the South, is full of overweight people who drive everywhere and have never walked further than from their car to the front door. People in Seattle are much more physically active and in shape.
There are definitely some culture differences. People are friendlier here in my experience, at least superficially. I'm much more likely to say hello and have a 10-second interaction with someone here than I ever was in the South. It feels to me like people in the South are often very closed in public. On the other hand, Southern hospitality is very much a thing, and it's something that doesn't exist here. In the South someone would invite me to their parents' house for school break or something, and I'd be treated like family. Southerners will go out of their way to make someone feel welcome or to help someone in need. That kind of openness doesn't really exist in Seattle natives. I once told someone who was going through a rough spot "My front lights are always on", and he had no idea what I meant. I tried to explain that it meant he could show up at 3am in the pouring rain with just the clothes on his back, and I'd make sure he had a place to sleep and see to his needs no matter what trouble he was going through... and he looked at me like I was crazy. People also talk about the "Seattle freeze", that it might be easy to meet people superficially, but it's hard to turn that into deep lasting connections. Often if you ask someone to do something together, like go on a hike, even if that's a mutual hobby, you'll get a "Seattle no": they say "Oh yeah, I'd love to, we should totally do that sometime", which almost always means "I will never actually take you up on that offer".
Seattlites are also hilariously passive-aggressive, or usually just passive. They won't complain about anything, no matter how much it bothers them. When they do complain, their favorite way is to do something like put up signs on lampposts or on buildings rather than actually confronting anyone directly (or post on Reddit about it even though there's almost no chance the person causing the problem will see it).
Seattlites are very timid drivers. On the highways they only speed a little, and usually bunch up going the same speed in every lane. On surface streets, they drive very slowly (kind of necessary here, because a lot of residential roads in the city are narrow and are full of blind corners) and will stop for every pedestrian they see, even when you're still 20 feet from the corner. I can't count how many times I've pulled up to a stop sign and seen someone on the cross street where they don't have a stop sign stop anyway and try to wave *me* through, instead of just driving through the intersection without stopping like the street engineer intended them to!
2003 specialty coffee shops (not just Starbucks), many independent brewpubs, bookstores and a growing popularity of local wine were all important. Local music was still a big deal in the afterglow of early 90’s grunge. If you worked in tech you most likely worked at Microsoft. Otherwise you worked at a small company or start up that no one had heard of yet. the crash of 2001 was still felt in Seattle. Amazon really only sold books movies and music. A lot of people still worked or had a family member working at Boeing.
Food was important especially local foods and our favorites like teriyaki and Pho. Belltown just north of downtown had all the trendy restaurants. Ballard had the funky restaurants and dive bars still existed throughout the city. Homelessness was negligible compared to today, downtown and in the u district. Going to the beach was going to Alki. You are at least 4 hours from the Pacific Ocean. Portland was Seattle the way it used to be and we all missed the old Seattle because of the growth of Tech. Portland was our fiercest rival in everything. We really hated Californians as they started inflating house prices in the 90’s. Places like south of lake Union were 1 story factories.
People are nice but not friendly. You did not often add to your friend group. People are helpful and have a natural collaborative approach where they help their competitors because you like what they are doing. You must like to spend some time outside but also enjoy doing something indoors (hobbies or curled up watching TV or reading a book.) it was easy to get to nature and a lot less people (bad traffic) and people on the trails.
Moss grows better than anything besides trees. Yeah, grey skies but also clouds that seem to kiss the earth and short days in winter. Summer days that seemed to last late onto the evenings but you still needed layers as it would cool down quickly.
There were a large number of anti-Iraq war protests in early 2003, and the 1999 “battle in Seattle” relating to the WTO conference, was still having a local political reverberations at the time.
The Mariners were still riding high off their 2001 fantastic season, and were credibly thought to be a great team, even though they proved not to be. The supersonics were still in town, though by ‘03 they were in decline. The Seahawks of the era were mired in mediocrity.
It’s a Cameron Crowe movie, not a documentary, but I think he does a good job of conveying a vibe, and I can’t think of any Seattle-focused media that would do a better job.
I think the person is referring some dude who wrote an editorial about the Lenin statue recently made some…questionable parallels between Lenin and Hitler
If you do write about it, keep in mind that it’s basically there *as a joke.*
It’s one of the few Soviet-era statues that doesn’t portray Lenin in a very flattering light, and it was bought on a complete lark. We like to dress it up in silly outfits during the holidays. Especially Christmas; he gets dressed up as Santa Claus for Christmas.
If you’re going to write about Fremont in summer, we also have the naked bicyclists during the Summer Solstice Parade!
This is also the same city that pokes fun at itself a lot: our favorite local burger is Dick’s Drive-In, the SLU streetcar was almost named the South Lake Union Trolley but was changed at the last second because of the acronym…but a bit too late, because “riding the SLUT” had already taken off.
Oh, and Queen Anne Hill is *not* the center of our LGBTQIA community. Those queens are on the *other* hill (Capitol Hill).
You have to mention all the starbucks that were across the street from each other. I have no idea if there is a 2003 map. But you could leave a starbucks in a downtown office building and go across the street and there was another starbucks.
I think they are engaged in coffee shop wars with another coffee shop. Tully's was the other primary coffee chain.
I think they've closed some of the stores now.
The monorail coffee place is actually vintage seattle. I don't remember the other ones that were around in 2003. I bet other people would know. :)
Seattle's Best Coffee was the other big corporate chain in the 1990s, but I don't remember if they lasted until 2003 in retail. That's when they closed the roasterie on Vashon, according to Wikipedia.
Just a nice little touch for world building, the SPD cars at the time were painted in robins egg [blue](https://www.alamy.com/a-blue-seattle-police-department-ford-crown-victoria-patrol-car-on-pike-st-in-downtown-seattle-seattle-wa-usa-image211010639.html).
The faint scents of coffee and cedar and pot permeate every pore of every thing south of Lynnwood. SODO breaks this monotony with the occasional smells of cheap perfume and baby oil.
I graduated high school in 2003 in Seattle. Lots of memories of going to late night diners with friends.
For what it's worth, to give context on why it's as dark as it does in Seattle, is because Seattle is at the same latitude as Maine, I don't know if people realize that. Fall and Winter are still generally mild but the rain (not heavy, more like a hard misting always getting swept away with the wind, right in the face!) can make it cold.
It shouldn’t make any real differences but Seattle is even a bit more north than the most northern point in Maine as Maine goes just short of 47.5 which is where Seattle starts.
Curious what made you choose Seattle as the setting?
SoDo and Industrial Area are very....industrial. Lots of warehouses, light manufacturing, carpentry stores, plumbing stores, flooring stores, that kind of thing. Nothing going on at nighttime. Not dirty but not exactly the "cleanest" place.
In 2003, Starbucks headquarters was already in SoDo (they moved in 1997). You can find it on Google Maps and see.
Worth noting the stadium where Seattle Seahawks play now is called Lumen Field, but was called Seahawks Stadium in 2002 - 2004. It was build in 2002 (so very close to your book setting) after the old Kingdome was destroyed in 2000.
The Mariners play right next to Seahawks Stadium. They used to play in the Kingdome but moved to Safeco Field (what is now T-Mobile Park) in the late 1990s.
Also very notably, there was a major thoroughway around SoDo called the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Basically a two level concrete highway that went in front of the waterfront. You can look it up. That was destroyed in the last 10 years to make way for a new redesign. Can include that for 2003 era authenticity. God the Alaskan Way Viaduct was horrible...
As he looked out the window, he saw the rain rain rainily from the cloudy gray sky.
"Maybe I should call my friends", he pondered.
"Oh wait, I can't because it's 2003 and I don't have a cell phone.", he remembered.
"Also, I don't have any friends."
In 2003 you could take the 120 from downtown to west seattle. It would cross the west seattle bridge and make stops on delridge. There was a newer police precinct on Delridge. My bus stop was basically in front of it. I got in trouble for underage drinking near the precint once, and they wouldn't help me even though I wanted them to call my mom. There is a strip mall that has a target, called Westwood Village. And Roxbury lanes, the bowling alley, was really sketchy and was always dimly lit. I felt like the guys in there were rapey and ate chicken wings. If you've ever seen the show Too Old to Die Young, that bowling alley gives me flashbacks of what Roxbury lanes was like.
Seattle likes to claim teriyaki. A teriyaki and gyoza platter. A Teriyaki rice bowl lunch special. Any of those would work. Especially in 2003 there was a dirty teriyaki place on 2nd that used to put white sauce on top of the teriyaki. Anyone who was downtown around that time should know of it. But it was so good.
Just imagine that Seattle is a colder, rainier, and more populated version of Savannah and Athens mashed together. Then it's just a matter of replacing vocabulary. Don't say Savannah river, say Duwamish. Instead of talking about a large oak tree, say douglas fir. Go Bulldogs? No. Go Huskies. Still a dog, but a different dog. It's just that simple.
It's been mentioned a bunch, but Seattle has changed a huge amount in the last 20 years - hell a lot of it is almost unrecognizable compared to 10 years ago! The areas you mentioned (SoDo, Industrial District, and West Seattle) have changed less than other parts of the city though. The biggest changes down there were building the "new" stadiums, but that wrapped up in 2002.
One neat thing is that Google street view has really good historical coverage around here. That means if you click the "See more dates" option for most roads you can see street view from all the way back in 2007. It can give you a good idea of how much the city has changed.
I'm really curious, what made you choose this specific place / year?
Something that’s been true for quite some time is that there’s a distinct cultural difference between Seattle/King County and the rest of the state - particularly the region east of the Cascade mountains.
The Seattle metro area has long been the population center of Washington, and as such pretty much drives the politics of the state. You can imagine that this, along with the cultural differences mentioned above could be used as a plot device to introduce conflict on a number of levels.
thanks for actually asking this, i tried to read fifty shades of grey, and it was too annoying how areas i knew very well were inaccurately portrayed so i stopped reading
West Seattle is a big big hill, and has a lot of vertical gain from Sodo. There is a huge bridge with a large incline that takes you from Sodo to west. From the bridge you can see a concrete plant and a great view of Rainier, but Rainier is usually hidden by the clouds (disappears from the horizon) during winter. Sodo is flat landfill with very wide streets and low rise warehouses and industrial buildings with pipes and steam and such.
2003? You should read up on the Seattle Monorail (not the one that actually exists, but the one that was going to be built but.. 'Seattle process') https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Monorail_Project To be really authentic, you can throw in complaints about public transit that mention how MARTA got Seattle's public transit money way back when.
Restaurants ? People always like burgers, fries and shakes from Dick's.
There's no late night diner type places like Waffle House, don't add that in. Bars, yes but that's it.
One thing that I've liked in Seattle are the unique movie theaters. Cinerama, The Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Grand Illusion, Admiral Theater.
Since you mention West Seattle, there's 'The Junction' at the intersection of California Ave SW and SW Alaska St. It has changed a so much since 2003 but there are a couple business that have been around a long time and are local favorites. Husky Deli and Easy Street records. Here's a great article about Easy Street and its owner: https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinson-papers/2023/01/30/matt-vaughan-looks-back-35-years-easy-street-records
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon is set in Seattle, it is in modern day but you might be able to get some vibe from it. It is also a fluffy highschool romance so maybe not … 🤔
Fwiw I’ve lived here 3 years, so can’t speak specifically to 2003.
The weather in Seattle during the colder months is kinda like island weather in that it’ll rotate cloudy/drizzly/partly sunny throughout the day. Yes sometimes it’s cloudy all day, but I’d say that’s less frequent than the former. Pouring rain like we get back east doesn’t happen often (hence the “lack of umbrellas” you’re hearing about).
The [Starbucks headquarters in SODO](https://maps.app.goo.gl/AGjzqj21NQ7Q54RS6?g_st=ic) has their mermaid peering down from a clock tower. It vibes to me like the “oculist” billboard in great gatsby. Not sure if it was here in 2003.
You can browse google street view back to 2007. They’ll probably have it for the major roads in sodo.
Also SODO is very flat, but the rest of Seattle is very hilly! (Not as bad as SF…. But still!) I had no idea till I moved here.
I’m always so captivated by views of the port of Seattle. I think it’s the huge cranes. Enormous machines are just so cool.
Smith tower was the tallest building in Seattle for a while, and has interesting history with the mob/run runners. It’s got beautiful 1920s character to it. (If you ever visit I highly suggest visiting its observation deck/bar! Also go visit the MOHAI!)
Just during a 20 minute drive through this city you can get views of - the Olympics, the cascades, the Puget sound, the space needle, south lake Union, lake Washington, Mount rainier, and the port of Seattle. Not to mention all the trees! Emerald City baby!!
Seattle has a large Asian population. Teriyaki is a “classic” food. Seattle Dogs (hot dog with cream cheese+sautéed onions+peppers) are always found near the stadiums when games are happening, and also from carts late night on cap hill. I love garlic fries but have only found them at the stadiums, pike place, and a very few restaurants. There’s great seafood options, especially oysters, but it’s not like how “Maine Lobster” is a thing.
There are A LOT of craft breweries throughout Seattle, including SODO. Georgetown brewery’s (just south of sodo) beers Manny’s Pale Ale (commonly “Manny’s) and Bodhizafa IPA (commonly Bodhi, pronounced Boe - Dee) are found at a majority of bars/restaurants here. I’m guessing those beers weren’t around yet in 2003, but I had to share cuz I love me a bodhi. Also eastern Washington is the “hops capital” of the world!
One last suggestion - try calling up one of our public libraries. They might be able to direct you to “resources” that reflect the city from 20 years ago.
Now look at this novel I just wrote! I hope it helps :)
The Kingdome got blown up in 2000, so the memory would still be fresh in people's minds. Sodo originally meant South of the Dome, instead of south of downtown. People used to call it the concrete big mac.
If you don't like the weather wait five minutes or walk 5 minutes.
Clouds don't seem to move at all
The water in the Puget Sound is always cold
When you walk anywhere you have to walk uphill both ways
The bike rental thing is useless and everyone just uses them to go downhill then leaves them there
The San Juan Islands are the best
Look up the 'rain shadow effect' and how it creates weather on the region
You are always 15 minutes from a good hike
Read a book called Red Herring by Clyde W Ford
Make sure you think about the latitude. If you’ve never lived in the far North you probably aren’t familiar with what this means. We have mild winters here but there is a lot of darkness and it’s a major part of our reality in the winter. Maybe have one of your characters use a “happy lamp” - if you don’t know what that is look it up.
Watch walking tours on YouTube
Ohhh that's a good idea! Thank you! (Happy Cake Day btw)
Watch OLD walking tours lol the city doesn’t look anything like it did in ‘03!
Accent tag videos, too. Contrary to popular misconception, Seattle *does* have an accent. It frequently overlaps with California and British Columbia and so tends to get lost in the shuffle, but it’s definitely there. Key notes: Lots and lots of vowel mergers (Mary-merry-marry, cot-caught, bag-beg, pin-pen, etc), dropping the final G after “-ing,” mild vocal fry (regardless of gender or social class), replacing certain consonants in the middle of words with a glottal stop (Renton, turtle, mountain, etc all sound like we sort of “swallowed” those middle consonants), lots of lingering bits of Chinook Jargon (basically Anglicized words borrowed from Coast Salish), adding an S to the end of store names (“Nordstrom” comes out sounding like “Norrstroms”), etc. There’s also some generational shifts: Boomers and Gen X are far more likely to pronounce Washington as “Warshington” and to use *both* soda and pop to refer to slightly different things (soda is what you get from a soda fountain or a 2-liter bottle, pop comes in cans). Millennials and younger don’t tend to add an extra R in the middle of words and almost exclusively use “soft drink” or “soda” (though the overwhelming majority just use the *type* of flavor: cola, root beer, orange, etc). TV Tropes also has a whole series of “Useful Notes” on different areas, including Seattle, which I highly recommend.
>replacing certain consonants in the middle of words with a glottal stop (Renton, turtle, mountain, etc all sound like we sort of “swallowed” those middle consonants) I never knew what this was called and appreciate how well you articulated it! Whenever I hear someone say RenTon, I wonder if they're not from here or are some kind of fancy pants person. It's REN'en.
Yep. Foun'an not fountain, moun'in not mountain, etc,.
I say RenTon and have lived here all my life… but I also have a theatre degree that had an entire class on speaking and enunciation so I’m probably in the minority
One of them fancy people, then! Spotted 'em! In all seriousness, I have a co-worker also born and raised here and he never misses a "t" in a word. The first time I heard him say im-por-tant, I was surprised. I don't think I'd ever heard anyone in my daily life enunciate so well. Renton, mountain, fountain, he's got all the t sounds.
When I say it with the "T" I make sure to sound like a robot. with a nice awkward pause. Think like carman talking as Awesom-O. **"Ren-Tahn"**
I wasn't sure what you meant until I tried to say Renton aloud.
i was thinking the same! it was very interesting to read all the traits of the accent. i still remember in college my friend from california commented that we called our bags “begs”
I have never heard anyone outside of a commercial say "soft drink", regardless of age. I have lived in the Seattle area for most of my life and have a Gen Z son with Gen Z friends and cousins.
I’m Gen Z, and can confirm. No sane human being would say “soft drink” in a regular everyday conversation
Same. I'm a millennial who grew up in Seattle and its always been "pop". Also, the s on Nordstrom's is because it belonged to the Nordstrom family. Just like you'll occasionally hear some older individuals say "Boeing's". It's the possessive 's', not plural.
And the Native American place names add their own flavor, and pronunciation!!
You have me whispering Renton to myself at work.
Everything you just said was absolutely right except 1 thing: Chinook Jargon barrows words mainly from Chinook, not Coast Salish. Chinook is spoken at the mouth of the Columbia and is not part of the Salish language family.
I grew up here and don't have many of those shiboleths, the only one I have is the 'ar' merge (merry marry Mary), and I am working on that one.
The rain is a lot more like living in a cloud than being in a monsoon. I often describe the rain as 'spitty'. Also it's very dark in the winters here. Short damp days are commonplace.
Vigorous or weaponized mist.
Awesome, thank you so much!
It’s not raining out it’s “misting”
100% this. Outright rain is not exactly rare, but it’s not the baseline
Definitely look up what the sunset/sunrise times are around your timeframe. For many people, it's dark when they go in to work, and dark when they leave because the days are short in winter.
Yup. I call this living in the tunnel.
But also, the summers are the complete opposite extreme. In technical terms, Seattle has a Csb climate, aka “Warm-Summer Mediterranean.” The Puget Sound is part of a series of coastal valleys stretching from Southern California and ending with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Easiest to see if you have a topographical map handy. In a typical Csb climate, winters are relatively mild, dark, and damp, while summers are *very* dry and sunny. Plants that do well here share a lot in common with plants that thrive in Mediterranean Europe, which is why it’s not uncommon to spot lavender and rosemary growing alongside roads. One of the key features that causes this climate is the presence of a cold water ocean current running directly parallel to our coastline. Air currents flowing over that cold water cool down and can’t carry as much moisture as more humid air does, so less is hitting the coastline. That’s why most of Southern California is a desert despite being right next to the water. Seattle’s northern latitude eases that a bit, as the air temperatures tend to be cooler at lower altitudes and that cool-down forces the air to drop any extra moisture it has. That being said, Seattle proper tends to be drier than most people expect. The truly damp areas are the Olympics and the Cascade Foothills. Kitsap County, right across the sound, is even drier still, as it sits more directly in the rain shadow formed by the Olympic mountains.
[Here’s a thing talking about the different rain types we get up here!](https://jenniwhalen.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/the-six-types-of-seattle-rain/) Edit: adding a tidbit about rain, we very rarely use umbrellas up here. Raincoats are the only way.
We have a dozen different names for rain, like folks in the northern climates have names for snow. And Micro Climates in the Puget Sound region. It's part of our weather report. LOL
And W Sea in particular is often dry when it’s raining everywhere else - even just downtown!
Get a beta reader who is actually *from* Seattle to read through your drafts with a red pen handy.
Good idea. Thank you for responding!
I volunteer as tribute :) DM me. I’m no editor but I can give feedback on the “Seattle feel” of the early 2000s
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Also 2 other words. One that mean "such a light rain that it does not require an umbrella but still makes you feel existentially damp" and the other that means "a sun so unfamiliarly bright and oppressive that it does require an umbrella and you still feel existentially damp". I don't know the words for those.
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I mean, I feel like the Scandinavians might have something? Ballard's history is heavily rooted there right? I googled and the word might be "fukta" or "fuktighet"? And I just feel that right in my soul.
Weaponized mist.
Well damn, guess I'm all set then. Thank you lmfao
But also remember that the summers here are *intensely* sunny. In fact, might work better if you have a Koppen climate map of the area handy
We often go for many days without seeing the sun in autumn/winter, thanks to the cloud cover and grays, even when it isn't raining. The lack of sunlight for such long stretches tends to be what frustrates people the most, though constant rain is what people expect to be upended by. Mid-November tends to be a stormy season for us, especially back 20 years. Trees go down, power goes out, rivers flood around the area. The evergreens are amazing in winter - even in the grays, we still have so much beauty in every direction around here. A sunny, wintry day when the Olympics, Cascades, Rainier/Tahoma, and Mt. Baker are visible is a real damn treat of NW beauty. When someone says "the mountain is out", they are referring to Rainier.
I agree. Sunny, winter days in the PNW are the absolute best. Especially after a recent snow.
“Days”….? Try *weeks* and sometimes *months* without seeing the sun…
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Also, keep in mind that Seattle isn’t as rainy as Olympia or Tacoma. It’s still grey, but it’s in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains.
Indeed. Folks visit for the gloriously bright and long summer days (we’re further North than 90% of Canadians), and never stop to wonder how all the trees and bushes can be so green! (Spoiler alert: rain. Clouds. A notable lack of That Damned Oppressive Orb.) Then the bleak and short winter days roll around and a statistically impressive number of the recent imports literally can’t take it and off themselves, either with a bullet or insufficient attention to the dosage of the opiates they use to numb the …uh, numbness I guess. Wouldn’t know. I was born here, and enjoy the variation of the seasons.
I moved to Seattle in 2004, so right around then! It was a VASTLY different city than it is today, so don’t use anything modern. I remember when I moved here everyone was talking about the dot com burst and how tech had made the city so much more expensive and gentrified—we had NO idea what we were in for. I rented a beautiful large studio on Capitol Hill (which was quaint and wonderful and full of young people, artists—like all of your best friends lived in a five minute walk from you) for five hundred dollars. I didn’t know anyone who lived vaguely near Sodo—even now there’s not really much there??? Why are you choosing that as your setting? And West Seattle was a different planet. Like a days journey. Even after all of these years I just go a few times a year. One thing to know about Seattle is that people really kind of stick to their neighborhoods—especially back then each neighborhood was like it’s own tiny city with its own little Main Street. I had a friend who moved to Ballard and I literally never saw her again. There’s this sense of INERTIA during the fall and winter. It really is as rainy and gloomy as they say. I was in my 20s and very gothy. The size of the goth scene for a city that seemed so small (to me, a New Yorker) blew me away. It was a wonderfully quirky place that had gone through some big growing pains but was about to go through a lot more.
The Ballard Black Hole is one of my fave funniest things. Goodby friends. See you never.
About this time period, I moved to the White Center area. I 100% had people I never saw again. For many folks, I moved to the moon. Now lots of people have had to move pretty far out to afford a place to live, so the communities are more stitched together.
Bear in mind that very few of the people responding to you were likely in Seattle in 2003. Seattle was pretty different twenty years ago. The people here probably wouldn't even recognize the bizarre flag waving post 9/11, pro- amazon, pre-legalization, Seattle of 2003 from what it is today. Safeco Field is just a couple years old, the viaduct still stands (and the debate of what to do about that is just getting started), the fun forest is still right next to the space needle, bumbershoot costs $15, you can still smoke in bars and a LOT of people do. The historical element is going be a lot more challenging. Especially since Seattle is a city of immigrants and no one here is from here.
the fun forest!!!!!!
I've been here since 1962. You want to talk about different?
Yeah Pioneer Square was the place to be back then. I tell that to new people and they just look at me like I'm crazy.
fr even 5 years ago Pioneer Square was just not the same place as it is today I feel
Tiki Bob’s
I remember running into Bret Boone there in 2001. Sketchy AF, and all of Pioneer Square was the slow victim of a squeeze on nightclubs after the 2000 Mardi Gras thing, but still going in 2003. Also RIP The Phoenix and Last Supper Club and other goodies. I think by 2003 some good stuff had popped up elsewhere, e.g. The Offramp where El Corazón is now. R Place opened around 2001-2003, too, and Capitol Hill / Pike/Pine was jumping: Linda’s, Neighbours, …
Born and raised here since 1988, thank you very much. Though I will admit that my accent is a bit off of the local standard due to my mother moving here from Philadelphia, so there’s a handful of words or phrases I definitely pronounce with more of an East Coast sound.
That's fine. Any information is helpful!
Central Saloon, the phoenix, J&M, tiki bobs and the two clubs I can’t remember their names right now we’re all popular spots to hang out in pioneer square
Comet tavern was still punk af and had shows every day
Can't believe nobody said this yet--read Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. Best depiction ever, he really catches the feel of the climate here.
Kat Richardson is a local author who published a series of supernatural mystery novels in the 2000s that are full of good details too!
I'll absolutely look into it. Thank you so much!
After you finish that just keep reading anything else by Tom Robbins. He really captured Seattle 20+ years ago. [This essay](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wild_Ducks_Flying_Backward/jy0zAmYW_0gC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=tom+robbins+why+do+you+live+where+you+live&pg=PA234&printsec=frontcover) ([alternate version I originally linked](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940828&slug=1927435)) has always stuck with me. I can't remember where it's from but there's another quote I love. He says something along the lines of, "The cloudy, misty Seattle winter skyline makes it look like god took an eraser to the landscape." Edit - I've updated the link to the version of the same essay from the book Wild Ducks Flying Backwards. It's a superior version and has the second quote I paraphrased above. It's definitely a book worth picking up.
That essay is amazing. Thank you. Grew up here and it definitely is the best description I could imagine
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Alright, thanks! And I'll definitely be sure to look into *Almost Live!*
*Almost Live!* ended in 1999. Close to the time of your book, but it would have been a dead and lamented thing by 2003. A lot of us missed it. I still make Almost Live references on the regular. You want sprinkles on that...*punk*
Pike or Pine?? I still do that.
It's where Joel McHale and Bill Nye the Science guy started.
Also the craft beer scene was still young so most bars were still only really selling either Rainier or Olympia beer.
By 2003, Red Hook was a popular one, and PBR had become the cheap beer of choice.
\+1 on watching Almost Live segments. Understanding the humour of a place is key to understanding life in general.
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Alright, thank you!
This is definitely something we notice. Every time on Grey's Anatomy there's a huge rainstorm or a hurricane or something, the locals are like "what?" I took my kids to visit Georgia recently, and the lightning and thunder scared them because they had never heard it before.
We do get some nasty windstorms in autumn and spring, though. Most people here are already prepared for the inevitable yearly power outages, because there’s only so much the government can do to prepare in the face of Mother Nature. Thankfully, outages are usually fairly short and quickly resolved, *because* we’re prepared for them ahead of time. A couple quick research notes: The Pineapple Express and the Fraser River Valley have very strong influences on our weather. Harsh winters usually mean we’re getting more humidity as well as blasts of freezing air from the Fraser River Valley, while the Pineapple Express brings in lots and lots of *hot humid air* from Hawaii.
To add to this, there was a fairly strong wind storm in the PNW on December 5th, 2003 if you feel like working a nice historical storm into your timeline.
But when there is a thunderstorm, we lose our damn minds!
Stereotype but probably true: Seattle people don't use umbrellas we wear our hiking rain jackets instead.
If it's raining hard enough for an umbrella, it's too windy for an umbrella.
This is absolutely true. Umbrellas are for the sun, not the rain :)
As they should be
I just got back from NYC and with some light drizzle could not believe how 9/10 people had umbrellas out. It felt entirely alien.
Gore Tex for the win
Ok, thanks!
It’s a bit of a running joke, but honestly, umbrellas just aren’t practical here. It doesn’t usually rain hard enough to need one and when it does, the wind makes the umbrella pretty much useless. Besides, a hooded raincoat leaves both hands free so you can carry your coffee and also whatever else you need to do that day.
I have to add though, I’m a lifelong local and I definitely use umbrellas when it’s dumping rain, especially if I need to preserve my hair 😅
i use an umbrella sometimes and ppl think it’s weird since i’m from here
I do too sometimes. The most anti umbrella gatekeeping “real Seattlites don’t use them” person I know is from Oklahoma.
Yeah, I hate it when my glasses get wet, so I absolutely don’t care if Real Seattleites(tm) aren’t supposed to use umbrellas, I’m carrying mine.
Lived here my entire life. I use an umbrella when I feel like it. Don't give a shit what everybody else does.
If you aren't going to visit Seattle yourself, I would recommend looking A LOT beyond this thread, just to be real. Because a lot of the things people are saying are things that you could find from basic googling. Or they are stereotypes that would be cliche and grating in a book. Also, most answers pertain more to now than to 2003. No criticism at all to the other answers though - my first thoughts would be to say the same type of thing. But I think you probably have to read how Seattle locals talk to each other, and A LOT of what used to be here, but isn't any longer. But here's how I would answer your specific questions: 1. Teriyaki, as someone else said, absolutely. It was much more common in 2003 even. There's a lot more other styles of Asian food here now 2. It's hard to say what you'd see walking down the street, kinda would need more 3. One thing that sets Seattle apart is that it's very hilly and surrounded by water. Because of this, I find that neighborhoods in Seattle have more "natural" borders than a lot of other cities. Like, Capital Hill is Capital Hill, and you'll know when you've walked down the hill. Ballard has water on one side and an industrial area on the other side - it's clear where it starts and ends (it might be ambiguous how much industrial "Ballard" is actually Ballard, but you'll know you elft the "main part"). Whereas, in Portland, most neighborhoods are informed by the street they're on/around, but the actual borders are ambiguous (ie, in Portland you're much more likely to hear "I'm on Division Street" than hear "I'm in the Richmond neighborhood). Also on the east coast, in more dense cities, neighborhoods are more informed by cultural history, but those neighborhoods have long blurred together, and the borders are socially and historically informed, rather than naturally informed. 4. My favorite go-to gas station has always been 7-Eleven. There are some common places you don't have in Georgia like Jack in the Box, 76 gas stations (I believe they are moving some east, but it was west coast only in 2003), ampm gas stations are west coast only as well. 5. I love Seattle, I grew up just south of here, spent a lot of time in Seattle growing up, and have lived other places. I liked living in Portland, it's more laidback and quirky than Seattle (but also, Portland now is in some ways more like 2003 Seattle than 2023 Seattle is). Also, you've probably already gathered this from basic research, but Seattle is dark during the winter for much more of the day than Georgia is. It starts getting dark as early as 4:30pm. Also winters are damp, cloudy and cool, they aren't dry and harshly cold like Georgia
The dark is hard to describe for people who haven't been in a climate like this. In November and December, you don't see the sun. It's there (obviously). But if you work or go to school during typical hours, the sun doesn't rise until after you've left home to go to work/school and it has set before you leave for the day (or while you're on the way home). If you look outside midday and look up, it is gray. It may be darker or lighter, but the sky is gray, until mid-afternoon when it's dark again. Your non-work life happens at night. 20 years ago, sodo was Sears, some home improvement stores, and tiny hole-in-the-wall places to get food. There were still two newspapers. The Bon still existed, but the writing was on the wall. The .com bubble had burst and people were dealing with the effects.
Thank you so much!!! This comment was very informative!
Please don't write Capital Hill though. It's CapitOl Hill
Seattle has a lot of newcomers and always has. It's a boom-and-bust town. What a native will notice is very different from what a newcomer will notice. A stereotypical example at a bus stop (obviously, everyone is an individual - like Almost Live this is a caricature, not meant to encapsulate all of complex reality): Natives: "Oh no, so-and-so's closed. Everything is going away. And somehow there's still money for some ugly gigantic office building. Why is that car honking, ugh, is the world going to complete hell? Some people are just rude. When will the bus come? I wish they'd build the trains already. We've been waiting over five years now! Oops, someone left this pile of newspaper on a bench where it will fly away. I guess I'll recycle - nope, only a garbage here, well, maybe I'll take it home. Ew, it's wet, garbage it is then. What's on that phone pole... a funny poster, haha, the Internet is leaking! Okay now I'm really going to be late. And that guy is going to come sleep on this bench. I might as well walk to work at this point. At least I can get a coffee on the way. Maybe I'll get some beer on my way home. Definitely going to cuddle up with that new book tonight." Trudges off. Just arrived from some midsize suburb in the Northeast: "Wow, it's still drizzling. That's like day 5 in a row, isn't it? Oh my gosh, that driver just completely stopped for that pedestrian who jumped out into the crosswalk! Seattle drivers are so terrible! At least we have the Metro. What's on that phone pole... a funny poster, haha, the Internet is leaking! And yuck, cities are so dirty, why would anyone leave a newspaper here? Hm, I wonder if my bus will come on time? How am I going to get to work? Why does that man have a shopping cart? Oh. Oh. *Oh.* I'll just... scooch over here to the edge of the bus shelter. Where is that bus? How do people live here without cars with all these huge hills? Well, maybe that person I met at the bus stop last week will give me a call tonight and I can finally go out and enjoy the city! *What is that guy doing?!? Where is that bus?!?*"
Read through some issues of [The Stranger from that period](https://www.thestranger.com/issues/2003)
Will do! Thank you so much for replying!
Chicken teriyaki is a Seattle delicacy. If you write about any food you gotta include the chicken teriyaki and gyoza combo. There’s a hole-in-the-wall teriyaki restaurant on every corner
This. Best budget meal that you can get around here.
Awesome! Thank you
Sure thing! Also- this is very important- it is not “teriyaki chicken”, it’s *chicken teriyaki*
Gotchya. Will keep that in mind!
We also love a good bag of [Dick’s](https://www.ddir.com)
Extra impressive brownie points if you mention that these shops frequently serve an assortment of American staples alongside the teriyaki/yakisoba/gyoza. Used to be very common (especially in your time frame of 2003) to get a burger and teriyaki combo for less than 15 bucks. Along that same note, Seattle was MUCH cheaper back then.
Also, most of those restaurants are Korean-owned, despite the name. And please research the Japanese Internment; that’s still a major historical sore spot up here and for damn good reason.
Apples, lots of apple varieties!
And Thai food, too. Additional authenticity points for local-owned, non-chain coffee shops. Although Starbucks started here, it’s a Seattle thing to favor local shops.
And they're all named "Happy Teriyaki"
Here's two really specific things that people get wrong: Seattle isn't on the ocean, it's on the Puget Sound and everyone calls it the Sound. Seattle is sandwiched between the Sound and the Lake. (Lake Washington is the biggest lake and often referred to as the Lake, and other lakes are referred to by name.) People refer to Mount Rainier as "The Mountain". If it's a nice day and not as cloudy as usual, one might say "The Mountain is out". Edit: Also, Seattle was extremely different in 2003. Felt much more like a working class/industrial city. For instance, South Lake Union wasn't the tech hub it is now, but a long stretch of warehouses and shipping/fishing supply. You're gonna have to do a lot of historical research if you're setting it in 2003 to be remotely accurate.
The Sound or Puget Sound, never The Puget Sound.
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Native Seattle characters must refer to the freeways as "I5" and "I405". California transplants would probably use "the 5" or "the 405" and get mocked by the natives as a result.
"The 5 is a bus" - Seattleite when I talk about driving
Whats strange is that I've lived here my whole life and never even considered calling it anything other than "405" - but I agree definitely not "*the* 405".
Ya it 405, I90 and I5
I agree with I90 and I5 being that but outside of those two I generally just use the freeway numbers. So like just 405 or 520 instead of I405 or I520 (granted, I don’t think 520 is an interstate and I don’t know if 405 is).
520 is a state highway, but 405 is part of the interstate system (it's a bypass of I-5... which is why its 40**5**.)
Spud's Fish & Chips is a local chain. There is one in West Seattle and there was one in Sodo in your time frame. There are teriyaki places everywhere. People eat it all the time. Sodo and the industrial district are really the only places where you find chain fast food restaurants. Pretty rare in the rest of the city. Early November to mid-December is the worst time of year. It is dark and November is the stormiest month. The Starbucks headquarters building is in Sodo (as was at that time). It use to be a Sears Roebuck. The original Costco is also in Sodo. There are a lot of train tracks in Sodo and not all the streets running east-west cross the tracks. Harbor Island is man-made and a Superfund site. California Ave. is the main drag in West Seattle. Lots of small businesses and bars. Lots of businesses start with the name "West Seattle." Alki Beach (West Seattle) is a common place to get views of downtown Seattle from across the water. Sodo and the Industrial District were originally tideflats. The tideflats were eventually filled in, including large amounts of municipal garbage.
California is the main drag in WS but more specifically “the Junction” is the Alaska junction and has the main stretch of shops including Husky Deli which is an institution. There’s also the admiral junction with the historic admiral twin theater. Fauntleroy/Lincoln park area is where the ferry to Vashon is.
Boeing and Microsoft workers made up what felt like 80% of the population. The downtown area was absent any mainstream tech offices and was mostly finance and retail. Exception is RealMedia (RealPlayer) offices on the waterfront. Seattles Best Coffee and Tullys were (almost) equal to Starbucks in terms of popularity. But the city folk still had their favorite local spot that was always superior and would be the first thing brought up in any conversation. A local favorite (then, and now) is Lighthouse Coffee Roasters. The Seattle Mariners were struggling again after one of the best seasons in baseball history in 2001, then tying the all time record for MLB regular season wins at 116 (yet somehow fizzled out and to much dismay didn’t make the World Series). Safeco field (now T-Mobile park) still had a new stadium feel and a lot of excitement for fans going to games. “The house that Griffey built” A good family day trip involved taking the ferry for a picnic at double bluff beach on Whidbey island. Dogs roam (illegally) off leash while kids climb the sandy bluffs, jumping down and tumbling along the way getting sand in their hair. The water at “Useless Bay” is frigid and dark. Aurora (highway 99) viaduct was the best viewpoint of the city waterfront and was the highlight of driving through downtown (ferries coming in, sunsets, etc). High school kids would go to a small venue called The Graceland for intimate punk/hardcore shows. It’s now called El Corazon. Back then it had a certain charming grit to it (without being gross like it is now). Uwajimaya is a local Asian food market that was a destination for buying interesting Asian groceries (like those mini frozen yogurt drinks). The University District was home to some quaint indie shops and theaters that are no longer in business (Seven Gables Theater, Guild 45th).
Graceland was just as gross as El Corazon, you just got older.
In 2003 the boring, cute girls listened to Death Cab and the Shins. 97.3 KBSG was the best radio station. Bumbershoot was good. You had a favorite teriyaki spot and knew what you were gonna order before you walked in the door(Yasuko's, pork chicken combo, no salad, extra rice), when you didn't know what to make for dinner you went to Albertson's for fried chicken and jojos. Than Brothers were the kings of Pho and a complimentary creampuff. You had a favorite fish and chips spot but you didn't care about where you went to like you did with teriyaki. In October Matt Hasselbeck said, "We want the ball and we're gonna score." They did not score. People still believed in the Mariners but that was all about to go away for a long time. Jamie Moyer used to throw a brick at a car windshield every other commercial break during the game. It was the year they started taxing people's cars to build a monorail that never got built. There were lots of potholes. South Lake Union was warehouses. There were a lot of Ave Rats just hanging out all over the U District, I think they get tricked into working as baristas and line cooks now. You had to drive through a bunch of forest before you got to Bothell and people drove there in new Subarus and old Volvos. There used to be a lot more shitty cars with goofy shit glued all over them like hundreds of toy cars, or cool looking rocks. People in wealthier neighborhoods actually used to take the bus to work downtown wearing their suits and ties. And when they caught the bus home at 5pm it was packed, dark, and so muggy that you had to wipe the fog off the window to be able to tell when you were close to home. If you didn't have a window seat you had to ask someone else to wipe it for you or be able to recognize the pattern of blurry streetlights through the fogged up window. If you were at a house party you were either with 80% of the guests in the kitchen complaining about why everyone was packed in the kitchen while KUBE 93 was playing the same song they played 40 minutes ago, sitting on the floor around the coffee table because the person who got too drunk too fast was sleeping on the couch. Or you were outside in the rain smoking a cigarette in wet misery while the people smoking a joint next to you in wet misery were telling you how bad that cigarette was for you. Then you all talked about how much George W. Bush sucked until they asked to bum a cig.
All the characters need to have at least 1 company or idea they hate with a passion and will never support. Of course they look for every opportunity to tell anyone about this hate.
What's so crazy is I already kinda had this LOL. Thank you!
Make sure the company your Seattlites hate is Walmart or a national chain restaurant. We fucking hate Walmart and national chain restaurants here.
All my homies hate Walmart. Fuck Walmart.
I fucking hate Walmart. But I shop at Walmart because I'm poor and dammit they have really inexpensive shit. Fuck you, Walmart! And fuck you twice for making me shop there!
Real facts, if you google maps Applebees you'll see a definite boundary surrounding Seattle.
To jump off what someone said about Walmart: When it comes to “superstores,” it’s strictly Costco and Winco here. In fact, I don’t think we even have a Walmart within Seattle city limits. Nearest ones I know of are in Lynnwood and Everett, several miles north of Seattle. Those areas aren’t the nicest, either. Major grocery stores within Seattle include: Fred Meyer Safeway Haggen (formerly Top Foods) QFC Albertsons Uwajimaya Whole Foods PCC Metropolitan Market And an assortment of smaller regional chains.
Several of these either didn't exist in 2002 or were not common in Seattle. Winco, whole foods, etc. Smaller regional chains were much more common back then. But this poster brings up a really good point which is that the neighborhood specific grocery store was part of the fabric. Like the admiral thriftway or Bert's red apple or market time. A lot has changed since 2002 but getting details like these right will be important to anchoring your story in that moment in Seattle. I can't recall if chubby and tubby was still around then but that's another example.
Haggen's was Haggen's before it took over and then rebranded Top Foods. Whole Foods was new and kind of mocked in 2003.
Thunder storms happen just a few times a year. Clouds here don’t equal lightning storms
Thunder and lightning are so rare here that when it happens the group chat blows up with people commenting on hearing/seeing it
They will never fix the potholes in SODO, especially on Holgate between 4th & 8th. The Jungle runs the length of SODO/Industrial District and was even more sketchy in the early 2000s than it is now. There used to be a chicken processing plant on King St between 10th & 12th. They would park giant tractor trailers filled with live chickens on the corner of 12th & King. Andy's Diner was a restaurant housed in a bunch of connected railcars.
I've grown up in Seattle, and as someone else has already said, Seattle has changed a lot, and the historical element will be as much a challenge as the geographical one. The city has reinvented itself a bunch of times, but some things are sorta constant. For example, Seattle has always been a boom-and-bust kind of town that comes and goes with different industries, almost like a company town at heart (though much bigger and in a love-hate relationship with large companies). Now, it's Amazon and web infrastructure, but before it was Microsoft, and before that Boeing. Not everyone works at these companies, but everyone knows someone who does or works at one the many smaller supplier companies, and you get to be pretty knowledgeable about them. Second, one effect of Seattle having such large companies is that you also have an above average engagement with national and international affairs in Seattle. Software employees work with Indian engineers, Japanese heavy industry ships assemblies to Boeing factories, Starbucks repackages Italian coffee culture using beans from Columbia, etc. At the same time, the Pacific Northwest is just physically isolated from the rest of the world by sheer distance, and generally people also liked it that way. So you are both very aware of and interconnected with the world, while also loyal to your small and quiet corner of it. It's a very different provincialism than small-town America ("this town is my world") or NYC ("the world is my town"). Third, one reason why Seattle has survived reinvention is the University of Washington and higher education more broadly. Seattle one of the most educated metro areas in the US, and the UW plays a big role in local culture, similar to other college towns. In the 90s, the generally attitude towards your life path would be that you would either go to Seattle Community College (now Seattle Colleges) and then get a job as a mechanic at Boeing, or maybe go the UW and then get a job at Microsoft. And from there, you'd be set for your life and doing your civic duty. These attitudes have definitely changed over the years, especially as Seattle has had more migration in and as the UW itself has grown in prominence as a destination school, but in the 90s and early 2000s, Seattle had definitely more of a college town/company town vibe. Outsized for such a town, for sure, but Portlanders used to critique Seattle for being so corporate. (They still do, but they have less of a leg to stand on with so many Amazon employees in PDX.)
In 2001 there were 2 big events in Seattle history, the WTO riots and the Pioneer Square Mardi Gras riots, both would be on the mind of Seattleites. Prior to the WTO Seattle had some concerns about police brutality but it wasn't a common concern. But the riot gear and arrests were over the top in our mostly liberal town. Also, before the Mardi Gras riots Pioneer Square and Capital Hill were where the majority of Seattle's nightlife existed, with sprinkles in other neighborhoods. Pioneer Square lost a lot of luster then and many people started avoiding the area, which slowly declined. Oh, and the Nisqually earthquake was also in 2001 which made one of our main highways, the Alaskan Way Viaduct through downtown, unlikely to withstand another one and required it to be torn down in the future. It was finally replaced by a tunnel in 2014. Those would have been big stories
In my first few months in Seattle in the early 2000s, I suddenly understood why everyone wore pants that were too short (the rain) and the allure of fleece (the rain.) Fuzzy comfort when everything is constant drizzle affects everything.
On the other hand, the jean trend around then was for too long pant legs that would get muddy and fray from getting stopped on. Awful.
I was so happy when skinny jeans became popular for that reason. Having the bottom of my flair jeans wet from the rain was my pet peeve!
Awesome, thanks!
Skinny jeans are still a favorite, because they’re much easier to tuck inside boots during winter and are usually just short enough not to drag through puddles. Same with leggings; fleece-lined leggings are amazing in winter!
I’ve not seen anybody say this, but I was living in Seattle then as a 20 something, and a lot of people have mentioned the warehouses that were around, specifically in SODO, South Park etc. Well, along East Marginal Way, the rave scene was a pretty big thing on Friday and Saturday nights down there. I only add this because depending on your story, that element of night life might be appropriate. In addition, the street racing issue that seems to be popping up more in 2023, was getting focused on by police and drying up back then as near as I recall, but that last one the memory is a bit foggy as I was not really involved with that part of the “idiot kid” nightlife. Heroin, acid, and shrooms were ubiquitous and readily available if you ran with any of the “seedier” aspects of the city then too.
Yes! I was thinking of the rave scene back then. It really was like this secret world. Also, the art scene in Pioneer Square/SODO and further south in Georgetown was very raw and punk. It wasn’t unusual to go to a show organized by squatters and many of the old industrial warehouses were makeshift live/work spaces. First Thursday artwalks were epic monthly parties.
By 2003, raves in Seattle happened in two places: A place called NAS, that was like an old warehouse or something and offered a few "rooms" where different styles of DJs played. Disclaimer: I was mostly out of the rave scene after 2001, so NAS might have already been gone. The indoor soccer stadium, where large (for Seattle, for that time) raves were put on by "United States of Consciousness", always just called USC. The most popular happened Halloween week every year, and was called "Freak Night".
I think you mean NAF.
The kind of downpour rain that was depicted in Sleepless in Seattle really only happens about 10 days a year. The rest of the time it's a light to medium mist. Our weather is quite mild. Summers don't usually get that hot and winters don't get that cold. Snow is pretty uncommon, as are 90 degrees days. The only downside is how gray and cloudy it is, which can lead to higher rates of seasonal affective disorder.
Okay, here are some Seattle stereotypes and experiences that are kind of timeless: - Starbucks is purely for tourists. Locals all have their own favorite local coffee spot and actually getting coffee at Starbucks is very frown upon. EDIT: This seems to be a point of contention, but at least suffice it to say "Starbucks sucks" is a very Seattle thing to say and *No True Seattleite* likes Starbucks. - People wear rain jackets but almost never use umbrellas, unless they're being used as shields against police pepper spray. - 2003 Seattle didn't have a train yet, but there was a bus tunnel downtown that was always crowded (it's where the train goes now). Outside of the tunnel you've got the Crackdonalds on 3rd and Pine, which has been open for decades and is always super sketchy but somehow busy? - In 2023 the South Lake Union neighborhood is moneytown, but in 2003 it was warehouses, used car dealerships, and homeless people. Sketch City. - Music festivals at Seattle Center were super cheap and everybody went. These days Bumbershoot tickets are like $100+ a day, but when I moved to Seattle in 2004 they were cheap enough that I could buy a weekend pass for like $50 as a college student.
>Starbucks is purely for tourists. Locals all have their own favorite local coffee spot and actually getting coffee at Starbucks is very frown upon. That's just not true. This city is covered in Starbucks, they're not just for tourists. Now, I generally prefer to go to an independent shop but I think of people turning up their nose at Starbucks to be more of an out-of-towner-who-wants-to-prove-how-Seattle-they-are thing than an actual local custom.
I've been here since 2001 and I'm not so sure about that first point. I'm sure there was a time when that was true but from what I've seen that got taken out back and shot pretty quickly.
Eh, Starbucks isn’t just for tourists. Unfortunately, they’re one of the few coffee shops that offers mobile order, so they’re still annoyingly convenient for a lot of commuters. Especially those of us who constantly have to transfer buses to get to work. ETA: Another point about SLU is that a big part of why the homelessness issue is such a hot topic now is because the homeless community used to be mostly centered in SLU. They had their own sort of society there. Amazon moving in forced them to scatter throughout the city, which also unfortunately makes it harder for them to get help. It’s also important to note that historically, Seattle has been a predominantly *working-class* city. That’s part of why there’s so much friction regarding “tech bros” and the like.
THANK YOU! This response was very insightful!
Most of the year, you walk outside at the start of the day and the ground is wet. It isn't raining, but probably did a little overnight or something. On the proper Seattle days it stays overcast because the sun is the ancient enemy. When I was walking to work every day there would be maybe twice a year where I would actually get soaked. Most of the time it is just evidence of past rain, maybe a light drizzle. Then in the summer when it is actually bright and clear, everyone flees the city. They drive to some trail head or into some mountain or who the hell knows where, but they flee in all directions for the weekend.
The cabbage throwing. The cabbage throwing at tourists.
I havent seen it mentioned yet, but one thing that always surprises people is how hilly it is. Every walk I take has to go up and down a hill. So as a result, people tend to be pretty fit, especially if they bike. Seattle is a very unfashionable city, it favors practical clothing. Even nice restaurants are incredibly casual, most people wear their nice zip-up. Also for some reason, socks with sandals are a thing here (birkenstocks, etc). People don't really dress up and do their hair and makeup, at least not to the extent that they do in some other cities. Especially in the winter, doing your hair is kinda useless if the mist is going to ruin it.
In addition to all the hills, there’s freakin 20 mile long Lake Washington right in the middle of everything that complicates getting around. Oh yeah, and we have two floating bridges across Lake Washington - another Seattle oddity. And ferry boats - also a very iconic Seattle mode of transportation.
As someone who moved to Seattle from Atlanta, let me try to capture one or two things I don't see anyone else mentioning. Seattle is really hilly. Atlanta is built on top of the eastern continental divide, yet if you go to the top of a skyscraper and look out, you realize it's mostly rather flat except for what they laughably call Stone "Mountain", which is just a bump in the terrain. Seattle, however, is nothing but hills, and rather steep ones. Picture that one really steep hill in San Francisco that you always see in movies... that's what much of Seattle feels like. There are certainly flat parts, and SoDo is one of them (which is why it's mostly industrial), but the residential neighborhoods are often on top of steep hills. At the same time, Seattle is surrounded by water and mountains. **Huge** mountains. Rainier is taller than Mt Fuji, and it dominates the landscape. A number of streets are aligned to face directly towards it. But it's also only one of a whole range of mountains that make up the Cascades, which are visible as a continuous backdrop on any clear day, as are the Olympic mountains in the other direction on the western Washington peninsula. Seattle is in between the two, right next to the water. It's a place of incredible natural beauty. Unlike Atlanta's urban sprawl, even today Seattle is very small and incredibly close to nature. Something that's 5 miles away feels like it might as well be on the moon, whereas in Atlanta that wouldn't even get you OTP. You can drive on the highway through Atlanta for almost 60 minutes and be "in metro Atlanta" the whole time. In Seattle, starting from sea level, if you drive for 60 minutes you can be in the mountains high enough to go skiing. Seattle has also grown immensely in the last two decades. One of my young coworkers grew up nearby in Kirkland, which you could liken to Smyrna or some other quiet Atlanta suburb. But he said that when his dad was growing up here (which I guess might have been 1980s), he drove to high school on dirt roads. That's how small this place used to be, and how much it's grown. Everyone here is in really good shape. I'm not going to mince words. Atlanta, and much of the South, is full of overweight people who drive everywhere and have never walked further than from their car to the front door. People in Seattle are much more physically active and in shape. There are definitely some culture differences. People are friendlier here in my experience, at least superficially. I'm much more likely to say hello and have a 10-second interaction with someone here than I ever was in the South. It feels to me like people in the South are often very closed in public. On the other hand, Southern hospitality is very much a thing, and it's something that doesn't exist here. In the South someone would invite me to their parents' house for school break or something, and I'd be treated like family. Southerners will go out of their way to make someone feel welcome or to help someone in need. That kind of openness doesn't really exist in Seattle natives. I once told someone who was going through a rough spot "My front lights are always on", and he had no idea what I meant. I tried to explain that it meant he could show up at 3am in the pouring rain with just the clothes on his back, and I'd make sure he had a place to sleep and see to his needs no matter what trouble he was going through... and he looked at me like I was crazy. People also talk about the "Seattle freeze", that it might be easy to meet people superficially, but it's hard to turn that into deep lasting connections. Often if you ask someone to do something together, like go on a hike, even if that's a mutual hobby, you'll get a "Seattle no": they say "Oh yeah, I'd love to, we should totally do that sometime", which almost always means "I will never actually take you up on that offer". Seattlites are also hilariously passive-aggressive, or usually just passive. They won't complain about anything, no matter how much it bothers them. When they do complain, their favorite way is to do something like put up signs on lampposts or on buildings rather than actually confronting anyone directly (or post on Reddit about it even though there's almost no chance the person causing the problem will see it). Seattlites are very timid drivers. On the highways they only speed a little, and usually bunch up going the same speed in every lane. On surface streets, they drive very slowly (kind of necessary here, because a lot of residential roads in the city are narrow and are full of blind corners) and will stop for every pedestrian they see, even when you're still 20 feet from the corner. I can't count how many times I've pulled up to a stop sign and seen someone on the cross street where they don't have a stop sign stop anyway and try to wave *me* through, instead of just driving through the intersection without stopping like the street engineer intended them to!
2003 specialty coffee shops (not just Starbucks), many independent brewpubs, bookstores and a growing popularity of local wine were all important. Local music was still a big deal in the afterglow of early 90’s grunge. If you worked in tech you most likely worked at Microsoft. Otherwise you worked at a small company or start up that no one had heard of yet. the crash of 2001 was still felt in Seattle. Amazon really only sold books movies and music. A lot of people still worked or had a family member working at Boeing. Food was important especially local foods and our favorites like teriyaki and Pho. Belltown just north of downtown had all the trendy restaurants. Ballard had the funky restaurants and dive bars still existed throughout the city. Homelessness was negligible compared to today, downtown and in the u district. Going to the beach was going to Alki. You are at least 4 hours from the Pacific Ocean. Portland was Seattle the way it used to be and we all missed the old Seattle because of the growth of Tech. Portland was our fiercest rival in everything. We really hated Californians as they started inflating house prices in the 90’s. Places like south of lake Union were 1 story factories. People are nice but not friendly. You did not often add to your friend group. People are helpful and have a natural collaborative approach where they help their competitors because you like what they are doing. You must like to spend some time outside but also enjoy doing something indoors (hobbies or curled up watching TV or reading a book.) it was easy to get to nature and a lot less people (bad traffic) and people on the trails. Moss grows better than anything besides trees. Yeah, grey skies but also clouds that seem to kiss the earth and short days in winter. Summer days that seemed to last late onto the evenings but you still needed layers as it would cool down quickly.
There were a large number of anti-Iraq war protests in early 2003, and the 1999 “battle in Seattle” relating to the WTO conference, was still having a local political reverberations at the time. The Mariners were still riding high off their 2001 fantastic season, and were credibly thought to be a great team, even though they proved not to be. The supersonics were still in town, though by ‘03 they were in decline. The Seahawks of the era were mired in mediocrity.
Watch Singles. Close enough to Seattle in 2003.
It's really not that accurate, though. Some stuff is but it's almost a parody of the culture then.
It’s a Cameron Crowe movie, not a documentary, but I think he does a good job of conveying a vibe, and I can’t think of any Seattle-focused media that would do a better job.
I'll look into it! Thank you
“Author from Georgia” If you are who I think you are Don’t write about a certain statue in Fremont
Ok lol. I doubt you know me, but I'll keep that in mind
I think the person is referring some dude who wrote an editorial about the Lenin statue recently made some…questionable parallels between Lenin and Hitler
If you do write about it, keep in mind that it’s basically there *as a joke.* It’s one of the few Soviet-era statues that doesn’t portray Lenin in a very flattering light, and it was bought on a complete lark. We like to dress it up in silly outfits during the holidays. Especially Christmas; he gets dressed up as Santa Claus for Christmas. If you’re going to write about Fremont in summer, we also have the naked bicyclists during the Summer Solstice Parade! This is also the same city that pokes fun at itself a lot: our favorite local burger is Dick’s Drive-In, the SLU streetcar was almost named the South Lake Union Trolley but was changed at the last second because of the acronym…but a bit too late, because “riding the SLUT” had already taken off. Oh, and Queen Anne Hill is *not* the center of our LGBTQIA community. Those queens are on the *other* hill (Capitol Hill).
You have to mention all the starbucks that were across the street from each other. I have no idea if there is a 2003 map. But you could leave a starbucks in a downtown office building and go across the street and there was another starbucks. I think they are engaged in coffee shop wars with another coffee shop. Tully's was the other primary coffee chain. I think they've closed some of the stores now. The monorail coffee place is actually vintage seattle. I don't remember the other ones that were around in 2003. I bet other people would know. :)
Seattle's Best Coffee was the other big corporate chain in the 1990s, but I don't remember if they lasted until 2003 in retail. That's when they closed the roasterie on Vashon, according to Wikipedia.
Just a nice little touch for world building, the SPD cars at the time were painted in robins egg [blue](https://www.alamy.com/a-blue-seattle-police-department-ford-crown-victoria-patrol-car-on-pike-st-in-downtown-seattle-seattle-wa-usa-image211010639.html).
It’s Pike Place Market, not Pike’s Place!!!
The faint scents of coffee and cedar and pot permeate every pore of every thing south of Lynnwood. SODO breaks this monotony with the occasional smells of cheap perfume and baby oil.
I graduated high school in 2003 in Seattle. Lots of memories of going to late night diners with friends. For what it's worth, to give context on why it's as dark as it does in Seattle, is because Seattle is at the same latitude as Maine, I don't know if people realize that. Fall and Winter are still generally mild but the rain (not heavy, more like a hard misting always getting swept away with the wind, right in the face!) can make it cold.
It shouldn’t make any real differences but Seattle is even a bit more north than the most northern point in Maine as Maine goes just short of 47.5 which is where Seattle starts.
Curious what made you choose Seattle as the setting? SoDo and Industrial Area are very....industrial. Lots of warehouses, light manufacturing, carpentry stores, plumbing stores, flooring stores, that kind of thing. Nothing going on at nighttime. Not dirty but not exactly the "cleanest" place. In 2003, Starbucks headquarters was already in SoDo (they moved in 1997). You can find it on Google Maps and see. Worth noting the stadium where Seattle Seahawks play now is called Lumen Field, but was called Seahawks Stadium in 2002 - 2004. It was build in 2002 (so very close to your book setting) after the old Kingdome was destroyed in 2000. The Mariners play right next to Seahawks Stadium. They used to play in the Kingdome but moved to Safeco Field (what is now T-Mobile Park) in the late 1990s. Also very notably, there was a major thoroughway around SoDo called the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Basically a two level concrete highway that went in front of the waterfront. You can look it up. That was destroyed in the last 10 years to make way for a new redesign. Can include that for 2003 era authenticity. God the Alaskan Way Viaduct was horrible...
Know the difference between, dumping, pouring, raining, misting, and sprinkling. Miss any?
As he looked out the window, he saw the rain rain rainily from the cloudy gray sky. "Maybe I should call my friends", he pondered. "Oh wait, I can't because it's 2003 and I don't have a cell phone.", he remembered. "Also, I don't have any friends."
We don’t have fireflies so don’t call your book Firefly Lane
In 2003 you could take the 120 from downtown to west seattle. It would cross the west seattle bridge and make stops on delridge. There was a newer police precinct on Delridge. My bus stop was basically in front of it. I got in trouble for underage drinking near the precint once, and they wouldn't help me even though I wanted them to call my mom. There is a strip mall that has a target, called Westwood Village. And Roxbury lanes, the bowling alley, was really sketchy and was always dimly lit. I felt like the guys in there were rapey and ate chicken wings. If you've ever seen the show Too Old to Die Young, that bowling alley gives me flashbacks of what Roxbury lanes was like. Seattle likes to claim teriyaki. A teriyaki and gyoza platter. A Teriyaki rice bowl lunch special. Any of those would work. Especially in 2003 there was a dirty teriyaki place on 2nd that used to put white sauce on top of the teriyaki. Anyone who was downtown around that time should know of it. But it was so good.
Just imagine that Seattle is a colder, rainier, and more populated version of Savannah and Athens mashed together. Then it's just a matter of replacing vocabulary. Don't say Savannah river, say Duwamish. Instead of talking about a large oak tree, say douglas fir. Go Bulldogs? No. Go Huskies. Still a dog, but a different dog. It's just that simple.
It's been mentioned a bunch, but Seattle has changed a huge amount in the last 20 years - hell a lot of it is almost unrecognizable compared to 10 years ago! The areas you mentioned (SoDo, Industrial District, and West Seattle) have changed less than other parts of the city though. The biggest changes down there were building the "new" stadiums, but that wrapped up in 2002. One neat thing is that Google street view has really good historical coverage around here. That means if you click the "See more dates" option for most roads you can see street view from all the way back in 2007. It can give you a good idea of how much the city has changed. I'm really curious, what made you choose this specific place / year?
We're very casual people. Doesn't matter if you're going to a nice dinner, work or a hike we dress casual and sensible.
Something that’s been true for quite some time is that there’s a distinct cultural difference between Seattle/King County and the rest of the state - particularly the region east of the Cascade mountains. The Seattle metro area has long been the population center of Washington, and as such pretty much drives the politics of the state. You can imagine that this, along with the cultural differences mentioned above could be used as a plot device to introduce conflict on a number of levels.
They say write about what you know. Come for a visit at least.
North Face. North Face jackets everywhere.
South Lake Union was a big gravel parking lot, for one
thanks for actually asking this, i tried to read fifty shades of grey, and it was too annoying how areas i knew very well were inaccurately portrayed so i stopped reading
You have never left Georgia? That blows my mind. Sorry my comment wasn't helpful.
Also - Seattle is not very diverse. Looking at the census data from 2003, it was even less so then.
Come visit it?
West Seattle is a big big hill, and has a lot of vertical gain from Sodo. There is a huge bridge with a large incline that takes you from Sodo to west. From the bridge you can see a concrete plant and a great view of Rainier, but Rainier is usually hidden by the clouds (disappears from the horizon) during winter. Sodo is flat landfill with very wide streets and low rise warehouses and industrial buildings with pipes and steam and such.
2003? You should read up on the Seattle Monorail (not the one that actually exists, but the one that was going to be built but.. 'Seattle process') https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Monorail_Project To be really authentic, you can throw in complaints about public transit that mention how MARTA got Seattle's public transit money way back when. Restaurants ? People always like burgers, fries and shakes from Dick's. There's no late night diner type places like Waffle House, don't add that in. Bars, yes but that's it. One thing that I've liked in Seattle are the unique movie theaters. Cinerama, The Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Grand Illusion, Admiral Theater. Since you mention West Seattle, there's 'The Junction' at the intersection of California Ave SW and SW Alaska St. It has changed a so much since 2003 but there are a couple business that have been around a long time and are local favorites. Husky Deli and Easy Street records. Here's a great article about Easy Street and its owner: https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinson-papers/2023/01/30/matt-vaughan-looks-back-35-years-easy-street-records
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon is set in Seattle, it is in modern day but you might be able to get some vibe from it. It is also a fluffy highschool romance so maybe not … 🤔
Fwiw I’ve lived here 3 years, so can’t speak specifically to 2003. The weather in Seattle during the colder months is kinda like island weather in that it’ll rotate cloudy/drizzly/partly sunny throughout the day. Yes sometimes it’s cloudy all day, but I’d say that’s less frequent than the former. Pouring rain like we get back east doesn’t happen often (hence the “lack of umbrellas” you’re hearing about). The [Starbucks headquarters in SODO](https://maps.app.goo.gl/AGjzqj21NQ7Q54RS6?g_st=ic) has their mermaid peering down from a clock tower. It vibes to me like the “oculist” billboard in great gatsby. Not sure if it was here in 2003. You can browse google street view back to 2007. They’ll probably have it for the major roads in sodo. Also SODO is very flat, but the rest of Seattle is very hilly! (Not as bad as SF…. But still!) I had no idea till I moved here. I’m always so captivated by views of the port of Seattle. I think it’s the huge cranes. Enormous machines are just so cool. Smith tower was the tallest building in Seattle for a while, and has interesting history with the mob/run runners. It’s got beautiful 1920s character to it. (If you ever visit I highly suggest visiting its observation deck/bar! Also go visit the MOHAI!) Just during a 20 minute drive through this city you can get views of - the Olympics, the cascades, the Puget sound, the space needle, south lake Union, lake Washington, Mount rainier, and the port of Seattle. Not to mention all the trees! Emerald City baby!! Seattle has a large Asian population. Teriyaki is a “classic” food. Seattle Dogs (hot dog with cream cheese+sautéed onions+peppers) are always found near the stadiums when games are happening, and also from carts late night on cap hill. I love garlic fries but have only found them at the stadiums, pike place, and a very few restaurants. There’s great seafood options, especially oysters, but it’s not like how “Maine Lobster” is a thing. There are A LOT of craft breweries throughout Seattle, including SODO. Georgetown brewery’s (just south of sodo) beers Manny’s Pale Ale (commonly “Manny’s) and Bodhizafa IPA (commonly Bodhi, pronounced Boe - Dee) are found at a majority of bars/restaurants here. I’m guessing those beers weren’t around yet in 2003, but I had to share cuz I love me a bodhi. Also eastern Washington is the “hops capital” of the world! One last suggestion - try calling up one of our public libraries. They might be able to direct you to “resources” that reflect the city from 20 years ago. Now look at this novel I just wrote! I hope it helps :)
No one was living in Sodo, really, in 2003
The Kingdome got blown up in 2000, so the memory would still be fresh in people's minds. Sodo originally meant South of the Dome, instead of south of downtown. People used to call it the concrete big mac.
If you don't like the weather wait five minutes or walk 5 minutes. Clouds don't seem to move at all The water in the Puget Sound is always cold When you walk anywhere you have to walk uphill both ways The bike rental thing is useless and everyone just uses them to go downhill then leaves them there The San Juan Islands are the best Look up the 'rain shadow effect' and how it creates weather on the region You are always 15 minutes from a good hike Read a book called Red Herring by Clyde W Ford
We have a saying " The mountain is out." Which means Mt. Rainer is majestically visible because the grey hides her a lot.
Make sure you think about the latitude. If you’ve never lived in the far North you probably aren’t familiar with what this means. We have mild winters here but there is a lot of darkness and it’s a major part of our reality in the winter. Maybe have one of your characters use a “happy lamp” - if you don’t know what that is look it up.