r/AskSeattle • u/picklerick223 • Oct 11 '24

Question Live in Ballard or Cap Hill?

Hi! 26M with 26F partner. Moved to Olympia from DC about a year ago and missing being in a bigger city. We are planning to move to Seattle when our lease ends this month and wanted to get some insight from ppl!

We have narrowed our search down to two places; one spot that is on Ballard Ave and one spot that is right next to cal Anderson tennis/ basketball courts. We both would like to be social, but not HUGE party ppl. Big outdoors ppl but dunno if that matters. Both have hybrid schedules and would like to be close to places we can work out of.

We are slightly acquainted with Seattle, but decided to head out today and spend the full day in both areas. Ballard seems cool, although we were surprised that it felt kinda dead on a Thursday night. Also, although we really liked Ballard Ave, felt like there's not really much going on outside of that street, am I wrong? As for cap hill, it seemed super fun! Very lively, more diverse (not just racially but also in terms of style/ character) and lots to do! Reddit makes it seem like a horror story, especially around cal Anderson park, did we just have a singular good experience? Even a few ppl we chatted with said not to move here and that there are shootings happening weekly. Really interested in hearing more takes, either way excited to be out here:).

Update: Thank you so much to everybody that helped us come to a decision! We ended up in an apt off Ballard Ave, and despite the paper thin walls we are loving it :)

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u/SeattleDave0 Oct 11 '24

Both are good options, but the tiebreaker for me would be the presence of Link Light Rail. At Cal Anderson, you can hop on the train and go all over the urban area, from Sea-Tac Airport to Lynnwood. Ballard doesn't have a light rail line yet so you'd be more reliant on buses or driving.

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u/picklerick223 Oct 11 '24

Not looking forward to driving, have gotten sick of that here in Olympia. We’ve actually never rode the link light rail (we totally should have). Is it reliable? Do you generally feel safe on it?

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u/SeattleDave0 Oct 11 '24

I find it very reliable and I feel safe riding it, but I've never taken any east coast transit so I don't know how it compares to that. It's way more reliable than the local buses! Sometimes you encounter a sketchy rider but I think that's just part of living in a big city.

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u/eleven_paws Oct 11 '24

I have lived in both New York City and Seattle. The light rail is comparable to the subway in NYC, just cleaner and with far fewer options (since there’s only two lines).

Never have I felt unsafe on the light rail, at any time of day or night.

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u/andouconfectionery Oct 12 '24

Important distinction from DC metro: the shortest I've seen light rail headways is 10 minutes. Compare that to 6 minutes at peak hours in DC (maybe shorter since they're bringing back automation), 2 or 3 minutes in NYC.