I’m not the most well traveled, but I lived a little south of Seattle for a few years. Aesthetically, It surpassed Los Angeles as my favorite city. The transit was rusted bottom corner behind a hole in the wall titty bar dumpster juice, but it’s made a lot of improvements. At first it was awkward being black there because other black people weren’t as visible (mostly in Tacoma, white center, Ranier beach). I dug the mountain scenery and it was cool being able to go hike at any of those mountains within an hour or two’s driving distance.
The sea food was okay. The nightlife was weird but cool because it was so different. You could walk down an alley way and run into a topless burlesque show at random.
Women were dope and sexually free. Lots of dope fiends though, because it’s a port/hub city. The big titty (topless if you cool) coffee stands were dope as well. I wasn’t a big smoker but the weed was good too.
my favorite part was living cheaply on a beach and sometimes being able to walk my dog and find harbor seals laid out in the sun or chasing fish/crabs and, every now and then, a pod of orcas swimming through (to eat the seals). People seemed really non-confrontational towards black people, and mostly apologized for small shyt or just walked away looking at the ground. Sometimes you’d get that passive aggressive beer belly with Oakley shades white dude that you could shut down with Sustained eye contact.
I felt bad for the people who were born and raised there because prices rose so rapidly that it put a lot of people out on their ass.
my kin out there warned me to stay out of the hood bars and clubs but I never had issues. Not cause I look bout it, but like LA, they can tell you from somewhere else so they let you go about your business...as long as you minding yours.
police don’t give a shyt. As long as you aren’t doing anything, that is obviously a felony, they don’t feel like doing the paperwork. May Day is crazy and fun to watch. It’s pretty much a day of free protest where any and every group with an issues Gets to meet up downtown and protest until the mild riot of eventually breaks out and everybody gets tear gassed. The random port protests are funny too. You’ll see kayakers trying to block oil tankers or cargo ships. The space needle, music museum, Tacoma zoo, aquarium, century link field were cool to see. My favorite spot is gas works park at night. The flame baron people come out and do weird shyt. That’s basically it. A lot of the city is hidden behind hills and under trees, and if you walk around long enough you’ll see some random weird yet dope shyt that you’ll never forget. If you’re breathing you’ll get attention from the opposite sex. The food could use more seasoning but the beer And edibles are fun to try. It’s real clean (you won’t see a random sofa, gun, or dead person on the side of the road like Atlanta). Tacoma is just as cool with point defiance. Olympia (the conservative capital) is dirty as hell and swarming with homeless people. The locals sometimes let them chill on their porches. Theirs dope needle all over the place (in some spots in Seattle too).
I almost forgot. It doesn’t really rain that much. It’s just during the winter there’s a constant overcast and random light drizzling throughout the day. I only saw it pour rain a few times and only remember a thunderstorm or two. There aren’t as many bugs as the south and there are no venomous snakes in Western Washington. Eagles, weasels, and bears will eat your chickens if you into farming. r
the only drawback is, even though I lived on the beach, the Puget sound water is cold as hell, At a certain time of year the jelly fish will migrate and look like a jelly carpet under the surface and will fukk you up. People drive like the police are behind them (everybody is high) or they are driving like they want a race sponsorship in old bmws with the weird camber stance that makes them look like they slipping on cartoon banana peels. I would definitely live there again if my family wasn’t mostly in the east.
met a joint in capitol hill who showed me around, i gotta see what it's hittin for this summer (or whenever shyt opens up more) cuz that area is my speed.
random 5-10 minutes of light drizzle a couple times a day, i didn't need a raincoat or anything
the city itself is the cuffs
walkable and mad people were talking to me, reminded me of being home down south with the interactions.
The rain is only annoying if it's also cold IMO but if you in the northwest you should already know to cater your outfit to still being on point even with a rain jacket on