Living in Capitol Hill, Seattle

Fifteenth Avenue and Broadway split Capitol Hill into two commercial spines, one lined with cafes and boutiques and the other packed with restaurants that stay busy well past dinner. Cal Anderson Park's turf field and wading pool give the neighborhood's densest blocks a stretch of open green, while Volunteer Park climbs the hill's northern end with the Seattle Asian Art Museum, a working conservatory modeled on London's Crystal Palace, and a water tower whose observation deck looks out toward the Olympic Mountains. The Pike-Pine corridor carries the neighborhood's nightlife west toward downtown, a stretch of bars, taverns, and music venues that fills most evenings of the week. The Link's Capitol Hill Station sits at Broadway and John Street, putting both the 1 Line and 2 Line within walking distance of most of the neighborhood's apartment buildings.

Pike and Pine stay loud into the early morning on weekends, and a rental on a block above the bars means noise through open windows in warmer months.

Dinner on Broadway, a cut through Cal Anderson Park, and a late drink along Pike-Pine rarely call for a car here; the density that fills the sidewalks is the same thing that keeps daily life within reach on foot.