Best downtowns of Puget Sound cities/towns (besides the obvious) (Seattle: low income, rent)

[mayfair]

Originally Posted by xPlorer48

Huh, what? Fairhaven used to have abandoned brick buildings with derelicts sleeping in the doorways. My husband used to play there as a kid in the 1960s. Then, in the late 1960s, the hippies started businesses in the district like the Community Food Coop, Good Earth Pottery, Toad Hall, etc. In the early 1970s, Ken Imus, who made his fortune a car dealer in California, returned to his home town and began to revitalize the area, one building at a time. Thus began the gentrification and now the old hippies are gone and boutique stores have replaced their businesses. At least, the new condos are built with brick and don’t clash too much with the original Victorian architecture. I used to work at a restaurant there from 1975-1979 so I know what happened. It is now unaffordable to many of Bellingham’s population.

All true. I was thinking it hasn't changed much in recent years (Op seemed to be referring to recent changes and lots of growth). Bellingham has changed tremendously and gentrified over the decades. Fairhaven stabilized at an expensive level with boutique shops and seems to be holding steady as a fancy downtown for the wealthy.

All of the Puget Sound area has had huge changes since the 1970s. I don't think there's an area that is untouched if you go back that far.

[jabogitlu]

Federal Way, Shoreline and Lynnwood all grew at a time when the general population didn’t care about an old school downtown. They wanted suburban strip malls, tract housing, and plenty of room for their cars to park and maneuver. We’re still paying for those urban design mistakes today. Hopefully the light rail stations will help!

[Transmition]

Having to pay to park in Fairhaven must have cut down visitors a bit. I used to stop in for gelato whenever I passed, but I'm a bit more hesitant now.

[Hemlock140]

My favorite is Anacortes. We drive up several times a year, walk downtown and buy some vinegar and oil at the tasting room, and have lunch or dinner at one of the many good restaurants. Our favorites for lunch are GERE-A-Deli, and Fidalgo Drive-in.

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by Transmition

Having to pay to park in Fairhaven must have cut down visitors a bit. I used to stop in for gelato whenever I passed, but I'm a bit more hesitant now.

I suppose. But it's still seemed pretty busy every time we've gone by in the last few months (we bike over there 1-2x per week). Of course, one could park for free on the streets above 11th or from the ferry terminal or Marine Park (or Boulevard Park) and make a walk out of it, or park somewhere else and take the bus, but I get the inconvenience. If driving and in more of a hurry, I will say that at least the parking app makes it really quick and easy to pay for the space, too.

[mayfair]

Agree with bartonizer. Fairhaven is still busy and hard to find a good parking spot even since the pay to park started. It doesn't seem to have changed how busy it is.

[rkcarguy]

Fairhaven, like many areas, has gentrified and grown. Development has outpaced and even absorbed available parking so it's almost always full. There was a thread on a local forum about the paid parking Bellingham added to Fairhaven questioning the whole system because the cost of the equipment and the enforcement was more than the city would ever recover from the fees, and the elderly complained that they have to walk to the kiosk enter the space # then go back to their car to put the receipt in it.

[SciFiNerd1]

Are there any towns outside Olympia with nice downtowns? I am also curious about Tumwater and Lacey.

[Diana Holbrook]

Lacey has no downtown. Lacey is miles of strip malls and sprawl... it's what happens when you don't have an urban development plan. There's lots of good stuff there, it's just not organized. Look out for homeless camps, the worst of them are near the freeway in Lacey.

Tumwater is better. It has one main drag, and they made a point several years ago to require new buildings have a pleasing red brick and green roof architecture, or one that blends well with that style. It makes for a town look that is charming. Note many of the state offices have moved to Tumwater.

Tenino and Rochester are outside of Olympia, and good places to find bargains when you look to buy, not so much for rentals, they're few and far between.

[bartonizer]

I'm sure some detractors will beg to differ, but we really enjoy Bellingham's downtowns (we have two, really). Downtown Bellingham may be a seem a bit big city-ish to some, and there are the usual issues plaguing west coast cities, but it's colorful, full of interesting architecture, very walkable and bikeable, has a ton of outdoor dining and beer gardens, a couple interesting museums, a great weekly farmer’s market, a theater district, and a very unique waterfront redevelopment project that's one of the largest on the west coast. Being just down the hill from WWU, it also has a ton of college kids around and a youthful vibe. It can be a little rough around the edges, but DT Bellingham has a lot more of a sense of place or authenticity (IMHO) than a downtown with a cluster of strip malls or generic towers. And it provides the sensation of visiting a substantially larger city, which is an interesting quality that we find leads to our frequent “staycations” in town.

As mentioned, our other downtown is Fairhaven, which is a more upscale historic district that has more of a mini Port Townsend feel, with a number of stores, galleries, restaurants, and a charming village square. It’s also home to the cruise terminal that’s the southern terminus of the Alaskan Ferry, a small fleet of whale watching and San Juan Island excursion boats, and our AMTRAK station. Oh, Fairhaven is also connected to great walking and biking trails that can easily take you to a beautiful boardwalk, scenic parks, and other parts of town. Specifically, the South Bay Trail connecting the two commercial centers of Fairhaven and DT Bellingham is just fantastic for a stroll or a bike ride, as it extends over Bellingham Bay with vistas of Lummi and the San Juan Islands.

Speaking of Port Townsend, though, that's another downtown definitely worth visiting if you haven’t been. It has an impressive array of old buildings- it was overbuilt on speculation of PT becoming a western terminus of the transcontinental railroad, which never really materialized. To a lesser degree, Fairhaven’s (and Bellingham’s) history is interesting in that same way, though PT is much more of a tourist destination.

Beyond that, another citiy nearby that we like to visit include Anacortes, which has a nice nautical theme, a good selection of restaurants and shops, and access to a ton of good scenery. Also Mt. Vernon, which as another poster mentioned, has an improved river walk area and pleasant downtown district, including a great co-op. For a few smaller towns, check out LaConner, which has a single, but oddly impressive “Main Street” for being such a tiny town. And, while we’re at it, I think towns on the islands- namely Coupeville and Langley on Whidbey, Friday Harbor on San Juan, and Eastsound on Orcas, are all great little destinations with enough going on (when you include local scenery and attractions) to day trip or even turn into an overnight stay.