Best downtowns of Puget Sound cities/towns (besides the obvious) (Seattle: for sale, to rent)

[indigorunner]

What are the best downtowns of the Puget Sound besides the obvious (Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, etc.)

I know Everett and Olympia have decent areas that are seeing a lot of development, are there any other areas that are worth going through?

In my own life, Kent, Auburn, and Ruston have seen the most improvements.

[rantiquity]

Seattle and Tacoma is obviously the best?
Your kidding of course?
What are they best at.... being woke or their homeless and crime problems?

[Diana Holbrook]

If you want to include small towns, I think Tenino has a charming, retro-Americana feel and downtown. It's not very a very long Main Street, but there are several fun restaurants and bars, including the Sandstone Cafe, the new 1776 Bar, Don Juan's Mexican Restaurant, interesting historical architecture featuring the local Sandstone, lots of period homes, a nice park featuring the old quarry ponds and walking trails... End of July features the Oregon Trail Days with black powder rifle shooting exhibitions... Just out of town, a new horse competition facility that has been holding regular competitions and events. It's a nice little town with local businesses, no strip malls or chains.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Kent's downtown has always seemed mediocre to me given the city's population (over 100k). Never saw it before ~2020, though, so can't say how it compares to the past.

I like Edmonds. It's decent-sized with some great hilltop views of the Sound and also a rocky beach to walk around.

I was in Shelton yesterday. None of my friends were free so I spent the day exploring Mason County. It's classic Americana with the railyard right against the downtown, which I enjoy. The Fat Cat Cafe is one of those small-town cafes I love, with a bunch of random decorations and assorted goods for sale (mainly clothes), and an aquarium with snails. There were locals hanging out who seemed to know the owner well. Nita's is a greasy spoon cafe/diner with the round stools and everything. There's a classic small-town grocery with a gravel parking lot out back. On the way into town I passed a drive-in theater, which I remembered I actually took a couple friends to once (maybe we were coming back from the coast?).

[Sockeye66]

Poulsbo, Gig Harbor are beautiful and active, Port Orchard has it's quirks too.

[jabogitlu]

Coupeville, North Bend

[mayfair]

Anacortes has really revitalized downtown in recent years and has a nice waterfront, bike trails, and a shop to rent bikes right downtown near the trail. Many restaurants and shops. It's much improved over what it was even 10 years ago.

Fairhaven in Bellingham is nice, but it's pretty much what it always was so can't be called most improved. It's one of a kind for the Puget Sound area, though and still has Village Books, a huge independent bookstore with a water view coffee shop on the top floor.

LaConner has a nice downtown stretch of bars, shops and restaurants on the riverfront. it's geared towards tourists.

Mt. Vernon has also really upgraded the downtown area and has a nice riverwalk with shops, bars and restaurants downtown. I think the flood wall really helped.

One burb that can't seem to get a downtown is Lynnwood. It's forever in the plans. Lynnwood has many things but not a nice downtown.

Edmonds has always had a great downtown.

[xPlorer48]

Originally Posted by mayfair

Anacortes has really revitalized downtown in recent years and has a nice waterfront, bike trails, and a shop to rent bikes right downtown near the trail. Many restaurants and shops. It's much improved over what it was even 10 years ago.

Fairhaven in Bellingham is nice, but it's pretty much what it always was so can't be called most improved. It's one of a kind for the Puget Sound area, though and still has Village Books, a huge independent bookstore with a water view coffee shop on the top floor.

LaConner has a nice downtown stretch of bars, shops and restaurants on the riverfront. it's geared towards tourists.

Mt. Vernon has also really upgraded the downtown area and has a nice riverwalk with shops, bars and restaurants downtown. I think the flood wall really helped.

One burb that can't seem to get a downtown is Lynnwood. It's forever in the plans. Lynnwood has many things but not a nice downtown.

Edmonds has always had a great downtown.

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.

[indigorunner]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

If you want to include small towns, I think Tenino has a charming, retro-Americana feel and downtown. It's not very a very long Main Street, but there are several fun restaurants and bars, including the Sandstone Cafe, the new 1776 Bar, Don Juan's Mexican Restaurant, interesting historical architecture featuring the local Sandstone, lots of period homes, a nice park featuring the old quarry ponds and walking trails... End of July features the Oregon Trail Days with black powder rifle shooting exhibitions... Just out of town, a new horse competition facility that has been holding regular competitions and events. It's a nice little town with local businesses, no strip malls or chains.

Interesting! I've never been there but from your description it sounds like Port Orchard in the way that it has a more robust traditional main street instead of the more strip mall-y areas like Federal Way or Shoreline.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by indigorunner

Interesting! I've never been there but from your description it sounds like Port Orchard in the way that it has a more robust traditional main street instead of the more strip mall-y areas like Federal Way or Shoreline.

It's a lot smaller than Port Orchard even Population less than 2000. About 20 minutes off I-5 at Exit 88 if you're ever driving through and want to check it out. Cute, compact little town.


https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tenino&t=f...ages&iaxm=maps