Moving to be with you guys from the UK...some advice needed please!! (Seattle: for sale)

[Windrunner]

Hey there,

I’m looking for some advice on the areas of Seattle please, also what to do and where to go etc.

I am a Marine Biologist and weather specialist (I promise I am an interesting guy, and not the usual “Cloud Spotter” !!) from London, England and have just been offered a job in Seattle. I will be coming over in May and can’t wait. I have lived and worked in America before (New Orleans, helping out after the flood), but that was only for a few months. This time my post is for at least 3 years and will probably be extended. Obviously, I have seen (as we all have), Sleepless in Seattle and Frasier, but I would love to start finding out about the real Seattle....

Accommodation is being found for me through work, so that one’s sorted! From what I know already, our office is near the fish market (doesn’t mean much to me at mo), and the usual accommodation is a house boat(?) near this. Everyone I’ve spoken to so far, says this is a good place to be and near the centre of all that’s happening?!

I understand the weather there is not the best....but hey, i’m from England !!

But I’m really looking for advice on what’s going on, the best places to visit, eat and drink and meet people etc.

I guess it’s easier if I explain a little about myself.....I’m half Italian/half Irish, and born and bred in “cockney” London. I’m 34, totally single with no kids and will be coming over on my own. I have many varied interests (won’t bore you with them all now), but I love sports, art and culture and music (I’ll listen to anything and love anything live...but my passion is Jazz).

....wow, this is turning into some kind of “lonely hearts” ad!!

So, basically, what’s there to do? Are there any total no-go areas? Any clubs I should look to join? (In London, there are many “new to area clubs” you can join to get to know other people etc...do you have the same over there?!)

Also, I am looking to join a good gym/health club...any recommendations please?!

I think that’s enough for the mo, I don’t want to bore you too much, but please feel free to give over all info you think might help me and feel free to ask anything you want to know in return, no matter if it’s about me personally or anything else (I’m finding lots of people are asking me info on England in return at mo.)...hell, I’d just love to hear from you, so why not just come over and say hi!!!!

Thanks for reading; I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Matt

[NW Crow]

"The fish market" is the signature part of the Pike Place Market.
Pike Place Market - Home
But there is lots more kinds of things for sale too and stuff to do in the market complex and nearby.

If you are being set up at a houseboat on Lake Union (a lake between Puget Sound and Lake Washington with connecting locks) then you will be in Sleepless In Seattle territory (Tom Hanks character's houseboat was set there I believe), fortunate and right near many interesting places & services in several directions.

There are a handful or two of venues that specialize in Jazz including these:
Dimitriou's Jazz Alley - Pacific Jazz Institute - Home
Welcome to Tula's Restaurant and Jazz Club
There is also a strong traditional jazz radio station
KPLU News for Seattle and the Northwest
The smooth jazz station recently shut down.

You should be able to find almost anything you want.
If you like football you can check out the Seattle Sounders FC or American football at college and pros levels and lots of other sports to watch or local clubs to play them.

As for clubs, a gym / health club is a common starting point. If you like to hike consider the Mountaineers or the Sierra Club or other groups. There is a commercial company that brings singles together for activities without pressure called Events & Adventures that might be of interest (it charges a fee beyond the activities). Jazz clubs could be a good social networking spot if you are outgoing. Here are plenty of other options Seattle Social & Hobby Groups
Click on the index on the left side of the page for many more categories of groups. In the sea of them I'll highlight a few I saw that might interest:
http://www.irishclub.org/
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/ams/

[SitoUK]

Hey Matt

I just moved here from London 5 months ago and I think I can give you some information. Above all I would say Seattle is a much more relaxed place than London and that's probably a good thing. There are never as many people in the same spot at the same time as in London and generally people seem to be more friendly (amazingly even bus drivers), not everyone is always in a hurry and you almost always get a smile in a shop or cafe which is sometimes a really nice contrast to London life ;-)

I am not sure where the Fish market is. If it's Pike place market they mean you'd be in one of the nicer parts of downtown, close to Belltown which has quite a few restaurants and bars. The only houseboats I am aware of though are on Lake Union (just like the one in Sleepless in Seattle), so I am not sure if there is a fish market at Lake Union. The house boats do look cool I must say, although i have heard they are very expensive...so good thing if work is sorting that for you ;-) My wife and I have settled in Capitol Hill which I think comes closest to the sort of neighbourhoods I know from London. Lot of bars, restaurants and cafes on your doorstep, everything is there really, no need to drive, youngish, hipsterish audience...think of a slightly americanized version of Hoxton/Brick Lane ;-). Plus you can easily walk or cycle to most other places or take one of the many buses in that area (no underground in Seattle though, buses are ok in central areas but not so great the further out you go).

I don't think there any real no-go areas. Compared to some other american cities this feels really safe. I am always amazed how many people leave their GPS and other stuff in parked cars, one of our neighbours always leave the door unlocked...these are things you would not necessarily do in London.

Weather is as close to London as it can get, so no problem there...

Musicwise you will be quite happy here, this seems to be the prime destination for touring bands in the Nothwest and there are gis on every day. Good venues I have seen so far are the Showbox in Downtown and Showbox Sodo, the Crocodile Cafe in Belltown and Neumos in Capitol Hill, there are also lots of smaller venues where local bands play. Quite a few british bands as well...I went to see Biffy Clyro a little while ago and yesterday British Sea Power were on. There's also lots of artsy stuff on everywhere. It's not London but you'll still find lots of interesting stuff. The Seattle Art museum is an obvious destination, as is the Asian Art Museum. I also really liked the Henry Art gallery at the University...lots of smaller galleries around also. Again, a lot of artsy stuff is going on in Capitol Hill although galleries seem so spread around all over town...

The real Seattle highlight though are the great outdoors, the mountains, the sea, the lakes etc...there's some amazing nature around here and you probably end up spending more time in the mountains than in art galleries ;-)

I cannot really comment on the clubs etc. I brought my wife and also had some work colleagues coming over at the same time. Nevertheless I have also managed to get to know some locals despite being more the antisocial type. It seems in the US Seattleites have a reputation of being difficult to get to know and that's it's not easy for newcomers here to build a social network. Again, I would say to me this seems not more difficult than in London, that in sort of stuff is tricky in any larger city anyway. I think people use meetup.com here a lot for group activities etc...so you might want to have a look at that..

Anyway, I hope this gives you an idea...let us know how you are getting on...

Lars

Originally Posted by Windrunner

Hey there guys,

I’m looking for some advice on the areas of Seattle please, also what to do and where to go etc.

I am a Marine Biologist and weather specialist (I promise I am an interesting I think I can answer s guy, and not the usual “Cloud Spotter” !!) from London, England and have just been offered a job in Seattle. I will be coming over in May and can’t wait. I have lived and worked in America before (New Orleans, helping out after the flood), but that was only for a few months. This time my post is for at least 3 years and will probably be extended. Obviously, I have seen (as we all have), Sleepless in Seattle and Frasier, but I would love to start finding out about the real Seattle....

Accommodation is being found for me through work, so that one’s sorted! From what I know already, our office is near the fish market (doesn’t mean much to me at mo), and the usual accommodation is a house boat(?) near this. Everyone I’ve spoken to so far, says this is a good place to be and near the centre of all that’s happening?!

I understand the weather there is not the best....but hey, i’m from England !!

But I’m really looking for advice on what’s going on, the best places to visit, eat and drink and meet people etc.

I guess it’s easier if I explain a little about myself.....I’m half Italian/half Irish, and born and bred in “cockney” London. I’m 34, totally single with no kids and will be coming over on my own. I have many varied interests (won’t bore you with them all now), but I love sports, art and culture and music (I’ll listen to anything and love anything live...but my passion is Jazz).

....wow, this is turning into some kind of “lonely hearts” ad!!

So, basically, what’s there to do? Are there any total no-go areas? Any clubs I should look to join? (In London, there are many “new to area clubs” you can join to get to know other people etc...Do you have the same over there?!)

Also, I am looking to join a good gym/health club...any recommendations please?!

I think that’s enough for the mo, I don’t want to bore you too much, but please feel free to give over all info you think might help me and feel free to ask anything you want to know in return, no matter if it’s about me personally or anything else (I’m finding lots of people are asking me info on England in return at mo.)...hell, I’d just love to hear from you, so why not just come over and say hi!!!!

Thanks for reading; I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Matt

[Vinylly]

About the weather. If you have lived in London, weather-wise you'll feel right at home in Seattle, -lots of rain with some snow and freezing weather in the winter. So far we haven't seen any sun yet this year, -it's all been the same-o-same-o clouds and rain since the first of January, with some snow during and prior to January. Lot's of flooding in the 'burbs'. If you want to get really 'British' you must visit Victory on Vancouver Island in B.C.
My favorite resturant is Chez Shea in Pike Place Market.
In fact Pike Place Market is the number one place to visit in downtown Seattle. The city officials at one time had plans to demolish the 'Farmer's Market' and construct a concrete parking garage in it's place. There was a huge protest from the local citizenery and they even got a huge protest from as far away as Paris. It seems the city officials in Paris demolished their internationally famous Farmer's Market and replaced it with modern office towers and parking facilities. The Parisians are still angry about that and didn't want to see Seattle do the same thing.

[PollyGlott]

Originally Posted by Vinylly

About the weather. If you have lived in London, weather-wise you'll feel right at home in Seattle, -lots of rain with some snow and freezing weather in the winter. So far we haven't seen any sun yet this year, -it's all been the same-o-same-o clouds and rain since the first of January, with some snow during and prior to January. Lot's of flooding in the 'burbs'. If you want to get really 'British' you must visit Victory on Vancouver Island in B.C.

That's Victoria, British Columbia. A must-see.

[AlohaHuey]

Seattle has a lot of football (soccer) fans that watch the matches at local pubs. There's one in Fremont, if you are so inclined.

[Botev1912]

if you like football (EU football) then Seattle is the best place in USA. Sounders FC has 34 consecutive sellouts in MLS

[godhead]

Originally Posted by AlohaHuey

Seattle has a lot of football (soccer) fans that watch the matches at local pubs. There's one in Fremont, if you are so inclined.

That pub in Fremont must be the George & Dragon.
George & Dragon Pub | Seattle's British Pub in Fremont

[bob lobblaw]

Hi Windrunner, have you ever seen that comedy from the late 90s called The League of Gentlemen?

Seattle and its residents are frightening similar to Royston Vasey; except people don't speak with a northern england accent.