Belltown has an interesting history. It was once the site of Denny Hill, which was flattened early on the city's history, and for several decades had car dealerships and parking lots, and was fairly underused. However, now it is a neighborhood with office buildings, condos, restaurants, and clubs. Lesley and I spent the day there Saturday, checking it out.

We started with breakfast at Bang Bang Cafe. We both had breakfast burritos, which were pretty good and relatively cheap. I also had some good coffee there. From there, we walked northwest along Western Avenue and stopped at Canlis Glass, which had some beautiful glass pieces in its gallery. We also stopped by another art gallery before walking back towards downtown along 2nd Ave and stopping for tea. We walked around a bit and explored the area.

There are a lot of old, small commercial buildings, apartment buildings, and closer to the water there are lots of new, luxury condos. There are several parallel thoroughfares through the neighborhood and each has its own character. Western Ave is a high-traffic street with lots of clean, new condos and not a lot of street-level retail. 1st Ave has the most street-level retail and is one of the more enjoyable streets to walk on. 3rd Ave seems to have the least new development and the most low'rise old buildings.

Anyway, we then went to Olympic Sculpture Park, which is one of my favorite things in the city. After all that walking, we were happy to relax in a couple comfy chairs inside to sit and enjoy the view. We walked through the park and I walked past Alexander Calder's the Eagle, which is probably my favorite sculpture of any kind.

After the park, we went to Shorty's to have a hot dog and play pinball. It had been a while since I'd played pinball and we both had a lot of fun. We needed to kill some time then until dinner, so we stopped by The Yellow Leaf Cupcake to get a couple cupcakes for later. We had some tea there and played a game of Connect 4 that they had sitting out.

We then went to dinner at Tilikum Place Cafe, which is near small Tilikum Place plaza. Dinner was good. Belltown is most popular for its bar and club scene, but we'd had a long day and went home after dinner.

Compared to other neighborhoods, Belltown has lots of art galleries, trendy restaurants, and bars. There isn't a supermarket in Belltown, but there are lots of small corner grocers. And, I thought there wasn't a whole lot of retail shopping throughout most of the neighborhood. It's different from other neighborhoods because there aren't any houses. It has also gained a bit of a reputation due to the bar scene, homeless people there, and drug problems. Still, it's a good location in the city, close to downtown, close to the water, and flat, and is probably the best place for someone looking for urban living in Seattle.

Quick Belltown facts:

• Population: 10,871


• 2008 Median Condo Price: $388,250


• Cars per capita: 0.3


• 4th most walkable neighborhood in Seattle

Sources:
1. Seattle Metropolitan Real Estate
2. Walk Score: Seattle's Most Walkable Neighborhoods