East Pine St, Broadway (Capitol Hill)

I've been in Seattle for 3 years, and done my share of looking at apartments while here trying to narrow down to the best one for me. As a result I'm also on my third apartment, nothing against the buildings I've been in, I'm just crazy in this way. That being said my current building is on E Pine and I can't imagine looking for another apartment in my time here.

The big factors to me
1. I like a new looking place to be. I really do, I'm not attached to being surrounded by buildings showing their wear. This means living is more expensive than it needs to be for me, and pine and the other major streets near it (pike, denny, broadway) are just driving this up prices by replacing more and more buildings with new ones. It also means that those main streets are bringing in more eateries and shops and overall making their streets more attractive. That also means I'm in a brand new building with every room wired with ethernet. As a tech guy, I love that.

2. Gaming culture: I live just a bit below Broadway, which means I'm literally across the street from a board game lounge (with a corresponding store a block away), a quarter mile from a gamestop on broadway, half a mile from the one downtown, and half a mile from the Gameworks arcade downtown. Seattle as a whole is pretty gamer friendly but this is a particularly good spot for it. Especially with the reddit board game group frequently meeting at Cafe Vitta on pike (the street next to pine)

3. Shopping. There are two full size super markets (not the dinky city convenience ones) on Broadway, one intersecting a bit over at pike and broadway, the other half a mile north of that. Being near one is my main criteria for not requiring a car, which I don't want to have, so this closeness is great. There are also many shops of all variety on this street (book, vinyl, game, clothes, convenience, art) all in a half mile stretch, and the adjacent pike supplements what it doesn't have (sex shop, sewing).

4. Casual Eating. One of the cities favorite Italian places is on this street (Machiavelli) and it has good proximity to other popular city food spots like In the Bowl for Thai on denny, or Honey Hole for sandwiches on Pike.

5. Quiet. There's definitely bar life around here, so this always seemed strange to me, but people just seem less likely to cause a ruckus here. Contrast this to my experience in belltown where I lived in the heart of residential (apartments, no bars around) and drunks would be yelling on the streets at all hours, and Harleys would often rip by (and honestly, Harley drivers, if you read this, stop it, please, you're disturbing people and that actually isn't cool).

Cons? I don't have any, but let me go over my star ratings in more detail while here:

Neighborly Spirit - For this neighborhood that means hipster and gay / lesbian friendly (very, if this is important to you, even if you don't pick e pine, capitol hill is really you're only choice), as well as having a share of bars and tattoo parlors. Crazily enough I don't identify with any of that, but it's also just plain a friendly neighborhood, and none of those features are offensive, so I can't fault it, but if you like those things they're easily all walkable within a quarter mile.

Clean and Green - Honestly, this describes most of the city. I've seen transplants from New York, San Fran, and Boston (including myself in the last category) and we're all agreed, Seattle is a clean city. Capitol Hill is no exception, though Broadway itself is a little brighter than this street.

Peace and Quiet - Honestly unreasonably so for how much is on it. Denny and Broadway are the main emergency vehicle roads, so it avoids that, and the more rude among us (Harley riders) don't seem to come by very often. And the populace is of course a bit older than U District which seems to have matured away a lot of the obnoxiousness.

Nightlife - I'll tell you now, I don't actually partake of this, but I am about a quarter mile away from two clubs, and closer to some bars, so this seems fine to me. There's also a big yearly block party right above Broadway every year (yes on this street and pike) which adds to it. There are a good share more bars above Broadway, and also a popular Karaoke (room style) place on this street right above Broadway.

Shopping Options - Nearby full size super market, and shops of all manner.

Internet Access - I have a 100mbit connection in my brand new building, but I think that is just mine, but Comcast and Wave have most of this area covered, so as good as you'll see anywhere in the city, excluding CondoInternet's domain in BellTown.

Parking - Don't know, no car, can't really compare.

Resale or Rental Value - Don't know, don't own

Medical Facilities - Right next to every medical care you may need on Madison just a few streets over, and those ambulences all use Broadway, so you don't even have to deal with the noise.

Childcare - no kids, haven't looked

Safe and Sound - I'd probably feel a bit safer on the main well lit Broadway, but I never feel unsafe either, and am on the street at all hours. This is definitely not Belltown where seeing drug deals was not infrequent, and I once saw a guy mimicking he had a gun, which doesn't mean much, but another Seattle native I know says it's the only place he's seen a person get shot. That being said, I would definitely think SoDo and ID are more dangerous neighborhoods, this one is pretty safe and generally quiet from a fair share of professionals.

Pest Free - Are you from East Coast? Because if so, believe me, you'll find the lack of pests in this city almost unnerving.

Eating out - Some of the best of the cities eateries on this street or at least close. Pretty much any type of food is within half a mile, and some of it is considered among the cities best. It's really a sweet spot for sandwich lovers in the city though having good access to Baguette Box, Homegrown, Other Coast Cafe, Honey Hole, and Market House Meats, all among the better ones.

Parks and Recreation - Plenty of accessible gaming, and both independent theater as leading straight into theaters about a half mile down the street in down town for the Blockbusters. Cal Anderson park is off this street just above Broadway and often hosts open software leagues.

Gym and Fitnees - I live above a decently sized one on this street (Rival Fitness). Seems as good as you can do for a street of this size and I wouldn't be surprised to learn there were more.

Lack of Traffic - the traffic typically builds on Denny, and to a lesser extent Broadway. Again, this one is unreasonable when considering how much is on it, might not hold up with all the new development though.

Cost of Living - Definitely pricier as it leads right into downtown and has a lot on it. Eastlake would be the easy step down in price while still feeling safe, but also has a lot less going on.

Public Transport, 49 and 10 run on this street. They won't get you everywhere but they're about as much as you can expect.

Schools - no kids myself, there is the local community college at pine and broadway though if that is of interest