I lived in Seattle from 1995-1999. Had an apartment in Pill Hill, on the top floor of 7th+James, a great view of I-5 and a short walk down a tall hill to Pioneer Square. I worked at two different companies at a point when the tech thing was still strong, and had a girlfriend that lived in Kirkland, so I got to know the 520 bridge well.

Seattle was a great place for me during my first few years out of college. I met some great people, ate some great food, and never got bored of driving around all around. I got to go out a few times on boats and see all of the water, and I used to walk to Pike Place all the time. The Speakeasy in Belltown was a favorite hangout, although it burned down after I left.

My big reason for leaving was that things were getting more and more crowded, and I wasn’t sure how things would hold out. After I left, so did Boeing (the headquarters anyway), and all of the tech jobs collapsed as the market did. The Kingdome, which was the view from my apartment deck, got imploded. And I’m sure lots of other stuff got changed. So I’m not sure I would go back to live, but I will probably visit again.