Kirkland

These pricks in Kirkland apparently charge for parking till 730PM. Apparently this is the city of Kirkland doing this. Everywhere else I know has free parking after 6pm. These morons go around giving people tickets at 720PM. Don’t these cops have anything better to do, like go after criminals? Lazy greedy bastards! The city here is as bad as Vancouver BC. They do anything to screw money out of visitors coming to their city. I saw a bunch of cars with tickets. What a way to make money. Give tickets to cars 10 minutes before free parking starts. What a bunch of pricks. Pussy Kirkland city officials.

It was okay until housing got too expensive. I really like the waterfront of Kirkland compared to Bellevue.

I cant believe what I see people writing about Kirkland. I love it here and am proud to call it my home. I can not imagine living anywhere else. Its beautiful. The Kirkland Waterfront is by far the most amazing spot on the Eastside. And if you have a nice car its definitely a spot to cruise in the summer. It definitely has been growing these past 6 months. There are a couple hot spots for the younger hip crowd. I would definitely reccommend visiting.

Natalie

If there’s anything I find offputting about the central part of Kirkland, it’s that it all seems, well, overly sanitized. Granted, this is a “complaint” many a city want to have—Kirkland wears this on its sleeve proudly.

I’m hardly a thumb-downer of the eastside cities in general, despite feeling there’s far more to do in Seattle. That said, even though it might be smaller, I feel more comfortable in - for example - downtown Redmond. Downtown Redmond feels like it was designed to be a place to relax in and have some old hometown character, despite it getting boring after a while.

For visitors of the eastside, I recommend downtown Kirkland as a place to visit first and foremost, as the harbor and view across Lake Washington is really gorgeous indeed. And the surrounding shops are really colorful; and there are some underrated great restaurants and snack bars in this area.

On the flip side, I don’t get a sense of content or character in downtown Kirkland. I do get a really strong sense that people come here with family en masse because it’s a much “cleaner” and less crowded alternative to Seattle, which I have to say is true to some degree, albeit overcriticized.

And, I’m sorry, but those pedestrian traffic flags? Do pedestrians really have to bear the responsibility that they are crossing the road to alert other cars? Shouldn’t cars bear this responsibility? Unfortunately, this speaks volumes about Kirkland’s culture in a nutshell.

Juanita, on the other hand, is Kirkland’s secret sub-city that does have hidden gems and has the most character of all.

All in all, neither downtown Kirkland nor downtown Redmond are as stale as Bellevue Square. :)

I’m suprised to see so many negative comments about Kirkland. Why are Seattle people so anti? I’m not asking that in a rude way, but I’ve always wondered why seattle people have such an edge about the Eastside. Well anyways, Kirkland has a small strip of cute shops and restaurants. It’s a great place to take a walk or have a picnic. On a sunny day all the parks will be packed! It also has great views of the Lake and city. A lot of young professionals live downtown. If your out on a boat you can park it at the marina and get out and walk around and have dinner or lunch. It’s a very nice area!