Site Report 1
Photograph taken by Lauren Fielder, 01/15/2017.
Photograph taken by Lauren Fielder, 01/15/2017.
A hand drawn map of Block 15 by Lauren Fielder, 01/17/2017.
Photograph taken by Lauren Fielder on 01/16/2017 on University Way NE and NE 43rd St, (University District) Seattle, WA
Block 15, located between Brooklyn Ave NE and University Way NE as well as NE 43rd St and 42nd St has a lot to offer. Close to campus a lot of students venture off to this part of the U district for food, activities, and more. The block is extremely popular with students and people in the area referring to University Way NE as "The Ave". Originally people only had access to the campus from specifically this street and the street car station was even located on this block. Since then the block has changed drastically over the years, while still being a popular part of the U District.
After visiting this site, I realized that I have been here before, I just never took the time to pay attention to what is there. My block consists of many business that are mostly restaurants, there is a Cafe on the Ave, which I tried to go into but it was too busy for me. There is also a RadioShack, subway, pho than brothers, Frayza Restaurant, Chiptole, Best of Bento, Flowers Bar and Restaurant, and China's first. I noticed that there seemed to be more restaurants oriented with Asian food and it made me wonder if there was a bigger Asian population in the area. It seems this block provides a good mix of restaurants to accommodate different cultures food.
Starting at the beginning of my block on 42nd and then walking up to 43rd, people can notice that buildings are older in the beginning. Most of them are made of brick and the restauarants are located inside stores in these buildings. As people walk farther down the street, the method of building one building with multiple shops inside these stores has been abadnoned. Instead people opt for one business inside one building.
On the other side of the block on Brooklyn Ave NE the atmosphere is completely different. On this side there are two apartment complexes the Standford and Unviersity apartments. This street is a lot less busy and the aprartment complexes seem to be gated. It makes me wonder if they are luxury apartments or if it has to do with the area, the buildings on the outside do not seem to be the most extravagant. In between these aparrment buildings are paid parking lots with a bunch of pot holes. There is also a Henna shop, smoke shop, dentist office, and the Ugly mug coffee shop. This block seems like there is a lot to do in the area. One side has more restuarants, especially for students, and the other side seems calmer and quieter for those who want to be close to things, but not in the heart of it all. Even looking across the street, its lined with houses, something I do not see on my block at all. It seems the block was set up like this intentionally since residents on this side can walk less than a minute and be surrounded by what the U District offers. I do not think much is missing from my block, manily because there are things that it does not offer, like a gym, that are located close by.
Some of the questions that arose when seeing the block are: Were the apartment complexes there first or the established restaurants? Are there future plans for more development of the block? Do mostly students live in the apartment comoplexes? Looking at the block people know that some of the buildings have been there a long time, indicating a long history, people also notice the number of restuarants catering to the needs of the students from the nearby campus. People can also see how much different the other side of the block is, making me wonder if there is a shift that will happen in the future for the types of restaurants and houses/apartment buildings people see there.