Seattle Culture

Best Places to Live: Bellevue

Best Places to Live: Bellevue

A growing tech hub across the lake.

Long known as a quiet, bedroom community to Seattle, Bellevue has emerged as one of the region’s social and economic power hubs. Boasting a diverse population and some of the state’s top-ranked schools, this Eastside city has experienced continued growth in recent years, with families and young professionals topping out its ranks of new residents….

Best Places to Live: Gig Harbor

Best Places to Live: Gig Harbor

For a quiet retirement—or just a slower pace.

In the south sound, gig harbor lures people with the promise of tranquility, space, and some of the most striking views in the region. The city’s picturesque history stretches back to the 1840s—it was named after the small captain’s gig in which the Wilkes Expedition first arrived—and it has evolved into a scenic community known…

Best Places to Live: Normandy Park

Best Places to Live: Normandy Park

A place apart­ —but still close to everything.

Normandy Park is a place people choose deliberately. First laid out in 1929 as a suburb, the area grew after the city incorporated in 1953, but it was still home to fewer than 2,000 residents. Much of the land had previously been logged or farmed, and even as Seattle expanded nearby, Normandy Park took shape…

Best Places to Live: Black Diamond

Best Places to Live: Black Diamond

Where to live if you want more space (and love the outdoors).

Black Diamond has always felt like a town apart—not just in distance from Seattle (39 miles), Renton (18 miles), and Bellevue (28 miles), but in pace and personality. Located in southeastern King County, the former coal mining hotspot dates back to the late 19th century, taking its name from the Black Diamond Coal Mining Company….

Best Places to Live

Best Places to Live

Best Places to Live: Woodinville

Best Places to Live: Woodinville

A close-knit, family-friendly community.

Say Woodinville, and the first thing most people think of is wine, but with a growing arts scene, independent agricultural ventures, and top-notch hospitality holdings, this formerly sleepy suburb is stepping up to become a coveted destination for buying a home. “It still feels like a true community, where people know each other and local…

Best Places to Live: Everett

Best Places to Live: Everett

For those looking to get in on the ground level.

Less  than 30 miles north of Seattle, Everett was built from working-class roots, with industries such as logging, lumber, and aerospace manufacturing at its core. In recent years, the city has enticed an increasingly younger crowd attracted by housing affordability and job opportunities. “We’re seeing mostly working-age talent in their late 20s to early 40s…

Andrew Yang: The AI Plot Twist, Politics, & What’s Next
Seattle Podcast

Andrew Yang: The AI Plot Twist, Politics, & What’s Next

Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang joins Seattle magazine publisher Jonathan Sposato to talk about AI and the economic shifts it’s driving. Yang reflects on the ideas behind his 2020 campaign, how automation is changing jobs, and what those shifts could mean for politics. He also talks about the Forward Party and whether another…

From the Archives: Most Influential—Before That Was a Thing

From the Archives: Most Influential—Before That Was a Thing

Remembering the kind of leadership that built Washington—and still echoes today.

Washington state once had Dan Evans, a leader whose impact still endures, and who governed with a sort of principled presence that helped shape the soul of our region. A three-term governor and later U.S. senator, Evans embodied a kind of civic leadership that feels both mythic and arguably elusive now. He was pragmatic, optimistic,…

Artifacts: Ink Queen

Artifacts: Ink Queen

Known as Seattle’s First Lady of Tattoo, Vyvyn Lazonga paved the way for women in the industry—both as artists and clients.

Upon my arrival at Madame Lazonga’s Tattoo parlor, I can’t help but notice that one of the windows is boarded up. After welcoming me inside the corner space on Western Avenue, just across the street from Pike Place Market, owner Vyvyn Lazonga informs me about a recent burglary. The thieves spared most things of monetary…

The Coach: Sonia Raman

The Coach: Sonia Raman

The history-making coach leading the Seattle Storm into the future.

In the early 2000s, Sonia Raman was on the traditional track to a successful career in law, but coaching basketball kept bouncing back to her. A lifelong fan of the sport, Raman—who played at Tufts University and coached throughout her collegiate and post-grad career—eventually heeded the call, making a pivot that would change her life….

The Civic Spacemaker: Tommy Gregory

The Civic Spacemaker: Tommy Gregory

A next-gen curator improving your airport experience.

“I love the saying, ‘sleep when you are dead.’” Few embody it like Tommy Gregory—tireless artist, curator, and connector who seems to be everywhere at once, installing work, throwing receptions, or plotting the next show. Gregory joined the Port of Seattle as senior project manager in 2019, just as airport art collections were gaining global…

The Piano Teacher: Payam Khastkhodaei

The Piano Teacher: Payam Khastkhodaei

The instructor rethinking the approach to music lessons.

When Payam Khastkhodaei began teaching piano to a family friend’s daughter in his Bothell home at 16, he relied on the same method he had been taught as a kid—classical songbooks, rigid practice, and pieces he never connected with. It didn’t take long to see she was losing interest. “I had learned from the Alfred…

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