Belltown is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, in the 98121 Zip Code, located on the city's downtown waterfront, on land that was artificially flattened as part of a regrading project

Denny Regrade, Seattle, Washington

The Denny Regrade is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, USA, that stretches north of the central business district to the grounds of Seattle Center. Its generally flat terrain was originally a steep hill, taken down as part of a mammoth construction project in the first decades of the 20th...

. Formerly a low-rent, semi-industrial arts district, in recent decades it has transformed into a neighborhood of trendy restaurants, boutiques, nightclubs, and residential towers as well as warehouses and art galleries. The area is named after William Nathaniel Bell

William Nathaniel Bell

William Nathaniel Bell , originally from Edwardsville, Illinois and later a resident of Portland, Oregon, was a member of the Denny Party, the first group of white settlers in what is now Seattle, Washington...

, on whose land claim the neighborhood was built.

In 2007, CNNMoney named Belltown the best place to retire in the Seattle metro area, calling it a "a walkable neighborhood with everything you need."
Belltown is also home to The Art Institute of Seattle

The Art Institute of Seattle

The Art Institute of Seattle in Seattle, Washington is one of The Art Institutes, a system of more than 40 educational institutions located throughout North America, providing education in design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts...

, Antioch University, Argosy University, Mars Hill Graduate School

Mars Hill Graduate School

The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology is an accredited Christian graduate school offering master level degrees in Counseling Psychology, Divinity, and Christian Studies. They are located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington...

 and RealNetworks

RealNetworks

RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...

 Headquarters.

Shops and Businessess

Although many new businesses have eclipsed older ones, some venerated establishments still draw crowds of loyal patrons, such as the locally famous Bavarian Meat Products. Some of the classic, old Seattle nightspots in Belltown are: The Rendezvous, Mama's Mexican Kitchen, The Lava Lounge, Ohana, The Crocodile Cafe, and Shorty's. Belltown also has an extraordinary array of restaurants (over 100 in the zip code alone). Every kind of cuisine can be found here, and ranges from fine cuisine to hot dogs. Most restaurants offer a happy hour for early evening patrons. On Weekend evenings, the nightlife is very vibrant.

Geography

The neighborhood is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which lies Seattle Center

Seattle Center

Seattle Center is a park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. It is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.-Attractions:...

, Uptown, and Queen Anne Hill, on the southwest by Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington, is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound...

, on the southeast by Virginia Street, beyond which lies the Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, United States. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States. It is a place of business for many small farmers,...

 and the rest of Downtown

Downtown Seattle

Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared to other city centers on the West Coast because of its geographical situation: hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by the Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once...

, and on the northeast by 5th Avenue, beyond which lies the Denny Triangle. All of its northwest- and southeast-bound streets are major thoroughfares (Alaskan Way and Elliott, Western, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Avenues); major northeast- and southwest-bound thoroughfares are Broad, Wall, and Battery Streets. The Battery Street Tunnel runs under Battery Street from Western Avenue to Denny Way and connects the Alaskan Way Viaduct

Alaskan Way Viaduct

The Alaskan Way Viaduct, completed on April 4, 1953, is a double-decked elevated section of State Route 99 that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle's Industrial District and downtown Seattle. It is the smaller of the two major north–south traffic corridors through Seattle ,...

 to Aurora Avenue N.

North on Western Ave at Vine Street is the Belltown P-Patch and the Cottage Park. These single family homes built in 1916 are the last of 11 on the 1/4 block. The Cottages mark the 1850s shoreline and are the last remaining wood framed residences in downtown Seattle. The Belltown P-Patch provides gardening opportunities through the City of Seattle P-Patch program.

Sculpture Garden

The Olympic Sculpture Park

Olympic Sculpture Park

The Olympic Sculpture Park is a public park in Seattle, Washington that opened on January 20, 2007.The park consists of a outdoor sculpture museum and beach. The park was designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architects, along with Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture and other consultants. It is...

, a public sculpture garden of 8.5 acres (34,398.3 m²) adjacent to Myrtle Edwards Park

Myrtle Edwards Park

Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle, Washington is a 4.8 acre public park along the Elliott Bay waterfront north of Belltown. It features a 1.25-mile long bicycle and walking path and is a good place to see eagles, gulls, and crows....

, is located on the northern edge of the Belltown waterfront. The park features contemporary pieces, various ecosystems with plants indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, and a restored beach and seawall. The park's construction was funded entirely with private donations and is operated by the Seattle Art Museum. Unlike other such parks in the United States, the Olympic Sculpture Park is unwalled, and admission is free.

"Film Row"

Around 1910, the silent-era "Film Row" began with a film exchange in the Pathe Building 2025 Third Avenue (near Virginia Street, roughly at the southern tip of Belltown); eventually, silent-era film exchanges in Seattle serviced approximately 470 commercial movie theaters throughout Washington, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 and Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

.
Concern about the flammability of nitrocellulose

Nitrocellulose

Nitrocellulose is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. When used as a propellant or low-order explosive, it is also known as guncotton...

 film resulted in the concentration of film exchanges in this single neighborhood, as a zoning

Zoning

Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...

 issue. Polk's 1923 Seattle City Directory shows 26 listings for "Motion Picture Machines and Supplies". All except the U.S. Army Motion Picture Service are within one block of the corner of Virginia Street and Third Avenue.

From the 1920s into at least the 1960s, Second Avenue in Belltown was home to Seattle's second "Film Row." In 1928, just after the era of talkies began, the role of the Second Avenue film row was consolidated by the erection of the terra-cotta-ornamented, art deco Film Exchange Building (FEB, also known as the Canterbury Building) designed by Seattle architect Earl W. Morrison; it covered an entire block on the west side of Second Avenue, from Battery Street to Wall Street. By 1930, Polk lists only 18 Seattle film exchanges; while Kodascope Libraries is at 111 Cherry Street in the Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington

Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood...

 neighborhood, all of the others are on Second Avenue within a block of Battery Street (save only Columbia Pictures at First and Battery). This situation was essentially unchanged in 1948: 19 entries under "Motion Picture Distributors and Film Exchanges", 15 of them in this same two blocks, and two of the others elsewhere in Belltown.

Nothing remains of the FEB. Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 was the last film business to pull out, in 1980. The building closed 1991 and was demolished 1992. Immediately south, the block of Second Avenue on the other side of Battery still contains many remnants of the Film Row era. The Jewel Box theater of the Rendezvous bar is the one remaining screening room in the neighborhood, but several other buildings remain. The McGraw-Kittenger-Case building on the southwest corner of Second and Battery was once the MGM building, and is now a bar and restaurant. Just south of it is the former William Tell Hotel, once the film industry favorite, later low-income housing, and now a traveler's hostel. Farther down the block, the former National Theater Building now houses several small businesses. At 2332 First Avenue, Paramount's former film exchange building has housed the Catholic Seaman's Club since 1955; the ground floor is now the Del Ray restaurant and lounge, and the Catholic Seaman's Club is upstairs.

External links

• Belltown Community Council
• Belltown People Active Neighborhood Blog
• Seattle PI's Inside Belltown Active Neighborhood Blog
• http://www.belltownmessenger.com/ - Belltown's print publication since 2003. No longer in publication.
• Form/Space Atelier, Belltown Art Gallery
• http://www.belltown.org/
• SPD West Precinct, Police Blotter