Seattle Places

First Hill and the Central District

The little-visited neighborhoods of First Hill and the Central District are nonetheless important pieces of the city's fabric. First Hill is an eastern extension of Downtown, and one tree-lined street has something truly spectacular: the Frye Art Museum. The Central District, mostly residential and off the beaten path, is the historic hub of Seattle's African-American community. It has a few monuments honoring this community, as well as some good restaurants and a few landmarks that provide a fairly good survey of architectural trends throughout the decades.

Smack between Downtown and Capitol Hill, First Hill is an odd mix of sterile-looking medical facility buildings (earning it the nickname "Pill Hill"), old brick buildings that look like they belong on a college campus, and newer residential towers. There are a few businesses along Boren Avenue, but they're mostly unremarkable. The main draws of the neighborhood are the Frye Art Museum, which is well worth a detour, and the fantastic historic Sorrento Hotel.

The Central District, or the "C.D.," lies south of Capitol Hill and northeast of the International District. Its boundaries are roughly 12th Avenue on the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the east, E. Madison to the north, and S. Jackson Street to the south. As Downtown Seattle rapidly develops, the C.D. is facing a transitional period. Community groups are working hard to ensure that the "revitalization" of the area doesn't come at the expense of stripping the city's oldest residential neighborhood of its history or breaking up and pricing out the community that's hung in there during years of economic blight.