bellevue, WA

A suburb of Seattle which no one acknowledges is defined by whether or not one lives east or west of I-405. On the west side of I-405, near the lake, are the classically wealthy seattle suburbs-- Medina, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Evergreen Point, Beaux Arts. Its denizens tend to be a) fourth generation descendants of humble Seattle scandinavians b) second generation new englanders or c) (and perhaps most unfortunately) first generation Californians. On the east side of I-405 exists what can only be described as uncouth suburbia. With names like newport hills, factoria, and tam o'shanter, these neighborhoods are defined by either by shag carpet in the basement or by stucco walls built by John Buchan (in the case of Newport Hills). The vast majority of Bellevue's asian population lives on the East side. There are no black or hispanic people on either side. West siders will always say they live in Bellevue, even though they technically don't. East-siders who have somehow stumbled into wealth will move to the west side and buy their kids Sea-Doos. On the commercial side, the city is dominated by a regional shopping mall, PACCAR, and a few tech firms. Major developments promise to bring an influx of population, further eroding Bellevue's suburban/rural aesthetic in favor of commercial aggrandizement and psuedo-trendy-yuppie-condo-villages. Commercial Bellevue aspires to the vibrancy of its northern neighbor, Kirkland, but its downtown lacks the natural beauty that the Kirkland waterfront possesses, and is defined more by its wide, pedestrian-unfriendly street grid and developer Kemper Freeman's sophomoric attempts at creating an eastside version of Seattle's Belltown. (A container store, sir?). People who think that Bellevue residents are elitist have never been to Southern California or New England.