BELLTOWN : ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Well. The story goes. . . back in the gold rush days, "Bell" Town was the red light district. Instead of red lights, however, there were bells over the doors of "professional" establishments in "Bell" Town.

It is a nifty story. But it is made up.

We are going to say that one more time just to make sure you got it: IT IS MADE UP.

See we got mail telling us this story is wrong. Um. Right. We know that. That is why we said, "it is made up."

:::see expanded map:::

Also people yelled at us for our map. "Denny Regrade" apparently is "misleading."

Fine. Settle down. We got a new map. Why aren't you posting in forums anyway? Ficus and Dash cannot do all the work. Sheesh.

Okay, on to the real stuff --

Belltown is named after a midwesterner, William Nathaniel Bell, who arrived in West Seattle on the schooner Exact in 1851 with several other cold and shivering members of the Denny Party. (This was before Starbucks. No hot coffee for them. Ooops.) Bell staked out a land claim between what is today "Downtown" and the Seattle Center, then took off for parts California around 1856 post hostility from the natives. Bell returned though in 1870 and discovered, one, the natives had stopped burning buildings, and two, his claim had become valuable. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, Bell settled in for the long term, sold off a few lots of land, and became a wealthy man. Local streets are named after Bell family members and aquaintances, most notably, Olive and Virginia named after Bell's daughters, and Lenora named after a "friend."