About Beacon Hill

       Before venturing to Beacon Hill, I decided to ask people in my community their opinions about the neighborhood. Most of the comments were generally the same. Either they had never been to Beacon Hill, or had no idea it existed. As Seattle University students, we are trapped in what we like to call "The Capitol Hill Bubble," but that does not give us an excuse. My peer's state of oblivion towards the neighborhood of Beacon Hill inspired me to discover what it's all about. The bleak perception instilled upon me by others turned out to be a great way to formulate my own opinions and explore the neighborhood for myself.
       Beacon Hill is a neighborhood in South East Seattle known for its quaint bungalow-style houses and a generally quiet atmosphere but looking deep into any neighborhood, one will find that it has much more to offer. Beacon Hill is no exception. Wedged between the I-5 and 1-90 freeways, Beacon hill subdivides into North Beacon Hill, South Beacon Hill, Mid-Beacon Hill and Holly Park. But the locals just call it Beacon Hill.
       Seattle-ites have no problem identifying Beacon Hill's territory through what looks like a burnt orange mansion scaling steeps of its north hill. Contrary to the popular rumors that the building is either a mental ward or a haunted mansion, it is actually the previous location of the first Amazon headquarters. Just above this unique building is Jefferson Park: one of Beacon Hill's most prized assets. Jefferson Park, along with numerous locations around the neighborhood offers unobstructed views of Downtown Seattle, The Industrial District, Elliot Bay, First Hill, Rainer Valley and the Olympic Mountains.
          In 2012, Beacon Hill gained a great deal of recognition from the American Planning Association who claimed it to be one of the 30 greatest places to live in America. Aside from the neighborhood's pleasant aesthetics, what really helped Beacon Hill earn this title is its diversity. "The Hill" has a strong sense of community that embraces diversity on a greater level than any other neighborhood I have seen. With the development of industry such as Boeing in the 1950's, Beacon Hill became an attractive destination for immigrants descending from around the world.
       Today, your neighbor could likely be from European descent, Hispanic, African American, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese or Korean. The cultural melting pot of Beacon Hill is expressed in the stores, restaurants, and markets that adhere to all races. When I walked down Beacon Avenue, also known as "the hub" of Beacon Hill, I was impressed with the population's ability to live harmoniously among each other, despite their ethnicity. The street is like a forever lasting multi-cultural fair with Filipino restaurants living next to Chinese massage services, giving visitors and residents the ability to taste-test the experiences of different ethnicities from a broad range.
          With diversity to be one of the neighborhood's most embraced features, I finally discovered what Beacon Hill is all about. I have rarely seen neighborhoods that hold a universal value to the degree that Beacon Hill does. Although I have found a central theme, that is just the beginning. It is now up to me to delve into the details of Beacon Hill's economical, historical, communal, and cultural details that contribute to it's diversity, as well as instill the collective principle it holds today.