Slog - Comments on Get Drunk in Ballard and Belltown! But Screw the U. District, Queen Anne, and Downtown Drunks.

Comment by Jason

Jason — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:23:09 -0800

I know, it's like, "Can I have a milkshake with that salad?"

Comment by JMS

JMS — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:34:39 -0800

I think part of it is some persistent belief that nothing happens in Ballard. Of course, that belief is wrong, but it does persist.

Comment by Amy Kate

Amy Kate — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:44:50 -0800

It's not hard to find a taxi downtown at any hour because of the proliferation of hotels; maybe that's why they're focusing on other neighborhoods.

Comment by Explorer

Explorer — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:45:20 -0800

They don't need taxi stands as badly in downtown or Queen Anne (lower) because it's usually fairly easy to hail a cab in those areas, and certainly much easier than trying to find one in Ballard. (Can't speak for the U-District, I don't spend much time out there.)

Comment by joykiller

joykiller — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:51:06 -0800

The list shows us which neighborhoods are the most popular, but not when they're popular, or among whom they're popular (other than a rather broad age group).

My guess is that downtown attracts drinkers primarily during the few hours after work, at which point nearly all bus routes are still running. Also, there's no shortage of taxi stands downtown already.

The University District attracts...wait for it...primarily students at the University, most of whom live within walking distance.

By contrast, Belltown, Ballard, Capitol Hill, Fremont, & Pioneer Square attract lots of people late at night and from all sorts of neighborhoods.

Lower QA would seem to be in a similar situation, though, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't put a stand there.

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:53:19 -0800

Just drive home drunk. You'll be fine.

;)

Comment by josh

josh — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:00:32 -0800

yeah. most downtown hotels are de facto taxi stands, and the parts of downtown that aren't pioneer square or belltown are fairly saturated with cabs at most hours.

Comment by Robinev

Robinev — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:02:56 -0800

The press release offers different take on the data. Are you quoting data from a different survey?

"In a telephone survey of 21-34 year-olds conducted by Last Call, the neighborhoods of Fremont, Ballard, Pioneer Square, Belltown and Capitol Hill were named Seattle�s favorite drinking spots."

Comment by john

john — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:11:59 -0800

Also, in the U-District, I'm sure college kids can usually walk home, or if they can't, I can certainly speak for our collectivity that we have no problem with sleeping on couches at our loser friends' houses, particularly in the U-district.

Comment by BB

BB — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:35:06 -0800

Anyone who can�t find a cab downtown should be deported to Pe Ell or Humptulips.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:07:52 -0800

I for one love the fact that Fremont, even if you didn't list us in the subject, is pro-drink.

Except when you barf on my front yard or set off the car alarms at 2:45 - which sets off the puppy next door and the dogs in the nearby apartments.

And get your motorcycle exhaust fixed - it's not funny that you set off the car alarms, they then have to take bricks out of their windshields ...

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:09:49 -0800

Plus, the U Dist has this thing called transit. You know, bus service. And most UW students have U Passes, so it's cheaper than a taxi.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:23:24 -0800

Hey, Will, I have a friend in Campbell, California whose drunk neighbors decided at 3:00 AM to use a power saw to cut the roof off of their beater car and turn it into a convertible. Louder than God, they said. Count your blessings.

Comment by Angry Andrew

Angry Andrew — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:38:12 -0800

We wouldn't need cab stands if we had better transit hahahaha

Comment by joykiller

joykiller — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:42:18 -0800

Will in Seattle:

Yes, the U-District has transit, but no place in the Puget Sound has much transit around last call. I suspect there's not as much demand for cabs because most U-District-goers live within reasonable walking distance.

Comment by dada

dada — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:06:28 -0800

It's impossible to get a cab in Ballard without calling one. I tried this past Saturday night after coming out of the BalMar at 1 a.m. Nuthin'. A couple of buses went by on Market, but they didn't go to where I wanted to go.

We got a nice server at the People's Pub to call us a taxi (after we ordered deep-fried pickles, yum!) and it arrived in five minutes.

The only problem with the Last Call thing is that their promotional materials do not include the numbers for local cab companies. FWIW, I usually go for Yellow Cab: 282-8222

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:40:34 -0800

Maybe people get Downtown confused with Belltown and Pioneer Square. It's pretty easy given they're all smashed together.

Also, agree that most U District drunks live within walking distance (I'm one of them, lol) as do Queen Anners.

Also, surveys are deeply flawed and inherently shallow research, film at 11.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:57:43 -0800

@15 - then walk on the Burke Gilman or use your bike. And there are at least three bus lines that run in the U Dist after last call - I've been on them.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:56:06 -0800

I just noticed that my first point may be a bit unclear.

Let's say you survey someone and ask them where they like to drink. A person like to drink along that stretch of clubs near 1st/Yesler, but he/she sees 'Downtown' and selects that, thinking their hangouts are in Downtown when technically, those hangouts are in Pioneer Square. This can distort the results.

Comment by Katelyn

Katelyn — Wed, 16 May 2007 22:09:45 -0800

I've had to cab it from the U District to Capitol Hill twice this year, and both times I had the same driver. He told me he used to drive in Ballard, but left that neighborhood because of all the stupidass drunkards -- far higher incidence in Ballard than in the UD -- who underpaid and mistreated him. I don't blame cabbies for not wanting to drive in Ballard. I try to stay out of Ballard myself.

Comment by Suzette Riley

Suzette Riley — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:53:30 -0800

I'm the project manager for Last Call at Harborview. Several posters are right - there's no taxi stand downtown because taxis are already available around many hotels. And to clarify Josh's point - we chose the five neighborhoods based on a phone survey of 300 Seattleites age 21-34 who go out to drink, and based on street surveys in those neighborhoods, plus some focus groups.

The Last Call materials do now include taxi phone #'s - bars are distributing cards with taxi stand locations and cab phone numbers for Yellow, Orange and Farwest.

Comment by pgjmo qualhrtdx

pgjmo qualhrtdx — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:28:17 -0800

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Comment by pgjmo qualhrtdx

pgjmo qualhrtdx — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:29:15 -0800

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Comment by pgjmo qualhrtdx

pgjmo qualhrtdx — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:30:26 -0800

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Comment by pgjmo qualhrtdx

pgjmo qualhrtdx — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:31:15 -0800

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