Phinney Ridge is a neighborhood in north central Seattle. It is named after the ridge which runs north and south, separating Ballard from Green Lake, from approximately N. 45th to N. 85th Street. The ridge, in turn, is named after Guy C. Phinney, lumber mill owner and real estate developer, whose estate was bought by the city and turned into Woodland Park in 1899. Phinney’s estate had included a private menagerie, and the western half of the park became what is now the Woodland Park Zoo.
The generally accepted boundaries of Phinney Ridge are Aurora Avenue N. to the east, beyond which lies Green Lake and the eastern half of Woodland Park; N. 80th Street to the north, beyond which lies Greenwood; 8th Avenue N.W. to the west, beyond which lies Ballard, and N. 50th and Market Streets to the south, beyond which lies Fremont.
Through Phinney’s Neighborhood Association, residents host a huge annual garage sale, seasonal wine-and-beer-tasting parties, a spring home tour, a potluck dinner series called Dinners For Eight, and even a mystery book exchange.
The association’s annual Good Neighbors Auction in March grossed about $28,000. It also generated money to help pay the operating costs of a van used by a local church to pick up homeless women downtown and bring them back to Phinney Ridge where they get a warm, safe night’s sleep.
Phinney Ridge’s main thoroughfare, which runs atop the ridge south of N. 67th Street, is Phinney Avenue N., North of N. 67th Street, the arterial swings a block to the west and becomes Greenwood Avenue N. The route is lined with many small businesses and shops, as well as the Phinney Neighborhood Center, located at the corner of Phinney and 67th. It has occupied the former John B. Allen Elementary School building, which was built in 1904, since 1981, when the school closed. Phinney Ridge’s main east-west thoroughfare is N. 65th Street.
Info by Seattle PI & Wikipedia.org
Phinney Ridge Real Estate Statistics
