Wallingford is a neighborhood in north central Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Washington, named after John Noble Wallingford (died 1913). The QFC

QFC

Quality Food Centers is a supermarket chain based in Bellevue, Washington, with over 75 stores in the Puget Sound region of Washington state and in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.-History:...

 supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

 at the corner of N 45th Street and Wallingford Avenue N may be regarded as the center of the neighborhood; its large WALLINGFORD neon sign is made in part from letters in the old FOOD GIANT sign that adorned QFC's predecessor for decades.

John Noble Wallingford was a major local landowner and real estate speculator; at one time his holdings included most of what is now Wallingford and extended north as far as Green Lake

Green Lake (Seattle)

Green Lake is a freshwater lake in north central Seattle, Washington, USA, within Green Lake Park. The park is surrounded by the Green Lake neighborhood to the north and east, the Wallingford neighborhood to the south, the Phinney Ridge neighborhood to the west, and Woodland Park to the southwest...

. He travelled considerably up and down the West Coast of the United States

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

 and lived for a time in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.

Wallingford's business district extends along N 45th Street from Stone Way N in the west to Sunnyside Avenue N in the east and features many small shops, two banks, a pharmacy, a few tavern

Tavern

A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....

s and bar

Bar (establishment)

A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...

s, the two Guild 45th movie theater

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

s, the Wallingford Center (the former Interlake Elementary School, now turned into shops and apartments), and numerous restaurants (including the original Dick's Drive-In

Dick's Drive-In

Dick's Drive-In, or simply Dick's, is a fast-food restaurant chain located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1954, Dick's is Seattle’s oldest, continuously operating fast-food restaurant. Dick's has, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, attained status as a Seattle...

, founded 1954).

Public spaces include Gas Works Park

Gas Works Park

Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington is a 19.1 acre public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. Gas Works park contains remnants of the sole remaining coal...

, Meridian Playground, and Wallingford playfield. Gas Works Park on Lake Union borders the Burke-Gilman Trail

Burke-Gilman Trail

The Burke-Gilman Sammamish Trail is a rail trail in King County, Washington. The multi-use recreational trail is part of the King County Regional Trail System and occupies an abandoned Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway corridor....

 and provides a panoramic extension into Lake Union, with a playground in planning as part of the 2009 parks levy. Meridian playground features a former Roman Catholic home for wayward girls called the Good Shepherd Center, now a shared community space run by Historic Seattle. Major tenants include Seattle Tilth, Meridian School, the Wallingford Senior Center, and the Chapel performance space which features the Wayward Music Series . Wallingford playfield borders recently renovated Hamilton International Middle School

Hamilton International Middle school

Hamilton International Middle School , is a middle school within the Seattle Public Schools, located in Seattle, Washington, in the Wallingford neighborhood...

 and features views and a wading pool open in summer months. To the north lies Lower Woodland Park, which features athletic fields, a skate park, tennis courts, and connections to the Woodland Park Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo is a zoological garden around the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Occupying the western half of Woodland Park, the zoo began as a small menagerie on the estate of Guy C. Phinney, a Canadian-born lumber mill owner and real estate developer...

 and Greenlake.

Wallingford is home to several community organizations. The Wallingford Neighborhood Office, located behind Tully's on 45th street, helps to organize local events. The Wallingford Community Council meets the first Wednesday every month in the Good Shepherd Center and engages the community with government organizations. Sustainable Wallingford is a residents group dedicated to sustainable living. Seattle Tilth runs the public gardens and plant sales at the Good Shepherd Center. The Fremont Public Association is colocated with the Wallingford Public Library and runs a food bank and family support services. The Wallingford Boys and Girls club provides a safe, social space for kids and teens along 45th, while the Wallingford Senior Center provides a safe social space for older folks.

Just south of N 45th is the former (Abraham) Lincoln High School

Lincoln High School (Seattle, Washington)

Lincoln High School is a former public high school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington, USA.-History:The school was built in 1906 to handle the growth in the area. It was founded in 1907; until 1971 it was a three-year high school, thereafter a four-year high school...

, closed in 1981, now used primarily to house public schools

Seattle Public Schools

Seattle Public Schools is the school district serving Seattle, Washington, USA. Its headquarters are in the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence.-List of schools:...

 "in exile" while their own buildings undergo major renovations: Ballard High School

Ballard High School (Seattle)

Ballard High School is a high school in Seattle, Washington, located in the Ballard neighborhood.-Mission statement:"Ballard High School is an inclusive, supportive community that cultivates a tradition of excellence for all students."~adopted May, 2008...

 was rebuilt in 1997-1999, Roosevelt High School (Seattle)

Roosevelt High School (Seattle)

Roosevelt High School is a public school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington, USA. Founded in the 1920s, Roosevelt continues to be one of the largest schools in the greater Seattle area....

 in 2004-2006, Hamilton Middle School in 2008-2010, and McDonald / John Hay Elementary Schools beginning in 2010.

Like neighboring Fremont

Fremont, Seattle, Washington

Fremont is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. Originally a separate city, it was annexed to Seattle in 1891. Named after Fremont, Nebraska, the hometown of two of its founders, L. H. Griffith and E...

 (and, indeed, most Seattle neighborhoods), Wallingford's boundaries are not fixed, but they may be thought of as Stone Way N to the west, beyond which is Fremont; Lake Union

Lake Union

Lake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...

 to the south; Interstate 5

Interstate 5

Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...

 to the east, beyond which is the University District

University District, Seattle, Washington

The University District is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because the main campus of the University of Washington is located there. The UW moved in two years after the area was annexed to Seattle, while much of the area was still clear cut forest or stump farmland...

; and Woodland Park

Woodland Park (Seattle)

Woodland Park is a 90.9 acre park in Seattle's Phinney Ridge and Green Lake neighborhoods that originated as the estate of Guy C. Phinney, lumber mill owner and real estate developer. Phinney died in 1893, and in 1902, the Olmsted Brothers firm of Boston was hired to design the city's parks,...

 and NE 60th St. to the north, beyond which is Green Lake

Green Lake, Seattle, Washington

Green Lake is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington, USA. Its centerpiece is the lake and park after which it is named.Its generally accepted boundaries are Interstate 5 to the east, beyond which lie Roosevelt and Maple Leaf; N 85th Street to the north, beyond which lies the...

.

A secondary concentration of mostly retail businesses on N 55th Street near Meridian Avenue is known variously as Tangletown or Meridian

Meridian, Seattle, Washington

Meridian or Tangletown is the part of Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood that lies north of N 50th Street, near Green Lake. Some consider it to lie outside of Wallingford proper. The neighborhood was given the name "Tangletown" years ago, when a streetcar interchange occupied the space where...

 and considered by some to be more closely associated with Greenlake than Wallingford. The likely source for the name Tangletown is the irregular configuration of the blocks, some of which follow the contours of Green Lake, others conforming to the city's basic grid

Street layout of Seattle

The street layout of Seattle is based on a series of disjointed rectangular street grids. Most of Seattle and King County use a single street grid, oriented on true north. Near the center of town, various land claims were platted in the 19th century with differently oriented grids, which have...

. Meridian sometimes refers to a wider neighborhood than Tangletown, which refers strictly to the retail district. The region south of N 40th Street is also known as Northlake

Northlake, Seattle, Washington

Northlake is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, that consists of the southern part of Wallingford, below N 40th Street. It is so named for being on the northern shore of Lake Union. Landmarks are Gas Works Park, with the Wallingford Steps above, and Ivar's Salmon House...

 or SoFo (South of Fortieth). The use of Tangletown was started by real estate agents who realized that they could sell houses for a greater price if that corner of Wallingford had a novelty name.

Major annual events in the neighborhood include the Wallingford Kiddie Parade as part of Seafair, the Wallingford Wurst Festival run by St Benedict's Church, and the Family Fourth fireworks

Fireworks

Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...

show at Gas Works Park. Smaller events include Seattle Tilth's chicken coop tour and the Wallingford Neighborhood office's garden and home tours.

External links

• Wallingford Community Organizations - supporting the Wallingford Community
• Wallingford article on Seattle Wiki
• Paul Dorpat, Seattle Neighborhoods: Wallingford -- Thumbnail History, HistoryLink.org Essay 3461, July 24, 2001
• Wallyhood, the Wallingford neighborhood blog
• Local artists in Wallingford