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If you can buy it, you can find it on Broadway, the nerve center of Capitol Hill. From East Pike to East Roy Streets, store-fronts beckon consumers on the hunt for food, vintage and new clothing, music CDs, and lots of coffee. On summer evenings especially, the sheer density of pedestrian traffic along Broadway matches that of midtown Manhattan.

Capitol Hill has a number of landmark places of worship, including the grand St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, which belongs to the Diocese of Olympia. Organ enthusiasts come from afar to play St. Mark’s 3,944-pipe Flentrop organ, installed in 1965. The Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral, one of the oldest parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia, was founded in 1930 by immigrants who fled the 1917 Russian Revolution. The structure’s ornate turquoise lukovitsa (16th century “onion dome” style of cupolas) and spires rise high above the trees and neighboring homes.

An entire neighborhood disappeared when Interstate-5 cut a trough at the base of Capitol Hill. The sliver of a community that remains is called Eastlake, named after the main thoroughfare. Today, it survives as a mixed-use residential community at Lake Union’s edge, popular with students, artists, and water-lovers as exemplified by the community of houseboats. REI’s flagship store (see Climbing Rock Walls) marks the beginning of Eastlake’s commercial area, and farther north, the neighborhood opens up with taverns, cafés, and stores that revel in the geography – halfway between downtown and the University District.

Alternative lifestyles are not only tolerated, but encouraged with flagrant same-sex smooching and handholding on the streets. Gay and lesbian clubs (see Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered Venues) proliferate on the Hill, as do shops selling what used to be called marital aids — sex toys in today’s parlance.

Darryl Smith, an artist once based at the Fremont Fine Arts Foundry, created a lifesize bronze statue of Jimi Hendrix that now graces the Pine Street sidewalk. It shows the musician in his trademark rockstar pose, kneeling in bellbottoms with his Fender guitar pointed skyward. Before Paul Allen built his Experience Music Project (see Experience Music Project (EMP) & Experience Music Project), inspired by Hendrix and his music, this installation was Seattle’s best known memorial dedicated to the city’s famous guitarist.

This 1887-era cemetery, on a hilltop just past the northern end of Volunteer Park, is the final resting place for prominent Seattleites, and attracts thousands of visitors each year. Tombstones here identify the pioneers whose names now grace present-day streets or area towns – Denny, Maynard, Boren, Mercer, Yesler, and Renton. Lake View also draws the faithful followers of cinema star and martial arts master, Bruce Lee, and his son Brandon, whose sculpted tombstones lie side by side.

Stroll down the 3-block stretch of Denny between Broadway and Olive Way to scout for charming Victorian and Craftsman-style homes and elegant balconies decorated with hanging flower baskets or off-beat art. Marvel at the opulent mansions on the blocks just south of Volunteer Park. Capitol Hill’s adjacent Central District, south of Madison and north of 14th Avenue East, is a transitional neighborhood but features view properties with gorgeous old homes – best seen by car.

Bisecting Capitol Hill are two busy streets offering their own flavor and subculture. You can find many of the area’s gay and lesbian hangouts on the blocks above and below Broadway, as well as a great selection of taverns and stores selling vintage housewares and furnishings. Although the city has tried to discourage their postings, you may also notice colorful flyers stapled onto telephone poles and virtually any surface, advertising band concerts in the vicinity. If nothing else, they draw attention to the pulse that keeps this community living and breathing on the edge.

Writers and readers have enthusiastic support from this institution, named for Richard Hugo (1923–1982) a local writer, instructor, and community builder who became one of the most acclaimed American poets of his time. The center advances Hugo’s vision by bringing innovative and effective writing programs and workshop education to people of all ages and backgrounds. Visitors are welcome to tour the 16,206-sq-ft (1505-sq-m) Victorian house, built in 1902.

Built by Seattle’s water department in 1906, this 75-ft (23-m) brick tower with an observation deck was designed by the Olmsted Brothers. A short climb of 106 spiraling steps to the deck offers spectacular views of Puget Sound, the Space Needle, and the Olympic Mountains. Volunteer Park is also the site of the Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Volunteer Park Conservatory.