Bus route 880: Mukilteo to University District and back.

The 880 is a blue-and-white-colored commuter bus that belongs to the Community Transit bus system, which travels to areas in King County from Snohomish County. Route 880 in particular, serves as a connection between Mukilteo and the U-District. Commuter buses are roughly twice as long as their local counterparts, and has accordion-like material insert in the middle to make the bus more flexible in turning around corners.

The trip to University District and back approximately takes 45-minutes to one hour. The long duration of the trip affects the activities conducted on the bus, and the most popular activity by far for passengers to do on the bus is to simply sleep. Commuter buses boast features such as cushiony seats, overhead compartments, reading lights, leg rests to make the long ride to the U-District more tolerable. People will generally avoid sitting next to each other, if possible. Each bus passenger like to occupy his/her own pair of seats.

The 880 is serves an important role to those who must commute to U-District frequently by providing an accessible, inexpensive form of transportation, without having to experience the inconvenience of paying for parking fees, gas, car maintenance, and insurance. For students commuting to UW, the 880 helps cut down the cost of college by living at home. For people who commute to the U-District for their jobs, the 880 expands their employment options beyond areas close to home in Snohomish County, changing the landscape by enabling people freedom to live and work where they want.

Seattle U District: City Artifacts Map

Here is a map of the U District marked with the locations of the city artifacts you are researching. We may put photos and Wikipedia entries on this map, or add links to the marked locations.

This set of artifacts includes...

• coffee shops, from Seattle institutions like Allegro Expresso to regular old Starbucks, a different kind of Seattle institution;
• bars, like the historic Blue Moon Tavern and College Inn Pub;
• a community center, its parking lot and the farmer's market that is held there;
• a public library;
• eating establishments that indicate U District tastes, from a vegan cafe to a Chinese grill to a restaurant known for Northwest cuisine;
• recreational trails and sites, like the Burke Gilman Trail, University Playground and Husky Stadium;
• a mysterious public art work;
• a hotel, a multi-use commercial building and the UW Medical Center, all important to the university's and the city's economies;
• streets and other byways that are central to the neighborhood's identity, including one commemorated in a popular song;
• bus routes that connect the U District to other parts of the city and region.

While these artifacts certainly reflect your interests in and experiences of the U District, they also, as a "collection," create a remarkably accurate socio-cultural portrait of this urban community: closely linked to the university at its heart, but at the same time a distinctively Seattle neighborhood.

City Artifacts: What and Where?

For your proposals due Thursday, you need to designate the artifact in the U-District that will be the subject of your study. This artifact can be:

• a public part of the built environment, like a bridge or intersection;
• a privately-owned location in the neighborhood, like a garage or building or commercial establishment within a building;
• a monument or landmark, like a statue or mural;
• an open space, like a park or construction site or vacant lot;
• a "vector of connection" to or within the neighborhood, like a bus-route or bike trail;
• a text that marks the neighborhood, like a set of posters or graffiti.

Obviously there is a lot of overlap among these options--and the artifact can be something else entirely, if you check with me first. Please choose something that's interesting to you. And remember to think about the pros and cons of working as an "insider" (on an artifact that you already know and use) or "outsider" (on an artifact that is new to you).

So where is the U-District? For the purposes of this project, it's the area east of I-5, west of Montlake Boulevard/25th Ave NE, south of Ravenna Park, and north of the Montlake Cut. Here's a map:



University District.
From http://www.historylink.org/I-map/NErav.htm.

You'll want to explore the neighborhood on foot or on bike before choosing an artifact. You'll also want to think about the history of your artifact; a good place to start is with the history of the U-District itself, which you can read about in more detail here. (But don't forget about the other internet sources I provided in the assignment guidelines.)

And please... check with Gabrielle if you have questions!