Rainier Valley, Seattle

Rainier Valley

The Rainier Valley (Valley) neighborhood in Seattle, located east of Beacon Hill; west of Mount Baker, Seward Park, and Leschi; south of the Central District and First Hill; and north of the city line. It is said to be the most culturally and economically diverse neighborhood in the Pacific Northwest [1].

There are several identifiable neighborhoods within roughly the southern half of the Rainier Valley, including (from north to south) Columbia City, Hillman City, Dunlap (also known as Othello), and Rainier Beach.

The Valley is centered on Rainier Avenue S. and Martin Luther King Jr. Way S., its main (northwest- and southeast-bound) thoroughfares. Both the Rainier Avenue and the Valley were named after Mount Rainier, towards which "[t]hrough a fortunate geographic circumstance" the Valley (and hence the avenue) is oriented. Rainier Avenue goes through several distinct phases, with the north end being mainly industrial, the central (Columbia City) portion a densely-populated historical district, and the southern portion a less dense collection of businesses, apartments, and houses.

The neighborhood is known for a roughly 1/4 split between whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics and for the relative harmony between these groups. Italians were prominent in the early 1900s. Interracial couples in the 1950s found the Valley more accepting than the northern half of the city. After the general exodus of whites to the suburbs in the 1960s and the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, a wave of Vietnamese immigrants opened businesses along abandoned areas of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, extending four miles south of the official Little Saigon neighborhood on South Jackson Street. Many residents cite ethnic diversity, parks and transportation options as some of the main reasons they remain in or move to the neighborhood, and it has been called the most diverse neighborhood in the United States, although this may not be strictly true. Gentrification, including rising land prices and a light rail line being built, may put a damper on diversity in the future, but this remains to be seen.

In recent years, the diverse neighborhood has seen a diversity of gang activity. Though it is mostly safe at daytime, several gang-related shootings have occurred at night. The neighborhood has become home to gangs such as the 74 Hoover Crips which have had a rivalry against the Central District Bloods[2]. Of the 28 homicides in Seattle in 2008, 6 occurred in Rainier Valley. [3] The neighborhood's population is 11,452 and is predominantly Asian with a large African American population as well. It's zip code is 98118 which covers much of the South Seattle area and has a population of 40,791 with a racial breakdown as follows: 26.9% Caucasian, 26% African American, 34.1% Asian, 1% Native American, 1.6% Pacific Islander, 6.5% Mixed Race, and 3.4% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.2% of the population. 11.1% of families and 13.9% of the population were below poverty line. [4]

The Rainier Valley was built up after the initial development of central, north, and west Seattle, for the simple reason that much of it was under water or swampland. The reorientation of the Duwamish River and the lowering of Lake Washington, which caused the lake to drain west through Lake Union and the Ship Canal rather than south, made the valley dry enough to allow building.