Mayberry in Seattle

Alley of the Week

Downtown alleys tend to look like good places to make film noir, while alleys in residential neighborhoods outside of downtown, especially in the North End, often tend to look like Mayberry sets. This one is a good example. It has an additional odd feature, in that if you drive south on 8 NE to NE 55, you could think this alley was 8 NE, also, since it lines up with it. Generally the street grid in the North End is laid out straight, in spite of the geographical obstacles, but it's these little imperfections like this one that make me love it. In this case the imperfection can't be excused by any obstacle. It probably happened because the two parts were laid out by different committees. (The North End was annexed into Seattle piece by piece, over several years.)

Looking north near NE 53.

Further north. Larger versions upon clicking.