Ride the Train to NE 65th Street
Let the train do the work. Roosevelt Station sits below the corner of NE 65th Street and 12th Avenue NE, and since it opened on October 2, 2021, it has put the neighborhood right on the Link line. Check Sound Transit for current schedules and service details before you set out.
The station comes with a good story. In the 2000s, residents urged Sound Transit to build it in the heart of the neighborhood near the high school rather than beside the freeway, rallying behind the motto "Yes In My Front Yard," a cheerful twist on the usual objection to new projects.
Glance around when you surface and you will spot a nod to the past. The front of a 1947 Art Deco building that once housed Standard Radio was saved and woven into the station design, thanks to a collaboration between the transit agency and local preservationists.
Parks, a Ravine and a Community Garden
Cowen Park and Its 1936 Bridge
For the best time outdoors, head to Cowen Park, the ravine park on 15th Avenue NE. A concrete arch bridge from 1936, now a city landmark, spans the gully overhead. Take it in twice, once from the deck and again from the trail below.
This is also where Ravenna Creek now begins, brought back into the open by a partial daylighting project finished in 2006 that reconnected it to Lake Washington. On its east side the park blends into the larger Ravenna Park, so you can keep walking along the ravine well past the neighborhood line.
Froula Playground
Up at the northern edge, Froula Playground at 7200 12th Avenue NE is a neighborhood park close to the reservoir. It sits a short walk from Roosevelt High School and Cowen Park, making it an easy stop for families exploring on foot.
Roosevelt P-Patch
Just near Froula, at 12th Avenue NE and NE 71st Street, the Roosevelt P-Patch community garden has been tended by local gardeners since 2003. It is compact, with 29 plots on roughly 3,500 square feet, and belongs to the City of Seattle's P-Patch program. Feel free to look around, but remember the plots belong to the people who work them.
Eat, Shop and Meet the Local Institutions
Browse the small businesses lining NE 65th Street and Roosevelt Way, where a few stand out for their staying power or their character. Hours change, so check with each place before making a special trip.
- Sunlight Cafe: Step one block west of Roosevelt Way to this independent spot, serving vegetarian food since 1978. No vegetarian restaurant in Seattle has been open longer.
- Teddy's: A popular biker bar where the crowd spans several generations and plenty of different scenes.
- Roosevelt Square: The shopping center on the old Sears site, home to a Whole Foods Market, a Mud Bay pet store and other tenants.
Audio fans may remember Roosevelt Way between NE 62nd and NE 64th Streets as a hub for high-end stereo and video gear. Most of those shops have closed, though two still hold on.
How Roosevelt Got Its Name
Seattle annexed the area in 1891, yet houses stayed scattered until the early 1900s, when locals informally called it the Hollywood District. The Hollywood Theater, which opened in 1923 at NE 66th Street, kept that older name alive for a while.
Everything shifted after Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919. The city renamed 10th Avenue NE as Roosevelt Way, and a community club contest in 1927 chose Roosevelt for the whole neighborhood. Even Ravenna Park went by Roosevelt Park from 1919 to 1931, until local protests won back its original title.
From Department Store to Metaphysical Belt
The 1920s brought a boom, and a busy commercial strip grew along Roosevelt Way as cars took over. Sears opened a North Seattle store at Roosevelt Way and NE 65th Street on January 1, 1928, anchoring local shopping until it closed in January 1980. Most of the single-family homes and low buildings you pass today went up during that era.
After World War II, many University of Washington staff, faculty and students moved in, and the area grew denser. Interstate 5 arrived in the early 1960s, drawing a hard line along the west side. Later, from the 1970s into the 1990s, alternative bookstores and holistic health shops clustered here, earning the strip its nickname as Seattle's "Metaphysical Belt."
Roosevelt High School
Roosevelt High School opened in 1922 and ranks among the older schools in Seattle Public Schools. Like the street, it honors Theodore Roosevelt, not Franklin. Its graduates include Nobel laureates Linda B. Buck and Robert Lucas Jr., along with actress Rose McGowan. The historic front of the building is a local point of pride, and some residents wanted lower building heights nearby to keep it in view.
See a Neighborhood in Transition
The light rail station set off rapid change. The Seattle City Council rezoned Roosevelt in January 2012 to allow mid-rise buildings of about six stories near the station, and in the five years before it opened an estimated 1,626 new homes went up in the area, nearly doubling the housing stock.
Wander a few blocks from the station and you will see both eras side by side, with newer apartment buildings, shops and public spaces standing near the older houses and low-rise storefronts that survived the boom.
Plan Your Visit
Keep it simple. Ride the train to NE 65th Street, grab lunch nearby, then head southeast to Cowen Park and follow the ravine into Ravenna Park. With more time, cross the freeway west to Green Lake, or take a short trip south to the University District.
