Now entering Uptown: Seattle City Council resolution to reaffirm neighborhood name stirs debate

It was Shakespeare who once famously asked "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

But for those living in the area of Seattle known as Lower Queen Anne but now officially recognized as Uptown, the significance of the neighborhood's name is up for debate.

The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Monday officially recognizing the neighborhood as Uptown and requiring city entities to label it "correctly."

Sponsored by Councilmember Andrew Lewis, the aim of the resolution was to differentiate the neighborhood from Queen Anne. The main attractions in Uptown — which spans the area west of Aurora Avenue North, north of West Denny Way, east of Elliott Avenue West and south of Roy Street — include the Seattle Center, which will soon be home to the revamped and renamed Climate Pledge Arena.

Several businesses in the neighborhood bear the new name of the neighborhood, like Uptown Hophouse, Uptown Espresso and SIFF Cinema Uptown.

"The name Uptown is the suitable brand to really put a stamp on this dynamism, to recognize it as this community moves forward, and to really shape a future for that corner of the city," Lewis said.

But a big push for the name came from the Uptown Alliance, which noted that rideshare, delivery services and other mapping services misidentify the neighborhood.

"People rely on online mapping platforms for wayfinding, trip planning and exploring communities," said Uptown Alliance President Rick Hooper in a statement. "Having the city make certain that popular and well-used online mapping services accurately identify the Uptown neighborhood has always been important as part of community pride and establishing a sense of place. But it is especially critical now as Uptown businesses work toward economic recovery and attracting new customers."

But many residents were not as convinced of the merits of renaming, and expressed their views on Twitter.

Seattle Times reporter Daniel Beekman noted, "I grew up in Seattle and don't remember hearing [Uptown] until I returned in 2014. I only knew Lower Queen Anne."

So if it was always meant to be Uptown, when exactly did all this "Lower Queen Anne" hokey-pokey business begin then? An analysis of Seattle Post-Intelligencer archives shows that the name was common in apartment listings from the 1960s through 1990s in order to indicate the building's place on the hill.

The Betty May Apartments on Mercer Street advertised themselves as being located in Lower Queen Anne in 1933, one of the earliest mentions found. A neighborhood profile from 1985 diverged from both names and called it "South Queen Anne" noting that "seniors and singles fill the apartments."

At the time of publication, only 7,420 people lived in the neighborhood, and median rent was just $231 a month.

An article detailing the opening of the Marqueen Hotel on the corner of Queen Anne Avenue North and Mercer Street also labeled the neighborhood as Lower Queen Anne in 1998, noting that it was an up-and-coming area for hotels given its proximity to the Seattle Center.

"Lower Queen Anne is the next logical place to expand the hotel core. Belltown is not ready for it," then general manager Heath Carnes told the P-I.

So, after all the debating, what's in a name? It looks like the residents of Lower Queen Anne Uptown, will have to give it meaning.