I absolutely agree with MissGnomer about living in the suburbs. And yes, the library IS amazing! If you visit you should also try and get up to the very top of Columbia Center tower (link). An amazing view and way higher than the space needle too. good luck!

Thank you all for all of the extensive and honest advise. You gave me more than I could have hoped for and I am now having a great time snooping around Seattle via the web and looking at various apartments and attractions. I am so excited about seeing the city and all of it's fantastic architecture. (the library looks amazing!)

Oh, and yes Roller Derby is hilarious and awesome! I know a few of the players and have gone to a few games. It is unbelievable fun for anyone. I'm not really a sports guy but you can't help but cheer and yell for your favorite team! There are lots of great places to visit. Do the tourist thing, SAM (seattle art museum), go to Gas Works park, visit Seattle Center, see a broadway show at the Paramount (currently playing Mel Brooke's Young Frankenstein). Weather permitting, visit the Olympic Mountains and do some hiking. And of course amazing cafe's everywhere. And don' forget the beautiful Japanese Garden and Arboretum near Lake Washington! I think you might like Capitol Hill. Look up near 15th ave and John St. and north of there towards Volunteer Park. And really, you won't find a shortage of parks no matter where you choose, but I do love Capitol Hill. I recommend putting Beacon Hill, Central District and (i may get hell for this) Ballard lower on your list of potential places to live. The first two are fine, but they tend to be lower income and not as convenient. Ballard is a nice place to visit, but it tends to get rather boring for me.

I live on the cusp Capitol Hill which is kind of the central hub of Seattle. It's in a convenient location to get anywhere and is the hip hangout for lots of cool bars, shows, etc. I'm not really sure what your needs are or where you will be working but Georgetown is definitely the artist district nowadays. Lots of converted warehouses, art studios, etc. It's a short drive away from downtown. You might consider looking for apts in belletown or even queen anne. Those areas are more pricey but they are walking distance or short bus to downtown (plus a lot of that area is ride-free zone) and you can catch a bus just about anywhere else without the hills killing you too much. Sorry, I'm probably not too helpful but I'm not exactly sure of your needs. I'd be happy to answer any questions though.

Hopefully someone with more direct knowledge than I will comment, but I thought I'd throw my 2-cents in. I lived in the Seattle area for 11 years, and moved away about 4 years ago. My DH went back on business this year, and he says Seattle has changed for the worse. He said the homeless problem is much more evident, and they are much more evidently on drugs. So, my advice would be to avoid the downtown area. Actually I cannot recommend Seattle itself at all, personally- between the homeless problem, and the increasing dirtiness of the city (another thing my DH noticed when he was there). The extreme liberal viewpoint of the city is another matter, that is up to you. Myself, it is miles away from my opinions so I can't comment. The great thing about Seattle though is that it has (had?) a fantastic bus system. You can pick whatever surrounding community you want to be in, and you can pretty much guarantee that you will be able to get to Seattle by public transit quickly and easily. My favorite place to live in, in the Seattle area, was the town of Issaquah. It has a great commuter's route to Seattle (20 minutes or so, I think), and it is very family-friendly. At the time I left, it had a very personable, small-town feel. They have a good park, and a very nice walking/biking path. We lived in an apartment complex ("communities" they like to call them) called Emerald Hills Apts that was right next to the walking path. It is a broad, paved, shaded path that leads from downtown Issquah and goes out, I don't know how far, miles I think. It is beautiful. Issaquah also has Salmon Days (very fun), a salmon hatchery, a salmon-ladder where you can see the fish going back up to spawn, and it has a long boulevard that is lined with fruit trees, that is free for the public to pick. It has apples, plums, blueberries, and pears- I used to can the fruit into applesauce, etc. I LOVED Issaquah.