Zoe Sayler
As seen in:
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Articles by Zoe Sayler
Property Watch: A Faithfully Converted Church Turned Townhouse
Seattle is more secular than ever. While 44 percent of Seattleites identify as Christian, an equal portion claims no religious affiliation, per a recent study from Pew Research Center. (Portland’s the only city that can compete.) Only about 17 percent of Seattle residents report attending church weekly, compared with 25 percent in 2014. Which raises a question: Without a churchgoing population, what happens to all the churches?
How to Dress for Seattle’s Unpredictable Spring
Image: Carlton Canary and Michelle Lateste No one accuses Seattleites of being overdressed unless we’re wrapped in Gore-Tex on a clear blue day or, god forbid, carrying an umbrella through a drizzle. But we can blame most of our fashion faux pas on our region’s befogging weather. When even the sunniest spring forecast could devolve into a deluge, clinging to techwear like a kid with a blanket makes perfect sense. So does donning jean shorts and Birkenstocks the moment temperatures clear 60 degrees.
Property Watch: A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Duplex
In an era when five-year plans feel like a pipe dream, the “forever home” concept has taken a hit. And Washington appears especially flighty: The state has one of the largest constituencies of short-tenured homeowners, with 31 percent having lived in their current home for five years or less. Whether that’s the result of Seattle’s super-hot market or its rain-soaked existential dread, this home’s flexible approach to stability has timeless appeal.
Property Watch: A Historical Central District Shop, Reimagined
Before Seattle became associated with grocery powerhouses like Uwajimaya, PCC, and Whole Foods, little local markets shaped the city’s culinary and cultural landscape. Typically accessed by foot or trolley, mom-and-pop neighborhood shops served as crucial hubs in their respective microcommunities. According to some estimates, Seattle once boasted one grocer per every 315 residents—a ratio that would add up to around 2,500 grocery stores today.
Property Watch: The Midcentury Modern Floating Home Seattle Dreams Are Made Of
Mansion, apartment, shack...midcentury modern floating home? It sounds like the residence of choice for a precocious tween playing MASH in the Pacific Northwest. And this home is about as close as it gets to that aspirational version of quintessential Seattle living. The home’s architect, University of Washington College of Architecture grad Gerald Van Slyck, “found great pleasure in nature” and lived by a “philosophy of simple living and functional design,” according to his 2010 obituary.
Property Watch: “Big Mouth House” Speaks Volumes About Modern Design
We’re used to talking about the facade of a building: the dormers, doors, and other architectural features that form its distinctive first impression. This modern triplex leads with its huge front window, which a friend of the designers compared to the big, square mouth of Japanese cartoon character Domo—even before the metal cladding got its custom pink powder coat. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it: Big Mouth House has more than a facade. Big Mouth House has a face.
Unearthing Vintage Magic at the West Seattle Garage Sale, a Photo Essay
During West Seattle’s massive annual garage sale—a single-day spectacular in early May, when more than 500 yards, front paths, and driveways open for business en masse—the neighborhood looks oddly vulnerable. Like all its homes have spilled their guts onto their front yards. Or like they’re wearing their hearts on their sleeves. West Seattle isn’t the only neighborhood with this kind of ad hoc vintage market.
Property Watch: Authentic Modern Home from the Canlis Architect
Compared to Seattle’s other famous buildings, Canlis looks more like a midcentury modern house than a business. But that’s exactly what made it revolutionary: Rather than replicate the “ornate hotel dining rooms” typical of the era, Canlis’s founder hired Roland Terry, a rising star in residential architecture at the time, to design his fine dining establishment.
How Microsoft Engineered Tech’s Anti-Fashion Workforce
It’s 1996, and Bill Gates, dressed in his signature look—wire-frame glasses and a crewneck sweater over an open-collared shirt—sits across the desk from a suit-and-tie-wearing Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. Leno’s pointed jokes about casual dress code prompt groans of sympathy for the rumpled billionaire. “In the computer world, they were saying you sort of set a fashion trend,” Leno says. “The trend must be not to pay much attention,” Gates replies.
Property Watch: Capitol Hill’s Bullitt Mansion Broadcasts Seattle History
Dorothy Stimson Bullitt can be credited with carrying Seattle into the Golden Age of Television. In the late 1940s, at a time when few entrepreneurs had caught on to the power of the small screen and far fewer were women, Bullitt acquired Seattle’s first television station (around the same time that she moved into this Capitol Hill residence). KING Broadcasting Company was born.
Property Watch: Washington Football Star Lists Woodinville Mansion
Beloved Husky athlete (and onetime Seahawk) Lawyer Milloy built this Woodinville estate for his family to live in during the NFL offseason. But if these $7.8 million walls could talk, they’d sing "Bow Down to Washington"; despite racking up four Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl title over his 15-year pro football career, the Tacoma-raised safety describes himself first by his unanimous All-American honors from his time at the University of Washington.
Property Watch: Camano Island’s Midcentury Party House
Looking for a tranquil, solitary Puget Sound getaway? This Camano Island home isn't it. Sure, the 80 feet of sandy beachfront on placid Port Susan might sound ideal for solitude, but this entertainer’s paradise was made for sharing. Unlike the walled-off styles that came before, midcentury architecture tends to feature open floor plans, seemingly purpose-built to accommodate roomfuls of punch-sipping partygoers.
Property Watch: Seattle's First Brick Firehouse Reborn as a First Hill Condo
Seattle’s story can be told as a series of firsts. Developments that were groundbreaking then but, because of our city’s rapid-fire rate of change, feel quotidian decades later. The year 1904 brought Seattle's first steel-framed skyscraper; 1971, its first Starbucks. And, in 1909, Seattle debuted its first all-brick firehouse, home to its very first motor-driven fire engines, per Historic Seattle.
Property Watch: A Craftsman Embraces Color in North Capitol Hill
Situated on a rare cobblestone section of 11th Avenue East, amid some of North Capitol Hill’s best-maintained historic residences, this charming 1914 Craftsman looks right at home. It just adheres to its roots a bit more boldly than most. We’re relatively accustomed to seeing colorful makeovers among Seattle’s midcentury housing stock, but less so for the city’s abundant Craftsman-style homes.
The Best Wine+Gift Combos
Upgrade that host-gift wine bottle with a little something extra—but let the oenophiles duke it out over what, exactly, constitutes a Syrah-friendly stinky cheese. These local wine-and-gift pairings forgo the on-the-nose complement in favor of full-bodied connection. French mother-daughter duo Muriel Vadin and Aurélie Robinet honor their family’s 300-year-old estate with clean Champagne, imported by the Seattle “celebration fanatics” at Fatcork.
Property Watch: New-Build Queen Anne Townhouse with Timeless Touches
When it comes to new housing, Seattle is not beating the function-over-form allegations. Here, as in many other major US cities faced with a housing crisis, the admirable goal of creating more places to live has led to some ironically lifeless buildings. Some of the blame lies with the city’s stifling design review process, and some with developers’ more-or-less inevitable desire to scale up while keeping construction costs down.
Seattle's Best New Restaurants
Seattle's best new restaurants, including our restaurant of the year. Plus: Kenny G's new memoir, a guide to the Eastside, exploring Hood Canal, and what to expect from La Niña. ICYMI Sue Bird’s Barbie doll, a little cutie far from home, and the latest on the city’s OG skyscraper. 11/18/2024 By Seattle Met Staff Glitter Kingdoms Bouncing between the extremes of labor and luxury. 11/07/2024 By Noé Álvarez Not Available Online What makes stores special can’t be expressed in html.
The Best Seattle Gift Shops for In-Person Shopping
Let’s address the white elephant in the room: When it comes to holiday gifting, the internet has it all. But if Pike Place seafood could be ordered only from a website, we’d never see a salmon fly. And if we only ever bought presents online—even if we shopped all our favorite entrepreneurs’ e-commerce storefronts—we’d miss opportunities to see local businesses at their best.
Property Watch: A Waterfront Camano Island Home with Vintage Style
The Seattle-area waterfront homes we typically feature tend toward the spectacular—think soaring walls of windows and heated, wrap-around porches on every story, each purpose-built to catch the sun setting behind the Olympics. As if sipping coffee while a sailboat glides by wasn't glamorous enough on its own. This quaint Camano Island home might not feel quite so opulent as some of its beachfront neighbors.
Property Watch: Midcentury Style from the Dick’s Architect
Dick’s Drive-In inspires insane amounts of loyalty from Seattleites—in part because it transports us to an era when a meal could be purchased for pocket change, fast-food employees wore fun paper hats, and hamburger stands opened up shop on the cutting edge of architecture. It's so Seattle, we ranked every single Dick's to find the best one. Believe it or not, this has something to do with real estate. Seattle architect Raymond H.
Property Watch: This Bungalow Court Cottage Is the Stuff of Housing Fairy Tales
Tucked away on an ordinary residential street in Cherry Hill, a cluster of 10 matching cottages strung together with twinkle lights offers a surprisingly quaint reprieve from the bustle of the city. Juxtaposed with gleaming skyscrapers visible from the shared patio, Bungalow Court feels like the uncannily idyllic town in Tim Burton’s Big Fish: verging on twee, and a little too good to be true. Granted, that’s probably the modern Seattle real estate market talking.
AAPI-Owned Seattle Shops | 2023
Asian and Pacific Islander Seattleites have left an indelible mark on our city, from notable historic activists like Bob Santos to Wing Luke, the first non-white member of the Seattle City Council, to folks shaping the city today—many in the form of community-centric local businesses that prioritize sustainability, artistry, and, of course, Seattle.
LGBTQ-Owned Businesses in Seattle | 2023
Rainbow capitalism (n.) 1. Pandering to the LGBTQ community, often with rainbow merchandise and LinkedIn avatars—and typically exclusively during Pride Month—in order to make a profit or advance a business interest. 2. Not these local businesses. Looking for a way to directly support Seattle’s queer community (and maybe even get some rainbow cupcakes out of the deal)? We’ve compiled a list of some LGBTQ-owned businesses in town that stay gay even when July 1 rolls around.
Property Watch: Train Singer Pat Monahan’s Quietly Grand Issaquah Home
Given Seattle’s ultra-casual reputation, it seems fitting that our area counts so many unassuming celebrities among its ranks—from Dave Matthews to Ben Gibbard, many of our local claims to fame could easily be mistaken for just another Pacific Northwesterner in a band tee and a flannel. Pat Monahan, the lead singer of Train, flies even further under the radar: “My manager thinks that my true genius is that my music’s famous but I’m not,” the "Drops of Jupiter" singer told 425 Magazine.
Property Watch: Penthouse Life Is the Ultimate Seattle Staycation
At the risk of stating the obvious: Seattle looks pretty sweet from the 39th floor. Eye-to-eye with cranes and skyscrapers, with the waters of Puget Sound and the snowcapped peaks of the Olympic Mountains sparkling in the distance, this downtown penthouse shows the city from all its best angles. It’s the way you’d like to reveal it to a first-time visitor, if you intended to make them fall in love with the place.
Property Watch: Mt. Tabor Midcentury Parties Like It’s 1962
This is the kind of home you can’t wait to show off to friends. Situated on a quiet street in the Mount Tabor neighborhood and replete with stunning midcentury features, it seems purpose-built for entertaining guests. So much so that they soon won’t require an invitation. “Our house has been the de facto gathering spot for our friends for almost a decade now,” says current owner Aaron Belchere.
Property Watch: A Mailbox-Shaped House in Southwest Portland
Tucked into the woods at the northernmost point of the Hillsdale neighborhood—but just visible enough to elicit double takes from passersby on SW Dosch Rd—this curved metal home invites a host of comparisons. The Oregonian lists it among the state’s moon-shaped dwellings, and also likens it to a planetarium. The view from any one of its elevated decks calls a treehouse to mind. One Redditor who grew up nearby knows it, with the blunt precision of childhood, as the Mailbox House.
Property Watch: Capitol Hill Home Takes an Industrious Approach to Luxury
From the outside, this home near Volunteer Park appears relatively unassuming—as unassuming as an oversize two-car garage on the northern edge of Capitol Hill can be. Clad in dark wood, corrugated metal, and concrete, in a neighborhood where ornate vintage homes and angular new builds take center stage, its understatement gives it a quiet sense of curb appeal. The interior of the home retains the outside’s sleek lines and modern, minimalist influences.
Property Watch: Midcentury Modern Maple Leaf Home Stays True to Its Story
For interior designers with an eye toward historic preservation, the goal of doing right by a classic midcentury home while ushering it into the modern era is a careful balancing act. When the previous owner of the home is as beloved as Dr. Sam Sebesta, a retired University of Washington education professor and children’s book author who lived and entertained there until his passing at the age of 93, that goal feels like a mandate.
Seattleites Share Their Favorite Local Swag
The Sloop Tavern celebrated its 69th birthday on a hot, dry day in the hot, dry summer of 2022. I have the T-shirt to prove it. The soft, blue tee features a map of the tiny section of Ballard where the Sloop has spent decades slinging beers, and where I tooled around for a couple of pandemic years. It’s multiple sizes too big, and it says “69” on it. Like a photograph, its existence throws my memories of that time and place into vivid relief.
Property Watch: A Top Floor Condo Lives Inside a Historic Elementary School
Ever have a nightmare that you're back in school? Now imagine it's a good dream—because you're living in a beautifully updated condo, one that kept all the pretty parts of a historic elementary and ditched the lunchroom food and homework. Residents’ fight to keep the West Queen Anne Elementary School open amid economic downturn and urban flight landed the neighborhood fixture on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975—the first Seattle school to earn the honor.
Property Watch: A Penthouse Shows Seattle through the Looking Glass
Water looms large from this glass-encased downtown penthouse—and not just because of its expansive views, which span from the Seattle Art Museum to Puget Sound. Fish-adorned wallpaper swims across the walls of the centerpiece dining room, an audacious statement that lends the home an aquarium-like quality and an immediately legible sense of style. “It’s the least generic condo you’re ever going to find,” says Heritage Residential real estate agent Lance Neely.
Property Watch: Medina’s First Mansion Invented Eastside Luxury
The Bellevue-adjacent burg of Medina has long taken on a sort of mythological quality—not least because of its watchful security, which keeps famous residences like Bill Gates’s 24-bathroom behemoth squarely in the realm of legend. The enclave of massive homes wasn't born for Seattle’s tech titans.
Property Watch: A Shoreline "Treehouse" with Soaring Home Tech
It's enough to strike fear into the hearts of local architecture buffs: a massive, years-long renovation of an exemplary Northwest Modern home—by a tech millionaire, no less. But unlike Ye gutting his beachside Ando, this Shoreline revamp adeptly balances the original intent behind the design with its current owner’s desire to turn the space into something new.
Property Watch: A Tiny Waterfront Cabin with a Bananas View
The Pacific Northwest cabin brings a certain aesthetic to mind: maybe made of logs that hail straight from the surrounding forest, fire-lit interiors built to keep the damp gray at bay. Flannel cushions. But this Maury Island cabin flouts just about every convention of the genre, with bright, vintage interiors and nary an evergreen tree in sight. And its views of Puget Sound blow the competition out of the water.
This Oregon Researcher Wants Us to Talk about Periods
Researchers hadn’t even used human blood to test ubiquitous menstrual products until 2023. That’s when Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow and a team at Oregon Health & Science University used expired blood products to test the absorbency of tampons, pads, period underwear, and the increasingly popular menstrual cup and disc. They saw the study as a building block for future research.
Beach Bag Essentials for a Seattle Summer
IfFamily Feudasked contestants to guess the words most popularly associated with a Seattle day at the beach, “glamorous” would earn a buzzer—and probably some scoffs from the audience, too. What might win the game? Try “chilly.” Or “active.” Maybe “sunburned.” A good many Western Washingtonians have Victorian-era contact with exposed legs and at least one acquaintance who swims in 50-degree weather for fun—so, naturally, we don’t luxuriate at the beach quite like people from sunnier climes.
Property Watch: A Charming Bainbridge Island Estate Defines Northwest Fusion
What does the rest of the world picture when they think of Seattle architecture? Outside the Space Needle—or, maybe, the Tacoma house from 10 Things I Hate About You—architect Bernie Baker's work on early Starbucks prototypes and Eddie Bauer locations around the country helped build the way the nation sees the Pacific Northwest. Baker's Bainbridge Island estate—an early-’80s revamp of a charming Victorian cottage—hits closer to home.
Property Watch: This Olson Kundig Condo Is a Blank Canvas for Art Lovers
Ever wonder how luxury condos get their names? The Art Stable in South Lake Union has a surprisingly straightforward etymology: the five-unit building features niche amenities designed with artists and art collectors in mind, including large, hand-cranked doors meant to allow massive works to easily enter each home. And it sits on the site of a former horse stable.
Is a Cell Phone Policy Coming to Portland Classrooms?
Should Portland students have access to their cell phones in the classroom? A policy answer to the contentious question is far from imminent—but a recent Portland Public Schools Board of Education meeting suggests that the city may soon get its first district-wide mandate on what role personal devices should play in local schools. Far from the note passing of yore, cell phone use has become a serious issue in classrooms nationwide.
When Did Oregon Summers Get So Smoky?
Longtimers lament all sorts of change—but when it comes to wildfire season, there’s empirical backing for bemoaning that things just aren’t like they used to be. According to a new report by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the number of days with unhealthy, smoky air started to skyrocket around 2012. And the trend shows no signs of slowing. Even the Portland metro area, which has historically dodged this kind of air pollution, moved into the line of fire.
Property Watch: A Rare Slice of Capitol Hill History Hits the Market
The shape is unmistakable: the triangular silhouette of the Egan House sits just below a lit-up Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill, amid the church’s eponymous greenbelt. Today, we call the 1958 home sculptural. When reporters first caught wind of it, according to preservation nonprofit Historic Seattle, they compared it to a “giant wedge of cheese.” Robert Reichert, the architect behind retired Rear-Admiral Willard Egan’s home, was no stranger to ruffling feathers.
Dear In-N-Out: Stop Jerking Us Around
The Portland area got a double-double of In-N-Out news in April, when the iconic California burger joint made moves on potential locations in both Beaverton, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. But instead of rejoicing over future fries (or even bemoaning future traffic), some locals dismissed the development: fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, we’re going to Burgerville. It’s not the first time the area has come close to getting an In-N-Out of its own.
Oregon Is Nowhere Near Done with #VanLife
Hit the road for a camping weekend and you might find yourself sharing it with an unusual number of groovy Volkswagen Westfalias and decked out Mercedes Sprinters: Oregonians are 70 percent more likely than the average American camper to call #VanLife their primary form of camping, according to new data on 2024 camping trends from the Dyrt. Called “the Yelp for campgrounds,” the popular Portland-based app connects users with reviews and photos of campgrounds nationwide.
Apparently Oregon Is One of the Best States for Woman-Owned Businesses
Oregon’s women-owned businesses are killing it. Lest that remotely feminist-sounding assertion attract naysayers, a study by finance site Lendio just named Oregon the fourth best state for woman small business owners—and they have the numbers to prove it. According to Census Bureau data, women owned 39 percent of Oregon’s employer businesses in 2021, from Portland’s oldest topless bar, owned by Vicki Keller, to its first vegan doughnut shop, owned by Carly Sitner and Crystal Wegener.
Property Watch: A Midcentury Capitol Hill Home from the Designer of the Space Needle
In 1960, architect and renowned historic preservationist Victor Steinbrueck drew up the first plans for a massive Space Needle piercing Seattle’s skyline—the futuristic centerpiece of the 1964 World’s Fair and, eventually, an immediately recognizable symbol of the city itself. Exactly one decade earlier, the then 39-year-old built this one-bedroom on Capitol Hill.
Does an Entirely New Orca Population Live off the Oregon Coast?
Whale watchers consider spotting a killer whale off the Oregon coast something of a rarity. But how’s this for an impressive sighting: scientists at the University of British Columbia may have identified a previously unknown subset of orcas active in the open ocean beyond Oregon’s coastline, according to a study recently published in the scientific journal Aquatic Mammals.
Property Watch: A Woodsy Cottage Blocks from the Beach
This petite cottage, once inhabited by the caretaker on a Magnolia estate, was plucked from its original location and dropped onto 32nd Avenue West in 1949. It has since appreciated astronomically in value. At 420 square feet and $712,400, it blows Seattle’s median price per square foot out of the water (though would-be condo residents should consider potential HOA savings). Its charm quotient? Off the charts. The 0.15-acre lot looks like something out of a Pacific Northwest fairy tale.
Portland Cold Case Unit Reopens After 2-Year Hiatus
After a two-year hiatus, Portland Police Bureau’s Cold Case Unit returns to action, with a $2.5 million grant and a whole new world of forensic technology at its disposal. The grant, funded through the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, will support a team of detectives and victim advocates as they look into around 300 still-unsolved homicides dating back to the 1960s, including the 2001 murder of Lewis Elementary School sixth grader Joshua Jeffries.
Property Watch: This Queen Anne Mansion Had the City's Best Views—Before They Existed
Stop a man downtown Seattle in 1897, and you could likely place him in one of two categories: off to seek his fortune in the Yukon, or finding it right here in town. Perry Polson landed in the latter camp. In 1896, the farmer-turned-businessman moved his family and his farm equipment company from La Conner to Seattle—then a boomtown of about 50,000. A year later, nearly the same number of prospectors flooded the city in need of the very picks and shovels he carried in spades. Polson had struck gold.
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