First things first, people tend to have different defintitions of what makes up a neighborhood, especially in Seattle. Most of our neighborhood borders are working on more of a general understanding that on a specific line in the sand. One person's Fremont is another person's Wallingford. And one person's Ballard is another person's Frelard or Loyal Heights. Personal preference and realtor buzzwords often help shape the notion of what qualifies as a neighborhood as much as anything.

So when we say that Westlake is Seattle's smallest neighborhood, we're using a general set of criteria to determine that. You might have an idea about a smaller one where you live, but, that's an article for another day.

So, we've established that Westlake, at .15 square miles, is the smallest of the Seattle neighborhoods. The thin strip of land running the west shores of Lake Union is home to roughly 1,700 people, which also makes it one of the denser neighborhoods.

If you decided you wanted to spend a day exploring everything you needed to about Westlake, you could probably wrap that up pretty quickly. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything to do. They actually pack a decent amount of interesting things into that tiny area. Let's explore...