Shoreline parks in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood

Located on the eastern shore of Lake Union, Eastlake was Seattle’s first neighborhood (beginning in 1970) to improve its shoreline street-ends with landscaping, paths, beaches, and other features. Through donations of labor, cash and materials, and with some City funds, Eastlake now has six neighborhood-initiated street-end parks. None are technically part of the City parks system, but three (at Newton, Lynn, and Roanoke streets) are, by City Council resolution, managed by the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation (which has remodeled the Lynn and Roanoke street-end parks).

Eastlake’s three other street-end parks (at Louisa, Hamlin, and Martin streets) are maintained by community volunteers, although the Department of Parks and Recreation empties the trash cans. Eastlake has two other street-ends (at Shelby Street and at the north end of Fairview Avenue East) that are part of larger City parks that were government projects and are maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Fairview Avenue East right-of way includes much of the shoreline between these street-ends, some of which has also been improved with paths, plantings, and beach restoration by the community (such as just south of E. Blaine Street, a project expanded by the Seattle Department of Transportation through the Neighborhood Street Fund) or by abutting developers (such as the Wards Cove project just north of E. Hamlin Street).

Good Turn Park (at the Martin street end) in its first phase (about one-third of the street-end’s area) was built in 1991 at the expense ($50,000) of the abutting landowners (the late Homer Bergren and the late Jim Nordstrom) and named by them. The Seattle Department of Transportation had approved their plans to pave the other two-thirds of the site, but in response to a fundraising campaign by the community, at Bergren’s request the City repurposed the paving money toward expanding the park.

Good Turn Park’s second phase was completed in 1998 jointly by the (Eastlake-based) Olmsted-Fairview Park Commission with assistance from the Eastlake Community Council. The design of both phases (paid for the first phase, and donated for the second phase) was by landscape architect Tom Zachary. Donations of cash, materials, and labor valued at more than $100,000 were received from 74 individuals and 22 businesses (including six nurseries, four materials suppliers, and ten construction, engineering, or design firms) and an additional $14,832.33 in City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Funds.

Chris Leman, author of this section of the EastlakeInfo.net, offers deepest thanks to each person or business who contributed cash, materials, or labor to enable the Good Turn Park expansion. The names of these individuals or businesses are included in (click here) page 2 of the program for the Sept. 26, 2000 dedication of the expanded Good Turn Park. For page one of the program, click here.