Grand lakeside homes highlight an area with long, deep roots

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A string of beautiful homes radiates from Kline Galland along Lake Washington Boulevard South and Seward Park Avenue South. Among the grandest is the home of Lou and Diane Tice, who founded Pacific Institute. In July, the Tices hosted a salmon bake for 800 people from around the world. The entertainment included Samoan singers and American Indian dancing.

The institute teaches a doctrine of self empowerment. Over the years it has done worked in 42 countries, Diane Tice says.

The Tices moved to Seward Park 24 years ago and, like many in the neighborhood, feel it's a good place to raise kids. And it's convenient -- half way between Sea-Tac International Airport and downtown.

Among their neighbors is a Microsoft executive who values his privacy. The software executive and his wife recently bought a funky lakefront home and had the Seattle Fire Department burn it down as a training exercise. The couple then set about building a beautiful home of their dreams, complete with lap pool.

The neighborhood has many executives, lawyers, journalists, judges -- even a few politicians, including City Councilwoman Margaret Pageler, former state Rep. John O'Brien and former King County Councilwoman Ruby Chow, whose daughter, Cheryl, is finishing an eight-year stint on the City Council. Gov. Gary Locke lived in Seward Park and spent years remodeling his home before moving to Olympia.

Seward Park is far from a place for just the rich and powerful, however. For many years it was a home for Boeing engineers and blue-collar workers and their families who wanted to live in quiet seclusion.

Because of its proximity to Rainier Valley, and off-the-beaten-track location, home prices have always lagged behind the rest of Seattle 10 to 15 percent, real estate sales people say. Even today, there are still home bargains to be found.

"The typical seller is a widow in her 70s who moved here, raised a family and has lived here a very long time," says Al Johnson, a Windermere Real Estate assistant manager.

Swigard, a John L. Scott agent, recalls when he first sold real estate in the neighborhood. He quickly discovered that many residents had lived there for years and years, and had no intention of ever moving.

"I made a few random calls, asking people if they wanted to sell. This one woman said, 'Honey, I've been here 42 years, and I'm leaving here feet first.' "

Neva Karrick, a retired chemist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says she moved to Lakewood, an adjoining neighborhood between Seward Park and Mount Baker, 30 years ago.

"When I first moved out here, some women from work came out for dinner. One woman who had lived all her life in Seattle said, 'I didn't know there were places like this in the South End.'

"It's a fairly well kept secret, but the people who are here are quite happy."

Longtime resident Kay Godefroy is director of the crime prevention organization, Seattle Neighborhood Group. Godefroy says Seward Park has a low crime rate. "As far as random crime on the street, there just hasn't been any."

As Mike DeFranco, president of the Lakewood-Seward Park Community Club, puts it, Seward Park remains "the best kept secret in Seattle."