What is The Belltown Bugle?
The Belltown Bugle is ~twice-a-month neighborhood newsletter, with a focus on hyper-local news impacting Belltown (or Downtown, Queen Anne, etc.), neighborhood events, restaurant recommendations, rants, and occasional deep dives into special topics.
Why?
In an era of increasing alienation and placelessness, The Belltown Bugle is meant to be a small force to reinforce neighborhood and community ties.
Origins of The Bugle
My friends and I had been discussing creating a neighborhood newspaper for a few months when I came across the New Yorker article ‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Newsletter’…and I loved the idea.
What these [neighborhood newsletter] projects have in common is a desire to fight back against two forces: the disintegration of local media and the impersonality of the algorithmic internet, which aims content at the widest possible audience. As Dornblaser put it, “You’re more likely to be served restaurant recommendations for Paris or real-time updates on a Senate primary than relevant information about what is happening in your own neighborhood.”
- Kyle Chayka in Your Friendly Neighborhood Newsletter, The New Yorker
What The Belltown Bugle is:
A ~twice-a-month neighborhood newsletter, with a focus on hyper-local news impacting Belltown (or Downtown, Queen Anne, etc.), neighborhood events, restaurant recommendations, rants, and occasional deep dives into special topics.
Human-written. No AI slop. Ever.
What this is not:
The Stranger or Seattle Times or Queen Anne & Magnolia News or the West Seattle Blog. This is its own thing!
An ‘official’ voice for Belltown residents/businesses. For that, please check out Belltown United (they have a newsletter!) and the Belltown Community Council.
Real journalism: I’m not a journalist. None of my friends who might pitch in are journalists. But the truth is important to me, so wherever relevant I’ll do my best to include sources.
The now-defunct Belltown Messenger (though we aim to fulfill a similar purpose!)
A for-profit venture. We’ve enabled donations to help cover any future costs (stickers ain’t cheap!) and to encourage deeper dives, but we do not intend to run ads or need paywalls for the primary newsletter.
About the editor:
Hello! My name is Ethan. I’m in my mid-20s and moved to Seattle (Belltown!) after college with my boyfriend, Matthew. You may have seen me walking around the neighborhood, or from more popular exploits such as when I walked from Pike Place to SeaTac.
Ask me anything by emailing Ethan@BelltownBugle.com and I will respond in a future issue or directly. I read everything!
