Ballard, the last independent municipality inside Seattle to be annexed by the growing city, was settled by Scandinavian immigrants who established Seattle’s fishing and construction industries. Ballard long had the reputation as being unsophisticated and a bit rough around the edges. But now Ballard is perhaps the hippest part of burgeoning Seattle, with fishermens bars on c. 19th century Ballard Ave rapidly being replaced by hip shops and upscale restaurants and the local housing prices averaging $800K rising. Every Sunday purveyors of regional organic foods, artisans and busking singers and poets set up for the very popular Ballard Sunday Market, a destination for locals as the Pike Place Market has been overrun by tourists.
