December 31, 2017. At The Foundry, an event space in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, hundreds of Indian Expats, celebrate and gyrate to Indian popular music at the Bollywood New Year's Eve bash produced by Wicked Karma, a local company that specializes in producing events around India holidays and culture. While accurate numbers are hard to come by there is no question that the South Asian population in the Seattle area has grown dramatically as Microsoft, Amazon and dozens of other tech companies have hired qualified workers from overseas. These highly educated newcomers bring not only their intellectual prowess to the city but have also added a whole new cultural scene as they put down roots in the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle’s Capitol Hill is one of Seattle’s oldest and most liberal neighborhoods, where the crosswalks are all painted in rainbow colors to celebrate the large gay population that calls the area home. The hill is full of eclectic murals befitting the free spirited people. Every June the hill is a vibrant celebration for Gay Pride Week, while in the fall many blocks shut down for the annual Block Party, music fair of growing popularity. The Century Ballroom puts on regular dance events, including their annual winter masquerade. Here, as in all of the city, high costs of housing have let to gentrification and as old buildings and houses are replaced by expensive new residences, some resentment among the more established locals surfaces.
