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Seattle and the surrounding areas are set up with a simple system for finding homes. It is based on a start point being in the center of downtown. As you work your way out from the center the street name tells you where you are relative to the center. Thus, you have homes with N,S,E,W and even SE,NW,etc. depending on where you are relative to the center/start point in downtown Seattle.
In addition if the letters are before the street number the street travels East-West, if it is after the street travels North-South.
The actual house number guides you as well. The last two numbers represent the house, but the first numbers represent the cross street. So 123 is adjacent to 1st, 43251 would be adjacent to 432nd.
And yes...this address system continues well beyond the Seattle City Limits. It covers King County, with some of the cities switching to their own system within their city limits.
1151 N 82nd St & 8211 Stone Ave N
N being before 82nd tells you the street runs E-W and is North of downtown, 82nd tells you that the home is 82 blocks from downtown.
1151 - 51 is the house identifier, and 11 tells you the home is 11 blocks to the east or west of the center point (N quadrant actually starts at 1 at the western edge counting into the low 20's as you head east...so the 11th block is 11 blocks east of the start point). When I look at an address I immediately know the neighborhood - in this case Greenlake...but that takes a while...and unless you deliver pizza, are a postal worker, or a Realtor it probably isn't a skill set you really need :-)
So 1151 N 82 is 82 blocks north of the city and 11 blocks to the east running on an E/W street. But what about this place on Stone???
Well now that throws a wrench in it...we didn't talk about street names. First cheat - if you are driving around you will notice that the named streets have a number above them on the sign...that number tells you where you are. Thus Stone will have a number above it of 1100. This tells you that you are 11 blocks from that start point. Second - you will only have this issue in select areas...most areas are small in width so it won't take too long to find the right street (since the cross street is numbered). Third - there is a cheat for remembering downtown street names, shown below. Just remember the rules - N is ahead of the name...so you know the street runs N/S, and it is in the N quadrant (only 20 or so blocks wide) and you know it is adjacent to 82nd...so you'll find it.
Seattle streets are in pairs. From South to North - Jefferson/James Cherry/Columbia Marion/Madison Spring/Seneca University/Union Pike/Pine
