Pioneer Square is Seattle's oldest neighborhood, showcasing a wealth of art galleries, bookstores, antique shops, cool restaurants, and buzzing nightclubs within easy walking or free bus distance of most downtown Seattle hotels. The cobblestone streets and horse-drawn carriages are a reminder of life a century ago. The classic red brick buildings give a warmth to the area not found in most sprawling US suburbias. Local lore holds that the term "skid row" originated in Pioneer Square -- when timber would be slid down Yesler Way to a steam powered mill on the Seattle waterfront. The area sits, from east to west, between 3rd Ave. and the waterfront; and between downtown proper to the north, and the sports stadiums to the south.
Just to its east, the International District is the name given to Seattle's Asian neighborhood. It is located southeast of downtown, loosely bounded by 4th Avenue S. and S. Dearborn Street. While the old Chinatown stops around the Interstate 5 freeway, the area to the east is called Little Saigon, centered on 12th and Jackson. From there, going south along Rainier Avenue, the stores transform from Vietnamese to Cambodian, beyond which it slowly merges into South Seattle.
