Eastside (King County, Washington)
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The Eastside is the collective term for the eastern suburbs of Seattle, Washington. The major communities are Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, Issaquah, and Mercer Island. Others include Beaux Arts Village, Bothell, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Kenmore, Medina, Newcastle, Sammamish, Woodinville, and Yarrow Point. The name derives from the fact that these communities all lie to the east of Lake Washington, except for Mercer Island, which, as its name suggests, is within the lake.
The Eastside is connected to Seattle by the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge from Medina (Washington State Route 520) and the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Third Lake Washington Bridge from Mercer Island (Interstate 90). It is also served by Interstate 405, a loop route of Interstate 5 that runs to the east of Lake Washington from Tukwila to Lynnwood.
A major American technology center, the Eastside is home to many large high-tech companies, mainly in the software and wireless industries, including Microsoft, T-Mobile USA, Nintendo of America, the former AT&T Wireless (now part of Cingular), the former Western Wireless (now part of Alltel), Vulcan Ventures, Expedia.com, and InfoSpace. Companies like Boeing, Verizon Wireless, Google, Walt Disney, and FOX Sports also have major divisional or regional offices in the Eastside. The Eastside is also a hub for biotech and medical companies including Amgen, Icos, and Merck. Many local magnates, including Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, John Staton, and Craig McCaw, live in the Eastside's more exclusive suburbs.
The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team is based in the Eastside city of Renton, and the Seattle Seahawks NFL team will move there from Kirkland in the summer of 2008.[1] Kirkland also hosts the annual Junior League Softball World Series.
