Magnolia, with its three bridges, is a peninsula that might as well be an island.

Situated less than 10 minutes from downtown, Magnolia is also a village and all that implies: its sense of place, of families and community, has remained intact in a changing city.

Magnolia is home to the biggest park in the city and startling views of Elliott Bay, Mount Rainier and the Olympic range to the west. It’s where fishermen moor their purse seines on Magnolia’s north side and where sailors and yachters cast off into Elliott Bay from its city-facing south shore. Magnolia Village, the neighborhood’s commercial hub, has a Brigadoon-like aspect, where kids play ball and can grab a scoop of ice cream a block away and where the Village shopkeepers know them, or at least their parents, by name.