EASTSIDE (KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON)

The 'Eastside' is the collective term for the eastern suburbs of Seattle, Washington. The name derives from the fact that these communities lie on the east side of Seattle.
The major communities are Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island, Sammamish, and Issaquah. Originally dairy and berry farms, then bedroom communities, the area is growing several edge cities. Bellevue is the largest city on the Eastside and 5th largest in the state. Smaller communities include Beaux Arts Village, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Medina, Newcastle, Woodinville, and Yarrow Point.
A major 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, AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular), the former Western Wireless (now part of Alltel), Vulcan Ventures, Expedia.com, 180 Solutions 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 Stanton, and Craig McCaw, live in the Eastside's more exclusive cities.
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 Bellevue via 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.
The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team is based in the south King County city of Renton, and the headquarters of 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.

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1. Seahawks Announce Plans for New Team Headquarters (Press release)