Seattle neighborhoods - gentrified into 'sameness'?

[dls]

I'm just curious if I'm the only one who thinks that Seattle neighborhoods have more or less become the 'same'. Consider Ballard and Fremont - pretty much the same condos/apartments with (mostly the same) stores on the ground level. Is there anyone left in Ballard that knows the significance of 'ya sure, ya betcha'? Seems to me that most/many of the 'old' Seattle neighborhoods have been gentrified into sameness areas. West Seattle seems to be one of the few places that is Old Seattle. I'm not a Seattle native (moved here in 1984) but it seems to me that much of what made different neighborhoods unique is going away in the name of 'progress'. Maybe Watson was right.