There is a moment in every neighborhood’s life when it decides what it wants to be called, and a name a mall picked is rarely the answer.

That moment came for Twin Creeks more than a decade ago, after a longtime resident said out loud what plenty of her neighbors were already thinking: she did not particularly want to live in a neighborhood named Everett Mall South. The complaint went to the neighborhood association. The association threw an ice cream social. People wrote suggestions on slips of paper. Twin Creeks won.

The name stuck because it was honest. The neighborhood does, in fact, have two creeks. They run under it.

The Two Creeks the Neighborhood Is Named For

If you stand in the Everett Mall parking lot today, you are standing on top of the headwaters of Silver Lake Creek. Forested wetlands once covered the western half of the lot. The creek itself is largely buried now — culverted under the asphalt, threading under I-5, and finally surfacing again at Thornton A. Sullivan Park, where it empties into Silver Lake. It is the same creek that gives the lake its inflow.

The other creek is North Creek. Its headwaters are just north of Everett Mall Way, and from there it begins one of the longer runs in the south Snohomish County watershed. North Creek flows through McCollum Park, past the Northwest Stream Center, down through Mill Creek Town Center, into Canyon Park, past the University of Washington Bothell campus, and eventually into the Sammamish River and on to Lake Washington.

Two creeks, both buried at the start, both meaningful to the wider region. A pretty good naming choice for a neighborhood that wanted to be more than a mall.

Where Twin Creeks Actually Is

The neighborhood is bordered by Everett Mall Way to the north, 112th Street SE to the south, Interstate 5 to the east, and Evergreen Way to the west. Its center of gravity is the mall itself, and its northwestern edge brushes up against the Casino Road neighborhood.

This is one of the south Everett neighborhoods where the city limits are uneven — the city has annexed much of the area over the years, but there are still residential pockets that sit in unincorporated Snohomish County. If your house is in Twin Creeks, it is worth checking which side of the city line it is on, because that determines which permitting office, which police agency, and sometimes which utility you deal with.

Population is around 11,455 — large enough that Twin Creeks is one of the bigger neighborhoods in Everett by headcount, even though it doesn’t always carry the cultural weight of the older historic neighborhoods to the north.

The Housing Mix

Twin Creeks is mostly single-family homes, but it has more apartment options than many Everett neighborhoods. That mix is part of what makes it a practical place for people who don’t fit cleanly into one housing category — young professionals priced out of Seattle, families who need a yard but also need to be close to I-5, downsizers who want one floor and a small lawn.

The housing stock is mostly post-1970, which means most of it doesn’t have the historic character of Northwest Everett or Port Gardner — but it also means the bones tend to be solid, the lots tend to be regular, and the systems (electrical, plumbing) are generally in better shape than older parts of the city. The neighborhood has steady turnover rather than dramatic price swings, which makes it a popular target for first-time buyers in the south Snohomish County market.

The Trail That Threads Through It

The Interurban Trail runs through Twin Creeks, the same trail that runs through Pinehurst-Beverly Park to the north and continues south toward Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, and eventually Seattle. For Twin Creeks specifically, the trail is the connector between the residential streets and the broader regional path network. You can pick it up near Everett Mall Way and ride or walk it for miles in either direction.

Locals use it for commuting, for exercise, for getting to the mall without dealing with traffic, and for the occasional long weekend ride to Lake Forest Park or Edmonds. The trail is paved, mostly flat, and one of the most consistently maintained in south Snohomish County.

The Mall, the Hub, and the Question of What Comes Next

Twin Creeks is home to Everett Mall, which has been in transition for years. The redevelopment of part of the mall site into the Hub @ Everett — a mixed retail and service district — has been a slow, complicated process. As of April 2026, the Hub is roughly half open and the Topgolf piece of the original plan is stuck in development limbo.

For Twin Creeks residents, the mall question is the existential question. The neighborhood was effectively built around the mall in the late 1960s and 1970s. If the mall keeps shrinking, the question of what replaces it — housing, mixed-use, more retail, parkland — is the question of what kind of neighborhood Twin Creeks becomes over the next twenty years.

That’s not unique to Everett. Mall-adjacent suburbs across the country are working through the same question. But it is unusually live in Twin Creeks because the mall sits squarely inside the neighborhood, not at its edge.

The Neighborhood Association

Twin Creeks shares a chairman with the adjacent Cascade View neighborhood — Michael Trujillo serves as chairman of both — and the two associations meet jointly each month as the Cascade View / Twin Creeks Monthly Meeting. The shared meeting is listed on the City of Everett events calendar, and the city’s neighborhoods staff at 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 10-A can connect residents with the most recent meeting time, location, and agenda.

The shared chairmanship is a small detail with a big implication: Twin Creeks and Cascade View are talking to each other, not past each other. Two neighborhoods that share a creek system, share a school feeder pattern, and share the same questions about south Everett’s future have decided that doing the work jointly makes more sense than doing it twice. That is not how every neighborhood in Everett operates.

What Long-Timers Say

Ask someone who has lived in Twin Creeks since the late 1980s what has changed and you will get a fairly consistent answer. The traffic on Evergreen Way has gotten worse. The mall has gotten quieter. The trail has gotten busier. The houses are still mostly the same houses, but the prices are not the same prices.

Ask someone who moved in five years ago and you will hear something different. They will tell you the neighborhood feels under-the-radar in a good way — not as expensive as the historic neighborhoods to the north, not as remote as Mill Creek to the south, close enough to Boeing that the commute to Paine Field is short, close enough to I-5 that the commute to Seattle is doable when traffic cooperates.

Both versions are true. Twin Creeks is a neighborhood in the middle of a slow change, with deep roots and a name that finally fits. Up the road in Silver Lake, residents are working through a parallel set of questions about growth, density, and what gets built around an aging anchor — Twin Creeks just happens to have the mall instead of the lake at the center.

What’s Next for Twin Creeks

The big variables for the next decade are the mall’s redevelopment, the future of the Hub @ Everett project, the city’s comprehensive plan, and how the future Sound Transit Link light rail extension lands in south Everett. None of those are decided yet. All of them will affect Twin Creeks more than most neighborhoods in the city, because the neighborhood literally surrounds the parcel where most of the change will happen.

Residents who want a voice in that change have a clear path: show up to the joint Cascade View / Twin Creeks meeting. Get on the city’s neighborhood notification list for Twin Creeks (the city maintains a Twin Creeks-specific alerts feed). Watch what the planning department does with the comprehensive plan as it lands in this part of the city.

The neighborhood that named itself after two buried creeks is still here, and so are the creeks. The question is what gets built on top of them next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Twin Creeks in Everett?

Twin Creeks is in south Everett, bordered by Everett Mall Way to the north, 112th Street SE to the south, I-5 to the east, and Evergreen Way to the west. It sits between Casino Road and Pinehurst-Beverly Park to the north and Silver Lake to the northeast.

Why is it called Twin Creeks?

The neighborhood is named after Silver Lake Creek and North Creek, the two waterways whose headwaters sit beneath and just north of the Everett Mall site. The name was chosen at a neighborhood ice cream social after a resident objected to the previous name, “Everett Mall South.”

How many people live in Twin Creeks?

The neighborhood has a population of approximately 11,455.

Where does Silver Lake Creek go after the mall?

Silver Lake Creek is largely buried as it passes the Everett Mall area. It runs under I-5 and surfaces again at Thornton A. Sullivan Park, where it empties into Silver Lake.

Where does North Creek flow?

North Creek flows south from its headwaters near Everett Mall Way through McCollum Park, the Northwest Stream Center, Mill Creek Town Center, Canyon Park, the UW Bothell campus, and eventually into the Sammamish River and Lake Washington.

Who chairs the Twin Creeks neighborhood association?

Michael Trujillo serves as chairman of both the Twin Creeks and Cascade View neighborhood associations. The two associations meet jointly each month.

When does the Twin Creeks neighborhood association meet?

Twin Creeks meets jointly with Cascade View as the Cascade View / Twin Creeks Monthly Meeting. The City of Everett events calendar lists the current schedule, and the city’s neighborhoods office at 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 10-A can confirm the most recent meeting details.

Is Twin Creeks fully inside the Everett city limits?

Most of Twin Creeks is in the city, but there are still residential pockets in unincorporated Snohomish County. Residents should confirm their address with the city’s permitting and planning department to know which jurisdiction applies.

If you have one afternoon in Everett and you want to see the city’s founding chapter, Port Gardner is the route. A 2026 day-trip guide to Everett’s second-oldest neighborhood — the Rucker Mansion, the Historic Everett walking tour, the Grand Avenue Park bluff, and the flat fifteen-minute walk down to Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett.

The One-Afternoon Itinerary

Port Gardner is one of those neighborhoods that rewards the visitor who comes in on foot and takes their time. The whole route is walkable in three to four hours; you can also do it in two if you skip the marina detour. A practical sequence:

1. Park near Grand Avenue Park at the north end of the neighborhood. Grand Avenue between Pacific and 23rd has the most parking and is the easiest entry point.
2. Pull up the Historic Everett walking tour at historiceverett.org/walkingtour/PortGardner.html on your phone. It is a self-guided route that hits the most significant homes.
3. Walk south toward Rucker Hill, taking in 1890s Queen Anne mansions, 1910s and 1920s Craftsman bungalows, and the maritime-influenced homes along the bluff.
4. Stop at the Rucker Mansion (13,000 square feet, 1905, Federal Revival, $40,000 to build). The exterior is visible from the public right-of-way; the home is privately owned and not open inside.
5. Optional detour: walk down to Waterfront Place. A flat fifteen-minute walk takes you from Rucker Hill to the Port of Everett marina, Boxcar Park, and the new Fisherman’s Harbor restaurants. Eat. Walk back up.

Why Visit Port Gardner Specifically

Most visitors to Everett come in for the waterfront, AquaSox baseball, or Boeing’s Future of Flight. All three are worth doing. None of them tells the founding story. Port Gardner does — it is the original 50-acre townsite the Rucker brothers platted in 1890 to start the Everett Land Company. Walking the streets the Ruckers laid out is the fastest way to understand why Everett looks the way it does.

The architectural density is the second reason. In one block of Port Gardner you can stand in front of a Queen Anne mansion built when Grover Cleveland was president, walk five doors down to a Craftsman bungalow built when Calvin Coolidge was, and end the block at a postwar cottage built during the wartime housing crunch. Few neighborhoods in the Pacific Northwest layer their architectural history that visibly.

The Bay View, in Plain Language

From Grand Avenue Park and the bluff that runs west of the avenue, you get one of the best public-access water views in Snohomish County. On a clear day you can see Whidbey Island across Possession Sound, the Olympics behind it, and — directly below — the Port of Everett’s working waterfront, where Boxcar Park, the marina, and the cargo terminals all sit. It is a fifteen-minute walk down the hill from the bluff to Waterfront Place if you want to put boots on the marina deck.

Where to Eat (And Where Not to Walk Hungry)

Port Gardner is residential. The places to eat are downtown to the north (a short walk uphill from the neighborhood’s north edge) or down the hill at Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett, where Bluewater Distilling, Lombardi’s Italian Restaurants, Salty’s at Waterfront Place, and Menchie’s are all within a one-minute walk of one another.

The visitor mistake to avoid: assuming there are restaurants inside Port Gardner itself. There aren’t. Plan to start hungry uphill or eat downhill at the marina.

What to Time Your Visit Around

Three things make a Port Gardner visit better:

• Daylight. The architectural detail is what you came for. Mid-day to late afternoon is best.
• Clear weather. The bluff bay views are the second reason to come, and clear days take in Whidbey Island and the Olympics.
• Saturday morning. The Historic Everett walking-tour route is most rewarding on a quiet weekend morning when you can take your time on each home without traffic on Rucker, Hoyt, and Grand.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the Port Gardner walking tour take?

The Historic Everett self-guided walking tour at historiceverett.org/walkingtour/PortGardner.html takes about an hour at a normal pace. Add another hour if you do the Waterfront Place detour. Add another hour if you stop for lunch.

Can I tour the inside of the Rucker Mansion?

No. The Rucker Mansion is privately owned. The exterior remains visible from the public right-of-way and is a regular stop on the Historic Everett walking tour.

Where do I park?

Grand Avenue and side streets between Pacific and 23rd offer the easiest parking and put you at the north end of the neighborhood for the walking tour.

Is the neighborhood family-friendly for a visit?

Yes. Sidewalks are good, traffic is light by Pacific Northwest standards, and Grand Avenue Park inside the neighborhood is a working public park with views over the bay. The walking tour pace works well for families with school-aged kids, especially if you frame it as a treasure-hunt for architectural details.

Combine with what?

The most natural pairings are Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett (down the hill, fifteen minutes on foot) or downtown Everett to the north for lunch and shopping.

Related Exploring Everett Coverage

• Visiting Everett’s Waterfront in Spring 2026: A One-Day Guide
• Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett: The Complete 2026 Guide
• Living in Northwest Everett: The Complete 2026 Neighborhood Guide

Quick answer: Port Gardner is Everett’s second-oldest neighborhood, platted in 1890 by Bethel J. and Wyatt Rucker as the original 50-acre townsite of the Everett Land Company. It stretches from Possession Sound and Port Gardner Bay east to the Snohomish River, and from a combination of Hewitt and Pacific avenues south to 41st Street. The neighborhood is anchored by Rucker Hill — a Rucker-era residential bluff listed on the National Register of Historic Places — and by some of the most architecturally significant homes in the Pacific Northwest, including the 1905, 13,000-square-foot Rucker Mansion. Today Port Gardner is one of Everett’s most settled, walkable, water-view neighborhoods, with the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place a fifteen-minute walk down the hill.

Where Port Gardner Begins and Ends

The Port Gardner Neighborhood Association draws the boundaries clearly:

• West: Port Gardner Bay and Possession Sound
• East: The Snohomish River
• North: A combination of Hewitt Avenue and Pacific Avenue
• South: 41st Street

That puts Port Gardner directly south of Northwest Everett and directly west of Bayside, with downtown Everett at its northern edge. The bay itself was named in 1794 by Captain George Vancouver for his patron and former commander, Alan Gardner. Vancouver originally meant the name to apply to the entire Saratoga Passage, but over time it narrowed to mean only the water in front of present-day Everett.

How a 50-Acre Plat Became a Neighborhood

The first European-American settler on what would become Port Gardner was Dennis Brigham, who left Whidbey Island in 1862, cleared land at the foot of California Avenue, built a small shack, and planted a few apple trees. He had the bay essentially to himself for decades.

That changed in 1889, when Bethel J. Rucker and his brother Wyatt arrived to scout the area for development. In 1890 the Ruckers filed the 50-acre Port Gardner townsite plat under the Everett Land Company name — the founding act of what would become the City of Everett. Port Gardner’s first homes went up on the streets the Ruckers laid out, and many of those original homes are still standing.

Rucker Hill, Where the City’s Founders Lived

The most distinctive feature of Port Gardner is Rucker Hill — a rise above the bay that the Rucker family kept for themselves and their peers. The Rucker Hill Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, occupies the knoll and contains some of the grandest residential architecture in the Pacific Northwest.

The Rucker Mansion at the top of the hill is the centerpiece. Built in 1905 at a reported cost of $40,000 — an enormous sum at the time — the 13,000-square-foot Federal Revival home contains five fireplaces, a library, a card room, a billiards room, a solarium, a ballroom, six bedrooms, and a separate carriage house. Mahogany and quarter-sawn oak woodwork run through the interior. The home is privately owned today, but the exterior remains visible from the public right-of-way and is a regular stop on Historic Everett’s walking tours.

The Architecture Walking Tour

Port Gardner is one of the few neighborhoods in Everett where you can walk a single block and see four or five distinct architectural periods. Historic Everett, the local preservation nonprofit, publishes a self-guided walking tour at historiceverett.org/walkingtour/PortGardner.html that maps the most significant homes. What you’ll see on the route:

• Queen Anne mansions from the 1890s boom — turrets, wraparound porches, and the kind of ornament that doesn’t get built anymore.
• Craftsman bungalows from the 1910s and 1920s — smaller in scale but with the same care for materials.
• Mid-century cottages infilled into earlier blocks during Everett’s wartime housing crunch.
• Maritime-influenced homes closer to the bluff, designed to capture the view of the bay and the working waterfront below.

Living in Port Gardner Today

Talk to people who have lived in Port Gardner for twenty or thirty years and a few themes come up over and over:

The bluff. Almost everyone north of Hewitt has some kind of water view, and on a clear day you can see Whidbey Island, the Olympics, and the working waterfront laid out below.

The walkability. Downtown Everett is a short walk to the north. Grand Avenue Park sits inside the neighborhood. The Port of Everett’s marina district — Boxcar Park, the new Fisherman’s Harbor restaurants at Waterfront Place, Jetty Landing — is a flat fifteen-minute walk down the hill.

The community. The Port Gardner Neighborhood Association is one of the more active associations in the city, and the neighborhood’s residential stability — many homes have stayed in the same family for generations — gives the place a settled, taken-care-of feeling.

How Port Gardner Compares to Its Neighbors

Port Gardner sits between two of the other historic centerpiece neighborhoods of Everett:

• To the north — Northwest Everett — anchored by Everett Community College, Grand Avenue Park, and the Grand Avenue bluff.
• To the east — Bayside — between Port Gardner and the river, with a different residential character.
• To the south — Boulevard Bluffs and View Ridge–Madison — newer family-oriented neighborhoods with newer schools and parks.

What separates Port Gardner from each of those is the original-townsite story. Northwest Everett is the city’s historic core. Port Gardner is its first chapter.

Getting Involved

The Port Gardner Neighborhood Association meets regularly and welcomes new residents. Meeting schedules are posted at the association’s website (portgardnereverett.com) and on the City of Everett’s neighborhood page at everettwa.gov/334. New residents who want to get oriented quickly can also walk the Historic Everett tour route on a Saturday morning — it is the fastest way to learn which house is which and why each one matters.

Why Port Gardner Matters Today

Port Gardner isn’t the flashiest neighborhood in Everett. It doesn’t have the new construction of the waterfront, the dining scene of downtown, or the schools-and-parks family appeal of Boulevard Bluffs or View Ridge. What it has is the original story. Every other Everett neighborhood — Northwest, Bayside, Casino Road, Boulevard Bluffs, View Ridge–Madison, Pinehurst-Beverly Park — exists because the Ruckers stood on this hillside in 1890 and decided where the streets should go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the boundaries of Port Gardner?

Possession Sound and Port Gardner Bay to the west, the Snohomish River to the east, a combination of Hewitt and Pacific avenues to the north, and 41st Street to the south.

When was Port Gardner platted?

1890, by Bethel J. and Wyatt Rucker, as the original 50-acre townsite of the Everett Land Company.

Where did the name come from?

Captain George Vancouver named the bay in 1794 for his patron and former commander, Alan Gardner. The name originally applied more broadly to the Saratoga Passage but narrowed over time to mean the water in front of present-day Everett.

What is Rucker Hill?

The bluff above the bay where the Rucker family and Everett’s founding-era peers built their homes. The Rucker Hill Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Rucker Mansion (1905, 13,000 square feet, Federal Revival) is the centerpiece.

Can I walk through Port Gardner?

Yes. Historic Everett publishes a self-guided walking tour at historiceverett.org/walkingtour/PortGardner.html that covers the most significant homes. The route is one of the best ways to see four or five architectural periods on a single block.

Is the Rucker Mansion open to the public?

No. The Rucker Mansion is privately owned. The exterior remains visible from the public right-of-way and is a regular stop on Historic Everett walking tours.

What’s nearby?

Downtown Everett is a short walk to the north. Grand Avenue Park sits inside the neighborhood. The Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place — Boxcar Park, Fisherman’s Harbor restaurants, Jetty Landing — is a flat fifteen-minute walk down the hill.

Related Exploring Everett Coverage

• Living in Northwest Everett: The Complete 2026 Neighborhood Guide
• Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett: The Complete 2026 Guide
• Casino Road in South Everett: The Complete Neighborhood Guide