Comment by lenocinor

I mention in the guide that you should do it during the day for best results, so in general I'm with you on that (and the guide backtracks after Macy's to avoid 3rd, on purpose). But I will say that I've been walking all around downtown / ID / Pioneer Square / Belltown for a number of years now, and I've never felt unsafe, though there are plenty of unpleasantries (yelling, drug use, people walking erratically, etc.) I even walked through 12th and Jackson today, and it's not great, but I didn't feel unsafe, either.