........historically? East Oly evolved gradually. The house my Mom grew up in on Bigelow was built before statehood..and is still there. The downtown side of town followed similar patterns of development as Seattle and Tacoma- first families built on the hills above their business interests. My Dad and his Dad built a lot of homes along Boston Harbor (Burfoot Park was my Uncle George's family holdings til they sold it to the state in my teens. These people all worked for a living...just pack rats with.....land...). West side always struck me as the 'burbs; post-WW2 sprawl out to Mud Bay.
All this IMO's, my family scuffled a lot and were mainly involved in, let's say, prohibition-era Oly;)
East? Archaic and PoMo. West? Modernistic. TESC sits above and beyond to thinktank the whole durn mess...bless em.

hehe, I just chose South. :) Tumwater Hill!