The suburbs east of Lake Washington are home to Microsoft, Nintendo and other high-tech companies. They've become a commercial, retail and residential powerhouse. The area is known for its affluence, but there is growing economic and ethnic diversity in some Eastside neighborhoods.

• Bellevue
• Bothell
• Carnation
• Clyde Hill/Medina/Medina/Yarrow Point/Hunts Point
• Duvall
• Issaquah
• Kirkland/Juanita
• Mercer Island
• Newcastle
• North Bend
• Redmond
• Sammamish
• Snoqualmie
• Woodinville

Bellevue: Eastside powerhouse

Strawberries, blueberries and a host of other truck-farm products gave Bellevue its start early in the 20th century. The completion of a floating bridge -- and its east-west highway -- opened the floodgates to a suburban way of life that flowered through the next 40 years. Today Bellevue is a commercial, retail and residential powerhouse and home to one of the West's premier shopping centers, Bellevue Square.

A steamboat stop grows up

Bothell was a popular steamboat stop along the Sammamish River when it became a town in 1908. Nearby forests were harvested, and the fertile valley yielded milk, butter, eggs, potatoes, hay, corn and other crops. Tech industries and growth in the past 30 years have transformed the valley from fields of crops and clover to office parks and a cloverleaf – the elevated intersection of Interstate 405 and state Route 522.

Carnation's name is linked to the Carnation Milk Co., which put an experimental dairy farm there in the early 1900s. But settling on a name for the town wasn't easy. In 1912, the community incorporated as Tolt, but changed that to Grand Rapids two years later, then back to Tolt months later, then Carnation, then back to Tolt and on and on ... until Carnation finally stuck -- in 1951.

The Eastside's 'Gold Coast'

Located on Lake Washington's shoreline west of Bellevue, these "gold coast" communities have long contained some of the region's most powerful movers and shakers. The area is made up of Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point, Hunts Point and Medina. Farther south is Beaux Arts Village.

Feeling the march of growth

This former farming community east of Lake Washington strikes a balance between yesterday and today. Historic Main Street is preserved, but growth has brought suburban cul-de-sacs and traffic.

Incorporated more than 100 years ago as Gilman, this city along Interstate 90 has seen a population and business boom. It spans parts of Cougar Mountain, much of Squak Mountain and the side of the Sammamish Plateau known as Grand Ridge and now called Issaquah Highlands.

Redefined as an upscale town

Founded in the 1880s by Peter Kirk with an eye toward an industrial future, this city has earned a reputation as a clean residential area with art galleries, lakeside views, good sailing opportunities and youth sports. But if Kirk had his way, steel would have been king and Kirkland would have been a "Pittsburgh of the West."

A bridge away and a world apart

Residents of this island community in Lake Washington consider themselves neither of Seattle nor of the Eastside. Known by American Indians as a foggy place, and named for Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer, the island entered the modern era July 2, 1940, when a bridge of concrete pontoons -- the first of its kind -- was floated across Lake Washington. The bridge turned the island from a farming community with a smattering of summer homes into a Seattle suburb with million-dollar houses.

Among first 'company towns'

Newcastle was a coal-mining center that became one of the region's first company towns in the late 1800s. Incorporated in 1994, with just 4.5 square miles, it's now home to pricey houses and $150 rounds of golf. Newcastle is located between Bellevue and Renton, and sandwiched between Lake Washington to the west and Cougar Mountain to the east.

Growing affluence, hopes

In the foothills of the Cascade mountains, North Bend has evolved from a timber town into a bedroom community with growing affluence and expectations. Located in the shadow of Mount Si about 25 miles east of Seattle, North Bend was first platted in 1989 as Snoqualmie, the name of what's now a nearby city. But the name didn't stick, and the town eventually incorporated in 1909 as North Bend.

'Salmonberg' goes high-tech

When the first Europeans encountered the Sammamish River Valley in 1871, they found so many salmon that they called the place Salmonberg. Twelve years later it was named officially for its postmaster at the time, Luke McRedmond, and today it's home to Microsoft, Nintendo and a host of other well-known companies.

City facing urban sprawl

Sammamish, which hasn't been a city long, has been fighting to ensure that its natural beauty isn't overun by million-dollar houses and traffic. Located about 10 miles east of Seattle, Sammamish occupies 21 square miles mostly on the Sammamish Plateau. It's home to one of the region's premier golf clubs, Sahalee Country Club, site of the 1998 PGA Championships and the World Golf Championships - NEC Invitational in August 2002.

Snoqualmie, in the Cascade foothills, is known locally for its natural beauty, including the 270-foot Snoqualmie Falls. It also retains some lingering notoriety as the setting for a popular TV show (David Lynch's "Twin Peaks") filmed there in the late 1980s.

Country charm, suburban living

This city of primarly single-family homes still evokes a country charm. Its numerous wineries in a picturesque valley attract visitors who want to enjoy the outdoors and samples vintages from boutique and larger labels. The town is named for Ira and Susan Woodin, among the first non-native American settlersin the area.