Trudy Shafar, 89, has seen a lot of change over the years on Talbot Hill in southeast Renton.

"I wish you could have seen it when you had all the bean farms, and all the beautiful rows. Now everything is cement," says Shafar. "I used to pick strawberries, beans and cucumbers."

And she can still pick raspberries from the bushes in the big back yard of the Talbot Hill home she has lived in for about 60 years.

In Talbot Hill, the past and the present live together, with modern suburban developments and modest homes more than 100 years old. The neighborhood rises above Interstate 405 and Highway 167 and many residents enjoy views of the valley below and sunsets in the distance.

With its deep roots and strong sense of community, Talbot Hill has staying power.

When Kelly Lie and her family decided to move to the Seattle area from the Midwest four years ago, they looked at many suburban neighborhoods here, eventually settling on Talbot Hill. The convenience of the location was a major selling point.

"I love being able to jump onto 405 or 167. My husband travels and the proximity to Sea-Tac is great. We can be there in 12 minutes. Time in traffic is not cutting into our family time," says Lie.

"It is almost a perfect spot — easy access to everything, but we are off the main thoroughfares," says Daryl Banks, another former Midwesterner, who moved to Talbot Hill in 1973.

"You are wedged right in between two freeways, so pick your route," says Lisa Lam, an agent in Windermere Real Estate's Renton office.

Valley Medical Center is also nearby, and shopping, restaurants and other amenities are only a few minutes away in the Renton Village area or the Benson Hill Plaza. There also are parks and public tennis courts in the neighborhood.

Friendly, neighborly feel

The Lies bought a new house on a quiet street where kids can ride bikes and play basketball.

For the Lies, "the school was the icing on the cake," she says. Talbot Hill Elementary features the MicroSociety program and "is set up like the real world — there is a currency system, a bank, a post office, student government and small businesses," Lie says.

Her son has learned first hand how government works as "a member" of the House of Representatives, and is now running a small business. Lie loves the practical life lessons her son is learning as he analyzes profit margins and sales strategies.

The friendly, neighborly feel is another draw to the area, residents say.

"There are a lot of good neighbors around this place. People look out for each other," says Banks.

"The atmosphere of the hill is welcoming, and it just feels like home," says Teri Katzer, the neighborhood association president whose husband also grew up on Talbot Hill.

Affordable prices

Talbot Hill's affordability is another selling point. Recent single-family houses for sale include a 2,400-square-foot home for $219,000 and a 2,430-square-foot home for $324,000.

Prices range from about $175,000 to $500,000, according to Lam.

Talbot Hill's affordability reflects the overall market in Renton.

The median value of all single-family houses in Renton, not just those that recently sold, was $261,300 in June, according to Seattle-based Zillow. That's down 7.2 percent year-over-year, and up 0.2 percent from May, the Zillow Home Value Index shows.

The median value of all condos in Renton was $164,600 in June, down 6.9 percent year-over-year, and up 0.5 percent from May, according to the Zillow Home Value Index.

Not your typical suburb

Recent changes to the area include the new Talbot Hill interchange off of I-405, which opened in December 2010, easing access to and from Talbot Hill as well as downtown Renton.

Katzer says people were leery about the project, but she has heard a lot of positive feedback now that it is completed. "We love it. It is so much faster, and it was worth the construction pains," says Katzer.

Talbot Hill is not your typical suburb. It began as a coal-mining community that also attracted loggers. The Talbot mine opened in 1874 and many of the area residents then worked in the mine. The area was heavily logged in the early 1900s.

The Talbot mine was part of the Renton Coal Co. and was said to produce 600 tons of coal a day. It closed in 1918, and there are sealed mine shafts that run below Talbot Hill.

Shafar has a picture of her dad in the 1920s standing next to a giant felled tree. The photo was taken on the land where Valley Medical Center is now, land once owned by her uncle.

Shafar says that when she was a child on Talbot Hill, everyone had large plots of land. "We all had gardens, and everyone had cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and smoke houses. A lot had milk houses, too," she says.

Shafar keeps those memories alive by gathering every month with fellow 1940 graduates of Renton High School at the Plum Delicious restaurant in Renton.

To honor Talbot Hill's history, residents created a unique neighborhood entrance sign using a coal cart that they found, refurbished and painted.

They cleared the land for the sign, which they received a city grant to help pay for. With a ribbon cutting in 2004, it now stands as a monument to a neighborhood that blends the new and the old.