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Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
4,084 posts, read 12,683,905 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DC's Finest
I am on these forums promoting DC all day long. But when I hear statments like the city is bland or has no culture, I usually just shrug it off because most of the yokels who comment really dont know DC. DC is very different than other cities on the east coast. It is an arrogant city that really doesn't have to prove itself. If you know the real DC, it has a superiority complex. This is because DC knows its role in the US, it does not live in any city's shadow. DC residents don't have to defend themselves because they know their place on the food chain. When you see motorcades, congressmen and embassy officials, FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Capitol Hill Police, the President's Helicopter and Air Force One, you can't help but get the sense that you are in a place of power. This area is one of the richest, most educated and progressive places in the US. DC voted 95% democrat in every election. So it is a very liberal.
It is also a materialistic place. The Haves vs the Have nots. It's a city about who you know and what can they do for me. You could be at a bar drinking with a bus driver on your left and on your right is the speech writer for Condi Rice. (True Story)
One thing DC has never had are the big enthic neighborhoods like Philly, NY and Chicago. AA are DC's enthic group! They define the city beyond the politics. Their culture is very dominant here that's why DC has always been a place where AA's have flourished for years. DC also has its own food (the half smoke & chicken and mambo sauce). DC has its own music called Go-Go. Also keep in mind that the majority of people who reside in the city and metro are from other places in the US and world. So it's very cosmopolitan and transient by nature. When you hit the ground in DC, you can tell that it is very different the moment you get here.
Most people on this forum don't know how urban DC is. Because they associate urban with skyscrapers. If DC did not have height limits, it's skyline would rival NY. Because of the limitations, DC is always building. New neighborhoods like NOMA, Popular Point and the Ball Park District are coming online. DC has the third largest downtown in the country (without skyscrapers) and is steadily catching up to Chicago. If you add in federal office space, DC has more office space than Chicago. DC is second in office space vacancy and price per square foot behind Midtown Manhattan. Tyson's Corner (a DC suburb) has more office space than Atlanta, Houston, Seattle and Phoenix. DC has the second busiest subway ridership in the US behind NY. The cost of living in DC is very high but the salaries are on par with NY & SF. People who say that DC is boring are only scratching the surface.
I am on these forums promoting DC all day long. But when I hear statments like the city is bland or has no culture, I usually just shrug it off because most of the yokels who comment really dont know DC. DC is very different than other cities on the east coast. It is an arrogant city that really doesn't have to prove itself. If you know the real DC, it has a superiority complex. This is because DC knows its role in the US, it does not live in any city's shadow. DC residents don't have to defend themselves because they know their place on the food chain. When you see motorcades, congressmen and embassy officials, FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Capitol Hill Police, the President's Helicopter and Air Force One, you can't help but get the sense that you are in a place of power. This area is one of the richest, most educated and progressive places in the US. DC voted 95% democrat in every election. So it is a very liberal.
It is also a materialistic place. The Haves vs the Have nots. It's a city about who you know and what can they do for me. You could be at a bar drinking with a bus driver on your left and on your right is the speech writer for Condi Rice. (True Story)
One thing DC has never had are the big enthic neighborhoods like Philly, NY and Chicago. AA are DC's enthic group! They define the city beyond the politics. Their culture is very dominant here that's why DC has always been a place where AA's have flourished for years. DC also has its own food (the half smoke & chicken and mambo sauce). DC has its own music called Go-Go. Also keep in mind that the majority of people who reside in the city and metro are from other places in the US and world. So it's very cosmopolitan and transient by nature. When you hit the ground in DC, you can tell that it is very different the moment you get here.
Most people on this forum don't know how urban DC is. Because they associate urban with skyscrapers. If DC did not have height limits, it's skyline would rival NY. Because of the limitations, DC is always building. New neighborhoods like NOMA, Popular Point and the Ball Park District are coming online. DC has the third largest downtown in the country (without skyscrapers) and is steadily catching up to Chicago. If you add in federal office space, DC has more office space than Chicago. DC is second in office space vacancy and price per square foot behind Midtown Manhattan. Tyson's Corner (a DC suburb) has more office space than Atlanta, Houston, Seattle and Phoenix. DC has the second busiest subway ridership in the US behind NY. The cost of living in DC is very high but the salaries are on par with NY & SF. People who say that DC is boring are only scratching the surface.
Excellent read, very poignant.
Show me the person who finds DC boring and I'll show you a boring person.
I've spent a lot of time in NoVA; I have family there and a lot of friends.
It's nice enough but it's so generic and suburban I don't really see what there is to discuss about it. Sure, the Metra is a nice little train, but everything is so sprawled in NoVA that you'd have to walk miles beyond any stop just to get where you need to go. It isn't practical.
Washington D.C. is small, very very small, suburban to the extreme and lacking in anything resembling a "city" feel. What city there is, is actually surprisingly small. I mean it's pretty enough, I suppose, but it's so low rise (twelve story limit) and so tiny in terms of what's actually there that it's just easy to overlook.
I don't have any ill feeling towards the place, but it's just like anywhere else. With the exception of how damn hard it is to buy alcohol (**** you, ABC, and your government racketeering) or get around (there's nothing like a freeway as I understand the term) it's entirely forgettable.
My major complaint? What the hell were the designers of that nightmare they call a grid thinking? There is nothing, nothing resembling a square grid. Take a look at NoVA on Google Maps and you can see just stunningly retarded the grid system is. Curvy, winding roads that circle back or stop suddenly, giant half-circles, roads that change names a hundred times, or my personal favorite, finding any five roads within a municipality that all have the same name. It's bad enough that NoVA is as nightmarishly sprawled out as can be; did they have to make it worse by making it so difficult to navigate?
I lived in D.C. for 3 months and have visited several times every year since, and honestly? It may be our nation's capital but you'd never know it. The entire area is a very small, very quiet southern town. It's peaceful and the cares of the world feel very distant and far off. People are polite and friendly, both positives... Even if they tend to drive with less skill than a blind man could average. Everything, everything shuts down at 8pm with the exception of one or two bars in Old Town, Alexandria. I mean it. Capital of our nation, the entire metropolitan area closes at 8 or 9.
I've never seen so many strip malls in my life Another poster mentioned the feeling of being in a place of power, but all I felt was just how strikingly suburban the mindset of the entire area is. Granted, I was coming off a high after living in Manhattan for two years, but still. Show me someone who thinks the District or anything in the metropolitan area even vaguely resembles "power" and I'll show you someone who's never seen Lower Manhattan or Midtown, much less the Loop in Chicago at rush hour.
As for "hitting the ground in D.C.", again... Maybe this is easily attributed to having worked in the private sector and being entirely unimpressed with the small time operation known as the Federal Government, but Washington D.C. and NoVA are so unimpressive that one would be hard pressed to really discuss anything about the place. At the time I was spitting acid at the incredible inconvenience of life there; Harris Teeters was the only grocery shop open past 11, I think, and I had to haul ass on an hour drive through curving roads and giant hills just to get there after work. 24-hour nothing.
Wash region is fairly underwhelming....it's just another version of Boston IMO...
Government "power" is dubious at best, given all the constituencies in NYC/SiliconValley/BevHills and Podunk that they depend upon (and need to suck up to) for tax revenue/campaign donations/votes....
And the low wages of govt jobs attract very few intelligent people to Wash...
Agree, NoVA and MontCo suburban sprawl is much like suburban sprawl in any other major urban region in US...and PG Co crime seems to be Wash's version of LA high-crime suburban-urban sprawl....many urban regions seems to like/emulate LA's model of decentralized growth/crime and suburban job centers....
Wash region is much like Bos region....lots of over-educated people who've mysteriously created little wealth in form of either own net worth or creating many valuable cos. in region....Wash lacks the many tech start-ups of SiliconValley or the many hedge fund start-ups of Greenwich and Manhattan....
I don't get it. It's the nation's capital and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation (8th largest), with 5.3 million people (8.2 million people when joined with metro Baltimore to produce the Baltimore-Washington CSA). Everything on here is New York vs LA this, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta-- the same old places over and over again-- but why not metro DC? It covers two states and a federal district! It's also my favorite city on the east coast-- and I'd pick metro DC (either the Maryland or Virginia side) hands down over NYC, Boston, Phily, or any other of them. Why don't we hear more about DC on the General US forum?
Because we have to talk about that nest of parasites all the time in our everyday lives. It's on the news. It's in our bank accounts. And it's dreaming up new and inventive ways to siphon off more of our cash and further restrict our freedoms. So why do we want to discuss it on a message board?
i can understand how you don't like suburban Virginia (i highly dislike nova) but your impression of the city just seems SSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOO off to me
Quote:
Originally Posted by coldwine
It's nice enough but it's so generic and suburban I don't really see what there is to discuss about it. Sure, the Metra is a nice little train, but everything is so sprawled in NoVA that you'd have to walk miles beyond any stop just to get where you need to go. It isn't practical.
Agreed. But Litte Train? please. Its the second most ridden in the country after the NY subway.
Quote:
Washington D.C. is small, very very small, suburban to the extreme and lacking in anything resembling a "city" feel. What city there is, is actually surprisingly small. I mean it's pretty enough, I suppose, but it's so low rise (twelve story limit) and so tiny in terms of what's actually there that it's just easy to overlook.
Small? Something tells me you not very much of an explorer.
Quote:
I don't have any ill feeling towards the place, but it's just like anywhere else. With the exception of how damn hard it is to buy alcohol (**** you, ABC, and your government racketeering) or get around (there's nothing like a freeway as I understand the term) it's entirely forgettable.
Forgettable if you have Alzheimers
Quote:
My major complaint? What the hell were the designers of that nightmare they call a grid thinking? There is nothing, nothing resembling a square grid. Take a look at NoVA on Google Maps and you can see just stunningly retarded the grid system is. Curvy, winding roads that circle back or stop suddenly, giant half-circles, roads that change names a hundred times, or my personal favorite, finding any five roads within a municipality that all have the same name. It's bad enough that NoVA is as nightmarishly sprawled out as can be; did they have to make it worse by making it so difficult to navigate?
you're Entirely talking about nova, you realize that, not Washington DC, designed after Paris
Quote:
I lived in D.C. for 3 months and have visited several times every year since, and honestly? It may be our nation's capital but you'd never know it. The entire area is a very small, very quiet southern town. It's peaceful and the cares of the world feel very distant and far off. People are polite and friendly, both positives... Even if they tend to drive with less skill than a blind man could average. Everything, everything shuts down at 8pm with the exception of one or two bars in Old Town, Alexandria. I mean it. Capital of our nation, the entire metropolitan area closes at 8 or 9.
I'd know it in a heartbeat. This NORTHERN city is not small, at all. Do you get out often? the people are nice there, i agree and crappy drivers i agree, but people are what make up a city, without them, there wouldn't be a city. Everything closes at 8 or 9? When did you live here?
Quote:
I've never seen so many strip malls in my life Another poster mentioned the feeling of being in a place of power, but all I felt was just how strikingly suburban the mindset of the entire area is. Granted, I was coming off a high after living in Manhattan for two years, but still. Show me someone who thinks the District or anything in the metropolitan area even vaguely resembles "power" and I'll show you someone who's never seen Lower Manhattan or Midtown, much less the Loop in Chicago at rush hour.
WHERE WERE YOU? Are you sure you weren't in the middle of Washington STATE? Although there are lots of strip malls in nova.
Quote:
As for "hitting the ground in D.C.", again... Maybe this is easily attributed to having worked in the private sector and being entirely unimpressed with the small time operation known as the Federal Government, but Washington D.C. and NoVA are so unimpressive that one would be hard pressed to really discuss anything about the place. At the time I was spitting acid at the incredible inconvenience of life there; Harris Teeters was the only grocery shop open past 11, I think, and I had to haul ass on an hour drive through curving roads and giant hills just to get there after work. 24-hour nothing.
Nova is crap. But DC, no , it is actually overwhelming, not to the average tourist, but to people who actually go out and look at lots and lots of neighborhoods (like i do) and see as much as possible.
Well anyway, how was Washington state, which im assuming that's where you REALLY were
Coldwine says “Washington D.C. is small, very very small, suburban to the extreme and lacking in anything resembling a "city" feel. What city there is, is actually surprisingly small. I mean it's pretty enough, I suppose, but it's so low rise (twelve story limit) and so tiny in terms of what's actually there that it's just easy to overlook.”
Compared to NYC, DC is very small. What city doesn’t feel small to a city like NYC? I’ve been to the top 10 largest metro areas in the country, and DC proper to me feels more urban than all of them with the exception of NYC, Chicago, and LA.
Coldwine says "I don't have any ill feeling towards the place, but it's just like anywhere else. With the exception of how damn hard it is to buy alcohol (**** you, ABC, and your government racketeering) or get around (there's nothing like a freeway as I understand the term) it's entirely forgettable."
ABC is only in VA. Not in DC or MD.
Coldwine says "I lived in D.C. for 3 months and have visited several times every year since, and honestly? It may be our nation's capital but you'd never know it. The entire area is a very small, very quiet southern town. It's peaceful and the cares of the world feel very distant and far off. People are polite and friendly, both positives... Even if they tend to drive with less skill than a blind man could average. Everything, everything shuts down at 8pm with the exception of one or two bars in Old Town, Alexandria. I mean it. Capital of our nation, the entire metropolitan area closes at 8 or 9."
Total lie. One or two bars open in Old Town Alexandria? Haahaa. Do you think people are that naive? Bars and clubs are open till 3am in DC. Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Dupon Circle, Chinatown have great bars and clubs open till 3am. The underground clubs and rave clubs (if you know where they're at) are open till people leave – usually when the sun rises.
Coldwine says "I've never seen so many strip malls in my life Another poster mentioned the feeling of being in a place of power, but all I felt was just how strikingly suburban the mindset of the entire area is. Granted, I was coming off a high after living in Manhattan for two years, but still. Show me someone who thinks the District or anything in the metropolitan area even vaguely resembles "power" and I'll show you someone who's never seen Lower Manhattan or Midtown, much less the Loop in Chicago at rush hour."
Any city in America compared to NYC will seem country. NYC is my favorite city in America in terms of urbanization, but to make DC sound like it's a small southern town with strip malls and how everything shuts down at 8pm is a TOTAL LIE!
Coldwine, maybe you need to stop drinking cold wine because it sounds like it's affecting your head.
Coldwine says “Washington D.C. is small, very very small, suburban to the extreme and lacking in anything resembling a "city" feel. What city there is, is actually surprisingly small. I mean it's pretty enough, I suppose, but it's so low rise (twelve story limit) and so tiny in terms of what's actually there that it's just easy to overlook.”
Compared to NYC, DC is very small. What city doesn’t feel small to a city like NYC? I’ve been to the top 10 largest metro areas in the country, and DC proper to me feels more urban than all of them with the exception of NYC, Chicago, and LA.
Coldwine says "I don't have any ill feeling towards the place, but it's just like anywhere else. With the exception of how damn hard it is to buy alcohol (**** you, ABC, and your government racketeering) or get around (there's nothing like a freeway as I understand the term) it's entirely forgettable."
ABC is only in VA. Not in DC or MD.
Coldwine says "I lived in D.C. for 3 months and have visited several times every year since, and honestly? It may be our nation's capital but you'd never know it. The entire area is a very small, very quiet southern town. It's peaceful and the cares of the world feel very distant and far off. People are polite and friendly, both positives... Even if they tend to drive with less skill than a blind man could average. Everything, everything shuts down at 8pm with the exception of one or two bars in Old Town, Alexandria. I mean it. Capital of our nation, the entire metropolitan area closes at 8 or 9."
Total lie. One or two bars open in Old Town Alexandria? Haahaa. Do you think people are that naive? Bars and clubs are open till 3am in DC. Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Dupon Circle, Chinatown have great bars and clubs open till 3am. The underground clubs and rave clubs (if you know where they're at) are open till people leave – usually when the sun rises.
Coldwine says "I've never seen so many strip malls in my life Another poster mentioned the feeling of being in a place of power, but all I felt was just how strikingly suburban the mindset of the entire area is. Granted, I was coming off a high after living in Manhattan for two years, but still. Show me someone who thinks the District or anything in the metropolitan area even vaguely resembles "power" and I'll show you someone who's never seen Lower Manhattan or Midtown, much less the Loop in Chicago at rush hour."
Any city in America compared to NYC will seem country. NYC is my favorite city in America in terms of urbanization, but to make DC sound like it's a small southern town with strip malls and how everything shuts down at 8pm is a TOTAL LIE!
Coldwine, maybe you need to stop drinking cold wine because it sounds like it's affecting your head.
No no, I lived there. You can turn blue whatever you like, but everything I have said is drawn directly from first hand personal experience. I'm even willing to call up the thirty or so people I know who live there to back me up on this one.
There's a lot of subjectivity involved in stating whether or not you like a place, but anyone who has ever been to NoVA or D.C. can testify to the truth in my post.
D.C. itself is just the tiniest of tiny little dots on the map. Everything else? Southern town with more strip malls than I have ever seen. Everything down there is in a strip mall. I mean, Tyson's Corner and Occocuan (spelling?) are really nifty places but sheesh.
Coldwine, if that's your interpretation, then all major cities in America are like the way you describe - with the exception of NYC and downtown Chicago. Chicago, outside of its downtown has major suburban sprawl.
No no, I lived there. You can turn blue whatever you like, but everything I have said is drawn directly from first hand personal experience. I'm even willing to call up the thirty or so people I know who live there to back me up on this one.
There's a lot of subjectivity involved in stating whether or not you like a place, but anyone who has ever been to NoVA or D.C. can testify to the truth in my post.
D.C. itself is just the tiniest of tiny little dots on the map. Everything else? Southern town with more strip malls than I have ever seen. Everything down there is in a strip mall. I mean, Tyson's Corner and Occocuan (spelling?) are really nifty places but sheesh.
Subjectively speaking... I've lived in Northern VA and can testify you're a lying troll.
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Another poster mentioned the feeling of being in a place of power, but all I felt was just how strikingly suburban the mindset of the entire area is. Granted, I was coming off a high after living in Manhattan for two years, but still. Show me someone who thinks the District or anything in the metropolitan area even vaguely resembles "power" and I'll show you someone who's never seen Lower Manhattan or Midtown, much less the Loop in Chicago at rush hour.
