young couple moving to college park area - it cant be that bad

[djpapa]

Thanks for suggestions so far. Our price range is up to 1350 a month since I might not have a job upon moving. This may rule out the adams morgan area, although I have seen some basement apartments in that range. Does adams morgan have some actual vibrant culture (art galleries, music venues, cool stores) or is it more "yuppie" oriented?

[NJ2MDdude]

Originally Posted by djpapa

Thanks for suggestions so far. Our price range is up to 1350 a month since I might not have a job upon moving. This may rule out the adams morgan area, although I have seen some basement apartments in that range. Does adams morgan have some actual vibrant culture (art galleries, music venues, cool stores) or is it more "yuppie" oriented?

DC and the yuppie lifestyle generally go hand-in-hand, unless, of course, you choose to live in Anacostia, Northeast or some parts of Northwest.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by djpapa

We want somewhere semi-walkable, neighborhood feel, reasonable rents and artsy people.

You won't really find this to any great extent in P.G. Co. - first impressions can be deceiving. I thought College Park looked nice before I moved there, but soon came to regret my decision when I discovered the only walkable retail was full of rowdy college students who made _Animal House_ look tame. (And this is coming from someone who has historically ADORED college towns [e.g., Evanston, IL and Columbia, MO] to the point that she would ALWAYS recommend them to almost any other alternative.) Berwyn Heights is a weird little pocket (town, actually, even though it's tiny) with a couple neat businesses (Smile Herb and the Berwyn Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant) and cute parks (and good access to the Anacostia Tributary system of bike trails), and I would describe it as "artsier" than College Park proper.

Actually, some of the areas in P.G. which are usually described as "ghetto" have struck me as having more character/charm than some of the "safer" areas.. downtown Hyattsville has huge potential - and Franklin's (restaurant and funky toy store) is awesome, as is Calvert House (really good upscale, old-school seafood place with 'modern' stuff on their menu, too - 'creole chicken with mango-cilantro salsa' sorta stuff). Hyattsville does have higher crime, though, than College Park or Berwyn Heights, for the most part. Another place often described as "ghetto" that looks really intriguing (and is deeply artsy.. the whole town is on the National Register of Historic places and tries to attract artists as residents) is Mt. Rainier, MD. Being on the D.C. border, though, it would, generally speaking, have higher crime than outside-the-Beltway parts of PG Co.

Historic Greenbelt (the weird little 'New Deal' village) is really cool, but also very tiny. And the suburban part of Greenbelt is very bland (excepting Jasper's.. an awesome alternative to places like Applebee's, etc. with really great live music on weekends).

Sorry that this post was so restaurant-focused.. maybe it's time for lunch!

[PGC301]

Originally Posted by djpapa

Actually we think diversity is essential in a neighborhood. But it doesn't count as diversity if white people live on one end of town and black people on the other. Everybody has to live together to have a strong and functioning community. From what I have seen of DC and some of the people on this forum, this does not seem to be the case. People seem to be paranoid and isolated in their mindset. This wont help to make communities better. Perhaps the sprawling suburban geography without walkable downtown centers of the DC area contributes to this mindset? Just my observations as an outsider.

Almost all of the cities/towns in the area of UMD are fairly diverse, with the exception of College Park (mostly white). Personally, I woulnd't want to live in CP anyway because most of the city south of Greenbelt Road is full of loud, drunk college kids. I think you'd like alot of the places that people have recommended on here. Also, as a bonus, for the most part, the cities/towns are too small to have a "white side" of town, "black side", "hispanic side", etc.

Here's the demographics of some of the places people have recommended (totals may be more than 100% since the Census Bureau considers being Hispanic an ethnicity instead of a race):

Adelphi
White- 29.5%
Black- 39.8%
Hispanic-25.7%
Asian- 10.0%
Other- 15.0%

Berwyn Heights
White- 71.8%
Black- 12.0%
Hispanic- 8.2%
Asian- 8.6%
Other- 4.4%

Brentwood
White- 28.6%
Black- 49.8%
Hispanic- 23.6%
Asian- 2.1%
Other- 15.0%

College Park
White- 63.6%
Black- 15.3%
Hispanic- 10.5%
Asian- 11.2%
Other- 6.7%

Colmar Manor
White- 24.9%
Black- 48.8%
Hispanic- 17.8%
Asian- 10.3%
Other- 12.4%

Cottage City
White- 28.6%
Black- 54.8%
Hispanic- 13.3%
Asian- 4.0%
Other- 7.6%

Greenbelt
White- 37.1%
Black- 46.5%
Hispanic- 4.5%
Asian- 9.9%
Other- 1.9%

Hyattsville
White- 39.5%
Black- 41.0%
Hispanic- 18.1%
Asian- 4.0%
Other- 10.9%

Mount Rainier
White- 20.2%
Black- 62.1%
Hispanic- 18.3%
Asian- 2.3%
Other- 10.6%

Riverdale Park
White- 39.9%
Black- 38.5%
Hispanic- 28.3%
Asian- 4.2%
Other- 13.0%

Silver Spring
White- 45.8%
Black- 23.8%
Hispanic- 26.9%
Asian- 8.9%
Other- 18.5%

Takoma Park
White- 48.8%
Black- 34.0%
Hispanic- 14.4%
Asian- 4.4%
Other- 7.4%

As a general rule, the areas closer to DC are going to have more crime than those further away, so for example Greenbelt and Adelphi tend to be safer than Mount Rainier or Hyattsville. That being said though, coming from Philly, I dont think you'll have any problems in any of these areas.