Arlington/Crystal City area? (apartment, condo, crime)

[bigapple]

Hi there,
I will be moving from Long Island to Arlington next month and just wanted any information on the area, specifically Crystal City, which is where I'll be living. I mainly wanted to know if CC is a safe area to live in.

Thanks in advance

[dullnboring]

Crystal City is a safe area. In spite of it's impressive skyline, it's actually a very sterile area. There's lots of tall buildings but on the street-level, it's very bland with little commercial, retail or pedestrian-life. It's mostly just condo and apartment block towers. There is an underground mall which isn't really anything special and attached to that mall is a Metro station which serves both the Blue Line and the Yellow Line and the ride into downtown DC is only some 10-15 minutes. Crystal City is close (within walking distance or one Metro stop away) to Pentagon City Mall, and not too far from the Pentagon. National Airport is also only one Metro stop away, in the opposite direction. Northern Virginia as a whole, including Arlington, is actually incredibly safe. Of course, crime does happen and you should always exercise caution and have basic street smarts keeping aware of your surroundings, leaving your doors locked, not going to the ATM by yourself in the middle of the night, etc.

[VT Hokie 2007]

Crystal City is a nice area--very military-centric.