Trader Joe's is coming to Clarendon (Arlington: apartment complex, live in, restaurant)

[RUSDC]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

The HT on Glebe is right across from Ballston Common Mall, at N. Randolph. If that's not Ballston, I don't know what is.

Maybe its arlington!

[khuntrevor]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I shop at the one in Old Town all the time and don't see that. I talk to the young people working there and a lot of them are very nice college students working their way through school. They don't look or accessorize much differently than the other younger folks around here. You sure you're not projecting this from what you're seeing somewhere out West? As I recall you don't live here anymore. Have you ever even been to a Trader Joe's here?

Gave my mom, brother, and sister gift cards for the Fairfax store when it opened in 1999. They loved it. I've been to the one in Centreville about 30 times in the last five years---and I've seen it decline, along with the one that is walkable for me here in Phoenix. It did seem to be the "Mod Squad" in Centerville, with a Fred Flintstone looking manager, who wanted to argue with me about when artichoke season is. Had to send mom back with some freezer burned fish, too. Frozen fish, nuts, frozen tropical fruit......Costco is well aware of all of it.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

The HT on Glebe is right across from Ballston Common Mall, at N. Randolph. If that's not Ballston, I don't know what is.

The lack of clear boundaries is a problem here. The HT, however, is not right across from Ballston Common Mall. It is a few blocks away on the other side of Glebe Rd. I suppose that's close enough for some.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by dkf747

The lack of clear boundaries is a problem here. The HT, however, is not right across from Ballston Common Mall. It is a few blocks away on the other side of Glebe Rd. I suppose that's close enough for some.

See map. It is, in fact, right across (diagonally) Glebe from the mall. It's also next to an apartment complex called Gates of Ballston, which is farther from the mall than the HT is.

[pcity]

Yeah, I've never heard that area not being referred to as Ballston.

The Giant is Virginia Square, but the HT is definitely the Ballston HT.

[mjw703]

I had to see if there is such a thing as neighborhood boundary maps in Arlington and there is: http://gis.arlingtonva.us/Maps/Stand...iation_map.pdf

If you are giving by this map, then the Ballston Common is actually in Ashton Heights (although Ashton Heights Mall sounds sexy, I don't think anyone outside of the neighborhood would know where that is) and the Harris Teeter that I would consider Ballston, is actually in Buckingham. That may be more information than you wanted to know, but I just found that interesting.

[Carlingtonian]

I will say this in our friend's defense; some of the names for the various areas have changed since the Metro went in, as have the popular perceptions of their boudaries.

Decades ago, Clarendon extended well west of where its current (informal) boundary lies--at least in mailing addresses. Ballston is one of the original rail stops, but "Virginia Square" is only a neighborhood because of the Metro stop by that name; I'm pretty sure that before then, it was considered part of Ballston or possibly Clarendon.

And then there's my favorite, the painful-sounding "Balls Crossing," along N. George Mason Drive.

Edit: MJW, I just saw your post. Shockingly, that is true! They have BALLSTON Common Mall in Ashton Heights. (Correctly, they do have the HT in Buckingham--but most people consider Buckingham part of the Ballston area. I'm not talking about neighborhood association boundaries, just common parlance. The map's display of only the association boundaries means it leaves off common neighborhood names--e.g., Lacey Woods, Larchmont, Brandon Village, etc.)

What makes it all confusing is that Ballston was a rail stop in the 19th century (and perhaps slightly later.) Ashton Heights was built starting in (I believe) the early 1930s. That said: I've lived in the area for 10 years, and no one else living around there would ever say the HT is in Ashton Heights. The latter describes the SFHs on the other side of Glebe.

[irvine]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I will say this in our friend's defense; some of the names for the various areas have changed since the Metro went in, as have the popular perceptions of their boudaries.

Decades ago, Clarendon extended well west of where its current (informal) boundary lies--at least in mailing addresses. Ballston is one of the original rail stops, but "Virginia Square" is only a neighborhood because of the Metro stop by that name; I'm pretty sure that before then, it was considered part of Ballston or possibly Clarendon.

Carlingtonian, I'm glad you pointed out the neighborhood name changes since the 80s, after Metro opened in '79. It annoys me a little when people refuse to consider Va Square part of Clarendon. Clarendon, by today's loose definitions now extends east to Courthouse, especially since the Market Common shopping ctr was completed in 2001 and when the Courtlands Civic Association renamed itself the Clarendon/Courthouse Civic Association. The area we now call Va Square was often referred to as Clarendon through the 70s. And even when Parkington and the Hecht Co. store were built in the 50s at Glebe and Wilson the shopping area advertised itself as being in Clarendon. W-L HS had a Clarendon address for many years, and the Clarendon School (later the Maury School) is now the Arlington Arts Ctr in the Ballston/Va Square neighborhood. The historic heart of Clarendon in my opinion is still Clarendon Circle, where Wilson, Clarendon, and Washington boulevards meet, although most today would call it the western edge of the neighborhood.

Carlingtonian, you might recall the old Va. Square shopping Ctr which was demolished in the late 80s. And wasn't there a ClarenCourt motel on Wilson near Ballston until the early 90s?

btw, Most homes in Ashton Heights were built in the teens through the 30s. Many are Sears and Montgomery Ward kit homes.

[RUSDC]

You guys are having fun ...

[Carlingtonian]

Irvine, interesting history! Didn't know Ashton Heights began that far back. As to naming, it sounds like the naming practice back in the day was to include any given place as part of the nearest recognized village (Ballston, Clarendon)--just as the practice now, in terms of how people describe the areas verbally, is in relation to the nearest Metro stop (which is sometimes the same thing as in the old days, as the stations are where most development is). Even now, we live in Bluemont, but with people who don't know Arlington, I'll just say Ballston.

Alas, I didn't move to Arlington till 2002, so I can't remember the old Va. Square. One of these days, though, I'm gonna go to the Virginia Room at the library and dig through the old photos.

Originally Posted by RUSDC

You guys are having fun ...

Yeah, nothing on TV. I've already seen Goodfellas twice, and I limit myself to three Frasier reruns per day.