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It's overblown in my opinion. I know tons of young professional people who have lived in Columbia Heights and they did fine. There is more crime there than in the suburbs and parts of DC west of Rock Creek Park, but with a moderate amount of street smarts the odds of anything bad happening to you are low.
Listen to your friend who loves it there. The idea that you are at serious risk of being shot is absurd if you are not a drug dealer or gangbanger. The vast majority of shootings in DC (and really, in the entire country) are between people who already knew each other and had some preexisting beef. They aren't random assaults.
Chinatown is a nice area to live. Walkable and lots of shops/restaurants/grocery store/cvs, etc... I think $1500-1600 might be a bit low for a 1 bedroom, but maybe possible if you look.
Giving my input - I am new to the area too (moved from Philly to DC in June) and my fiance and I settled in Cleveland Park. We are right between the Cleveland Park and Van Ness metro stops. We both do not have cars and we don't miss them at all! And like someone else said, you can always get zipcar. There are tons of stores nearby... there is Giant, that independently owned place someone else mentioned, a small organic grocery store (our favorite), etc. What I like is that right at Cleveland Park there is also a Petsmart and a CVS, Walgreens, movie theater, and a ton of restaurants. We have 2 cats and were worried about finding our cat food (we get Natural Balance, which they usually don't have in grocery stores) so being close to a Petsmart is fabulous! I also just really like the vibe of the neighborhood and I feel very safe there.
Maybe people can comment on this - when I was apartment searching I looked at one place in SW, Capitol Park Plaza. Their website says no pets but when I was there they did say they allow 1 cat (we have 2 cats... deal breaker). They were telling me, however, that they do a special thing where if you have a job and make a certain amount of money but your spouse doesn't, you can get cheaper rent per month and they only adjust it once a year. I forget what that program was called... but it was a pretty decent discount and they only adjust it once a year, so if your fiance found a job after a month or two you would still be locked into the discounted rent until the end of your lease. This is just what they told me though, I don't remember all the details so maybe someone else knows more! That apartment complex was pretty nice. I liked Cleveland Park better (plus the cat thing was a no go for us) but that place was in my top 3.
Is this really true, that the Columbia Heights metro is dangerous? I have an opportunity to sublet a condo in Mt. Pleasant for 6 weeks, which would solve my issue of not having somewhere to sleep when I get here. But this assessment concerns me, and I get conflicting assessments. One of my future co-workers lives in Columbia Heights and loves it. Is getting shot really a concern, or is this overblown.
You'll get a lot of "that place is dangerous" advice from people who live in the suburbs. My advice, listen to people who actually live in the city.
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