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This maybe a very broad and general question (and I had a hard time finding a forum to put it in) but I was wondering what the DC area was like in the 1980's
How was the city of DC it's self back then What was it like to live in say upper NW during those years?
What was Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria like?
What was Montgomary County like to live in back then?
How was the city of DC it's self back then What was it like to live in say upper NW during those years?
NW was nice along with Georgetown. The rest of the city was basically monuments surrounded by a large ghetto. Crack smoke created a light smog around the city.
What was Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria like?
Less people and less development.
What was Montgomary County like to live in back then?
I was born in 1984 but I can tell you about the area from the late 80's and all throughout the 90's; other than the White House and the other monuments, the city of DC was a dangerous slum, I hate to say. Downtown DC literally shut down after 5pm every evening and it was basically dead on the weekends unless there was some kind of festival going on. Hate to say it but drug addicts and prostitutes roamed the streets of DC all the time especially on the weekends and in the evenings. PG County wasn't really a utopia but it was a lot safer than DC back then than it is now. DC basically didn't start changing until till around '95/'96. When the, what is now known as the, Verizon Center opened up, that's basically when the gentrification started taking off and the city started becoming what it is now. And around this time, that was when the low-income DC people started moving into PG County for cheaper housing and a lot of the affluent (especially Caucasian families and whatnot) started moving out of the county to other places. DC back then had a lot of character no doubt but it definitely wasn't a safe place to be.
Dupont, Logan Circle and Adams Morgan were fine, but a little edgy. U Street around Ben's was OK. Capitol Hill close to Eastern Market was fully gentrified. Places like Shaw were rough, but the place was far from a slum in many areas.
As some others have said, a lot of DC was old school ghetto outside of upper NW and the monuments. Having said that, people paint a broad brush of the city at the time like it was nothing but hustlers and hookers and gun smoke. There were always small business owners and regular working folk. While it was more dangerous, 99% of the violence was drug related or some sort of hood beef. If you stayed in your lane and didnt roam around at night like an idiot, you'd be fine.
Go-Go was huge at the time. The Redskins were a top 3 NFL team for the whole decade (can you imagine that?!?!?).Parts of Downtown had a very vibrant red light district. It was still going strong in the 80s but was mostly gone by the mid 90s.
Moco was not nearly as developed, though stable and middle class. Downtown SS was run down. Downtown Bethesda was much less uppity. I remember going to the Little Tavern, Shakeys Pizza and Hot Shoppes diner there often. Little Tavern used to be all over DC and Baltimore.
Some businesses that were all over the area included Roy Rogers, Kinney Shoes, Waxi Maxies, Montgomery Wards. I know I'm leaving out a ton but these came to my mind first.
DC always had upper NW and Georgetown, but a lot of the DC was very slummy and dangerous. I should also note that a lot of PG County back then wasn't developed so as a result, a lot of PG felt like "small-town" living (places like Mt. Rainier, Hyattsville, Beltsville) and not an urban extension of DC like it is today.
While it was more dangerous, 99% of the violence was drug related or some sort of hood beef. If you stayed in your lane and didnt roam around at night like an idiot, you'd be fine.
That didn't help the innocent people that were standing at bus stops minding their own business and getting robbed at gun point or people getting hit by stray bullets either in their house or as they were walking along the sidewalk. I knew of a few. Just saying.
That didn't help the innocent people that were standing at bus stops minding their own business and getting robbed at gun point or people getting hit by stray bullets either in their house or as they were walking along the sidewalk. I knew of a few. Just saying.
Definitely no doubt about that, though what you're describing still happens today to a lesser degree. My point was there was still a lively culture in the city and not everyone was a criminal. I feel people not from here paint the 80s and 90s in DC like it was nothing but misery.
Definitely no doubt about that, though what you're describing still happens today to a lesser degree. My point was there was still a lively culture in the city and not everyone was a criminal. I feel people not from here paint the 80s and 90s in DC like it was nothing but misery.
I was born and raised in the DC area so I'm definitely not a transplant. Sure there was a lot of lively culture in the area back in the day. All I'm saying is I would be definitely lying to you and anyone else if I were to say that the DC area was "Mayberry" back in the day. I was raised over in PG County and I remember back in the early 90's I use to literally be scared everytime I was with my parents anytime we crossed over into DC to take care of any business we had to take care of. I'm sorry but if you wasn't exactly going to upper NW somewhere, you had a valid reason to be scared of roaming around DC during the crack epidemic/Murder Capital days.
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