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My partner and I live in Del Ray, which is an artsy, hometown-type part of Alexandria, just south of National Airport and slightly west of Old Town, Alexandria.
if you're working in Vienna. DC is liberal but is too far. For the sake of your sanity you must find someplace near Vienna, otherwise the commute will shatter all your family's dreams. The traffic here is terrible and will just get worse.
And for heavens sake don't commute from Maryland either...nothing where you have to cross the river.
Maybe consider areas of Arlington? Falls Church?
You'll find that a lot of people in the DC metro area think they're too important to bother being green or stewards of the environment. Some places (like DC) also have poor recycling programs. Not sure so much about the 'burb areas.
I have been in DC area for almost three years. During this period I visited San Francisco for about 10 days. I made more friends during the 10 days in San Francisco than I did during the three years in DC. DC is one of the most difficult places that you can make connection. Comparing DC with San Francisco is just extreme. People in DC are cold and depressed, for whatever reason. They avoid any social contact with you if they do not think you belong to their circle or type.
Yes both places are liberal, but in different ways. San Francisco is liberal in an embracing and tolerant way. Every type of person is welcome. People do not judge you. You are part of the city and the crowd. DC is liberal in an unethical way. Power and Money take over everything else. You will always know what class you belong to. The Capital is socially, racially, culturally and financially divided. I noticed more people in DC are driving luxury cars and living in mansions than most of other places (except LA) but at the same time lots of poor people sharing dirty condos. It is a soulless town.
If I were you, I will never move from Northern California to DC. You will never feel home here. This is not my own opinion. Most people I met from other places have the same feelings. Unless you feel you have to get this job, DC is not your choice for a life.
Actually, SF is NOT tolerant and welcoming of everyone. I'm from SF. There is an extreme lack of black people in San Francisco compared to the average big city. SF has less black people by proportion than the United States as a whole. Truth be told, you don't see more than just one or two black people in SF unless you go to the projects in the worst part of town in places like Sunnydale and Hunter's Point which are comparable in living conditions, crime and poverty rates to the worst of the worst of SE DC. Blacks in SF are actually more impoverished and marginalized, as an entire racial group, than in DC because DC has a very large visible upper middle class professional black population who works and lives in the District whereas SF does NOT. Sadly, the most racially integrated areas of SF and the urban Bay Area are usually the most dangerous and crime-ridden. This is no exaggeration.
And white San Franciscans and white DC natives are very similar. Most white DC natives love San Francisco because it reminds them of home. Both white natives in these cities tend to come from a long line of moneyed people. Both groups are extremely exclusionary and ethnocentric and generally do not like to acknowledge the extremely poor black people that live in their cities. The entire media-perpetuated incomplete squeaky clean "nice" image of SF as being a virtually crime and ghetto free all-accepting post-racial utopia was penned by the closet racist white liberals who call SF home. This false image is far from being an accurate reflection of SF. Most people forget that San Francisco is just another major American city with all the problems and social ills that exist in every mid to large American city.
And people in SF are deceivingly friendly. The way a weed head friend who likes to get high off your stash smoking with you daily for free and will be the ultimate insightful buddy-buddy cool guy, but looks at you like a chump for letting him smoke all your weed. Northern Californians understand what I'm saying. Even thugs in SF and the Bay Area will come across as extremely laid-back and friendly only to rob you, shoot you or stab you within a minutes notice.
As far as Maryland goes, Silver Spring and Columbia are very laid-back racially and economically integrated areas where people from all walks of life live together in peace. Columbia is like many racially integrated areas in Northern California because most people view race as being secondary and not worth mentioning out there. Also, class does not divide people that much in Columbia. Columbia has many Section 8 areas, but they are not extremely dangerous or crime-ridden at all. Rich people in Columbia do not feel the need to flaunt their wealth or brag about their jobs or level of education. Many rich people in Columbia dress plain wearing JC Penny style clothes and drive older cars. I think it has to do with the fact that Columbia is a Baltimore suburb. Silver Spring is also down-to-earth, although there are still many over ambitious DC type A personality types around. But I think Silver Spring is much more laid-back and accepting than DC, proper, because of all the truly cultured foreign immigrants from Africa and Latin America that live there who have a more grounded view of life around the world as well as being home to a solid middle class of DC Area natives of all races who aren't status climbing transplants from elsewhere.
I think you're likely to end up outside the beltway in Virginia unless your husband can commute on the Metro (about a 40 min Orange Line train trip),which would open up places like Capital Hill in the District. Based upon your comments, I suspect you & your husband would like the area, it's cosmopolitan, liberal, young adult and young families. Townhouses run $1/2 million up. Condos a little less. Eastern Market would be a good area to look.
Living someplace like Takoma Park will be awful from a commute standpoint.
Detroit, sigh.... I just haven't made a dent in the social circle of my kid's school, the neighbors regard me and my family as obstacles not to hit on their way to whereever, and the general vibe of the place could easily outdo D.C. for self-absorption. Whew. Plus, there is the matter of interests. If you don't like sports and camping, there's not much to do here.
D.C., in comparison, had tons of things to do, places to go, people to see. If you had hobbies and interests you loved, you would easily make friends. I've tried several things in Detroit and no dice.
Try the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Opera House, Detroit Institute of Arts, Greektown & Greektown Casino, MGM Casino, Belle Isle, Pewabic Pottery, Greenfield Village, The Henry Ford, boating on Lake St. Clair, beaches on Lake Michigan, visiting Holland, Frankenmuth, Ann Arbor, Traverse City, Mackinac Island. There are tons of things to do in Detroit outside of sports and camping.
Actually, SF is NOT tolerant and welcoming of everyone. I'm from SF. There is an extreme lack of black people in San Francisco compared to the average big city. SF has less black people by proportion than the United States as a whole. Truth be told, you don't see more than just one or two black people in SF unless you go to the projects in the worst part of town in places like Sunnydale and Hunter's Point which are comparable in living conditions, crime and poverty rates to the worst of the worst of SE DC. Blacks in SF are actually more impoverished and marginalized, as an entire racial group, than in DC because DC has a very large visible upper middle class professional black population who works and lives in the District whereas SF does NOT. Sadly, the most racially integrated areas of SF and the urban Bay Area are usually the most dangerous and crime-ridden. This is no exaggeration.
And white San Franciscans and white DC natives are very similar. Most white DC natives love San Francisco because it reminds them of home. Both white natives in these cities tend to come from a long line of moneyed people. Both groups are extremely exclusionary and ethnocentric and generally do not like to acknowledge the extremely poor black people that live in their cities. The entire media-perpetuated incomplete squeaky clean "nice" image of SF as being a virtually crime and ghetto free all-accepting post-racial utopia was penned by the closet racist white liberals who call SF home. This false image is far from being an accurate reflection of SF. Most people forget that San Francisco is just another major American city with all the problems and social ills that exist in every mid to large American city.
And people in SF are deceivingly friendly. The way a weed head friend who likes to get high off your stash smoking with you daily for free and will be the ultimate insightful buddy-buddy cool guy, but looks at you like a chump for letting him smoke all your weed. Northern Californians understand what I'm saying. Even thugs in SF and the Bay Area will come across as extremely laid-back and friendly only to rob you, shoot you or stab you within a minutes notice.
As far as Maryland goes, Silver Spring and Columbia are very laid-back racially and economically integrated areas where people from all walks of life live together in peace. Columbia is like many racially integrated areas in Northern California because most people view race as being secondary and not worth mentioning out there. Also, class does not divide people that much in Columbia. Columbia has many Section 8 areas, but they are not extremely dangerous or crime-ridden at all. Rich people in Columbia do not feel the need to flaunt their wealth or brag about their jobs or level of education. Many rich people in Columbia dress plain wearing JC Penny style clothes and drive older cars. I think it has to do with the fact that Columbia is a Baltimore suburb. Silver Spring is also down-to-earth, although there are still many over ambitious DC type A personality types around. But I think Silver Spring is much more laid-back and accepting than DC, proper, because of all the truly cultured foreign immigrants from Africa and Latin America that live there who have a more grounded view of life around the world as well as being home to a solid middle class of DC Area natives of all races who aren't status climbing transplants from elsewhere.
The cities of DC and SF are similar in that regard. But it's the suburban areas that make the difference. Where DC and SF whites are similar in their passive agreesiveness, covert racism, and overt snootiness, the suburbs are very different. General rudeness, materialistic snootiness, and racial segregation are the rule of law for nearly all of DC's inner-beltway suburbs, and is rapidly making its way to the more welcoming, down to earth, and integrated outer beltway suburbs. As for SF, the rudeness, snootiness, and seregation dies down once you get out of the city. In the South Bay and especially East Bay, Silver Spring and Columbia are more of the rule than the exception.
The first thing you need to do before moving here, is stop trying to find a place like Cali. It ain't gonna happen. Just like you can't find a place like DC in Cali. Everywhere in the US has a different feel to it, which is a good thing. The people in DC who tend to dislike DC most are those from Cali because they loved Cali so much & compare DC to it all the time. Those who don't compare where they are to where they've been tend to like DC the most. Accepting DC for what it is is a vital part of moving here. Choose a place in Vienna/Fairfax that you like & fits your needs. Stop looking for a Cali neighborhood that was picked up & placed in DC, because you will be looking forever. You will adjust to life here, as long as you can forget Cali & accept DC for all it is. Most people like it here, so I'm sure you will too
The cities of DC and SF are similar in that regard. But it's the suburban areas that make the difference. Where DC and SF whites are similar in their passive agreesiveness, covert racism, and overt snootiness, the suburbs are very different. General rudeness, materialistic snootiness, and racial segregation are the rule of law for nearly all of DC's inner-beltway suburbs, and is rapidly making its way to the more welcoming, down to earth, and integrated outer beltway suburbs. As for SF, the rudeness, snootiness, and seregation dies down once you get out of the city. In the South Bay and especially East Bay, Silver Spring and Columbia are more of the rule than the exception.
But the segregation in SF is more economic than racial. You have high-crime areas in SF like the Tenderloin where you have thugs of all nationalities together on the the block making money. The only predominantly black places in SF are the projects. But even SF projects have tons of Samoans, Asians and Latinos living amongst blacks there. Ironically, there is minimal racial tension in most Bay Area ghettos. Extremely ghetto black people in the projects in SF willingly hang out with Asians, Latinos, Pacific Islanders and even some ghetto whites, because they grew up with them and are just as ghetto as they are. It is even more pronounced in East Bay hoods in Oakland like the 20's where the hood is equally split demographically between blacks, Asians and Latinos.
Silver Spring and Columbia are similar but in a much cleaner, safer middle class suburban dynamic. However, people self-segregate everywhere. Even in Columbia, there are bars and restaurants that are overwhelmingly black in patronage (i.e. hole in the wall bars in blacker villages like Harper's Choice) and countless places that are much whiter in patronage. But Columbia will most probably always be laid-back, integrated and accepting because it was a planned community designated for all races and different types of people and even the public housing in Columbia is extremely nice and relatively safe compared to most places where Section 8 would traditionally exist. Columbia has like 1 murder a year in a city of about 100K although robberies are somewhat commonplace. That is incredibly safe. Also, interracial couples from all over America end up relocating to Columbia.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 02-13-2014 at 08:10 AM..
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Don't move to DC
