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This is a question for all transplants as well as people who recently visited DC for the first time. What image did you have of the city before you came and how surprised were you by the reality?
This goes for the good and the bad.
In what ways did DC surprise you? In what ways was DC exactly what you expected?
This is a question for all transplants as well as people who recently visited DC for the first time. What image did you have of the city before you came and how surprised were you by the reality?
This goes for the good and the bad.
In what ways did DC surprise you? In what ways was DC exactly what you expected?
Might get a better response rate on the General forums for a question like this. Most tourists probably aren't coming to the DC specific section on CD after the fact.
This is a question for all transplants as well as people who recently visited DC for the first time. What image did you have of the city before you came and how surprised were you by the reality?
This goes for the good and the bad.
In what ways did DC surprise you? In what ways was DC exactly what you expected?
This is a great question. I relocated to DC just over a year ago and it was my first time living here, just like any major city or tourism destination, the marketed or stereotypical outside perception differs significantly from reality.. Here are my answers:
Before I arrived to DC I had only visited here once before, I precieved DC as happy place where people emersed themselves around the glory of grandious monuments and rubbed shoulders with polititians and the elite of goverment on a daily basis, a place where people LIVE and WORK IN the city.. I only knew DC from a tourist-perspective, postcard images of a utopian city filled with monuments, tree-lined streets bustling with Washingtonians, and of course a regular backdrop of the Capitol building..
The reality, well, somewhat different, I quickly learned that these postcard images of monuments and the Capitol, while real, are moreso refferred to as "tourist areas" by locals and area not really the regular backdrops for locals that live and work in the area unless you work for Congress on Capitol Hill or the federal buildings in the immediate vicinity.. The reality is, a good portion of area locals actually live OUTSIDE of the city, and in many instances even WORK outside of the city!! Once you cross the river to the Virginia-side you enter a self-confined region that is not always thrilled with being associated with DC, in fact, most Virginians seem to try to avoid going into DC unless they have to for business-related reasons or the occasional festival on the weekend to satisfy the kids.. The sames seems to apply for those that live in Maryland..
I feel that the suburbia effect is more apparent in DC than most metro areas since the areas that are considered subrbia are in reality completly different states, they dont even share the same local government or services, but yet, by perception and name are still clumped together into the "DC Metro Area" .. This was surprising to me, the fact that the vast majority of locals actually live OUTSIDE of the city and do not seem to have any interest or respect for the city itself.. I live in the city and my typical walk to work consists of dodging road-raged commuters that are either entering the city to work or leaving the city to their homes in MD or VA and have no interest whatsover in being a part of the city nor respecting its residents..
I didn't know anything about DC as a city moving here. I knew the monuments, Congress, the White House and the Smithsonians; basically everything you get out of an 8th grade field trip or an American Government class. Needless to say, a couple of things truly surprised me about DC when I moved here.
First, I was surprised by how small, open and manageable the city is. I thought of DC as a major metropolis before I moved here, but we're really a medium sized city. When you're living in one of the neighborhoods, it feels like a small town. It doesn't take too long until you start running into friends randomly in the street and can navigate the city's core with your eyes closed. The metro helps bring the city together too - I was going all over the place hanging out with friends in Crystal City or Clarendon. That would have been really hard in Philly. I don't like crowds and skyscrapers crushing in on me - so the wide streets, low skyline and plentiful green spaces were also a pleasant surprise to me.
Second, I was surprised by how young the city was. I was 23 when I moved here and it felt like half of the city was 23 too. It was awesome. It was also a little disconcerting that Congress is largely staffed by kids no older than I was.
Third, I was surprised by how expensive it was. I started out crashing on a friend's floor in subsidized housing out in MD - so the sticker shock didn't hit me until I went apartment hunting. My salary coming down here was $28k, which would have made for a pretty comfortable bachelor life in New Orleans or Philadelphia, but not so much in DC. I had to borrow money for a security deposit.
Fourth, I was overwhelmed by the opportunities to do things here. From parties, to educational events, to getting involved in sports, volunteering for political groups. There were always cool things going on in Philly and New Orleans - some are really unbeatable - but the sheer menu of things that DC has is way more diverse and I ran myself ragged trying to check as many things out as I could.
Fifth, I was shocked that there was so much crime, literally walking distance from the White House. When I moved to DC and got an apartment off of U Street in 2005, one of my roommates got jumped and had his head bashed in with a brick. He was in the hospital for a long long time, and the cops thought it was a random gang-initiation related assault. My first cab ride to my apartment, I remember the cab driver telling me that he would not have taken me to my destination a few years ago because there was too much ish going on around my block. I was like, wtf, I'm paying 65% of my take-home income to live here.
Other than being broke, my introduction to DC was exciting.
This is a great question. I relocated to DC just over a year ago and it was my first time living here, just like any major city or tourism destination, the marketed or stereotypical outside perception differs significantly from reality.. Here are my answers:
Before I arrived to DC I had only visited here once before, I precieved DC as happy place where people emersed themselves around the glory of grandious monuments and rubbed shoulders with polititians and the elite of goverment on a daily basis, a place where people LIVE and WORK IN the city.. I only knew DC from a tourist-perspective, postcard images of a utopian city filled with monuments, tree-lined streets bustling with Washingtonians, and of course a regular backdrop of the Capitol building..
The reality, well, somewhat different, I quickly learned that these postcard images of monuments and the Capitol, while real, are moreso refferred to as "tourist areas" by locals and area not really the regular backdrops for locals that live and work in the area unless you work for Congress on Capitol Hill or the federal buildings in the immediate vicinity.. The reality is, a good portion of area locals actually live OUTSIDE of the city, and in many instances even WORK outside of the city!! Once you cross the river to the Virginia-side you enter a self-confined region that is not always thrilled with being associated with DC, in fact, most Virginians seem to try to avoid going into DC unless they have to for business-related reasons or the occasional festival on the weekend to satisfy the kids.. The sames seems to apply for those that live in Maryland..
I feel that the suburbia effect is more apparent in DC than most metro areas since the areas that are considered subrbia are in reality completly different states, they dont even share the same local government or services, but yet, by perception and name are still clumped together into the "DC Metro Area" .. This was surprising to me, the fact that the vast majority of locals actually live OUTSIDE of the city and do not seem to have any interest or respect for the city itself.. I live in the city and my typical walk to work consists of dodging road-raged commuters that are either entering the city to work or leaving the city to their homes in MD or VA and have no interest whatsover in being a part of the city nor respecting its residents..
I'm struggling to think of an American city where this isn't true. In terms of different local jurisdictions sharing the same metro area, New York City has New Jersey and Connecticut butting right up against it and there's no shortage of bad blood between the three of them. Kansas City shares Missouri and Kansas. St. Louis shares Missouri and Illinois. Chicago has Indiana and kind of Wisconsin. Detroit and Buffalo have Canada.
In terms of most people living in the suburbs and some of those people being scared / disdainful of the city, that's been the norm nationwide for decades, with a lot of metro areas of 4-6 million people and a central city of only about 600,000. I'm thinking of Seattle, Denver, Boston, Miami... Houston cheats its population numbers by just pushing its borders to take in the sprawl.
But this is also true for even our most successful cities. Los Angeles has 3.8 million living in the city with an overall metro area of about 16 million. Chicago has about 2.7 million people in a metro area of about 10 million people. Even New York City has only 8.3 million people in a metro area of about 20 million.
All of these metro areas also have vibrant commercial centers in the suburbs, similar to Tysons Corner, Silver Spring, and Bethesda.
What might set DC apart in this regard is how geographically small the central city is in regard to the metro area that surrounds it, but the core dynamics aren't unique and attitudes have improved a lot in recent years toward the central cities. Perhaps you work with a lot of people who still have the old idea of a crime-ridden DC in their minds.
I didn't know anything about DC as a city moving here. I knew the monuments, Congress, the White House and the Smithsonians; basically everything you get out of an 8th grade field trip or an American Government class. Needless to say, a couple of things truly surprised me about DC when I moved here.
First, I was surprised by how small, open and manageable the city is. I thought of DC as a major metropolis before I moved here, but we're really a medium sized city. When you're living in one of the neighborhoods, it feels like a small town. It doesn't take too long until you start running into friends randomly in the street and can navigate the city's core with your eyes closed. The metro helps bring the city together too - I was going all over the place hanging out with friends in Crystal City or Clarendon. That would have been really hard in Philly. I don't like crowds and skyscrapers crushing in on me - so the wide streets, low skyline and plentiful green spaces were also a pleasant surprise to me.
Second, I was surprised by how young the city was. I was 23 when I moved here and it felt like half of the city was 23 too. It was awesome. It was also a little disconcerting that Congress is largely staffed by kids no older than I was.
Third, I was surprised by how expensive it was. I started out crashing on a friend's floor in subsidized housing out in MD - so the sticker shock didn't hit me until I went apartment hunting. My salary coming down here was $28k, which would have made for a pretty comfortable bachelor life in New Orleans or Philadelphia, but not so much in DC. I had to borrow money for a security deposit.
Fourth, I was overwhelmed by the opportunities to do things here. From parties, to educational events, to getting involved in sports, volunteering for political groups. There were always cool things going on in Philly and New Orleans - some are really unbeatable - but the sheer menu of things that DC has is way more diverse and I ran myself ragged trying to check as many things out as I could.
Fifth, I was shocked that there was so much crime, literally walking distance from the White House. When I moved to DC and got an apartment off of U Street in 2005, one of my roommates got jumped and had his head bashed in with a brick. He was in the hospital for a long long time, and the cops thought it was a random gang-initiation related assault. My first cab ride to my apartment, I remember the cab driver telling me that he would not have taken me to my destination a few years ago because there was too much ish going on around my block. I was like, wtf, I'm paying 65% of my take-home income to live here.
Other than being broke, my introduction to DC was exciting.
That's an amazing story and wow, I knew that most of the Capitol Hill/White House interns were young, but I didn't know they were THAT young! I'm 21 myself btw (Born and raised across the DC line in PG County). What became of your roomie? Did he ever recovered?
Location: YOU are NOT a Washingtonian. YOU are a GENTRIFIER from the CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks & Condos era.
367 posts, read 642,279 times
Reputation: 148
I have a relative who recently returned to DC after 30 years and he was disappointed to see so many CVS stores occupying spaces where local businesses used to be located.
I'm struggling to think of an American city where this isn't true. In terms of different local jurisdictions sharing the same metro area, New York City has New Jersey and Connecticut butting right up against it and there's no shortage of bad blood between the three of them. Kansas City shares Missouri and Kansas. St. Louis shares Missouri and Illinois. Chicago has Indiana and kind of Wisconsin. Detroit and Buffalo have Canada.
In terms of most people living in the suburbs and some of those people being scared / disdainful of the city, that's been the norm nationwide for decades, with a lot of metro areas of 4-6 million people and a central city of only about 600,000. I'm thinking of Seattle, Denver, Boston, Miami... Houston cheats its population numbers by just pushing its borders to take in the sprawl.
But this is also true for even our most successful cities. Los Angeles has 3.8 million living in the city with an overall metro area of about 16 million. Chicago has about 2.7 million people in a metro area of about 10 million people. Even New York City has only 8.3 million people in a metro area of about 20 million.
All of these metro areas also have vibrant commercial centers in the suburbs, similar to Tysons Corner, Silver Spring, and Bethesda.
What might set DC apart in this regard is how geographically small the central city is in regard to the metro area that surrounds it, but the core dynamics aren't unique and attitudes have improved a lot in recent years toward the central cities. Perhaps you work with a lot of people who still have the old idea of a crime-ridden DC in their minds.
i feel like this has changed a lot as the city has gentrified, but even as recent as 10 years ago, people from northern VA just didnt go to DC. im 24 now and when i was younger everyone thought of DC as a chit hole
Location: YOU are NOT a Washingtonian. YOU are a GENTRIFIER from the CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks & Condos era.
367 posts, read 642,279 times
Reputation: 148
Quote:
Originally Posted by r_u_a_wizard
i feel like this has changed a lot as the city has gentrified, but even as recent as 10 years ago, people from northern VA just didnt go to DC. im 24 now and when i was younger everyone thought of DC as a chit hole
The old 9:30 club was filled with people from northern VA so not everyone in VA felt that way.
I have a relative who recently returned to DC after 30 years and he was disappointed to see so many CVS stores occupying spaces where local businesses used to be located.
I agree with him 100%.
30 years ago you'd be lucky if you could even see the "local businesses" through all the crack smoke.
DC is better now than 30 years ago... unless you're someone who operates outside the law. Then I could see preferring the old DC. The Mayor was doing drugs back then! The old DC was a corrupt, crime invested, disgrace. Glad those days are over.
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