That happens. Thinking about it, I haven’t gone out there for a year and those times were around lunchtime. U Street is not so bad in the evenings. The crowd skews a bit older and is less rowdy than Adams Morgan. They also have some good restaurants in the area.
I really am old. Every time my friends drag me to U street, I look around thinking how young everyone is. I’ll tolerate Stetsons (though was majorly disappointed to find it wasn’t a country bar the first time I went) and Local 16 (though not the ridiculous dance part upstairs - downstairs or outside, if there is space). But otherwise, I can’t deal with the area.
Have you ever done trivia night at Stetson’s? You should check out Solly’s or Polly’s if you want someplace more laid back.
I haven’t, though friends do I believe. I end up drinking in DC about 4 times a year, usually when we get sick of listening to one guy whine about how it is unfair he always has to travel to Virginia. Next time I will suggest those places…
You know, I have this theory about DC. It lacks a population base enthusiastic about its existence and outwardly committed to its betterment.
New Yorkers are, and have always been fanatical for New York, so I don’t necessarily consider that the baseline, but I mean, I have friends in Baltimore and they are just crazy for Baltimore, while not denying that the city has some problems. Yeesh you should hear people talk about how great Pittsburgh is. I never see anyone who is just nuts for living in DC though.
Its like “DC: it’s not as bad as you think” is the strongest emotion anyone can muster.
Related question: are the shitty parts of DC part of The Real America?
Nothing inside the Beltway is “real America.” I think pretty much by definition.
That’s why they don’t let us vote, we’re not real Americans.
Hello Again I have a theory that you don’t know what your fucking talking about. The only time we have the “it’s not as bad as you think” talk is when we’re trying to get through to scared suburbanites. Recently, my brother from NoVA was staying briefly in my house and you would have thought he was the one in Afghanistan and I love, love, love watching them try to navigate traffic circles.
I have no experience with DC but I can sort of understand your point. I used to give zero credence to the ‘‘urban minority communities are dangerous’’ myth.
Since I recently started attending school in Philadelphia, and studying racism and racial policy, my perspective has shifted somewhat. White or black, there appear to be some objectively dangerous places to live. And yes, a lot of those areas are populated with minorities who have been marginalized for centuries into these tiny urban areas–the ‘‘white flight’’ phenomenon combined with the failed urban renewal project essentially leaving behind a core of impoverished non-white people struggling to survive in the city.
I have a professor (black) who is very sensitive about the safety of his students in certain areas of West Philly (I can’t accurately say where as my geography of this region is shaky.) He grew up in this region and had been shot and stabbed several times by early adulthood. He explained that parents in this area basically have to raise their kids to learn how to take a bullet–and that this instruction once saved his son’s life. He comments frequently on the insanely high murder rate here, and tells stories about the local schools that raise my hair.
So yes, I have come to accept that there are some wickedly dangerous places to live. It impresses upon me that there are some areas of this country that are like war zones and that their inhabitants are experiencing some kind of existence that is completely foreign to me. Statistically those people are more likely to be minorities. Which is in no way implying that there is something inherently dangerous about black communities or Latino communities–the crux really is the poverty, as the relationship between crime and urban poverty is pretty well extrapolated, and we have an entire history of U.S. policy and racism to explain why minorities are disproportionately poor.
That said, I’m not going into my Prof’s neighborhood any time soon without proper training/instruction, because I would rather not be unprepared in a high-crime environment. I really couldn’t fault anyone for doing the same about a place they’d heard stories about. I completely believe some people’s fears are driven by racism, but I think it’s just as likely the fears are driven by reality. An unjust reality that we created, absolutely. But a reality nevertheless.
I just don’t know why you felt you needed to make your point by criticizing people who live outside of urban areas. I live in New Jersey and have a short commute into Philadelphia. My motive for doing this is not to avoid minorities, it is to cut my husband’s daily commute to North Jersey in half. Even though you’re talking about other suburbs and some other city, I don’t appreciate the universal insult against people who live in suburbs, or the implication that we don’t authentically care about the urban landscape simply because of where we live. It should come as no surprise to you whatsoever that people don’t enjoy being stereotyped.
I am telling you my experience - the people I know who live in DC (IN DC PROPER) are extremely lukewarm about the city. Whereas my friends who live in other cities with equal or greater problems with violent crime, blight, etc. (Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit) are absolutely bonkers for their city to the point where they will not shut up about how great it is.
NoVA is my vision of hell – for the record I completely join you in the OP – I am just musing on why DC’s reputation lags so far behind its actual redevelopment. MHO, there is a lack of enthusiasm for the city by its residents.
The OP is not criticizing all people who live outside of urban areas. The criticism is of people who live near DC and say “stay out of SE” as a blanket statement, i.e., people who are over-generalizing and assuming that all of SE is dangerous when it is not. I think the point is that if you live in the DC metro area, you should take the time to become informed about the city before you generalize about particular areas. Unfortunately, it is true that a lot of people who live in the DC suburbs do say things like “stay out of SE.” To the extent that the OP comments that the city has things to offer that are not as readily available in the suburbs (e.g., sidewalk cafes and shorter commutes), the point is made to accentuate that uninformed suburban people who do not view the city as an appropriate place to spend time do not realize the good things that they are missing out on.