Moving from LA to DC

In My Humble Opinion
1

That’s it. After a lifetime in Southern California, I will soon be off to the suburbs of Maryland, working in DC. So, what do I need to know?

Of note:

[ul]
[li]I’ve visited DC several times, mostly for work, and once as part of a vacation[/li][li]The housing is taken care of – we’ll be in Montgomery County, not overly far from a Metro station[/li][li]We have a few friends in the DMV already[/li][li]I have never lived anywhere (obviously) where planning events around weather was a concern[/li][li]I absolutely love cold weather (truly – ask me about wearing shorts in February in Chicago)[/li][li]I despise heat and humidity – did I mention I’m moving there toward the end of summer?[/li][/ul]
I’m leaving this kind of open-ended because I’m just interested in what folks have to say generally. Have at it.

2

Don’t root for the Capitals.

Don’t drive in the snow. Maybe you can, but half or more of the population is transient, and they all came from someplace where nobody can drive in snow. Also, the plowing is pretty bad, and instead of salt, they put sand on the roads.

Lots of great Ethiopian food. DC, for whatever reason, is where Ethiopians settle when they immigrate. Lots of good food in Adams Morgan and Georgetown.

Free museums are amazing, of course.

The humidity is oppressive in August.

3

But I like hockey. Am I just supposed to root for whomever the Caps are playing?

Hmm. I sincerely doubt I’ll have any more skill in that regard than the average person, and possibly quite a bit less. Also, I have an odd phobia about hitting deer.

4

Stay away from The Mall because it is overrun with supermutants. Or is Fallout 3 lying?

5

Hard Times Cafe, order the 3-way. Thank me later.

Maybe you can help RG3 get his mojo back.

6

I’d rather not take any chances. Noted.

Omar Little, I’m a lifelong Raider fan. I think the last decade or so is plenty of evidence that I’m not of aid to any football team I’d actually root for. Fortunately for RGIII, his team is not on my list.

7

‘Abandon all hope ye who enter here’.

  • Dante, D.C..
8

Northern Virginia is definitely better than Maryland.

You chose… poorly.

9

I live in Northern VA, and I think where to live depends on where you are commuting to, and what you are interested in. If my job was in Rockville, I wouldn’t live in Northern Virginia. Conversely, if my job was in Ashburn, I wouldn’t recommend living in DC or Montgomery County. I don’t really think that there is much difference in day to day life between Montgomery County and Fairfax County.

10

:frowning: We’ll miss ya.

11

“dislike heat and humidity” = you’re screwed :stuck_out_tongue:

I mean, LA can be hot, but the summer I spent there, it was NOT humid at all. Anywhere in the DC metro area - well, almost anywhere in the eastern half of the country - and humidity is an issue. Fortunately, we all have air conditioning.

Traffic sucks. It’s on a par with the LA area, if not quite as widespread. From memory, there were 5-traffic-lane superhighways in near-gridlock, 60-70 miles away from LA, when we were there. Here, if you’re that far away from the city, traffic will be fine (except for I-95 south of DC: Richmond Virginia is 90 miles from my house and I’ve had it take 3-4 hours).

Speaking of 95: It is not “The 95”. We don’t put “the” in front of interstate highway names on this coast. I can always tell when a TV or movie was written by someone from California, because a character says “the 95”. Named roads may be prefaced with “the”, e.g. “the Fairfax County Parkway” or “The Intercounty Connector”. Saying “the 95” will get you looked at funny and probably laughed at :D.

The nice thing about the area is that while we do indeed have weather, the winters aren’t (usually) as bad as further north, and the summers - while as hot and muggy as further south - are not as hot/muggy for as long. My in-laws live in Florida and it starts getting vile there in April. Our weather can be changeable as well - last week there were days where it didn’t break 70, but the week before it broke 90 several days in a row.

No earthquakes. Um, actually that’s not quite true, we had one about 3 years ago - but they’re so rare as to be a complete bafflement. We do get nasty storms sometimes - at least 3 hurricanes in the past 12+ years, and there are nasty non-hurricane rainstorms a couple times a year.

Mass transit is generally decent if you live closer in. Further out, and you’d have a hard time getting by without a car. Even closer in, it’s much easier to have a car for evening / weekend stuff - my neighborhood only has rush-hour buses on weekdays, and nothing on the weekends.

12

especially if you like Olive Garden and cul de sacs.

Rays the Classics is a good and affordable steakhouse across from the American Film Institute, if you die in a Metro station, it will take them about four days to find your body (google it if you don’t believe me), if you don’t die on the metro, stand on the right on the escalators.

13

Maryland is nice, but I’m sure the weather is much better in L.A. If you’re into healthy eating, there is a very large Whole Foods in Rockville, and quite a few other Whole Foods in the D.C. area. My first choice of health food stores is Mother’s Organic Market (MOM’s). There is a MOM’s in Rockville and several others in the D.C. area. They sell a lot of the same things as Whole Foods, but their prices are much lower. Also, Montgomery Mall is in Bethesda, MD and there are also two large shopping malls adjacent to each other in Tysons Corner (McLean, VA), which is not too far from Montgomery County.

14

It is an adjustment watching Dodgers games that mostly start at 10pm. BUT you never have to worry about a game starting while you are still at work.

Also, on the east coast everything is WAY closer together than you would expect. That takes some getting used to. Oh, and freeways aren’t freeways and if you refer to it as “the 95” people will look at you funny. I know, it’s really weird.

Philly is only a couple hours away, let me know if you ever want a cheesesteak.

Eta:LEARN TO COOK MEXICAN FOOD! You can not buy any that is decent on the east coast. People will tell you you can, they are lying. There is good Latino food from other cultures, but getting a decent taco is effing impossible.

15

You should definitely root for the Caps and if you go to any games, definitely yell “O!” near the end of the Star-Spangled Banner. Don’t let anyone give you shit for doing it, either.

16

It is almost comical the number of people who have warned us about the lack of quality Mexican food. Since that is one of our go-to items, this makes me sad. But the potential discovery of Ethiopian may make up for some of that. Plus, there appear to be a TON of Peruvian restaurants around, and I do love Peruvian food, so there’s that.

Yeah, I got a dose of the Dodger problem when I was out there this past week. I am a hard-core morning person. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do. The couple of games I tried to start watching this past week, I only got to the third or fourth inning before I had to conk out. Fortunately, I also have the Indians, so I’ll have something to start watching at 7pm most days.

I’ve been exposed to a Midwesterner long enough to know about not referring to the “the” in front of certain roadways. It’s weird, but I can do it. And yeah, I’m totally screwed with the heat/humidity.

17

Oh, some stuff on seasons. Summer is as miserable as everyone says BUT it only lasts 10 weeks. 12 weeks tops. And is usually only really awful for a week or two at a time before you get some rain. That’s right, it rains on this coast. Rain in the summer is flipping awesome. By yhetND of August summer is gone. Holoween is a cold holiday. Similarly you have never experienced spring before if you haven’t been here in the spring. Go read Robert Frosts poem Nothing Gold Can Stay and then realize that he wasn’t being metaphorical when he says “nature’s first green is gold” Trees literally turn gold for a few days, then burst into color like a Matisse painting for the next few weeks. That is particularly true in your new neighborhood. Cherry blossom trees are amazing. You have to go a bit further north for autumn and winter to really be spectacular, but they will both be better (and worse) than in LA.

I am not sorry I moved. And yes I live in Philly not DC, but really I am about as far from DC as you are from Laguna. I really do miss the Mexican food. And In N Out. Five Guys is good but too expensive.

18

Sorry for the odd spelling. My phone flipped out mid post and I just noticed it.

19

[quote=“Asimovian, post:1, topic:722182”]

[LIST]
[li]The housing is taken care of – we’ll be in Montgomery County, not overly far from a Metro station[/li][/QUOTE]

Looks like you will be my neighbor then. Hi!

I’ve been here for 22 years and except for the muggiest parts of the summer and the occasional deep snow closing everything down for a few days in January or February, I’ve generally been happy with it. (I came here from Colorado, where both the heat and the deep snow can be much worse.)

20

<tips hat>

We spent quite a bit of time in and around Rockville in the last week — some of it was even on purpose! Our hotel was in Gaithersburg. Definitely my kind of 'burbs, although there are parts of the cities out there that seem to be far more isolated than I’d be able to find in a California suburb. A plus in the sense of the incredibly quiet neighborhoods, but a minus in that it can be a little farther to get to a supermarket or even fast food.

Even though I’ve visited the general area many times, it is still hard to get over how incredibly green everything manages to be as compared to California. I think it will be a long time before that stops being amazing to me. Even while being stuck in traffic, I marveled at the beauty of the drive on the 495 freeway (I kid, I kid) and GW Parkway.