How boring is Cleveland Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I both enjoy CP (eg Sababa) and get where OP is coming from. It could be a lot better, there are a lot of meh restaurants there.

One other shop in the neighborhood worth noting: Weygandt is one of the best wine stores in the district (if you like wine). A super value play is to grab a baller bottle from them and head over to Medium Rare for steak. St. Anselm it is not, but for the suburbs?.... Pretty good.

Do they charge a corkage fee?

[Anonymous]

Where do you live, OP?

[Anonymous]

When I first moved to DC in the 90s, from NYC, I thought CP was perfect. Great stores and restaurants, interesting and beautiful homes. You had Lavandou, the Uptown, Yanyu. Now it sadly looks junky and full of chains. At least Vace is still there.

[Anonymous]

Very. That’s the point. We lived just north of the Metro close to Connecticut Ave for several years before we had kids. It’s like living in a leafy quiet suburb, but being close to the less boring parts of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So boring and leafy. Quiet, pretentious, with ever rising property values. The neighbors say hi and behave well. There are no ATVs or trash. It’s just the worst.

[Anonymous]

I like it. The library is great, metro is convenient, you can walk down into the park. For more lively restaurants and cafes, AdMo and Dupont are very close.

I just wish the movie theater could be restored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So boring and leafy. Quiet, pretentious, with ever rising property values. The neighbors say hi and behave well. There are no ATVs or trash. It’s just the worst.

I too enjoy the 'suburbs in the city' that is NW DC. Especially enjoy taking walks. However, the crime has gone up--especially streets like Van Ness and by the Cathedral. Lots of smash and grabs. And I personally think the best dining in the area is now around Cathedral Commons. We are considering ditching the all of it for Bethesda--thinking it too will be walkable, less crime at least of the nuisance kind like poop on park benches and people shouting randomly on the corner-- and while I find the dining in Bethesda pretty meh--some mom and pop places look good, coffee shops, shopping and a few night spots. I am tempted to stay in NW DC for the reason one PP said, we are close to things but can 'get away' back to our neighborhood. The truth is we don't do a lot of DC downtown stuff anymore. I'd almost rather live near a bigger hub like Bethesda, more at my fingertips, with the leafy green at the same time. Lot to consider. But to the OP, CP IS boring...in a good way. It could have more nightlife and dining--hope that comes back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do you live, OP?

Logan

[Anonymous]

I lived in NYC just north of the East Village in my 20s. I had a few friends and many older colleagues who lived in the Upper East Side. I always wondered why anyone would live there, it seemed so boring without lively restaurants and bars. It lacked the diversity and variety of other dynamic neighborhoods.

Fast forward 20 years, I recently spent a weekend in NYC with my kids and we went to the Met which is in the upper east side. We strolled by several neighborhood streets which still lacked interesting restaurants and bars and variety (relative to other parts of NYC), but now I gazed at the neighborhood with adoration for its serenity in the midst of a massive metropolis. It was quiet, clean, and visually pleasing with tree lined streets and pretty brownstones. Now I wonder why someone would live in an NYC neighborhoods with loud bars, bus loads of tourists, trash on the streets, and cannabis stores on every block.

The moral of the story is that we often determine that something has an intrinsic attribution (boring, beautiful, etc) but really these values are relative to our preferences and characterizing it a certain way tells us something about us (not something inherent about the thing).

Values are relative to our preferences, not things that are externally real.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry but brownstones should not exist anymore in Manhattan. It’s an atrocious misallocation of space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So boring and leafy. Quiet, pretentious, with ever rising property values. The neighbors say hi and behave well. There are no ATVs or trash. It’s just the worst.

I too enjoy the 'suburbs in the city' that is NW DC. Especially enjoy taking walks. However, the crime has gone up--especially streets like Van Ness and by the Cathedral. Lots of smash and grabs. And I personally think the best dining in the area is now around Cathedral Commons. We are considering ditching the all of it for Bethesda--thinking it too will be walkable, less crime at least of the nuisance kind like poop on park benches and people shouting randomly on the corner-- and while I find the dining in Bethesda pretty meh--some mom and pop places look good, coffee shops, shopping and a few night spots. I am tempted to stay in NW DC for the reason one PP said, we are close to things but can 'get away' back to our neighborhood. The truth is we don't do a lot of DC downtown stuff anymore. I'd almost rather live near a bigger hub like Bethesda, more at my fingertips, with the leafy green at the same time. Lot to consider. But to the OP, CP IS boring...in a good way. It could have more nightlife and dining--hope that comes back.

We live in between Bethesda and Friendship Heights and they are both walkable to us, which I love. While both are lacking a bit of character and definitely mom and pop stores, restaurants; there are many new choices and it seems like more will be coming. A further walk to Connecticut Ave corridor but not too far. We lived in Cleveland Park before for a short time and the "burbs" of MD with metro access is what I prefer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went for a long walk in DC and ended up on Connecticut Ave in the Cleveland Park area. All I saw was a bunch of second-rate looking restaurants and chain looking stores. Couldn’t even find an independent coffee shop - just a Starbucks or two.

Might as well be a suburb.

What am I missing?

I think you are missing that the people who live here don’t go to the places you went. It’s about leafy and tony living. Convenience of schools. Convergence of mindsets. Easy access to downtown for better restaurants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in NYC just north of the East Village in my 20s. I had a few friends and many older colleagues who lived in the Upper East Side. I always wondered why anyone would live there, it seemed so boring without lively restaurants and bars. It lacked the diversity and variety of other dynamic neighborhoods.

Fast forward 20 years, I recently spent a weekend in NYC with my kids and we went to the Met which is in the upper east side. We strolled by several neighborhood streets which still lacked interesting restaurants and bars and variety (relative to other parts of NYC), but now I gazed at the neighborhood with adoration for its serenity in the midst of a massive metropolis. It was quiet, clean, and visually pleasing with tree lined streets and pretty brownstones. Now I wonder why someone would live in an NYC neighborhoods with loud bars, bus loads of tourists, trash on the streets, and cannabis stores on every block.

The moral of the story is that we often determine that something has an intrinsic attribution (boring, beautiful, etc) but really these values are relative to our preferences and characterizing it a certain way tells us something about us (not something inherent about the thing).

Values are relative to our preferences, not things that are externally real.

Well said

[Anonymous]

I live here and I don’t think I’ve ever said let’s go to either Ave for dinner or shopping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went for a long walk in DC and ended up on Connecticut Ave in the Cleveland Park area. All I saw was a bunch of second-rate looking restaurants and chain looking stores. Couldn’t even find an independent coffee shop - just a Starbucks or two.

Might as well be a suburb.

What am I missing?

I think you are missing that the people who live here don’t go to the places you went. It’s about leafy and tony living. Convenience of schools. Convergence of mindsets. Easy access to downtown for better restaurants

So, in others words, you all leave the neighborhood to have fun. Meaning the neighborhood itself is boring.