80’s/90’s DC vs 2020’s DC-Biggest Similarities, Biggest Differences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember 14th St. used to be empty (above about R). It was a place you largely avoided on foot if you could.

+1 And 14th was a sort of line of demarcation (similar to 96th Street in Manhattan around the same time) and you didn’t go east of there unless you lived in the neighborhood. Lots of places that burned or were otherwise abandoned after 1968 that hadn’t changed at all.
I grew up going out in Georgetown, DuPont, Adams Morgan. Now everyone in their early 20s goes to places like the Wharf, which didn’t exist then, or H Street which might as well not have. I have a friend who bought a place near Gallaudet in the mid-late 90s - it had bullet holes in the facade and the second floor was completely rotted. He couldn’t get pizza delivered there and cabs refused to take him home. I had another friend who moved just north and east of Logan around that same time - I went to grab smokes at the 7-11 (it’s now a coffee place) around the corner one night and a guy came in who had been stabbed and he was bleeding all over the floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:White person here who grew up in Northwest DC in the 80s and early 90s. There weren’t many white kids growing up in DC then. They were the white kids at the private schools. Then there were maybe 20 to 40 white kids per grade at Wilson. That was about it. So most of the white kids all kind of knew each other. Like you might not actually know someone, but you’ve probably heard of him or had a friend in common.

There was a lot more crime and homeless people, even in places like Cleveland park.

City services were dreadful. Trash regularly did not get picked up on the appropriate day. Sometimes it didn’t get picked up all week. You couldn’t really figure out when it would get picked up, so if it didn’t get picked up on the right day, you would leave the trashcan at the curb in the hopes that it will get picked up the next day or the next day. But sometimes when you did that, the police would come through and ticket every trashcan. It seemed deliberate. Don’t pick up the trash, then ticket people!

Snow plowing barely happened, which was relevant because it snowed more back then.

There were a ton more movie theaters. Movie theaters all up and down Wisconsin Avenue and Connecticut.

Way fewer restaurants.

I left DC in 2010 so I don’t actually know what it’s like now. Now I live in Macgomery County and the difference in services is absolutely amazing. Trash gets picked up when it supposed to get picked up. Streets get plowed. It’s kind of boring out here though. I only left because I couldn’t afford to buy a house in DC.

Honestly the only thing that was better about DC back then is that it was cheaper. Normal, middle class or upper middle class people could afford to live in places like Cleveland Park and Wesley Park. Like a government worker and a stay at home mom could afford a house in Cleveland Park. Now you need massive wealth to live in those neighborhoods

This post is spot-on.

Just a few more observations:

1) DC seemed more Southern. I remember a friend who relocated from NYC in the ‘80s would complain about how much slower the clerks were at Peoples.

2) People were in general nicer. It seemed more neighborly, and like a small town.

3) There were not NewYorkers everywhere.

4) People looked at you askance if your kids went to DCPS, even if it was to Wilson feeders.

5) There was another thread about this that talked about Tracks and other fun things.

[Anonymous]

TRACKS! Oh man I remember being at Tracks one time and someone put some incendiary device under a car. Good times, those were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TRACKS! Oh man I remember being at Tracks one time and someone put some incendiary device under a car. Good times, those were.

Tracks on the last Tuesday of the month was Ladies Night. It was great in the summers with the volleyball court. I remember a second date with my now wife. Thirty years, a house and two kids later we’re still kicking’ it. Yes, good times. 😀

[Anonymous]

The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people were much realer, not as many country bumpkins from the middle of nowhere south or midwest coming here and thinking DC is Disneyland. A positive is it's safer

Just DC's own bumpkins. DC was a small, sleepy southern town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember 14th St. used to be empty (above about R). It was a place you largely avoided on foot if you could.

14th street was for hookers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember 14th St. used to be empty (above about R). It was a place you largely avoided on foot if you could.

14th street was for hookers.

Is that huge homeless shelter at 14th and R still there? That also contributed to the 'vibrancy' of 14th St.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember 14th St. used to be empty (above about R). It was a place you largely avoided on foot if you could.

14th street was for hookers.

Is that huge homeless shelter at 14th and R still there? That also contributed to the 'vibrancy' of 14th St.

Please don’t bother to post if you can’t keep up with what’s going on. The building was sold almost 10 years ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/post/central-union-missions-move-means-new-condos-on-14th-street/2013/02/11/adae3f3e-6fb9-11e2-aa58-243de81040ba_blog.html

[Anonymous]

Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember 14th St. used to be empty (above about R). It was a place you largely avoided on foot if you could.

14th street was for hookers.

Is that huge homeless shelter at 14th and R still there? That also contributed to the 'vibrancy' of 14th St.

Please don’t bother to post if you can’t keep up with what’s going on. The building was sold almost 10 years ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/post/central-union-missions-move-means-new-condos-on-14th-street/2013/02/11/adae3f3e-6fb9-11e2-aa58-243de81040ba_blog.html

Yeah LOL luxury leather brand Shinola occupies the ground floor and the rest is condos. Come unto me capitalist excess!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember 14th St. used to be empty (above about R). It was a place you largely avoided on foot if you could.

14th street was for hookers.

Is that huge homeless shelter at 14th and R still there? That also contributed to the 'vibrancy' of 14th St.

Please don’t bother to post if you can’t keep up with what’s going on. The building was sold almost 10 years ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/post/central-union-missions-move-means-new-condos-on-14th-street/2013/02/11/adae3f3e-6fb9-11e2-aa58-243de81040ba_blog.html

Calm down, Jan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

I remember the giant hole that eventually became DC USA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

Lol at this!

I'd add Marion Barry. Incredibly different from Marion Bowser!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

I used to work a night shift job around there back in the late 90s. The only place open in that area (Thomas Circle) to get a snack was the CVS. It would be me and the hookers in line to check out. We weren't friends, but we recognized each other and we'd each joke how the other was "working" that night.