"Where do you live?" "Oh we're in North Arlington"

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Except the Moms Club was exclusionary from the outset for only North Arlington, and it was intention. The South Arlington chapter was founded after, and the split when it got too large, because Moms in even zip codes weren’t welcome in the Moms Club of North Arlington nor its offshoot MONA.

Take it up with MOMS Club national. It is designed to have small-geography based clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Except the Moms Club was exclusionary from the outset for only North Arlington, and it was intention. The South Arlington chapter was founded after, and the split when it got too large, because Moms in even zip codes weren’t welcome in the Moms Club of North Arlington nor its offshoot MONA.

~13 square miles and several thousand members sounds plenty large enough for a mom's group. I can see why the group wouldn't want to expand into South Arlington (or info Falls Church, Fairfax Co, etc). I can also see why people in South Arlington would like it to expand - we bought a ton of our baby/toddler stuff on MONA.

[Anonymous]

Just being general, so maybe neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Except the Moms Club was exclusionary from the outset for only North Arlington, and it was intention. The South Arlington chapter was founded after, and the split when it got too large, because Moms in even zip codes weren’t welcome in the Moms Club of North Arlington nor its offshoot MONA.

~13 square miles and several thousand members sounds plenty large enough for a mom's group. I can see why the group wouldn't want to expand into South Arlington (or info Falls Church, Fairfax Co, etc). I can also see why people in South Arlington would like it to expand - we bought a ton of our baby/toddler stuff on MONA.

Uh, its not just about expanding, its was designed to be exclusionary from the start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Except the Moms Club was exclusionary from the outset for only North Arlington, and it was intention. The South Arlington chapter was founded after, and the split when it got too large, because Moms in even zip codes weren’t welcome in the Moms Club of North Arlington nor its offshoot MONA.

~13 square miles and several thousand members sounds plenty large enough for a mom's group. I can see why the group wouldn't want to expand into South Arlington (or info Falls Church, Fairfax Co, etc). I can also see why people in South Arlington would like it to expand - we bought a ton of our baby/toddler stuff on MONA.

Uh, its not just about expanding, its was designed to be exclusionary from the start.

Well the same logic applies, right? Why not make your mom group all of Northern VA?

on the other hand, it probably was exclusionary. Much more fun to have a mom group of wealthy families passing around gently used high quality stuff, right?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:"North Arlington, not to be confused with South Arlington," is how I would take that comment.

this. it's definitely this. people have been saying this since the 80s, at least.

to follow up on this, what I understood was South Arlington was where poor immigrants lived in apartments (the horror!) whereas north arlington was "old virginia families" who were "wealthy" and lived in "single family homes." The people who said "North Arlington" would always sort of pause right after they said north, just to give it some emphasis. "North [breathy pause] Arlington [looks around the group for acknowledgement]."

Growing up in NoVA, people were so snobby about North Arlington that when I visited Yorktown HS for an event, I thought it was going to be some kind of amazing school with chocolate milk in the water fountains and mercedes in teh parking lots. Was disappointed to find it was just another NoVa high school, although i remember getting super lost on my way there, driving through the wilds of arlington in the pre-GPS days.

I think you are fabricating this story, right up to your stupid “breathy pause.” Arlington was not know for wealthy families until recently. That has anlways been what McLean has been know for. And some parts of North Arlington were in fact crappy. When I moved to Arlington after college from up north, one of my college classmate’s mom was nervous about me living in Ballston because “it was such a bad area.”

Lol, so glad someone else said this. I had friends who lived in a Ballston townhouse circa 1990, and it was considered borderline unsafe (not to mention my friends who dared live on the Hill).

Your anecdote proves my point. Ballston = Old South Arlington, aka "unsafe" and "crime ridden." Basically it went in gradients, with south of Route 50 "really bad" and south of 66 "borderline unsafe." That's exactly why people made such a big deal about living in "North Arlington" aka north of 29, the part of the county that's cuddled up next to McLean.

(Worthy of its own thread is a discussion of how Old McLean transformed from nice ranch houses and ramblers on ample lots to New McLean, a hellscape of colonial mcmansions united by one crappy shopping center.)

North and South Arlington is divided by Rt. 50, not Rt. 29.

29 is the line for North North Arlington.

And then way up there is Upper Caucasia.

That isn’t a racist thing to say at all.

“Upper Caucasia” is a reference to this map from the City Paper ages ago.

[Anonymous]

I can see how it would come off as specifying being “on the good side of the tracks” so to speak. And FWIW I don’t think there’s anything bad about living in S Arlington. But I am aware of people who feel the distinction needs to be made.

I live in N Arlington, but I only ever say Arlington if asked by someone local. If asked by someone non-local I say Virginia, outside DC or something like that. If talking to someone who wants to know the specific area then I will say Westover, but k don’t expect many people outside of those who live in Arlington to know what Westover is.

[Anonymous]

I've been a fan of Thai Noy for a good ~13-14 years now. I also just learned about the bakery in that shopping center. The stuff I've had from there was good but seems like they sell out very early on the weekends.

[Anonymous]

Yet you likely say NORTHERN VA, not to be confused with Rest OF VA, amirite?

[Anonymous]

Seems ok, but although I am aware that North Arlington is regarded as nicer, it is equivalent to saying you went to dinner at Applebees as opposed to TGI Friday to me. I just don’t have enough experience with Arlington for it to make a meaningful difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"North Arlington, not to be confused with South Arlington," is how I would take that comment.

this. it's definitely this. people have been saying this since the 80s, at least.

to follow up on this, what I understood was South Arlington was where poor immigrants lived in apartments (the horror!) whereas north arlington was "old virginia families" who were "wealthy" and lived in "single family homes." The people who said "North Arlington" would always sort of pause right after they said north, just to give it some emphasis. "North [breathy pause] Arlington [looks around the group for acknowledgement]."

Growing up in NoVA, people were so snobby about North Arlington that when I visited Yorktown HS for an event, I thought it was going to be some kind of amazing school with chocolate milk in the water fountains and mercedes in teh parking lots. Was disappointed to find it was just another NoVa high school, although i remember getting super lost on my way there, driving through the wilds of arlington in the pre-GPS days.

I think you are fabricating this story, right up to your stupid “breathy pause.” Arlington was not know for wealthy families until recently. That has anlways been what McLean has been know for. And some parts of North Arlington were in fact crappy. When I moved to Arlington after college from up north, one of my college classmate’s mom was nervous about me living in Ballston because “it was such a bad area.”

Lol, so glad someone else said this. I had friends who lived in a Ballston townhouse circa 1990, and it was considered borderline unsafe (not to mention my friends who dared live on the Hill).

Your anecdote proves my point. Ballston = Old South Arlington, aka "unsafe" and "crime ridden." Basically it went in gradients, with south of Route 50 "really bad" and south of 66 "borderline unsafe." That's exactly why people made such a big deal about living in "North Arlington" aka north of 29, the part of the county that's cuddled up next to McLean.

(Worthy of its own thread is a discussion of how Old McLean transformed from nice ranch houses and ramblers on ample lots to New McLean, a hellscape of colonial mcmansions united by one crappy shopping center.)

North and South Arlington is divided by Rt. 50, not Rt. 29.

29 is the line for North North Arlington.

And then way up there is Upper Caucasia.

North North Arlington is not real. I understand what you mean though. The real distinction starts with north of the Orange line.

[Anonymous]

A good read..haha

https://www.militarytownadvisor.com/blog/2016/5/10/187/north-vs-south-arlington-in-virginia/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yet you likely say NORTHERN VA, not to be confused with Rest OF VA, amirite?

Bad analogy. Virginia is a whole state, saying northern VA is actually helpful in relaying where you live. Not Richmond or va beach but outside dc

[Anonymous]

I lived in North Arlington as a child in the 60s, it was quite upper class then, the houses across the street from mine backed onto the Washington GCC golf course. But then my parents got divorced and my mother moved us to Glen Carlyn, just south of the N vs S divider Rte 50 so it was a lesson in how the other half lives for us.

I much preferred Glen Carlyn to CC Hills. I preferred Kenmore to Williamsburg. I'm glad I went to Wakefield instead of Yorktown. We loved Glen Carlyn park and having a library and a community center and a 7-11 a few blocks away, you don't get that in CC Hills. In many ways it was just all better.

I have no memories of Ballston ever being trashy as some have said, we went there to shop at Hechts and to play Putt Putt golf and down to Clarendon to shop for shoes or go to Sears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in North Arlington as a child in the 60s, it was quite upper class then, the houses across the street from mine backed onto the Washington GCC golf course. But then my parents got divorced and my mother moved us to Glen Carlyn, just south of the N vs S divider Rte 50 so it was a lesson in how the other half lives for us.

I much preferred Glen Carlyn to CC Hills. I preferred Kenmore to Williamsburg. I'm glad I went to Wakefield instead of Yorktown. We loved Glen Carlyn park and having a library and a community center and a 7-11 a few blocks away, you don't get that in CC Hills. In many ways it was just all better.

I have no memories of Ballston ever being trashy as some have said, we went there to shop at Hechts and to play Putt Putt golf and down to Clarendon to shop for shoes or go to Sears.

You may enjoy reading this, PP. Evidently, Ballston was Parkington. It sounds like it was up and coming in the 50s and 60s but then declined in 70s.

https://boundarystones.weta.org/2017/08/08/ballston-common-birth-death-rebirth-dc-areas-first-major-shopping-mall