Downtown Bethesda: Where did it all go wrong?

[Anonymous]

FYI, I read that the pinball machines from VUK went to MOM's near college park. I thought that was strange.

[Anonymous]

Not strange--same person owns both.

[Anonymous]

Those who don't live there bashing it, gotta love it.

Keep saving, maybe someday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda has never been interesting so...

When I moved to DC in 1995 my friend who lived in Bethesda described it as a soulless concrete jungle. So by that measure it has improved immensely.

But people who live there are pretty sterile and not interesting. That’s the vibe people are getting.

Do you tend to generalize about all people in a particular city, as if they are all alike? I live in Bethesda and know tons of interesting people. The people that I meet tend to be well-educated, well-traveled, and open-minded, in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: FYI, I read that the pinball machines from VUK went to MOM's near college park. I thought that was strange.

The owner of MOM's owns the machines. He started VUK as a hobby since there was no pinball place around, and he know the building was due to be torn down in a few years. A lot of pinball clubs met there to try out all his cool machines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda and MoCo need to take after the Mainline in PA, and towns like West Chester that have actual main streets with shops/restaurants etc, and towns where you can travel to by train. We have the metro that allows people to travel to each town.

MoCo and local govts just love taxing businesses to death, and local/county govt has inordinate amounts of red tape that discourage new businesses from forming. Then factor in insane rental costs, and all you get are crappy chains and subpar food from establishments that have big investor groups backing them. You never get the organically grown, family run places that have their own recipes they're using for home cooking tasting food or that provide very unique flavors. The only places that can survive are the places that serve $35 plates of food.

But yea...travel to West Chester, Media, Rosemont, Wayne, Villanova,......the Mainline in PA is a role model for how the area should strive to be.

+1
I grew up here and always thought it was odd that Bethesda, McLean, etc didn’t develop into cute downtowns such a main line or the chicago suburbs (Evanston, etc) or even the nj/ny suburbs. Bethesda was bad even when I was growing up. Yes the stores were more independent but there was never a real downtown or town feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The “streeterys” are a joke. Who wants to eat in the middle of the street next to orange construction barriers? I think Bethesda appeals to old people and tweens but no one in between.

Yes- we very much do prefer it to cars wizzing why.

[Anonymous]

As someone that moved out of DC, from a terrible community with insane crime, to a gorgeous neighborhood in CC, i love downtown bethesda and all the surrounding area. I feel incredibly safe, and yes more interesting shops could pop up, but for what it is, it's great and better than most other cities in the metro area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is for overpriced gelato and walking around with old White people - Bethesda native

It's become a well-off retirement mecca. It's great for them - they can walk everywhere - but no so much for everyone else. And also, the parking is ridiculously bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Multiple $35 parking tickets did it for me only 5 minutes over the expiration. Gave up going.

Use the parkmobile app. It gives you alerts when the time is about to expire.

[Anonymous]

When Barnes and Noble left, I lost my reason for going there. When I want a cute restaurant, I go to Adams Morgan.

[Anonymous]

How can anyone say that Bethesda is for old rich people to sip gelato when it is clearly also for their rich teens to go out to dinner with the family credit card.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get people complaining about parking. The county lots are free on weekends, and only $1/hr on weekdays.

And the streetery by Spanish diner is pretty nice….people out with their dogs and kids running around, sometimes live musicians. It’s not particularly hip or cool, but it’s a nice suburban neighborhood for families to get some sushi, ice cream, bagels, etc. plus easy acres to capital crescent trail. There’s even a really nice tattoo parkour and a couple thrift stores. I could do without the stuff like dry bar but other people seem to like it. That one street that uncle Julio’s is on is just death to drive though—sometimes I turn onto it by mistake and then am just trapped forever!

[Anonymous]

The only parking garage that's a mess is the one on Bethesda Ave (by Bethesda Bagels). Any other lot/garage run by the county is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a SFH in the downtown. I love Bethesda because it's walkable and I have my favorite Indian restaurant there (plus one homey Japanese restaurant and a French bakery I like), but I agree that rents are too high for the kind of stores you're pining for. It's a shame, because with a little incentivce and live music, Bethesda could go from meh to wonderful!

OP here, please share the names of your favorite restaurants, we want to support these places, especially if independent.

Sure! Passage to India is my favorite Indian restaurant. Satsuma is the homey Japanese we like. Not fancy, but we love the atmosphere. Go to the DIY barbecue side. And Tout de Sweet is owned by a French patissier and makes really good cakes. I'm not a huge fan of some of his pastries (the scones are much too big and large, but hey, they're not French!), but he does delicious fruit mousses on his fruit-infused cakes. And it's a fun little cafe. I do NOT like Paul - it's a chain, and not very good.

Also love Toot De Sweet. Great croissants. Chocolate pistashio is yummy.