Union Market DC

[Anonymous]

I prefer Eastern Market for living and Union Market for occasional visits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not family friendly. It's well known as a neighborhood among the younger set where you move if you're single and want to "clap some cheeks" after a night out having cocktails / wine / whatever.

Uh... what?

OP, we live just south of Union Market, near H Street NE. The housing right around Union Market is all large condo/apartment buildings, and therefore not as family focused (Though we do know some families who live in them, mostly with babies/toddlers). But Union Market itself is very family friendly, and we go there all the time with our kids. Also La Cosecha nearby. A lot of the restaurants there are also pretty welcoming to kids -- we like St. Anselm and Stellina Pizzeria for sit down meals, and lots of the stalls at both markets. Sometimes there are events for kids at the markets. We also like having the Politics & Prose up there, though we are spoiled for bookstores in our neighborhood with Solid State and East City Books and Capitol Hill Books not far away either.

There are also events and spots in the neighborhood that are not for kids, which is of course fine. We like having the Angelika pop up nearby for date nights and plenty of bars and more adult-focused restaurants. To us it's the best of both worlds.

Sure, but do you “clap cheeks”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check the crime stats. I would for my $ go West of the 16th St, and be careful even there. Look up Alan Henney on Twitter.

I would avoid Brookland incl b/c the traffic but honestly the crime and the noise have been bad in the areas you mention.

How can you live like this?

Living great and not even WOTP. Why would I purposefully put myself in a place where I’d be at a risk of violence, crime, traffic jams, and no schools?
It seems irrational to ignore these things?

you think there are no schools in/near Union Market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Market is a fine place to take your kids in the day time and I have done so myself. In my opinion, it is not a fine place for my kids to be at night. It is not just the nightlife, it also has a sort of “edgy” feel about it because it is a gentrifying area and comes with all of the externalities that brings.

I like it fine, my s/o lives in that area. “Edgy”? Only if you consider a lot of brand new high rise luxury rentals as “edgy.” Maybe it’s the food halls. Anyway I’m an older white subrbanite and don’t feel “edged” out there by any “externalities” in the slightest.

So you don’t have young kids? I’m not sure why you think your opinion is relevant then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends where you are coming from. If you are used to having a big backyard and driving your kids to a bunch of activities and doing your shopping at big box stores, Union Market is not going to feel like that at all.

If apartment living suits your needs and you like the schools (I think JO Wilson and Stuart Hobson are perfectly fine, if not the best DC has to offer...and it wouldn't be hard to get to other schools if you get a seat through the lottery) it could definitely work, and you can do activities like sports on the hill, swimming at gallaudet or rumsey pool, DCYOP is an easy ride on the red line to Takoma, dance at Atlas, etc.

How about I lived in Manhattan? So apartment living suits me and city living suits me, but rampant crime doesn’t suit me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check the crime stats. I would for my $ go West of the 16th St, and be careful even there. Look up Alan Henney on Twitter.

I would avoid Brookland incl b/c the traffic but honestly the crime and the noise have been bad in the areas you mention.

How can you live like this?

Living great and not even WOTP. Why would I purposefully put myself in a place where I’d be at a risk of violence, crime, traffic jams, and no schools?
It seems irrational to ignore these things?

you think there are no schools in/near Union Market?

Pray tell. Which ones and up to what grade? And how good?

[Anonymous]

Smells like pot there 24/7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smells like pot there 24/7

At least it doesn’t have the smell of cheek clappage.

[Anonymous]

I can't figure out if the really hostile posts in this thread are from the OP, the poster with the s/o who lives near Union Market, or just some random person who doesn't think anyone (?) should live in a neighborhood they've heard of but never spent time in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not family friendly. It's well known as a neighborhood among the younger set where you move if you're single and want to "clap some cheeks" after a night out having cocktails / wine / whatever.

Uh... what?

OP, we live just south of Union Market, near H Street NE. The housing right around Union Market is all large condo/apartment buildings, and therefore not as family focused (Though we do know some families who live in them, mostly with babies/toddlers). But Union Market itself is very family friendly, and we go there all the time with our kids. Also La Cosecha nearby. A lot of the restaurants there are also pretty welcoming to kids -- we like St. Anselm and Stellina Pizzeria for sit down meals, and lots of the stalls at both markets. Sometimes there are events for kids at the markets. We also like having the Politics & Prose up there, though we are spoiled for bookstores in our neighborhood with Solid State and East City Books and Capitol Hill Books not far away either.

There are also events and spots in the neighborhood that are not for kids, which is of course fine. We like having the Angelika pop up nearby for date nights and plenty of bars and more adult-focused restaurants. To us it's the best of both worlds.

Sure, but do you “clap cheeks”?

Not nearly enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out if the really hostile posts in this thread are from the OP, the poster with the s/o who lives near Union Market, or just some random person who doesn't think anyone (?) should live in a neighborhood they've heard of but never spent time in.

I think there’s two of us with a s/o near Union Market and maybe you’re referring to the other one but that wasn’t my intention. I think it’s a nice neighborhood if a little too up and coming for my liking (I live in Cleveland Park so not exactly cool or trendy) but I spend a lot of time in NOMA because of my bf and I think it’s fine. I just wouldn’t live there if I had children is all I meant. If you’re young and like a kind of Brooklyn vibe I think it’s a great choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out if the really hostile posts in this thread are from the OP, the poster with the s/o who lives near Union Market, or just some random person who doesn't think anyone (?) should live in a neighborhood they've heard of but never spent time in.

I think there’s two of us with a s/o near Union Market and maybe you’re referring to the other one but that wasn’t my intention. I think it’s a nice neighborhood if a little too up and coming for my liking (I live in Cleveland Park so not exactly cool or trendy) but I spend a lot of time in NOMA because of my bf and I think it’s fine. I just wouldn’t live there if I had children is all I meant. If you’re young and like a kind of Brooklyn vibe I think it’s a great choice.

Ah, okay.

Different strokes for different folks. I actually lived in Cleveland Park about 20 years ago as a student and really liked it -- it's a very accessible neighborhood for a newcomer because all the commercial stuff is right on Connecticut and everything else is residential, and the metro and buses run along Connecticut too. So it's just very intuitive and it made for a good entry into life in DC. I'd move back there, too, but I do agree it's kind of sleepy.

The funny thing is that I now live near Union Market with kids and I don't think of it as "cool and trendy" even though I know that's the perception elsewhere. We bought here because we could afford a row house and it made sense for our commutes, whereas Cleveland Park or other parts of NW are tough commutes and SFHs are well out of our price range. We've found it to be great for kids, love our school, and feel like the neighborhood has a real family vibe with lots of people with young kids. We are at Union Market or La Cosecha probably once a week, plus shop at the TJs there and I sometimes go to La Pluma or one of the markets to work during the day. It's always felt very family friendly but we are also there during family times -- 11am on Saturday or 5pm on a Thursday. I'm sure it's livelier and more adult at 10pm on the weekend, we just wouldn't be there (or anywhere) with our kids at that time.

[Anonymous]

I will say something unpopular but very honest. We lived in one of these neighborhoods briefly, and had not realized until we moved back to a very central WTOP location just how much low grade stress came with living in these neighborhoods. You are expected to embrace “city living” including to be aware and street smart (and for anyone who says that’s not true just look up the recent happenings in these neighborhoods). It’s not even the overt drug trade or a dodgy guy in the alley or a shooting or a knifing or rats or mosquitos or bulletproof glass at the local bodega or trash by the metro, it’s just a low grade siege mentality where you’re expected to have your “wits about you”. The relative feeling of equally “city living” in a place where you don’t have to look over your shoulder is just incomparable and hard to describe until you’ve felt it. I didn’t realize we and the kids were carrying this low grade subconscious stress until we moved and its absence was a huge relief. I would not live like that again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out if the really hostile posts in this thread are from the OP, the poster with the s/o who lives near Union Market, or just some random person who doesn't think anyone (?) should live in a neighborhood they've heard of but never spent time in.

I think there’s two of us with a s/o near Union Market and maybe you’re referring to the other one but that wasn’t my intention. I think it’s a nice neighborhood if a little too up and coming for my liking (I live in Cleveland Park so not exactly cool or trendy) but I spend a lot of time in NOMA because of my bf and I think it’s fine. I just wouldn’t live there if I had children is all I meant. If you’re young and like a kind of Brooklyn vibe I think it’s a great choice.

Yep, two of us, I’m the other, who was making a little fun of characterizing it as “edgy” - because I tend to think DC (and especially DCUM) standards for that are pretty low. The minor street crime there doesn’t seem any worse to me than anywhere else in the District other than maybe wypipo world of AU Park. It’s not where I would choose to live but I enjoy visiting my s/o there and it has a lot to offer, if you like food halls and drinks carts and avocado toast, which I do.

The only hostility came from someone who told me my opinion doesn’t matter.

[Anonymous]

Great area for singles and child free couples who like urban living and avoid hassles of commute.