What's it like to live in Old Town Alexandria?
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Anonymous
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We are in the house hunting process and I keep coming back to Old Town as an option that has a lot of what we want. I'm curious about what others think about living there since we've only gone for visits to shop and/or eat. What's it like to live there with kids? Is the traffic as bad as it seems along Route 1 (Patrick/Henry Sts)? Where do people shop for groceries and staples? Are there good parks/playgrounds for kids, and is it safe for kids to walk out by themselves? Are there smaller neighborhoods or pockets within Old Town that are more or less family friendly?
Thanks! |
Anonymous
| It is very white |
Anonymous
| Fantastic, but you'll need private school. |
Anonymous
| There is a hood. Stay on the water side of Washington ST. |
Anonymous
Did you miss the huge housing projects right as u drive in from Route 1? |
Anonymous
| To speak to 22:09s post...yes the white side is very white but the black side is very black. Its segregated for lack of a better way to describe |
Anonymous
| We loved living in OT when DC was small. If you want public school, you'll need to look in the southeast quadrant. The difference in the elementary schools is stark. As for middle school, there are several threads in the Virginianschools forum that hash over that topic in detail. There are grocery stores in Old Town that are adequate, and Whole Foods just a few blocks up Duke. The parks are great, but I would never let my elementary-age child walk around alone. It's the main reason we moved. We wanted a yard and a neighborhood where we could let dc have some freedom. There are tons of little kids, but not many kids over the age of 6 or so in OT. We lived in OT proper, but a couple of blocks north of Washington. We had vagrants living right outside our front door, and found a bloody hypodermic in our courtyard. We loved living in OT, and it's all part of urban living, but I just didn't feel like I could let my kid play outside unsupervised. I'm sure others will post who are happily living in OT with older kids, it just wasn't for us. |
Anonymous
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We chose Georgetown over Oldtown for the reasons stated above.
No public housing projects. East Village is very quiet and child friendly. I love Oldtown, but wouldn't stay with kids past toddler-age. Georgetown has lots of older children that walk by themselves and no needles in Montrose or Rose Park. |
Anonymous
| Lots of old white people, with dogs. Route 1 is quite crowded. |
Anonymous
| Ummm Washington st goes north south, so you must mean you lived west of Washington? The southeast quadrant is pretty idealic for children, and the public elementary is great. For groceries, there's the old town Safeway, giant & trader joes, and Harris teeter opening maybe first quarter '14. Whole foods is on duke st, and if you want a bigger Safeway, belleview is close. There are tons of kids all the way through high school age. Pretty much no crime other than the odd stolen bike or broken into car in the SE quadrant. |
Anonymous
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We've lived in Old Town for 8 years, had no problems with crime other than 1 car getting keyed. Seen one needle in that time and I live 2 blocks from the projects. Route 1 is a mess at rush hour and sometimes on weekends, but we just go over a block to a side street and they're pretty quiet. A lot of the public housing at the north end of old town is being redeveloped (though not all). It's made a positive difference in terms of the noise of the people walking past our house.
I love that I can walk to metro, playgrounds, the river, 2 grocery stores, the library, King St, and in good weather-Del Ray. My biggest complaint-there's a lot of garbage on the street. I never really noticed that til I had a dog though! If we move, we'd likely go to Rosemont. We like Alexandria. |
Anonymous
I know, the section 8 housing project right in the middle. |
Anonymous
| Crappy svhools |
Anonymous
Are you inferring that is bad? |
Anonymous
| Near braddock subway has lots of families too. |