Tysons or Bethesda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If all I were doing was renting in an area for a year, I might go with Bethesda, but if I were looking at eventually buying a house and living in the area longer-term I'd go with the Tysons area. If you rent in Tysons itself, you could eventually find a townhouse or house in the general area and stay in the same school pyramid.

But that's my take. Personally, I find Bethesda a bit too uber-competitive and materialistic, and the Tysons area less conspicuous in that regard.

Tysons to me is sterile materialism. Those huge malls depend on you doing all your shopping there. You drive your new SUV (they do have a handful of charging stations though) to the enormous parking lot and shop at the Prada or Versace stores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is truly awful. It’s all upscale chain restaurants, and there are zero jobs so you have nothing but children / teens and parents, zero young folks. MoCo is becoming a certified dump. Virginia is superior in every single way, and the only counterpoint you see on here is “Virginia has young kin and is less liberal” but it’s just vastly superior to the dump that is MoCo / Pg.

All upscale chain restaurants, as opposed to salt of the earth local eateries all around Tysons?! Are you joking or have you never been to Tysons?

I see way more teens and young families in Bethesda Row on a weekend night than in almost any other town center in close-in NoVA.

Bethesda and Chevy Chase are just nicer looking than Tysons, McLean, and Vienna. They aren’t as congested with traffic, have more houses with character, and feel like actual neighborhoods. I could care less about the political differences. Aesthetics > politics.

You'd have to pay me a hefty premium to live around the people who inhabit Bethesda and Chevy Chase.

DP. That’s fine, stay in the Tysons hellscape. One less person bidding for charming Bethesda houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I moved from Chevy Chase to Tysons and never looked back. My 1960 house in CC was a constant maintenance nightmare and the closest restaurant was La Ferme (barf). Although it's a bit of a walk, I can now hit Jiwa Singapura in the Galleria, Eddie V at Tysons, and other restaurants. Plus it has a youthful vibe and people doing real jobs (e.g. not government drones)

Ew. Who the hell finds Le Ferme gross but loves a chain restaurant like Eddie V's? And Jiwa is NOTHING like any of the places in Singapore. Sounds like Tysons, complete with its bevy of chain restaurants and 1980's shopping malls, is perfect for you and your horrid taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you working in Tyson’s and thinking of living in Bethesda?

I would kill myself if I had to make that commute daily.

If you work in Tyson’s live there. No question.

Who commutes daily anymore?

Even if you're only commuting 2 or 3 days a week, if you work in Tysons, and have young school aged kids, I would live in Tysons too. Commuting across the American Legion Bridge is pretty much awful all the time. It will improve your work-life balance if your dependence on 495 is minimal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is truly awful. It’s all upscale chain restaurants, and there are zero jobs so you have nothing but children / teens and parents, zero young folks. MoCo is becoming a certified dump. Virginia is superior in every single way, and the only counterpoint you see on here is “Virginia has young kin and is less liberal” but it’s just vastly superior to the dump that is MoCo / Pg.

All upscale chain restaurants, as opposed to salt of the earth local eateries all around Tysons?! Are you joking or have you never been to Tysons?

I see way more teens and young families in Bethesda Row on a weekend night than in almost any other town center in close-in NoVA.

Bethesda and Chevy Chase are just nicer looking than Tysons, McLean, and Vienna. They aren’t as congested with traffic, have more houses with character, and feel like actual neighborhoods. I could care less about the political differences. Aesthetics > politics.

You'd have to pay me a hefty premium to live around the people who inhabit Bethesda and Chevy Chase.

DP. That’s fine, stay in the Tysons hellscape. One less person bidding for charming Bethesda houses.

The problem is that the charm is faded and most of MoCo is run-down now. And yet (or perhaps because of this) the people are the most hyper-competitive of any in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is truly awful. It’s all upscale chain restaurants, and there are zero jobs so you have nothing but children / teens and parents, zero young folks. MoCo is becoming a certified dump. Virginia is superior in every single way, and the only counterpoint you see on here is “Virginia has young kin and is less liberal” but it’s just vastly superior to the dump that is MoCo / Pg.

All upscale chain restaurants, as opposed to salt of the earth local eateries all around Tysons?! Are you joking or have you never been to Tysons?

I see way more teens and young families in Bethesda Row on a weekend night than in almost any other town center in close-in NoVA.

Bethesda and Chevy Chase are just nicer looking than Tysons, McLean, and Vienna. They aren’t as congested with traffic, have more houses with character, and feel like actual neighborhoods. I could care less about the political differences. Aesthetics > politics.

You'd have to pay me a hefty premium to live around the people who inhabit Bethesda and Chevy Chase.

DP. That’s fine, stay in the Tysons hellscape. One less person bidding for charming Bethesda houses.

The problem is that the charm is faded and most of MoCo is run-down now. And yet (or perhaps because of this) the people are the most hyper-competitive of any in the area.

Wrong on so many levels. Bethesda is NOT run down and most of the rest of MoCo is developing just fine, thank you. I’d say the people buying purses at Louis Vuitton Tysons are way more competitive than the ones shopping at Lulemon or Apple in downtown Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I moved from Chevy Chase to Tysons and never looked back. My 1960 house in CC was a constant maintenance nightmare and the closest restaurant was La Ferme (barf). Although it's a bit of a walk, I can now hit Jiwa Singapura in the Galleria, Eddie V at Tysons, and other restaurants. Plus it has a youthful vibe and people doing real jobs (e.g. not government drones)

Ew. Who the hell finds Le Ferme gross but loves a chain restaurant like Eddie V's? And Jiwa is NOTHING like any of the places in Singapore. Sounds like Tysons, complete with its bevy of chain restaurants and 1980's shopping malls, is perfect for you and your horrid taste.

Haha. OP, the choice boils down to this. If you’d prefer a chain restaurant in a huge building (Tyson’s Tower, https://m.eddiev.com/locations/va/mclean/mclean-tysons-corner/8516?cmpid=br:ev_ag:ie_ch:dry_ca:EVGMB_sn:gmb_gt:mclean-va-8516_pl:locurl_rd:1015) to a French country restaurant in a converted suburban house (https://lafermerestaurant.com/), then Tyson’s is for you. If not, then Bethesda is your kind of place.

Both restaurants are pretty typical of their areas.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Not everybody wants massive malls a mile away, even if they’re (relatively) new construction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Have you been to downtown Bethesda in the last 20 years. The development has been incredible. It used to be a sleepier town , now it’s a full fledged city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Have you been to downtown Bethesda in the last 20 years. The development has been incredible. It used to be a sleepier town , now it’s a full fledged city.

Yes exactly. I'm so confused when people claim Bethesda is charming. Have you seen all the development? Sure the houses are charming but the surrounding area is pretty developed now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Have you been to downtown Bethesda in the last 20 years. The development has been incredible. It used to be a sleepier town , now it’s a full fledged city.

Yes exactly. I'm so confused when people claim Bethesda is charming. Have you seen all the development? Sure the houses are charming but the surrounding area is pretty developed now.

It’s true Bethesda was a cow-town back in the 1970s, back when it used to be a place where government workers lived so they could send their kids to Whitman. Those days are gone. But unlike Tyson’s, Bethesda still isn’t webbed with massive highways and huge office and commercial buildings. The buildings around Bethesda tend to be a few stories high and house restaurants, Jo Malone and twee stationery stores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Bethesda has the perfect blend of modernity and historic charm. Bethesda’s newest landmark skyscraper has a sky bridge, the likes of which this area has never seen before. It’s a marvel of engineering and the complex looks like something straight out of Singapore. https://www.sbaranes.com/portfolio/all/grid/project/the-wilson-and-the-elm

A modern light rail line will soon wisk passengers to Silver Spring and College Park.

Then you have the charming old Post Office building, the historic Bethesda Theater for jazz shows, the beautifully renovated and much beloved Bethesda Chevy Chase High School. The beautiful Strathmore Hall is close by for BSO concerts. Plus all the benefits the previous posts mentioned.

If anything Tysons is stuck in the 70s with its 1960s era Tysons Corner Mall and Shakey’s Pizza. However, the Metro rail connectivity is a plus and the Capital One Bank concert hall is a nice venue. These developments are helping Tysons slowly emerge from a 1970s suburban vision of the future. But it still has a long ways to go. Bethesda is already there by leaps and bounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Bethesda has the perfect blend of modernity and historic charm. Bethesda’s newest landmark skyscraper has a sky bridge, the likes of which this area has never seen before. It’s a marvel of engineering and the complex looks like something straight out of Singapore. https://www.sbaranes.com/portfolio/all/grid/project/the-wilson-and-the-elm

A modern light rail line will soon wisk passengers to Silver Spring and College Park.

Then you have the charming old Post Office building, the historic Bethesda Theater for jazz shows, the beautifully renovated and much beloved Bethesda Chevy Chase High School. The beautiful Strathmore Hall is close by for BSO concerts. Plus all the benefits the previous posts mentioned.

If anything Tysons is stuck in the 70s with its 1960s era Tysons Corner Mall and Shakey’s Pizza. However, the Metro rail connectivity is a plus and the Capital One Bank concert hall is a nice venue. These developments are helping Tysons slowly emerge from a 1970s suburban vision of the future. But it still has a long ways to go. Bethesda is already there by leaps and bounds.

What skyscraper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is stuck in the 70s. Not much new construction and the jobs are going elsewhere.

Bethesda is a concentrated residential area with a suburban feel.