How boring is Cleveland Park?

[Anonymous]

I don’t want people coming to my neighborhood to have fun. Think any tony neighborhood. Beverly Hills, Eaton Square, any residential neighborhood with those kind of people

[Anonymous]

There’s plenty of fun but behind the gates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So boring and leafy. Quiet, pretentious, with ever rising property values. The neighbors say hi and behave well. There are no ATVs or trash. It’s just the worst.

I too enjoy the 'suburbs in the city' that is NW DC. Especially enjoy taking walks. However, the crime has gone up--especially streets like Van Ness and by the Cathedral. Lots of smash and grabs. And I personally think the best dining in the area is now around Cathedral Commons. We are considering ditching the all of it for Bethesda--thinking it too will be walkable, less crime at least of the nuisance kind like poop on park benches and people shouting randomly on the corner-- and while I find the dining in Bethesda pretty meh--some mom and pop places look good, coffee shops, shopping and a few night spots. I am tempted to stay in NW DC for the reason one PP said, we are close to things but can 'get away' back to our neighborhood. The truth is we don't do a lot of DC downtown stuff anymore. I'd almost rather live near a bigger hub like Bethesda, more at my fingertips, with the leafy green at the same time. Lot to consider. But to the OP, CP IS boring...in a good way. It could have more nightlife and dining--hope that comes back.

We live in between Bethesda and Friendship Heights and they are both walkable to us, which I love. While both are lacking a bit of character and definitely mom and pop stores, restaurants; there are many new choices and it seems like more will be coming. A further walk to Connecticut Ave corridor but not too far. We lived in Cleveland Park before for a short time and the "burbs" of MD with metro access is what I prefer.

Thank you for sharing that; I am from DC and having anxiety that I'll miss it. There is something elegant/stately about the neighborhood we live in. With that being said, besides the walks...I don't actually enjoy it that much haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live here and I don’t think I’ve ever said let’s go to either Ave for dinner or shopping?

Wisconsin Ave/CC has some good eats - la piquette, amys, raku, barcelona. City ridge has the Oyster place which is a fun happy hour. I'm sure I'm missing a few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in NYC just north of the East Village in my 20s. I had a few friends and many older colleagues who lived in the Upper East Side. I always wondered why anyone would live there, it seemed so boring without lively restaurants and bars. It lacked the diversity and variety of other dynamic neighborhoods.

Fast forward 20 years, I recently spent a weekend in NYC with my kids and we went to the Met which is in the upper east side. We strolled by several neighborhood streets which still lacked interesting restaurants and bars and variety (relative to other parts of NYC), but now I gazed at the neighborhood with adoration for its serenity in the midst of a massive metropolis. It was quiet, clean, and visually pleasing with tree lined streets and pretty brownstones. Now I wonder why someone would live in an NYC neighborhoods with loud bars, bus loads of tourists, trash on the streets, and cannabis stores on every block.

The moral of the story is that we often determine that something has an intrinsic attribution (boring, beautiful, etc) but really these values are relative to our preferences and characterizing it a certain way tells us something about us (not something inherent about the thing).

Values are relative to our preferences, not things that are externally real.

Best DCUM real estate comment ever. The post that followed was the most typical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live here and I don’t think I’ve ever said let’s go to either Ave for dinner or shopping?

Wisconsin Ave/CC has some good eats - la piquette, amys, raku, barcelona. City ridge has the Oyster place which is a fun happy hour. I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Yes I live close by and tend to go to the Wisconsin Ave side more. Taco Bamba, King Street Oyster. There's a Saku Saku. The Tatte is actually pretty pleasant for working or meeting someone. Two Amys is worth coming from another neighborhood for. There's a great farmer's market by the Sheridan School. These areas are for low key living, not for the bridge and tunnel crowd that I used to experience on 14th St.

CC has a good amount now (Call Your Mother, Italian Bar, Opal, and the standby P&P). It is unfortunate that the Cleveland Park Metro stop area is so underwhelming now. The library is still lovely. Maybe the Little Blackbird and Fresh Baguette will help to attract more. But honestly the NIMBYs on the listserv are complaining about bike lane every. darn. day. so I don't see the vibe getting any better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We used to live in Cleveland Park (Kennedy Warren). The OP is right. Not much in terms of restaurants. To get variety, you have to go to elsewhere like Bethesda where we now live.

Fellow KW former resident here as well! I miss the convenience of it all, all things considered. Moved to the burbs as well but to buy a house. But I wish CP had more variety, I loved the area

Another former KW resident here. I agree that the Conn Ave strip is a bit beaten down. When we were there, we only really went to Vace, Bindaas or an Italian place whose name escapes me. Other than that, it was sort of generic—a bbq place, a dive sports bar, firehook, etc. That said, I liked living there. Very convenient. Also, I think most of the people who can afford a home in CP are well past the age where they really care about things like restaurants and bars.

[Anonymous]

When I lived in WP years ago, I loved walking to CP to catch movies at the uptown theater. Is it still closed? I think the pandemic killed it....

[Anonymous]

Op did you turn left onto macomb or Newark? The houses and streets are beautiful

[Anonymous]

We lived in CP for a decade and watched it go to s***. It’s basically a dump now. So sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op did you turn left onto macomb or Newark? The houses and streets are beautiful

So what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I lived in WP years ago, I loved walking to CP to catch movies at the uptown theater. Is it still closed? I think the pandemic killed it....

It closed like a week before the world shut down, so technically the pandemic didn't kill it (though it probably would have, anyway). Last I heard the Alamo Drafthouse chain was considering it for a location but I don't know where that stands. I'm going to guess the interior needs a significant amount of work.

[Anonymous]

I really don’t get this?! No one lives in Woodland Normanstone, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park to go to the Cleveland Ave strip for steak?! At least no one I know. We socialize a lot but the strips are not a part of it.

[Anonymous]

It's not much to do OP. It's fine for living and commuting but not for nightlife or Sunday mornings. Too many shops close early and there are not enough small places.

To be honest, it's more of a retired community.

[Anonymous]

That ridiculous and what commuting? It is in the heart of the city?