Anyone Remember Bethesda and Silver Spring in 2000?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP doesn't remember that 2000 Bethesda was New Bethesda that replaced run down Old Bethesda.

OP doesn't understand how suburban sprawl spits out new development, burns it out, and then builds something new elsewhere.

Correct. My aunt build her house in downtown Bethesda BEFORE THERE WAS A METRO STOP there, in the 1980s. We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 2010 and bought a house near hers. She's seen a lot of changes, and she still loves Bethesda.

Is OP the poster who continually dumps on MoCo in favor of NoVa? I would never live in Virginia myself. State laws are not the same. I would MUCH rather pay more in taxes and have better public services!

Bethesda metro stop was open in 84, so it was planned years before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_station

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know where I can find a Giant in MOCO as nice as the one in McLean or a Harris Teeter as nice as the ones in Ballston, Dunn Loring, or in Crystal City.

I’ve seen homeless people literally asking for change from people in the self checkout lines at the Harris Teeter on Battery Lane and saw shoplifters rushing the door in the morning last week at the Harris Teeter near White Flint. I asked the women who worked at the bakery if it was a regular occurrence and they said it happens all the time but no one does anything to stop it. It’s not like this in the VA Harris Teeters I go to and they’re nicer and stocked better as well. Why?

Westbard Giant

you are comparing established neighborhoods to ballston?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know where I can find a Giant in MOCO as nice as the one in McLean or a Harris Teeter as nice as the ones in Ballston, Dunn Loring, or in Crystal City.

I’ve seen homeless people literally asking for change from people in the self checkout lines at the Harris Teeter on Battery Lane and saw shoplifters rushing the door in the morning last week at the Harris Teeter near White Flint. I asked the women who worked at the bakery if it was a regular occurrence and they said it happens all the time but no one does anything to stop it. It’s not like this in the VA Harris Teeters I go to and they’re nicer and stocked better as well. Why?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

You didn't answer my question as to why you're spending the weekend running around to big box stores in the suburbs? Maybe you're just making everything up? Because normal people don't do this. Depending on what I need, I shop at the HT Bethesda, Trader Joes Bethesda, Giant Bethesda, and Costco Wheaton, and that's it. I think the overwhelming majority of people are like me. I'm not driving 45 minutes into Nova to go to a Harris Teeter there -- that's truly bizarre.

I live in VA and it takes me 15 minutes to get to the 495 Old Georgetown Road exit where I have family nearby. I’ve been going to all these stores for the past 5 years and am in MD at least 2 days a week. You’re acting like someone is comparing stores in Fredericksburg to stores in Owings Mills. Tysons is a 10 minute drive to Montgomery Mall in no traffic. It takes 25 minutes to drive from the Mosaic Target to the Rockville Target in no traffic. It makes as much sense as comparing somewhere in Gaithersburg to somewhere in Bethesda.

A more interesting question is why you are so set on never going to Virginia. If you live in Bethesda, North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away and a lot closer than Wheaton.

Sorry, there's no world in which North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away from Bethesda, even if you live in 20816 right on the DC line and you do the trip at 5 AM. Even then, you'd get to a part of McLean and North Arlington that has no grocery stores, so you need to drive even further to get to one of the stores you mentioned. I live near downtown Bethesda, and all of the stores I mentioned are within 5 minutes of me, except that Costco is a bit of a longer drive. I actually do have family in Falls Church, but I go there to visit them, not to do my grocery shopping. Like I said, that would be truly bizarre. At best, I have been to some of the restaurants in that area.

There are some people who have lived in both MD and VA over the past 25 years, or who work in one and live in the other. It’s odd that you would think it was weird to go to grocery stores or a Target in a state that’s literally across a bridge. Are people from New Jersey not allowed to comment on grocery stores in NYC or are they weird for stepping in a grocery store there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know where I can find a Giant in MOCO as nice as the one in McLean or a Harris Teeter as nice as the ones in Ballston, Dunn Loring, or in Crystal City.

I’ve seen homeless people literally asking for change from people in the self checkout lines at the Harris Teeter on Battery Lane and saw shoplifters rushing the door in the morning last week at the Harris Teeter near White Flint. I asked the women who worked at the bakery if it was a regular occurrence and they said it happens all the time but no one does anything to stop it. It’s not like this in the VA Harris Teeters I go to and they’re nicer and stocked better as well. Why?

Westbard Giant

you are comparing established neighborhoods to ballston?

Ballston is just as established as the area on Battery Lane where the HT is or the high rise in White Flint where the HT is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP doesn't remember that 2000 Bethesda was New Bethesda that replaced run down Old Bethesda.

OP doesn't understand how suburban sprawl spits out new development, burns it out, and then builds something new elsewhere.

Correct. My aunt build her house in downtown Bethesda BEFORE THERE WAS A METRO STOP there, in the 1980s. We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 2010 and bought a house near hers. She's seen a lot of changes, and she still loves Bethesda.

Is OP the poster who continually dumps on MoCo in favor of NoVa? I would never live in Virginia myself. State laws are not the same. I would MUCH rather pay more in taxes and have better public services!

Bethesda metro stop was open in 84, so it was planned years before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_station

LOL to better public services in Maryland. Would you care to elaborate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know where I can find a Giant in MOCO as nice as the one in McLean or a Harris Teeter as nice as the ones in Ballston, Dunn Loring, or in Crystal City.

I’ve seen homeless people literally asking for change from people in the self checkout lines at the Harris Teeter on Battery Lane and saw shoplifters rushing the door in the morning last week at the Harris Teeter near White Flint. I asked the women who worked at the bakery if it was a regular occurrence and they said it happens all the time but no one does anything to stop it. It’s not like this in the VA Harris Teeters I go to and they’re nicer and stocked better as well. Why?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

You didn't answer my question as to why you're spending the weekend running around to big box stores in the suburbs? Maybe you're just making everything up? Because normal people don't do this. Depending on what I need, I shop at the HT Bethesda, Trader Joes Bethesda, Giant Bethesda, and Costco Wheaton, and that's it. I think the overwhelming majority of people are like me. I'm not driving 45 minutes into Nova to go to a Harris Teeter there -- that's truly bizarre.

I live in VA and it takes me 15 minutes to get to the 495 Old Georgetown Road exit where I have family nearby. I’ve been going to all these stores for the past 5 years and am in MD at least 2 days a week. You’re acting like someone is comparing stores in Fredericksburg to stores in Owings Mills. Tysons is a 10 minute drive to Montgomery Mall in no traffic. It takes 25 minutes to drive from the Mosaic Target to the Rockville Target in no traffic. It makes as much sense as comparing somewhere in Gaithersburg to somewhere in Bethesda.

A more interesting question is why you are so set on never going to Virginia. If you live in Bethesda, North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away and a lot closer than Wheaton.

Sorry, there's no world in which North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away from Bethesda, even if you live in 20816 right on the DC line and you do the trip at 5 AM. Even then, you'd get to a part of McLean and North Arlington that has no grocery stores, so you need to drive even further to get to one of the stores you mentioned. I live near downtown Bethesda, and all of the stores I mentioned are within 5 minutes of me, except that Costco is a bit of a longer drive. I actually do have family in Falls Church, but I go there to visit them, not to do my grocery shopping. Like I said, that would be truly bizarre. At best, I have been to some of the restaurants in that area.

Sorry, but I live near Chain Bridge and can 100% be to Bethesda by Mass/Western in about 10 minutes. Sorry this bothers you so much.

[Anonymous]

And what stores are there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember when MOCO was trying to get Amazon to come to the White Flint Mall site? Amazon’s already built office buildings in Crystal City and there is nothing but dirt and no plans to build anything at White Flint. You can’t make this stuff up.

Let's go ahead and put that "attainable" housing up at White Flint, since we have this housing crisis, per Friedson, Glass, Stewart, and Fani-Gonzalez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember when MOCO was trying to get Amazon to come to the White Flint Mall site? Amazon’s already built office buildings in Crystal City and there is nothing but dirt and no plans to build anything at White Flint. You can’t make this stuff up.

Let's go ahead and put that "attainable" housing up at White Flint, since we have this housing crisis, per Friedson, Glass, Stewart, and Fani-Gonzalez.

Great idea! The Council Estates at White Flint has a certain ring to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And what stores are there?

Doesn’t matter. You can get from neighborhoods in Bethesda near River Road and 495 to the Tysons Harris Teeter in 10-12 minutes and to a place like the Mosaic Target in 15 minutes. The point is that there are people who aren’t you that shop on both sides over the river in the past 25 years and/or lived and worked on both sides of the river during the same period. You do not have to queue at Checkpoint Charlie to go from VA to MD or vice versa. Acting like someone is weird for not spending every waking moment of their lives in a small isolated bubble is actually weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And what stores are there?

Doesn’t matter. You can get from neighborhoods in Bethesda near River Road and 495 to the Tysons Harris Teeter in 10-12 minutes and to a place like the Mosaic Target in 15 minutes. The point is that there are people who aren’t you that shop on both sides over the river in the past 25 years and/or lived and worked on both sides of the river during the same period. You do not have to queue at Checkpoint Charlie to go from VA to MD or vice versa. Acting like someone is weird for not spending every waking moment of their lives in a small isolated bubble is actually weird.

NP. I live in Bethesda near River and unless it's the middle of the night and I speed, I cannot in any way get to Tysons in 12 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And what stores are there?

Doesn’t matter. You can get from neighborhoods in Bethesda near River Road and 495 to the Tysons Harris Teeter in 10-12 minutes and to a place like the Mosaic Target in 15 minutes. The point is that there are people who aren’t you that shop on both sides over the river in the past 25 years and/or lived and worked on both sides of the river during the same period. You do not have to queue at Checkpoint Charlie to go from VA to MD or vice versa. Acting like someone is weird for not spending every waking moment of their lives in a small isolated bubble is actually weird.

Dp. You seem really worked over this. I don't care where you shop..vs, dc, or md. I don't shop in VA and rarely go there.

[Anonymous]

I like downtown Bethesda. I can walk or cycle there, it has a cinema, lot sof restaurants (some of which are ok), bagels, a new bookstore etc. basically zero crime. It is fine.

[Anonymous]

I much prefer MoCo to NoVa. To me it's a no-brainer. The libraries are better, the schools are better, the services to special needs kids are better, there are more public pools, trash/recycling pick-up is better, the electric companies keep branches from interfering too much with wires to avoid widespread power outages, and snowplows don't abandon entire areas like they do in NoVa... I mean, this is why I pay more taxes. So that everyone can benefit from a better quality of life.

[Anonymous]

My grandma settled in bethesda in the 50s… so yes I remember when it was nicer.