Which neighborhood do I want to live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you care about green space and when you say urban do you meet fun, cool, and hip or just stores like Crate and Barrel? We prefer to be in the district for more of the urban feel we are used to coming from NYC but it depends what you want. Claredon is cleaner and very gentrified with plenty of shops (but seems to lack park space from when I've been there).

The park space is in the neighborhoods...and there are a LOT of them. I agree it is all concrete down the shopping strip, but we have some great parks. Many have splash features too.

We left DC for the public schools and gained immensely in walkability---even sold a car.

[Anonymous]

Cleveland Park/Glover Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:salona village in mclean (near franklin sherman and mclean grocery stores.

Kenwood in bethesda (near sidwell and bethesda shopping)

Not exactly urban.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: visit the neighborhoods yourself. Walk Score is a deeply flawed criterion and often doesn't match the actual walkability of the neighborhood. Not all stores are created equal: if you live in FH or CCDC, while it may seem nice to have Chevy Chase Pavilion and Mazza Gallerie nearby, those malls are essentially worthless for actual life. (And WalkScore still gives credit to some bodega-equivalent on Western that I've never, not once, seen open.) Actually, despite living in the area, much of Wisconsin Ave. is passable at best for commercial (exceptions being around Tenleytown metro). For many day-to-day things, the "Spring Valley" shopping center on Mass (Sbucks, Le Pain Quotidien, CVS, thai, pizza, grocery store) is more useful or at least as useful as the Tenleytown metro hub. The point is, don't trust a website and instead walk yourself.

You don't know FH very well, do you?
FH has a Starbucks, Le Pain Quot, a CVS, Indian and Japanese, Range, Potomac Pizza, and a Whole Foods, as well as an H&M, Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom Rack, Bloomies, Gap, BR, Clydes, Anthropologie, movie theater, etc, and a METRO and several bus lines.
It's objectively much more urban and useful than living in Spring Valley, where you are stuck driving and have a very, very limited number of shops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: visit the neighborhoods yourself. Walk Score is a deeply flawed criterion and often doesn't match the actual walkability of the neighborhood. Not all stores are created equal: if you live in FH or CCDC, while it may seem nice to have Chevy Chase Pavilion and Mazza Gallerie nearby, those malls are essentially worthless for actual life. (And WalkScore still gives credit to some bodega-equivalent on Western that I've never, not once, seen open.) Actually, despite living in the area, much of Wisconsin Ave. is passable at best for commercial (exceptions being around Tenleytown metro). For many day-to-day things, the "Spring Valley" shopping center on Mass (Sbucks, Le Pain Quotidien, CVS, thai, pizza, grocery store) is more useful or at least as useful as the Tenleytown metro hub. The point is, don't trust a website and instead walk yourself.

You don't know FH very well, do you?
FH has a Starbucks, Le Pain Quot, a CVS, Indian and Japanese, Range, Potomac Pizza, and a Whole Foods, as well as an H&M, Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom Rack, Bloomies, Gap, BR, Clydes, Anthropologie, movie theater, etc, and a METRO and several bus lines.
It's objectively much more urban and useful than living in Spring Valley, where you are stuck driving and have a very, very limited number of shops.

+1 which is why I would suggest ChCh Village, on the MD side of FH, if price is no obstacle and you want good schools, public or private. Though as a PP said, it may not conform to your idea of urban. Lots of retail but not the independent artsy kind.

[Anonymous]

1. Great schools in walking distance (preferably public)
2. Urban environment
3. Other children nearby
4. Very high walk score
5. Liberal
6. No geographic limitations
7. No financial limitations
8. Great housing stock (can be small or large, house, apt or other)

So of the upper NW neighborhoods listed, I'd look specifically at Cleveland Park and AU Park/Tenleytown. Neither Chevy Chase nor Glover Park have metro, which, in my mind, makes them much less walkable. Also Woodley Park.

All three are liberal (very); walkable (although CP is HUGE, and not all of it is close to walkable amenties--I'd say you want to be within 8-10 blocks of the Connecticut Av shopping village (by metro); similarly with Tenley/AU Park. All have a bunch of kids as well as good playgrounds. Walk to shops, restaurants, library, movie theater. Quick metro ride to downtown, museums.

I have no idea what the housing stock is like, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cleveland Park/Glover Park.

Public schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: visit the neighborhoods yourself. Walk Score is a deeply flawed criterion and often doesn't match the actual walkability of the neighborhood. Not all stores are created equal: if you live in FH or CCDC, while it may seem nice to have Chevy Chase Pavilion and Mazza Gallerie nearby, those malls are essentially worthless for actual life. (And WalkScore still gives credit to some bodega-equivalent on Western that I've never, not once, seen open.) Actually, despite living in the area, much of Wisconsin Ave. is passable at best for commercial (exceptions being around Tenleytown metro). For many day-to-day things, the "Spring Valley" shopping center on Mass (Sbucks, Le Pain Quotidien, CVS, thai, pizza, grocery store) is more useful or at least as useful as the Tenleytown metro hub. The point is, don't trust a website and instead walk yourself.

You don't know FH very well, do you?
FH has a Starbucks, Le Pain Quot, a CVS, Indian and Japanese, Range, Potomac Pizza, and a Whole Foods, as well as an H&M, Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom Rack, Bloomies, Gap, BR, Clydes, Anthropologie, movie theater, etc, and a METRO and several bus lines.
It's objectively much more urban and useful than living in Spring Valley, where you are stuck driving and have a very, very limited number of shops.

You're wrong; I know FH well. My point was that the presence of CCP and MG make the WalkScore higher than it really should be. The useful shops you mention, save for Starbucks in the basement of the CCP, are not in CCP or MG. Or, are you actually going to assert that Nieman Marcus, Chas. Swartz and Foot Locker are useful for daily living? H&M, Williams-Sonoma, Bloomingdales and Anthropologie are, at best, useful several times a year.

I never contended that FH was less urban than SV. That's nonsense, but it sure does make a good straw man. My comparison was between the Tenleytown Metro hub (Best Buy, Container Store, Ace Hardware, Panera, SBucks, Guapo's, Domino's, CVS, Whole Foods) to the shops at Spring Valley (CVS, Wagshal's, Homemade Pizza, Tara Thai, Le Pain, SBucks, Fresh and Greens). Sure, Ace and Guapo's would be great, but Homemade Pizza > Dominos and LPQ > Panera. Whole Foods versus Fresh & Greens isn't really a comparison, but I'm not sure I'd be happy with only Whole Foods.

Better luck next time.

[Anonymous]

Let's simmer down people: Friendship Heights and Tenleytown are both near good, walkable, everyday retail. There are parts of each that are closer to these stores, but overall they are pretty similar except FH also has the big malls.

[Anonymous]

How about Falls Church?

[Anonymous]

Second the recommendation for Takoma Park, MD

[Anonymous]

Kent Gardens Elementary School district- closer to McLean Center and Westmoreland. Then your children can walk to all three schools. You have mainline bus service to Tyson's and the metro. You can walk to downtown McLean. Tons of kids, very mixed stock. Commutable to DC, Pentagon, Tyson's, Bethesda, Dulles Corridor.

[Anonymous]

Old Town Alexandria has it all. Jefferson-Houston or Lyles-Crouch are both good elementary schools - Jefferson-Houston is much smaller and Lyles-Crouch is much whiter.

[Anonymous]

I like the Falls Church idea. Buyers don't come to McLen for the people, that's for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: visit the neighborhoods yourself. Walk Score is a deeply flawed criterion and often doesn't match the actual walkability of the neighborhood. Not all stores are created equal: if you live in FH or CCDC, while it may seem nice to have Chevy Chase Pavilion and Mazza Gallerie nearby, those malls are essentially worthless for actual life. (And WalkScore still gives credit to some bodega-equivalent on Western that I've never, not once, seen open.) Actually, despite living in the area, much of Wisconsin Ave. is passable at best for commercial (exceptions being around Tenleytown metro). For many day-to-day things, the "Spring Valley" shopping center on Mass [b](Sbucks, Le Pain Quotidien, CVS, thai, pizza, grocery store) is more useful or at least as useful as the Tenleytown metro hub.[/b] The point is, don't trust a website and instead walk yourself.

You don't know FH very well, do you?
FH has a Starbucks, Le Pain Quot, a CVS, Indian and Japanese, Range, Potomac Pizza, and a Whole Foods, as well as an H&M, Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom Rack, Bloomies, Gap, BR, Clydes, Anthropologie, movie theater, etc, and a METRO and several bus lines.
It's objectively much more urban and useful than living in Spring Valley, where you are stuck driving and have a very, very limited number of shops.

You're wrong; I know FH well. My point was that the presence of CCP and MG make the WalkScore higher than it really should be. The useful shops you mention, save for Starbucks in the basement of the CCP, are not in CCP or MG. Or, are you actually going to assert that Nieman Marcus, Chas. Swartz and Foot Locker are useful for daily living? H&M, Williams-Sonoma, Bloomingdales and Anthropologie are, at best, useful several times a year.

I never contended that FH was less urban than SV. That's nonsense, but it sure does make a good straw man. My comparison was between the Tenleytown Metro hub (Best Buy, Container Store, Ace Hardware, Panera, SBucks, Guapo's, Domino's, CVS, Whole Foods) to the shops at Spring Valley (CVS, Wagshal's, Homemade Pizza, Tara Thai, Le Pain, SBucks, Fresh and Greens). Sure, Ace and Guapo's would be great, but Homemade Pizza > Dominos and LPQ > Panera. Whole Foods versus Fresh & Greens isn't really a comparison, but I'm not sure I'd be happy with only Whole Foods.

Better luck next time.

Well then, I suggest that you learn to write more clearly and argue logically. See bolded. Pretty much all the items that you point out as useful off off Mass are at FH off Wisconsin and not just around Tenley (and BTW, there is a second Starbucks on Wisconsin in FH just north of the Gap, as well as a coffee shop on the upper level of the WF, a Panera Bread, and a Cosi within three blocks of FH Metro).

Also, there is no arguing about the dearth of public transit in Spring Valley, esp in comparison to the Wisc Ave corridor.

I agree with PP who said that if money were no object, buying in MD just north of FH/CC near the Metro is your best bet.