Living in Capitol Hill...Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

Some of us like the residential quality of the neighborhood which is also accessible to good restaurants and fun places and downtown. You sound like you're more of a Columbia Heights, 14th St kind of person. That's cool. It takes all types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your experience (or perhaps more accurately "experience") with Capitol Hill is completely opposite of mine. It's a lively, walkable, living, breathing neighborhood. And, for me, it is very centrally located to the things I do, like work downtown, go to lots of baseball and hockey games, quick hop over to 295 and 50 to visit family in Annapolis, equally easy to get on 395 to 95 for other family in Richmond.

Also a great place for people who row on the Anacostia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

Some of us like the residential quality of the neighborhood which is also accessible to good restaurants and fun places and downtown. You sound like you're more of a Columbia Heights, 14th St kind of person. That's cool. It takes all types.

I live in Cap. Hill and as much I like visiting the restaurants on 14th Street, it's way too congested for my taste. I like that our block is quiet - we do see folks walking to/from the park, the school, Eastern Market, but we're not fighting for parking spaces (as much), or dealing with too many interlopers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

It's not just capitol hill it's most of DC. Most of DC is neighborhoods with little or no retail. I would only live there if I worked on capitol hill. Otherwise there are plenty of other areas that have much more retail that is actually walk-able including many town centers in the suburbs.

I think people choose where they live for commute/being close to job above everything else, then walk ability, and then schools (but not everyone has kids)

OP here. This is the point I was getting at. Comparing say Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown, and Capitol Hill, in my experience while you get somewhat similar architecture, Old Town and Georgetown seem to be superior in walkability. I do recognize that Georgetown is significantly more expensive, but again it feels like Capitol Hill is more about name recognition than anything else. I have seen improvements on Pennsylvania, 8th Street, and of course H, but I don’t think the neighborhood is as walkable as PPs have stated. Also, the neighborhood has seen significantly less appreciation than other neighborhoods, because homes have been at or around $1 mil since the late 90s/early 00s.

I can tell that you don't rely on metro to get around. Can't speak for Old Town Alexandria but I've lived in Georgetown and it's far too congested (and talk about small yards) and the metro is a looooonnnng walk from there. And Capitol Hill (in our experience anyway) is far more friendly than Georgetown. Some strangers say hello on the street. Never had that happen in Georgetown. My part of Capitol Hill has some qualities of a small town. My part of Georgetown did not.

Also - with regard to appreciation, we bought our house for $140k and now it's assessed at over $500k. I'll take that.

But seriously, it sounds like it's not for you, OP, which is fine. But I don't get why you can understand that other people might like it. Different strokes, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

It's not just capitol hill it's most of DC. Most of DC is neighborhoods with little or no retail. I would only live there if I worked on capitol hill. Otherwise there are plenty of other areas that have much more retail that is actually walk-able including many town centers in the suburbs.

I think people choose where they live for commute/being close to job above everything else, then walk ability, and then schools (but not everyone has kids)

OP here. This is the point I was getting at. Comparing say Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown, and Capitol Hill, in my experience while you get somewhat similar architecture, Old Town and Georgetown seem to be superior in walkability. I do recognize that Georgetown is significantly more expensive, but again it feels like Capitol Hill is more about name recognition than anything else. I have seen improvements on Pennsylvania, 8th Street, and of course H, but I don’t think the neighborhood is as walkable as PPs have stated. Also, the neighborhood has seen significantly less appreciation than other neighborhoods, because homes have been at or around $1 mil since the late 90s/early 00s.

I can tell that you don't rely on metro to get around. Can't speak for Old Town Alexandria but I've lived in Georgetown and it's far too congested (and talk about small yards) and the metro is a looooonnnng walk from there. And Capitol Hill (in our experience anyway) is far more friendly than Georgetown. Some strangers say hello on the street. Never had that happen in Georgetown. My part of Capitol Hill has some qualities of a small town. My part of Georgetown did not.

Also - with regard to appreciation, we bought our house for $140k and now it's assessed at over $500k. I'll take that.

But seriously, it sounds like it's not for you, OP, which is fine. But I don't get why you can understand that other people might like it. Different strokes, you know.

[Anonymous]

That's fine, but I've lived on the Hill (near Eastern Market) for the past five years, and I love it here. To each their own.

[Anonymous]

I don't live on the Hill and it's not for me, but have friends who love it.

Comparisons to Georgetown and Old Town make less sense - Cap Hill has better transportation options than Georgetown (and Old Town is in VA obviously and further away) and a lot of people I know who live there work on or near the Hill or go there a lot for their jobs. Old Town from what I've heard doesn't have great schools...but maybe that has changed. I've heard good things about some of the schools on the Hill though I know not all have a great reputation.

It seems like a fun place to live and raise kids. We just wanted something a little quieter, a bit more space, and more boring so we did the close in burbs, and though I love it I can definitely see why it's not for everyone.

[Anonymous]

From OP

“Also, the neighborhood has seen significantly less appreciation than other neighborhoods, because homes have been at or around $1 mil since the late 90s/early 00s. ”

What?? $1 mil was not the common home price in the Hill in the late 90s. You could do very well under $300k then. (My home has doubled in 10 years and I can now afford to move back to upper NW - no thanks!) Things have changed since the late 2000s. It’s all good to this old-timer!

[Anonymous]

I'm a DC native, and grew up on the Hill. It's definitely more intense - more crowded and expensive - than it used to even (late eighties and nineties) but I love that it has a real neighborhood feel.

[Anonymous]

I live in Capitol Hill, have 3 kids in elementary school. To me, the Hill has a small town feel. We run into lots of people from the neighborhood at local parks, restaurants, businesses, in the local Sports on the Hill league. We love going to the 4th of July parade on 8th St. Like biking to school with the kids. Where we live, we can easily get to H St NE, 8th St, Eastern Market, Union Station, Yards Park, the Wharf and National Mall.

[Anonymous]

Arlington resident here. My wife would kill to live in Cap Hill, it's our favorite neighborhood in DC. It feels like a small town in a pocket of the city, and we love the architecture. It's just out of our price range, and we work way too far in upper NW to slog all the way through the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

"In" Capitol Hill? Maybe that's why you aren't seeing any people--you're burrowing into the Hill and not looking *on* Capitol Hill, where the people actually live.

[Anonymous]

Also, lol at the notion that housing prices haven't appreciated on the Hill. The close-in house I bought for $220k in the late 90s would easily go for $900k now.

I get letters every few months from people asking if I would sell because my house is in-bounds for Brent.

I also get runover by nannies walking three-across with strollers on their way to Garfield Park every day.

But yeah, no one lives there and the prices aren't doing anything.

[Anonymous]

Capitol Hill sucks, everyone knows this. The crime is out if control and there’s nothing around other than Good Stuff Eatery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live on the Hill, closer to H Street. I realize my neighborhood isn't perfect and there are legitimate things to complain about. But not being walkable or lively enough are not among them. Other than a cute outfit for myself or my tween kids, there is pretty much nothing I'd need to buy that I can't walk to. And even at 6 am there are people walking on every block. I know this because that's when I go for my runs. It's like you didn't actually visit the Hill.

Capitol Hill is very large, but I too wonder what part of the Hill OP is talking about? I've lived 2 blocks from Eastern Market for 8 years now, and the last way I'd describe any weekend is "ghost town." I see everyone walking around, out and about. It's the reason I love it here and don't want to move to the suburbs.