Transplants vs DC Natives

[Anonymous]

I say DMV and I'm a native. It's grown on me. But I'm young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is amazing. And $25?!?!?

[Anonymous]

Plus those were good seats!

[Anonymous]

I find the current incarnation of DC to be very dull, boring, generic, vapid and lacking character.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you never rented a VHS movie from Erol's

If you never bought a record album from Waxie Maxie's

If you never shopped at Woodward & Lothrop

If you never saw the Redskins play over at RFK

If you never attended a concert over at the Capital Center

Don't even think of calling yourself a Washingtonian or that you know anything about the DC we were raised in

I am a transplant but have lived all over the area since I was an infant.

I've done all of those things. Been here for 30 years. Hate this area with a white-hot passion and always have. Did not to back to New England due to the recession in the 80s and then my husband refused to relocate. He's well-aware that in four years, when my son is out of school, I'm making plans to bolt at least part-time and he either comes or he doesn't. I would entertain moving farther out into Virginia or MD but will not stay metro.

You clearly are only staying here for leeching purposes so why dont you just do yourself a favor and leave right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transplant who has lived in DC metro since 70's. I have moved away and come back a few times and have lived here permanently since 1990.

Yes, DC was more interesting in the 70's and early 80's, but don't take any crap from the natives. The natives anywhere are the losers who never left the comfort of the tribe and its support network.

It is ok to be grow up in DC and come back. But to have never left? LOSER .......

Well at least you admitted to the fact that DC was more interesting then than it is right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transplant who has lived in DC metro since 70's. I have moved away and come back a few times and have lived here permanently since 1990.

Yes, DC was more interesting in the 70's and early 80's, but don't take any crap from the natives. The natives anywhere are the losers who never left the comfort of the tribe and its support network.

It is ok to be grow up in DC and come back. But to have never left? LOSER .......

I think this about people in my hometown too. They are positive that there isn't a better place to live in the world, and it's the "best", totally buying into their own hype. How would they even know when they've literally never left the immediate area, not even for college?

Every older generation thinks that the upcoming generation is "ruining" their space. No city can remain the same decade after decade, you should be happy that your city is adapting and welcoming to newcomers. I never thought that we would see a great American city like Detroit crumble to near ruins in our lifetime, but there we have it. Embrace change and get used to it.

Welcoming to newcomers?
By robbing them and mugging them on a daily basis and in some cases physically beating them into a bloody pulp?
That is welcoming and adapting to them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The CVS, Panera, Starbucks, Whole Foods, chain store and condo cesspool of the past 20 years which is the only gDC most of you transplants have experienced since you moved here is not the same DC we were raised in.

DC really was an exciting place with lots of wonderful stores and places to go.

The government and all the monuments were just a background to all of these wonderful places.

This is something transplants living in DC post 1995 will never fully understand.

Redskins at RFK.
Bullets/Capitals at the Capital Centre.
The Bayou in Georgetown.
The old 9:30 club.
D.C. Space

It truly was magical.

I am a transplant but have lived all over the area since I was an infant.

Magical?????? Many transplants have lived here more than 30 years. Magical??? No, not magical.

It was better then than now.
Superior to what the recent wave of transplants have turned this city into currently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the current incarnation of DC to be very dull, boring, generic, vapid and lacking character.

Definitely. The entire punk ethos of DC, the same one that gave rise to Minor Threat and Bad Brains, has dwindled and now completely vanished, particularly over the past 20 years.

It's not the same city it was. The midwest transplants have turned it into a sterilized, homogenized, chain-store infested cesspool of sameness.

[Anonymous]

Black woman and DC native here, with a drastically different upbringing from the natives who posted. Grew up in the 80's in SE, in the projects. Crime was horrible. We lived two doors down from a crackhouse and drug needles littered the yard. For a time, my Mom wouldn't let us out to play for fear that we'd step on a needle.

Going downtown was rare. The museums and monuments might as well have been a vacation because they just weren't on our radar. These were places we went with our Dad (parents divorced) when he picked us up for visits. We rarely went uptown except when we visited my Aunt who lives on 14th St.

When I think about it, I think seeing white people (outside of a school setting) was rare. The DC of my childhood was definitely the Chocolate City. While I'm happy crime is much better, I hate how vanilla/bland the town is now. It lacks soul.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The CVS, Panera, Starbucks, Whole Foods, chain store and condo cesspool of the past 20 years which is the only DC most of you transplants have experienced since you moved here is not the same DC we were raised in.

DC really was an exciting place with lots of wonderful stores and places to go.

The government and all the monuments were just a background to all of these wonderful places.

This is something transplants living in DC post 1995 will never fully understand.

Redskins at RFK.
Bullets/Capitals at the Capital Centre.
The Bayou in Georgetown.
The old 9:30 club.
D.C. Space

It truly was magical.

I am a transplant but have lived all over the area since I was an infant.

If you are a native and are living off these memories, good for you....but maybe you should try going out a bit more, because you sound like a fool if you think that everything cool in DC has been replaced by a CVS and a Starbucks.

Redskins at RFK? Yeah fine, but today go check out the Nats at Nats Park.
Bullets at the Cap Centre? Maybe go see a DC United game at RFK
The Bayou in Georgetown? The old 9:30 Club? DC Space? Maybe try any of a dozen good new music clubs on U St. or H ST.

It's not wonder transplants get aggravated at you natives if you walk around thinking that DC Space was the high point of youth culture 30 years ago, and forever after. Some of you walk around mourning these things like they are a lost civilization and are oblivious to the city around you.

I am a young native (27) and I dont mind his assertions at all, even though I missed out/was too young for many of them.

But his post captured the essence of old DC, a DC that persisted in character and flavor until about ten years ago, when this flood of transplants started streaming in and altering the city beyond recognition. The interesting, exciting, vital city we once had has been replaced by a very sterile, "family friendly" place that transplants have shaped to feel more like "Mayberry" than the DC of old.

And it sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No skinny jean hipster gentrifer urban try hard "good new music club on U St or H ST" band will ever come close to competing with the Capital Center's concert list.

The U Street & H Street bands are posers.

Those Capital Center bands were the real deal. They were all in their prime too.

Yep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transplant who has lived in DC metro since 70's. I have moved away and come back a few times and have lived here permanently since 1990.

Yes, DC was more interesting in the 70's and early 80's, but don't take any crap from the natives. The natives anywhere are the losers who never left the comfort of the tribe and its support network.

It is ok to be grow up in DC and come back. But to have never left? LOSER .......

Huh? Plenty of natives move away and come back. I myself have done it.

What sucks is people who come from a shitty home town and try to take over a city with character and heart, slowly transforming it so that is has the same boring, small town blandness that they were trying to escape.

[Anonymous]

The old 9:30 Club is often described by many music insiders as being in the same vein as CBGB (now closed) in New York City.

That alone says a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transplant who has lived in DC metro since 70's. I have moved away and come back a few times and have lived here permanently since 1990.

Yes, DC was more interesting in the 70's and early 80's, but don't take any crap from the natives. The natives anywhere are the losers who never left the comfort of the tribe and its support network.

It is ok to be grow up in DC and come back. But to have never left? LOSER .......

Huh? Plenty of natives move away and come back. I myself have done it.

What sucks is people who come from a shitty home town and try to take over a city with character and heart, slowly transforming it so that is has the same boring, small town blandness that they were trying to escape.

For the love of Christ, have you ever heard of globalization? Are you that insulated? Really, travel more, and you will see that D.C. looks like every other small city on the planet. YOU, as a native, have the responsibility to stop change. But acting out against new home homeowners and their hot wives (NOT from D.C., obviously) is not going to save yourself. Ever. Grow up and decide that change happens. Get over it.