Glover Park (DC)--love it? Hate it?

[Anonymous]

We've never lived near that part of the city and are trying to figure out if we would like it with two young kids. Advice? Do you end up driving most places because of the lack of nearby metro or are the buses convenient enough? Is it a must to have your own garage/parking space or is street parking OK? I know Hardy isn't as desirable as Deal middle school wise. Just trying get to get a sense of people's day to day life in the neighborhood. Does it feel like a community? Anything potential buyers should consider?

[Anonymous]

No metro
Lots of students

[Anonymous]

Few students in townhouses. Some grad students in apartments /condos. Stoddert School good. Walk to Whole Foods and restaurants, CVS and soon the Hardware store. Good Bus service via smaller buses on Benton and full sized bus routes using Wisconsin ave. Kids play at just rebuilt space themed Guy Mason Park or at climbing area at Stoddert or in numerous trails in the surrounding woods of Glover Park. Some People do move on when their kids get bigger or they have a third kid as the houses star feeling smaller.

[Anonymous]

Love it here. Wouldn't move anywhere if we could afford 3 bedrooms.
I drive everywhere.So don't really care for not having a metro. No metro means less people.
If needed, we park near Woodley/American and take the metro from there.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Hate it.

[Anonymous]

Live here, and love it.

There is no better or more close-knit community in DC. Most neighborhood families send their kids to Stoddert, and the social live of the community revolves around the school, which is fantastic. The neighborhood is a nice mix of young families, families with older kids (it used to be that families with middle and high-school aged kids moved, but now they stick around), empty-nesters, and just enough college kids and young professionals in group houses to keep the place interesting. There is, however, virtually no racial diversity.

Driving is more convenient (and you are close to downtown and it is easy to get everywhere) but the buses also provide very good service.

Would be good to have off-street parking, but not essential - particularly if you do not get home late at night often.

Glover Park is a great place to live - surrounded by parks but in the city; really great people that enjoy their neighbors and value their community.

[Anonymous]

Homes for sale almost always go under contract in a matter of a couple of days. So the market loves it.

[Anonymous]

The bus service sucks, but you can walk to Gtown.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a small northeast town outside of a big city. My little town had a central business district and the houses were all very close together. Neighborhood kids would roam all day. That's what I was looking for (along with decent commute to arlington where dh and I work). We have settled in Glover Park and while there are tradeoffs, I love, love, love the community. I don't mind driving, but if DH and I are going out drinking it's zero problem to take the bus or cab. Driving downtown on weekends is a cinch (to smithsonian, etc). Anyway, we love it. Ended up in a fixer upper and hate that part, but still would rather be here than elsewhere in the city.

[Anonymous]

Love it. Have stuck it out with teenagers in one of the tinier GP houses because we never found a neighborhood we liked more. As a clue to how family-friendly it is, many of our neighbors who have left still come back here frequently to use the playgrounds, trick-or-treat, etc. Great walkability to stores, playgrounds, Georgetown shopping, woods. Bus access is imperfect (Metro bus in general is pretty awful), but the Connector buses help. We know a TON of bike commuters, and many walk to Dupont, Foggy Bottom, etc., rather than relying on the bus system.

Fewer families with older kids seem to leave now. A few more send their kids to Hardy and then Wilson or Walls than in the past. (More kids go to Wilson/Walls than to Hardy, but even that seems to be changing.) Some walk to the various private and Catholic schools nearby. Some take the bus to Latin or Basis, though there seem to be far fewer getting spots at Latin than in the past.

As is the case with much of NW DC, there's little racial diversity. Lots of international diversity, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love it. Have stuck it out with teenagers in one of the tinier GP houses because we never found a neighborhood we liked more. As a clue to how family-friendly it is, many of our neighbors who have left still come back here frequently to use the playgrounds, trick-or-treat, etc. Great walkability to stores, playgrounds, Georgetown shopping, woods. Bus access is imperfect (Metro bus in general is pretty awful), but the Connector buses help. We know a TON of bike commuters, and many walk to Dupont, Foggy Bottom, etc., rather than relying on the bus system.

Fewer families with older kids seem to leave now. A few more send their kids to Hardy and then Wilson or Walls than in the past. (More kids go to Wilson/Walls than to Hardy, but even that seems to be changing.) Some walk to the various private and Catholic schools nearby. Some take the bus to Latin or Basis, though there seem to be far fewer getting spots at Latin than in the past.

As is the case with much of NW DC, there's little racial diversity. Lots of international diversity, however.

Adding to my post above that the other downsides of GP (other than the bus/metro issue) are:
1. Size of houses (we are from NYC and so don't care about having a ton of storage or living space, but people who move here from small cities or suburbs seem to mind it more).
2. Lack of parking: this is really only a problem if you arrive home late at night.

A large additional upside is that it's one of the safest neighborhoods in DC.

[Anonymous]

Hate it. Moved from a large city. Undwhelmed with the shitty food, lack of diversity and lack of amenities. Only plus is cheap rent for a ton of space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Live here, and love it.

There is no better or more close-knit community in DC.

Have you lived in every neighborhood in DC, so you can say this definitively? I can accept the possibility to some extent - having a fairly homogeneous population in term of race and SES will lend itself to it..as long as the SES isn't so high that everyone goes to private school and lives behind a giant fence. So I can see Glover Park as the mostly white, wealthy-ish populace who is cohesive. I'm willing to bet that there are some predominantly black neighborhoods that can say the same thing about being very close knit (though they're probably east of the river, out of the current reach of gentrification).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate it. Moved from a large city. Undwhelmed with the shitty food, lack of diversity and lack of amenities. Only plus is cheap rent for a ton of space.

Are you sure you're in Glover Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate it. Moved from a large city. Undwhelmed with the shitty food, lack of diversity and lack of amenities. Only plus is cheap rent for a ton of space.

So you are young, with modest income, and no children. How is this relevant to the OP?