Existential crisis in downtown Bethesda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live walkable to Bethesda but technically Chevy Chase and only go to Bethesda Row to get dinner every so often at Fish Taco. I never shop at the stores OP is whining about. But I live here, like PP because I can walk everywhere. I have a tree-lined street. I have access to the Bethesda pool and library. Great schools. And I always tip when I get a coffee. But I’m a millennial so maybe it’s just you as a Boomer, OP.

A 50 year old is not a boomer.

I'm a boomer and just from shopping, dining, living we all have found less levels of pretension in comp NOVA areas than Rockville to DC. I don't know why. We have family and friends from boomer to millennial and they've noticed the same thing. Includes what the average shopper wears in supermarkets. Some have never lived anywhere but MD or DC from birth or after moving here a long time ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda sucks. I go there sometimes to meet a friend and grab a bite to eat but I’m amazed at all the vapid people walking around and acting like the faux high end chain stores are the cat’s meow. The restaurants are mostly pretty lame also.
Brooklyn in NYC or Santa Monica, LA are both 100x better. Chevy Chase MD is awful as well.

Downtown Bethesda is by no mean perfect. Bethesda Row is operated by a single landlord charging high rents which limits the stores, although why they end up with multiple outposts of internet brands like peloton and warby parker is a mystery to me (like how bank branches can apparently be so profitable).

All that said, I am not sure which is the more ridiculous part of your post— the part where you can tell everyone is vapid while you grab a quick bite to eat or the part where you compare it to Brooklyn and Santa Monica, both of which have their own issues and neither of which is likely to be a reasonable alternative for someone looking for a place to live eat or shop.

Bethesda has a lot going for it even if you never step foot on Bethesda avenue or Bethesda row. And of course not everyone is spending their time yelling at waitstaff or being pretentious or whatever other stereotypes you have.

+1. It’s no better or worse than any other close-in UMC suburb of DC and awfully similar to close-in UMC suburbs in other east coast cities. Not sure why all the hate. What did you expect it to be? If UMC suburbs aren’t your thing, cool, there’s plenty of other places out there.

Lol, it's definitely way worse for entitled old rude people than Vienna or Falls Church. Can't speak for McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP just finishing the thread, and your post a few up makes you sound insufferable. You’re not better than everyone walking by you. I don’t live in Bethesda, so no dog in this fight.

I didn't say I was better. I said I had different values than what I am seeing around me here, and from some others in this thread. Perhaps it would be more "sufferable" if I had phrased it as "X has value *to me*.

Oh, horsehockey. From your initial post:

". . . watching people pop in and out like automatons. It seems so pointless and empty. Is this what it's all for? Strive to live in a HCOL area and make a big enough salary to live there so you can go disburse your dollars among certain branded storefronts as if you are robot operating on preprogrammed instructions thinking that you "belong"? . . . Work all your life for the privilege of raising your kids around people like this?"

Of course you think you're better. The disdain practically oozes through my computer screen. Not a great look, OP.

- VA resident, so no dog in this fight.

[Anonymous]

I have lived in Bethesda for over 40 years and I find most of the people OP mentioned are usually not from the close in downtown areas of Bethesda, they make Bethesda a destination and are complete #$%^@^%$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live walkable to Bethesda but technically Chevy Chase and only go to Bethesda Row to get dinner every so often at Fish Taco. I never shop at the stores OP is whining about. But I live here, like PP because I can walk everywhere. I have a tree-lined street. I have access to the Bethesda pool and library. Great schools. And I always tip when I get a coffee. But I’m a millennial so maybe it’s just you as a Boomer, OP.

A 50 year old is not a boomer.

Gen X!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda sucks. I go there sometimes to meet a friend and grab a bite to eat but I’m amazed at all the vapid people walking around and acting like the faux high end chain stores are the cat’s meow. The restaurants are mostly pretty lame also.
Brooklyn in NYC or Santa Monica, LA are both 100x better. Chevy Chase MD is awful as well.

This thread is interesting and somewhat bordering on ridiculous.

You all sound like you have a serious case of FWPs. First World Problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of my friends and family members not from here (and across all incomes) observe the same thing about lack of independent shops and dining. They feel this area is devoid of character and is entirely charmless. I’m sharing this only to say that you are not the only person who feels this way. Perhaps Bethesda and the greater DC area is not the right spot for you.

OP:That's just it! It feels like a synthetic, Epcot Center generic version of an UMC neighborhood. Even Great Neck Long Island has more authenticity and local character. I do like the residential parts though, some of them. But it has been so humid and, well, swampy and mosquito-y here. I am really questioning its appeal.


Here is what I value: Education & at least some similarly educated and accomplished people; beautiful high quality housing; leafy neighborhoods where people and kids know each other; natural beauty, the outdoors, outdoor recreation like hiking, biking, skiing, swimming, sailing, horseback riding; the arts; high quality food which can mean restaurants but also farmer's markets with real farmers that are not more expensive than Whole Foods. Education has value. Making things has value. Making and listening to music have value. Entertaining indoors and outdoors with people I love and like talking to about things that matter (not just the latest status symbol who who stayed in what hotel on which vacation) have value. I am lucky in that my work is already lucrative and meaningful, and is portable. I do not care what type of car I or others drive or how big your engagement ring is/was and I have never attended a Spin class.

Where should I live?

What’s wrong with where you live right now?

What is the point of bashing Bethesda when you have no reason to live in the DMV any more? You sound like an idiot. Most of us are here because it's convenient to our jobs etc and then we put down roots and built community. If I could live anywhere, I too would be by the beach or mountains or whatever, but I wouldn't be weirdly fixated on Bethesda while making that major life decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like my part of Bethesda for the pretty trees everywhere, proximity to the towpath, variety of housing stock, and good schools. I also like that it’s convenient to DC and places with good, cheap food like Rockville. If you find yourself going out for expensive iced lattes frequently, regardless of your location, you probably need to look for some more fulfilling things to do with your time and money.

This OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. Experiences like this remind me I need to go to church or volunteer instead of witnessing the drudgery. We live in a bubble and it's easy to forget our fortune.

Not preaching,

Go to Church?

LOL the biggest grift of them all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sitting in downtown Bethesda on a Sunday afternoon, sipping my $5.50 iced coffee. I am looking around me at these three blocks of fancy chain stores, that are just like the fancy chain stores in the analagous parts of other upscale suburbs, and watching people pop in and out like automatons. It seems so pointless and empty. Is this what it's all for? Strive to live in a HCOL area and make a big enough salary to live there so you can go disburse your dollars among certain branded storefronts as if you are robot operating on preprogrammed instructions thinking that you "belong"?

As I got my coffee I witnessed a middle aged UMC (white) woman haranguing the (black) barista for ten minutes about how dishonest they and the business are for putting too much ice in her iced juice drink & how they are defrauding customers by putting in too much ice and not enough juice. Seriously? Work all your life for the privilege of raising your kids around people like this?

How old are you, OP? Ballpark.

Why do you ask?

Because you sound like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/im14andthisisdeep/

You’re 50? That’s embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sitting in downtown Bethesda on a Sunday afternoon, sipping my $5.50 iced coffee. I am looking around me at these three blocks of fancy chain stores, that are just like the fancy chain stores in the analagous parts of other upscale suburbs, and watching people pop in and out like automatons. It seems so pointless and empty. Is this what it's all for? Strive to live in a HCOL area and make a big enough salary to live there so you can go disburse your dollars among certain branded storefronts as if you are robot operating on preprogrammed instructions thinking that you "belong"?

As I got my coffee I witnessed a middle aged UMC (white) woman haranguing the (black) barista for ten minutes about how dishonest they and the business are for putting too much ice in her iced juice drink & how they are defrauding customers by putting in too much ice and not enough juice. Seriously? Work all your life for the privilege of raising your kids around people like this?

How old are you, OP? Ballpark.

Why do you ask?

Not the PP, but maybe mid-life crisis?

I was going to say teenager.

OP here. I am 50. Why would you think teenager?

I am age 52, and live in Bethesda. The people seem nice, IMHO. This rude lady that you witnessed may be an outlier. As a 50-year-old, have you not yet learned about making generalizations?

[Anonymous]

The biggest issue with Bethesda is that it has no personality.
Neighborhoods like Tenleytown or Georgetown have personality.
You may not like what Tenleytown has to offer because some of it is crappy but you can’t argue that it has more soul than Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

I love independent stores, but shopping is shopping. Does it matter if you buy your made in China furniture in an independent store or a Pottery Barn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sitting in downtown Bethesda on a Sunday afternoon, sipping my $5.50 iced coffee. I am looking around me at these three blocks of fancy chain stores, that are just like the fancy chain stores in the analagous parts of other upscale suburbs, and watching people pop in and out like automatons. It seems so pointless and empty. Is this what it's all for? Strive to live in a HCOL area and make a big enough salary to live there so you can go disburse your dollars among certain branded storefronts as if you are robot operating on preprogrammed instructions thinking that you "belong"?

As I got my coffee I witnessed a middle aged UMC (white) woman haranguing the (black) barista for ten minutes about how dishonest they and the business are for putting too much ice in her iced juice drink & how they are defrauding customers by putting in too much ice and not enough juice. Seriously? Work all your life for the privilege of raising your kids around people like this?

The common denominator in this story is BETHESDA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda sucks. I go there sometimes to meet a friend and grab a bite to eat but I’m amazed at all the vapid people walking around and acting like the faux high end chain stores are the cat’s meow. The restaurants are mostly pretty lame also.
Brooklyn in NYC or Santa Monica, LA are both 100x better. Chevy Chase MD is awful as well.

Downtown Bethesda is by no mean perfect. Bethesda Row is operated by a single landlord charging high rents which limits the stores, although why they end up with multiple outposts of internet brands like peloton and warby parker is a mystery to me (like how bank branches can apparently be so profitable).

All that said, I am not sure which is the more ridiculous part of your post— the part where you can tell everyone is vapid while you grab a quick bite to eat or the part where you compare it to Brooklyn and Santa Monica, both of which have their own issues and neither of which is likely to be a reasonable alternative for someone looking for a place to live eat or shop.

Bethesda has a lot going for it even if you never step foot on Bethesda avenue or Bethesda row. And of course not everyone is spending their time yelling at waitstaff or being pretentious or whatever other stereotypes you have.

+1. It’s no better or worse than any other close-in UMC suburb of DC and awfully similar to close-in UMC suburbs in other east coast cities. Not sure why all the hate. What did you expect it to be? If UMC suburbs aren’t your thing, cool, there’s plenty of other places out there.

Lol, it's definitely way worse for entitled old rude people than Vienna or Falls Church. Can't speak for McLean.

Totally agree! And, I can vouch for Arlington. My neighbors: different ages, races, etc. are wonderful. Nobody is keeping up with the Joneses. If you choose Bethesda, you will get Bethesda.