So you think everyone who argued that there could be honest confusion about the term is a racist? |
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I had never heard of DC's gold coast, only the one in Chain Bridge- that name always stuck with me because it's high on the bluff along the coast of the Potomac and made sense as far as the name.
I also get why another area in DC is called the gold coast. I'm fine with that- had just never heard that before. I guess I'd never heard of 'coast' refer to non- waterfront. I didn't grow up here and I am mostly white (but well aware many living on Chain Bridge are also not white). |
Agree, but your angry defensiveness is equally exhausting. |
So you're *equally* exhausted by people trying to erase black Americans, and by people challenging the erasure? Sounds awful for you. Maybe go take a nap? |
I think the DC "gold coast" name may have originated from Chicago. Lots of linkages between elite blacks in DC and other major American cities in the mid 20th century. |
Rivers don't have 'coasts'. They have banks, bluffs, even shores. Not coasts. In English, at least in America. The usage for real estate (as opposed to African places that export gold) is very loose (even for Chicago) and need not be associated with a body of water, which is why I think the gold coast in DC is called that. Though I don't here that name much anymore either - but never for the Chain Bridge area in Va - but I live in Alexandria. Maybe this is something only used in the area itself? Or only by realtors? |
It's fine to challenge the erasure. It's not fine to lash out indiscriminately. |
| Jeez, OP, how psyched are you to move to DC after this thread spun off of your simple question? Good luck with your search! |
Stay in your tight bubble. |
Now you know! As a DC native I wouldn't expect transplants to know about the name and historical significance. But growing up here the term was readily used like "she lives on the gold coast." I don't know if that's still true with youth today what with all the ways the city has changed. |
Oh gentrification! |
NP who is embarrassed to say I have lived here since 1994, 3 of those years in Cleveland Park, 15 on Capitol Hill, and the rest in Arlington, and I've never heard any neighborhood in the DC area referred to as "the Gold Coast." (Well, I'm not really embarrassed about the VA Gold Coast, but I am embarrassed not to know of a historic neighborhood in DC.) |
I've heard it, but not often - I think its a fairly old fashioned name for the area. |
A couple years ago, I was chatting with a coworker about our recent decision to buy in DC. He asked what neighborhood, and when I replied Shepherd Park, he smiled and said, "Oh, that's the Gold Coast." That was the first time I'd heard of it, although I'm AA (new to the area). My coworker is an AA older gentlemen--who lives in McLean.
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It doesn't denigrate AA history in DC that other areas, including part of NoVa, are referred to as the "Gold Coast." It's not exactly a unique term, and people who use the term may travel in different circles. |