Considering a Move to Alexandria or Arlington Questions Re: Neighhborhoods

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The West End can be a great place to live but don't get too focused on its walkability or drivability to Old Town. There are three main roads leading from the West End to the East End - Duke, King and Braddock. All three of them are very bad slogs in the afternoon running from 2:30 to about 7. I know because I work in the West End and live in the East End. On the other hand, if you are on the West End then it is pretty easy to get to 2 or 3 big shopping centers (2 on Duke and 1 off of Seminary) that are nearby, there are 2 big public libraries in that area, and of course the Alexandria Hospital and assorted supporting medical buildings are right there. Further west in Fairfax County is the Skyline area with tons of big box stores and fast casual restaurants. I don't know as much about the elementary schools but the middle school in the West End is much better than the middle school on the East End although I doubt many of the East End parents realize it. You can get a much better house and yard on the West End than you will in any of the other areas of the City.

I live in the West End, up King Street past Bradlee. I work in DC. My wife and I go to Old Town mostly on weekends, or (less often) after I get home from work. I can't recall King or Braddock being backed up any of those times. My understanding is that Duke Street is worse though, but even is fine on weekends AFAICT.

Also your take on Francis Hammond MS vs GWMS is, I think, not shared by many people in any part of Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Look at Fairlington and Windgate condos in South Arlington. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The West End can be a great place to live but don't get too focused on its walkability or drivability to Old Town. There are three main roads leading from the West End to the East End - Duke, King and Braddock. All three of them are very bad slogs in the afternoon running from 2:30 to about 7. I know because I work in the West End and live in the East End. On the other hand, if you are on the West End then it is pretty easy to get to 2 or 3 big shopping centers (2 on Duke and 1 off of Seminary) that are nearby, there are 2 big public libraries in that area, and of course the Alexandria Hospital and assorted supporting medical buildings are right there. Further west in Fairfax County is the Skyline area with tons of big box stores and fast casual restaurants. I don't know as much about the elementary schools but the middle school in the West End is much better than the middle school on the East End although I doubt many of the East End parents realize it. You can get a much better house and yard on the West End than you will in any of the other areas of the City.

I live in the West End, up King Street past Bradlee. I work in DC. My wife and I go to Old Town mostly on weekends, or (less often) after I get home from work. I can't recall King or Braddock being backed up any of those times. My understanding is that Duke Street is worse though, but even is fine on weekends AFAICT.

Also your take on Francis Hammond MS vs GWMS is, I think, not shared by many people in any part of Alexandria.

Jeez, how do you not "get" that there is a difference between RUSH HOURS on the weekdays between 3 and 7, and the weekend? Your posting about no traffic on the weekend is irrelevant to the first post. When you are making the same commute then you'll have something to comment on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The West End can be a great place to live but don't get too focused on its walkability or drivability to Old Town. There are three main roads leading from the West End to the East End - Duke, King and Braddock. All three of them are very bad slogs in the afternoon running from 2:30 to about 7. I know because I work in the West End and live in the East End. On the other hand, if you are on the West End then it is pretty easy to get to 2 or 3 big shopping centers (2 on Duke and 1 off of Seminary) that are nearby, there are 2 big public libraries in that area, and of course the Alexandria Hospital and assorted supporting medical buildings are right there. Further west in Fairfax County is the Skyline area with tons of big box stores and fast casual restaurants. I don't know as much about the elementary schools but the middle school in the West End is much better than the middle school on the East End although I doubt many of the East End parents realize it. You can get a much better house and yard on the West End than you will in any of the other areas of the City.

I live in the West End, up King Street past Bradlee. I work in DC. My wife and I go to Old Town mostly on weekends, or (less often) after I get home from work. I can't recall King or Braddock being backed up any of those times. My understanding is that Duke Street is worse though, but even is fine on weekends AFAICT.

Also your take on Francis Hammond MS vs GWMS is, I think, not shared by many people in any part of Alexandria.

Jeez, how do you not "get" that there is a difference between RUSH HOURS on the weekdays between 3 and 7, and the weekend? Your posting about no traffic on the weekend is irrelevant to the first post. When you are making the same commute then you'll have something to comment on.

OP said We are looking for areas that are safe, walkable to stores and not far from metro and Old Town, or that feel similar to Old Town

Clearly OP is not commuting to Old Town, just mainly wants to go there for fun.

Most of their trips to Old Town will be on weekends.

As for PM rush hour, I have made it a point (for other reasons) to check traffic conditions on King and Braddock at PM rush, using google traffic. They are in fact not bad most of the time, with back ups only at certain noted problem intersections (like King-Callahan-Russell). Duke on the other hand, looks terrible at PM rush esp near the Telegraph interchange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The West End can be a great place to live but don't get too focused on its walkability or drivability to Old Town. There are three main roads leading from the West End to the East End - Duke, King and Braddock. All three of them are very bad slogs in the afternoon running from 2:30 to about 7. I know because I work in the West End and live in the East End. On the other hand, if you are on the West End then it is pretty easy to get to 2 or 3 big shopping centers (2 on Duke and 1 off of Seminary) that are nearby, there are 2 big public libraries in that area, and of course the Alexandria Hospital and assorted supporting medical buildings are right there. Further west in Fairfax County is the Skyline area with tons of big box stores and fast casual restaurants. I don't know as much about the elementary schools but the middle school in the West End is much better than the middle school on the East End although I doubt many of the East End parents realize it. You can get a much better house and yard on the West End than you will in any of the other areas of the City.

I live in the West End, up King Street past Bradlee. I work in DC. My wife and I go to Old Town mostly on weekends, or (less often) after I get home from work. I can't recall King or Braddock being backed up any of those times. My understanding is that Duke Street is worse though, but even is fine on weekends AFAICT.

Also your take on Francis Hammond MS vs GWMS is, I think, not shared by many people in any part of Alexandria.

Jeez, how do you not "get" that there is a difference between RUSH HOURS on the weekdays between 3 and 7, and the weekend? Your posting about no traffic on the weekend is irrelevant to the first post. When you are making the same commute then you'll have something to comment on.

OP said We are looking for areas that are safe, walkable to stores and not far from metro and Old Town, or that feel similar to Old Town

Clearly OP is not commuting to Old Town, just mainly wants to go there for fun.

Most of their trips to Old Town will be on weekends.

As for PM rush hour, I have made it a point (for other reasons) to check traffic conditions on King and Braddock at PM rush, using google traffic. They are in fact not bad most of the time, with back ups only at certain noted problem intersections (like King-Callahan-Russell). Duke on the other hand, looks terrible at PM rush esp near the Telegraph interchange.

King Street and Braddock are major blockages during evening commutes, too. They probably don't register because most people going into Old Town at that time don't use Google Map or Waze since they know where they are going. I can tell you from my experiences that it is never less than 27-28 minutes to go from Alexandria Hospital or the medical building on Seminary to Old Town any time after 2:30 pm. Given that this drive is only 3 miles or so, that is a really striking amount of time.

And thank you for your statement regarding the schools. It is a good time to point out to OP that Alexandria is a great place to live if you are white. Not so much if you are a POC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The West End can be a great place to live but don't get too focused on its walkability or drivability to Old Town. There are three main roads leading from the West End to the East End - Duke, King and Braddock. All three of them are very bad slogs in the afternoon running from 2:30 to about 7. I know because I work in the West End and live in the East End. On the other hand, if you are on the West End then it is pretty easy to get to 2 or 3 big shopping centers (2 on Duke and 1 off of Seminary) that are nearby, there are 2 big public libraries in that area, and of course the Alexandria Hospital and assorted supporting medical buildings are right there. Further west in Fairfax County is the Skyline area with tons of big box stores and fast casual restaurants. I don't know as much about the elementary schools but the middle school in the West End is much better than the middle school on the East End although I doubt many of the East End parents realize it. You can get a much better house and yard on the West End than you will in any of the other areas of the City.

I live in the West End, up King Street past Bradlee. I work in DC. My wife and I go to Old Town mostly on weekends, or (less often) after I get home from work. I can't recall King or Braddock being backed up any of those times. My understanding is that Duke Street is worse though, but even is fine on weekends AFAICT.

Also your take on Francis Hammond MS vs GWMS is, I think, not shared by many people in any part of Alexandria.

Jeez, how do you not "get" that there is a difference between RUSH HOURS on the weekdays between 3 and 7, and the weekend? Your posting about no traffic on the weekend is irrelevant to the first post. When you are making the same commute then you'll have something to comment on.

OP said We are looking for areas that are safe, walkable to stores and not far from metro and Old Town, or that feel similar to Old Town

Clearly OP is not commuting to Old Town, just mainly wants to go there for fun.

Most of their trips to Old Town will be on weekends.

As for PM rush hour, I have made it a point (for other reasons) to check traffic conditions on King and Braddock at PM rush, using google traffic. They are in fact not bad most of the time, with back ups only at certain noted problem intersections (like King-Callahan-Russell). Duke on the other hand, looks terrible at PM rush esp near the Telegraph interchange.

King Street and Braddock are major blockages during evening commutes, too. They probably don't register because most people going into Old Town at that time don't use Google Map or Waze since they know where they are going. I can tell you from my experiences that it is never less than 27-28 minutes to go from Alexandria Hospital or the medical building on Seminary to Old Town any time after 2:30 pm. Given that this drive is only 3 miles or so, that is a really striking amount of time.

And thank you for your statement regarding the schools. It is a good time to point out to OP that Alexandria is a great place to live if you are white. Not so much if you are a POC.

I have heard the claim about people not using waze etc before. Somehow Duke, the beltway, etc all show up as congested every PM rush hour anyway, so there must be something else going on.


BTW, where in Old Town are you going? If the waterfront, you have slow streets with lots of lights just heading from King Street Station to the watefront. I mean it's showing as 14 minutes (inova Alex to waterfront) now Christmas week, govt shutdown. Clearly it just takes a while to sit through traffic lights, even when those lights are at "level of service A".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just buy a smaller place in Old Town! We love it here. The further you get from King towards 495, the more you'll get for you money in the SW quad. And North Old Town is up and coming. 22314 all the way! But you'll just need to be patient at your budget.

Not much inventory

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're going to have a hard time finding something not near a busy street if you want to be anywhere remotely close-in.

It's actually not a bad thing to be a couple/few blocks off a busy street. I'm not talking route 66 or 395 - I'm talking a Glebe or Route 1 or Lee Hwy. We live 1 block off of George Mason in Arlington, and about 3-4 blocks off of Lee and about the same distance from Glebe. It is great to have the commuting options, and we never hear road noise. There is some cut-through traffic thanks to the mapping softwares - no way to avoid that. But we are walkable to all sorts of things BECAUSE we are near a busy road. That's where shops and restaurants are. Busy roads get plowed quickly, so you can generally make your way out during/after a storm.

I used to live 2 blocks off of route 50 and a few blocks from route 29 - again, no road noise, huge convenience factor.

Falls Church City would be awesome, but we'd need to know your budget.

Lots of us are Anonymous so I'll call myself HH for House Hunter.

It does make sense that in snow, those roads would be the plowed first. I didn't think about that. The roads we've traveled to get to some of the houses we've looked at were around Telegraph and Route 1 (Richmond Highway). Do you know those roads? How do Glebe, Route 1, Lee Highway and George Mason compare to those roads, which seem really run down? The zip code is 22310 and the High School is Edison which on GreatSchools is a 4. I'm told the school is very diverse and there is an advanced program that students can test into. We don't need the schools anymore but I'm definitely thinking about re-sale down the road. What zip code are you in, if you don't mind my asking?

Our price range is up to about $750,000. Maybe a little more if it's updated.

This PP is my neighbor! This is a great area of 22207 in the Glebe ES district.

As someone said it would be hard to find a sfh for $750k. But there are some townhouses in the area and some of those might possibly be options.

[Anonymous]

Love 2 revive a 2018 thread, I'm sure 2018 prices hold up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:22308 we love it here

Same!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to be walkable to Old Town Alexandria, you have basically Del Ray (just north) Rosemont (just northwest) Taylor Run (due west), Carlyle/Eisenhower East (just southwest)

and some parts of Fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria street addresses)

Carlyle has no single family houses, I think, if that is what you are looking for. Rosemont and Taylor run will be somewhat challenging in your price range, I think - and Taylor Run I think is weak on walkability to shops, and not an easy walk to Old Town (because the direct route on Duke is a terrible place to walk). The areas in FFX just south of Old Town are cheaper, not much in the way of local retail (but more is coming with redevelopment I think) but also not the most pleasant walk to Old Town (you have to walk on a sidepath along Telegraph on a high bridge over the highway and RR tracks, and its a good distance)

Best bet sounds like Del Ray, but the houses there are mostly not large, and if you thinking of needing public schools at some point, note that there is a fair amount of disagreement on the desirability of the schools there.

There are many more parts of Fairfax County with Alexandria mailing addresses, some of which have been suggested, but they are far from walkable to Old Town.

This continues to be weird description of parts of the FC part of Alexandria "some parts of fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria) street addresses". This argument that is often on the real estate section of DCUM makes zero sense. Are parts of Falls Church or Mclean really fairfax because they are fairfax county? The parts of Alexandria that are in Fairfax County are still Alexandria. It makes no sense they would be considered Fairfax when they are nowhere close.

I wouldn't call them "Fairfax" though they ARE in Fairfax County, feed to FCPS, pay FFX taxes, etc, etc.

I would call them Belle Haven, Kingstowne, Lincolnia, Hybla Valley, etc.

I won't call them "Alexandria" just because A. The USPS allows them to be so addressed B. and some people want the prestige of Old Town, without dealing with Alexandria schools or property taxes.

You are free to call them Alexandria. I am free to mock you and call them "fake Alexandria".

DP. Please stop this silly argument. As a historical matter, you’re wrong. There’s a complicated history, but the short version is that the existing “City of Alexandria” is relatively new as it was set up as a separate entity in 1852 because it was the part of Alexandria that was ceded to DC and later returned to Virginia. In fact, parts of “The City of Alexandria” (Del Ray, Potomac Yard, etc) were in an incorporated Town called Potomac and weren’t annexed until 1930. Pre-cessation, the Town of Alexandria was the County Seat of Fairfax County. It’s all historically, “Alexandria.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to be walkable to Old Town Alexandria, you have basically Del Ray (just north) Rosemont (just northwest) Taylor Run (due west), Carlyle/Eisenhower East (just southwest)

and some parts of Fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria street addresses)

Carlyle has no single family houses, I think, if that is what you are looking for. Rosemont and Taylor run will be somewhat challenging in your price range, I think - and Taylor Run I think is weak on walkability to shops, and not an easy walk to Old Town (because the direct route on Duke is a terrible place to walk). The areas in FFX just south of Old Town are cheaper, not much in the way of local retail (but more is coming with redevelopment I think) but also not the most pleasant walk to Old Town (you have to walk on a sidepath along Telegraph on a high bridge over the highway and RR tracks, and its a good distance)

Best bet sounds like Del Ray, but the houses there are mostly not large, and if you thinking of needing public schools at some point, note that there is a fair amount of disagreement on the desirability of the schools there.

There are many more parts of Fairfax County with Alexandria mailing addresses, some of which have been suggested, but they are far from walkable to Old Town.

This continues to be weird description of parts of the FC part of Alexandria "some parts of fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria) street addresses". This argument that is often on the real estate section of DCUM makes zero sense. Are parts of Falls Church or Mclean really fairfax because they are fairfax county? The parts of Alexandria that are in Fairfax County are still Alexandria. It makes no sense they would be considered Fairfax when they are nowhere close.

I wouldn't call them "Fairfax" though they ARE in Fairfax County, feed to FCPS, pay FFX taxes, etc, etc.

I would call them Belle Haven, Kingstowne, Lincolnia, Hybla Valley, etc.

I won't call them "Alexandria" just because A. The USPS allows them to be so addressed B. and some people want the prestige of Old Town, without dealing with Alexandria schools or property taxes.

You are free to call them Alexandria. I am free to mock you and call them "fake Alexandria".

DP. Please stop this silly argument. As a historical matter, you’re wrong. There’s a complicated history, but the short version is that the existing “City of Alexandria” is relatively new as it was set up as a separate entity in 1852 because it was the part of Alexandria that was ceded to DC and later returned to Virginia. In fact, parts of “The City of Alexandria” (Del Ray, Potomac Yard, etc) were in an incorporated Town called Potomac and weren’t annexed until 1930. Pre-cessation, the Town of Alexandria was the County Seat of Fairfax County. It’s all historically, “Alexandria.”

I am sure the person who posted in 2018 eagerly waited five years for this response.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can try to get your DC into a magnet program like IB in Arlington; generally the best middle schools in APS are Williamsburg and Dorothy Hamm, which are both in North Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to be walkable to Old Town Alexandria, you have basically Del Ray (just north) Rosemont (just northwest) Taylor Run (due west), Carlyle/Eisenhower East (just southwest)

and some parts of Fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria street addresses)

Carlyle has no single family houses, I think, if that is what you are looking for. Rosemont and Taylor run will be somewhat challenging in your price range, I think - and Taylor Run I think is weak on walkability to shops, and not an easy walk to Old Town (because the direct route on Duke is a terrible place to walk). The areas in FFX just south of Old Town are cheaper, not much in the way of local retail (but more is coming with redevelopment I think) but also not the most pleasant walk to Old Town (you have to walk on a sidepath along Telegraph on a high bridge over the highway and RR tracks, and its a good distance)

Best bet sounds like Del Ray, but the houses there are mostly not large, and if you thinking of needing public schools at some point, note that there is a fair amount of disagreement on the desirability of the schools there.

There are many more parts of Fairfax County with Alexandria mailing addresses, some of which have been suggested, but they are far from walkable to Old Town.

This continues to be weird description of parts of the FC part of Alexandria "some parts of fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria) street addresses". This argument that is often on the real estate section of DCUM makes zero sense. Are parts of Falls Church or Mclean really fairfax because they are fairfax county? The parts of Alexandria that are in Fairfax County are still Alexandria. It makes no sense they would be considered Fairfax when they are nowhere close.

I wouldn't call them "Fairfax" though they ARE in Fairfax County, feed to FCPS, pay FFX taxes, etc, etc.

I would call them Belle Haven, Kingstowne, Lincolnia, Hybla Valley, etc.

I won't call them "Alexandria" just because A. The USPS allows them to be so addressed B. and some people want the prestige of Old Town, without dealing with Alexandria schools or property taxes.

You are free to call them Alexandria. I am free to mock you and call them "fake Alexandria".

I'm a totally different poster. But This post gives tell me tell me you aren't from here without telling me you aren't from here. Those of us that have lived here for multiple generations definitely do not see it like this. It's Alexandria because it's Alexandria. I get that the new crowd likes to think one is better than the other, but us folks from here just chuckle at this silliness. Old Town may be desirable today but it was literally the projects. Chill out and relax it's all Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to be walkable to Old Town Alexandria, you have basically Del Ray (just north) Rosemont (just northwest) Taylor Run (due west), Carlyle/Eisenhower East (just southwest)

and some parts of Fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria street addresses)

Carlyle has no single family houses, I think, if that is what you are looking for. Rosemont and Taylor run will be somewhat challenging in your price range, I think - and Taylor Run I think is weak on walkability to shops, and not an easy walk to Old Town (because the direct route on Duke is a terrible place to walk). The areas in FFX just south of Old Town are cheaper, not much in the way of local retail (but more is coming with redevelopment I think) but also not the most pleasant walk to Old Town (you have to walk on a sidepath along Telegraph on a high bridge over the highway and RR tracks, and its a good distance)

Best bet sounds like Del Ray, but the houses there are mostly not large, and if you thinking of needing public schools at some point, note that there is a fair amount of disagreement on the desirability of the schools there.

There are many more parts of Fairfax County with Alexandria mailing addresses, some of which have been suggested, but they are far from walkable to Old Town.

This continues to be weird description of parts of the FC part of Alexandria "some parts of fairfax immediately due south (which have Alexandria) street addresses". This argument that is often on the real estate section of DCUM makes zero sense. Are parts of Falls Church or Mclean really fairfax because they are fairfax county? The parts of Alexandria that are in Fairfax County are still Alexandria. It makes no sense they would be considered Fairfax when they are nowhere close.

I wouldn't call them "Fairfax" though they ARE in Fairfax County, feed to FCPS, pay FFX taxes, etc, etc.

I would call them Belle Haven, Kingstowne, Lincolnia, Hybla Valley, etc.

I won't call them "Alexandria" just because A. The USPS allows them to be so addressed B. and some people want the prestige of Old Town, without dealing with Alexandria schools or property taxes.

You are free to call them Alexandria. I am free to mock you and call them "fake Alexandria".

DP. Please stop this silly argument. As a historical matter, you’re wrong. There’s a complicated history, but the short version is that the existing “City of Alexandria” is relatively new as it was set up as a separate entity in 1852 because it was the part of Alexandria that was ceded to DC and later returned to Virginia. In fact, parts of “The City of Alexandria” (Del Ray, Potomac Yard, etc) were in an incorporated Town called Potomac and weren’t annexed until 1930. Pre-cessation, the Town of Alexandria was the County Seat of Fairfax County. It’s all historically, “Alexandria.”

Not quite right. Alexandria was the city associated with Alexandria County, VA which had its own county courthouse built in the late 1800s where the Orange Line Courthouse Metro station is today. Before that, Alexandria was the county seat of Alexandria County, VA, and Alexandria County, D.C., when it was part of the District of Columbia. Alexandria County was renamed Arlington County in 1920. Soon thereafter, Alexandria (the city) annexed portions of Arlington County including the town of Potomac.