Living in Capitol Hill...Why?

[Anonymous]

I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

[Anonymous]

Nope. There's no hope for you

[Anonymous]

Your experience (or perhaps more accurately "experience") with Capitol Hill is completely opposite of mine. It's a lively, walkable, living, breathing neighborhood. And, for me, it is very centrally located to the things I do, like work downtown, go to lots of baseball and hockey games, quick hop over to 295 and 50 to visit family in Annapolis, equally easy to get on 395 to 95 for other family in Richmond.

[Anonymous]

Not my cup of tea and to close to areas I would never live. Maybe if in my early 20s and in a group home with friends.

[Anonymous]

That’s weird. Walking to Michelin star rated restaurants and being close to the city’s baseball stadium seems like a big draw. Not to mention not as congested as some of the other neighborhoods in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

The hill is sort of the happy medium between urban walkable and a family friendly neighborhood. You can easily walk to the food and shopping on H street, eastern market, union market, etc. Downtown is an easy bike or bus commute (or metro in certain places) commute. But it is a bit less dense and therefore more "neighborhoody" than logan or dupont. Tons of young families with strollers, kids riding bikes, etc.)

It's not for everybody. It's not a suburb, but it has a few suburban qualities. It's not shaw, but it has a similar number of restaurant openings and chances to not get in a car while drinking.

If you can't imagine raising a kid in logan, but also can't imagine doing it in Bethesda, then you end up on the hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

It's not just capitol hill it's most of DC. Most of DC is neighborhoods with little or no retail. I would only live there if I worked on capitol hill. Otherwise there are plenty of other areas that have much more retail that is actually walk-able including many town centers in the suburbs.

I think people choose where they live for commute/being close to job above everything else, then walk ability, and then schools (but not everyone has kids)

[Anonymous]

I work nearby and I think it's getting better in terms of restaurants and retail, but no I'd not live there with my family. The location is great, but I'm not a fan of postage stamp sized or non-existent yards. My kids love to play outside and we entertain outside too often for CH to be a draw for us. Other minuses for me are parking and rats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

It's not just capitol hill it's most of DC. Most of DC is neighborhoods with little or no retail. I would only live there if I worked on capitol hill. Otherwise there are plenty of other areas that have much more retail that is actually walk-able including many town centers in the suburbs.

I think people choose where they live for commute/being close to job above everything else, then walk ability, and then schools (but not everyone has kids)

OP here. This is the point I was getting at. Comparing say Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown, and Capitol Hill, in my experience while you get somewhat similar architecture, Old Town and Georgetown seem to be superior in walkability. I do recognize that Georgetown is significantly more expensive, but again it feels like Capitol Hill is more about name recognition than anything else. I have seen improvements on Pennsylvania, 8th Street, and of course H, but I don’t think the neighborhood is as walkable as PPs have stated. Also, the neighborhood has seen significantly less appreciation than other neighborhoods, because homes have been at or around $1 mil since the late 90s/early 00s.

[Anonymous]

Why is it so fucking hard for people to understand that other people don't value the same things that you do?

I don't live on Capitol Hill, but I assume that some people like the architecture, appreciate that it's close to where they work, and find that there's enough to walk to, including stores, restaurants, Eastern Market, etc. I don't need to be able to walk to a thousand shops. If I can walk to a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a couple of restaurants, I'm good! They might *like* that it's quiet. They might like that the yards are small, because they don't want to maintain a big yard. They might love that they can walk to work, which they wouldn't be able to do from places like Georgetown (which is much more expensive) or Old Town Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

The hill is sort of the happy medium between urban walkable and a family friendly neighborhood. You can easily walk to the food and shopping on H street, eastern market, union market, etc. Downtown is an easy bike or bus commute (or metro in certain places) commute. But it is a bit less dense and therefore more "neighborhoody" than logan or dupont. Tons of young families with strollers, kids riding bikes, etc.)

It's not for everybody. It's not a suburb, but it has a few suburban qualities. It's not shaw, but it has a similar number of restaurant openings and chances to not get in a car while drinking.

If you can't imagine raising a kid in logan, but also can't imagine doing it in Bethesda, then you end up on the hill.

Interesting. This is the first time I hear that about the Hill. I've never thought of it as suburban in the least. What you are saying above is how I usually think about neighborhoods WOTP.

I like Capitol Hill, and we seriously considered buying there. I grew up in a big city in Europe and Capitol Hill feels most like home to me. But I just couldn't get past the street crime, which I'm just not used to from the European cities I've lived in. Also, schools are an issue, past elementary. But if you can make the schools work and can psychologically live with the level of crime and grittiness, then I imagine it's a great place to raise a family.

[Anonymous]

Although I love raising my family on the Hill, I can completely understand people who don't. If you want a bigger house or a large yard, I understand. If you want the ease of going to neighborhood schools from K to 12, I understand. If you don't want to deal with the small but real risk of crime, I understand

But this, I don't understand: You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. We're near Stanton Park and we are constantly seeing people walk around, to the parks and the library, to and from sports events, to the store, to the Metro. We're constantly seeing neighbors we know. Maybe not quite as dense as Georgetown, but way more than the suburbs that people often move to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

It's not just capitol hill it's most of DC. Most of DC is neighborhoods with little or no retail. I would only live there if I worked on capitol hill. Otherwise there are plenty of other areas that have much more retail that is actually walk-able including many town centers in the suburbs.

I think people choose where they live for commute/being close to job above everything else, then walk ability, and then schools (but not everyone has kids)

OP here. This is the point I was getting at. Comparing say Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown, and Capitol Hill, in my experience while you get somewhat similar architecture, Old Town and Georgetown seem to be superior in walkability. I do recognize that Georgetown is significantly more expensive, but again it feels like Capitol Hill is more about name recognition than anything else. I have seen improvements on Pennsylvania, 8th Street, and of course H, but I don’t think the neighborhood is as walkable as PPs have stated. Also, the neighborhood has seen significantly less appreciation than other neighborhoods, because homes have been at or around $1 mil since the late 90s/early 00s.

Capitol Hill is a better medium between retail & restaurants, and space. PLUS the elementary schools are solid choices (and many charters are reachable as well.) If you work anywhere on the blue or red lines, you can have a pretty much car-free life as well. The housing prices (for a reasonable amount of space) are attainable for many dual-income earners with 1 or 2 kids. Getting around is not a congested hassle like Georgetown. I don't know as much about Old Town but I don't think the elementary schools are good, and the commute is worse.

I found the Hill boring when I first moved here (compared to Petworth and U St/Dupont/Adams Morgan, where I had lived before.) But now with a kid in elementary school I think it's totally fabulous. I can walk to cafes, bookstores, grocery stores (hello Trader Joes!), walk to work if I want or very short metro ride; my house is appreciating nicely; tons of parks and kid activities; and it's not crowded or obnoxious. Obviously there are advantages to the SUBURBS (bigger yards, kids can bike, the neighborhood is probably more stable -- a lot of people move on and off the Hill.) But I truly can't see the advantage of Georgetown or Logan Circle or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is probably going to anger some people, but I don't understand the draw to living in Capitol Hill. Yes, the homes are historic. Yes, there are many beautiful renovations, but apart from that, it has to be one of the most DEAD areas of DC. You walk around and it's like no one lives there. It's a ghost town on weekends and holidays. Yes, Eastern Market can get fairly lively, but the area as a whole doesn't have the feeling of a living, breathing, neighborhood.

Am I missing something? Can someone enlighten me?

It's not just capitol hill it's most of DC. Most of DC is neighborhoods with little or no retail. I would only live there if I worked on capitol hill. Otherwise there are plenty of other areas that have much more retail that is actually walk-able including many town centers in the suburbs.

I think people choose where they live for commute/being close to job above everything else, then walk ability, and then schools (but not everyone has kids)

Is retail really your metric for where you live if you have kids, though? And I'm trying to imagine the suburban town centers that have MORE retail than the Hill. Where I live on the Hill, I'm a 15 minute walk away from Trader Joes, Safeway, Harris Teeter, independent book, game, and toy stores, cafes, and any number of restaurants, hair salons, gyms, CVS, etc etc. The selection of clothing stores is limited I guess but if you really needed something there's H&M and Ann Taylor at Union Station. When I want a full panoply of clothing stores, I get on the Metro and go to Pentagon City Mall, easy peasy.

[Anonymous]

As a real estate agent, I LOVE Capitol Hill. When the first child turns 4, people flee to Arlington and McLean, and I'm there to welcome them to the land of safety, parking, yards, parks and blandness. Ca-ching!