Moving to DC with many questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At this point I think OP has decided to give up and stay in NYC where things are less confusing.

Less confusing? LOL, NYC school universe is by far most convoluted concepts to navigate and it starts in preschool and just being able to afford to pay for a private school is not often enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are 5 and 8. So would like to be near activities / sports / classes, etc for them and someplace that has a sense of community, you actually know your neighbors, etc.

I definitely think either Wesley Heights or Cleveland/Woodley Park is what will fit your bill.

I just moved from Manhattan to DC. I would definitely not move to Cleveland park. I moved here too based on dcum recommendations. Don't.

People here are weird and cold. It took months to get people to even respond when I said hello. Also this place is not walkable whatsoever. There Is a strip of sad little restaurants, but the place is clogged with old racist people who think nothing of screaming at you because they think you're a nanny. I don't know of another sahm at all. So the assumption is that we are nannies, and they will feel free to treat you like trash. The zoo is really nice though. I have met some nice friends, but they are few and far between.

I am moving to Capitol hill where other former NYC friends have moved. Since you're looking for private schools, the school issue is not important for you. Honestly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise- NW dc is extremely suburban, and maryland and Nova are totally suburban. People who don't understand what life is like in manhattan will say crap like oh Bethesda has a great downtown (spoiler alert- it doesn't) and Arlington is walkable! (no it is chain store central with unfriendly types. Actually it's a lot like Hoboken).

I would definitely take a couple weekends to check out the city. When people say "great and walkable downtown" they literally mean one sad Starbucks and a bad deli. That is it. Dont rely too much on what people here say. They don't understand.

+100

[Anonymous]

Logan Circle! It's our favorite DC neighborhood - has a little bit of a Greenwich feel to it? Certainly walkable (less than a mile from all metro lines and buses/taxis galore), great restaurants, more and more families, great community of families, including SAHMs, close to Shaw where there are some great art galleries, a straight shot east of Georgetown. We would be there now if we could afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Logan Circle! It's our favorite DC neighborhood - has a little bit of a Greenwich feel to it? Certainly walkable (less than a mile from all metro lines and buses/taxis galore), great restaurants, more and more families, great community of families, including SAHMs, close to Shaw where there are some great art galleries, a straight shot east of Georgetown. We would be there now if we could afford it.

Also - if you can get in the Ross school zone (between Dupont and Logan), it's a great little elementary school in the community. Middle and High school options are not good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown is the best, hands down. Its kind of like Soho, bur nicer. Everything else sucks big time compared to most of Manhattan.

HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahHhHah

Oh my god I just actually laughed out loud.

No Georgetown is very similar to South Street Seaport. Seriously!

Soho and Georgetown are as similar as Nancy Reagan and Beyonce.

SOHO sucks, it's a tourist trap for the most part, only more crowded than Gtown. Gtown is more comparable to West Village as far as residential streets are concerned.

Some parts of soho are touristy, for sure. Definitely agree with you! But Georgetown is not like the west village. Both have nice rowhouses, but I have lived in both and can confidently say that they are totally different. Again it's very similar to south street seaport. Google it.

There is more to Georgetown than M street. South Seaport is an outdoor shopping mall with river access, maybe comparable to some extent to commercial parts of Gtown, but there is more to Gtown beyond this. It's a sizable residential neighborhood and parts of it are pretty far from M street and very quiet. Plus, there is a college campus and presence of college students too.

[Anonymous]

I would definitely take a couple weekends to check out the city. When people say "great and walkable downtown" they literally mean one sad Starbucks and a bad deli. That is it. Dont rely too much on what people here say. They don't understand.

OMG, yes, PP, you described it PERFECTLY! I'm the PP who referred to a friend who said Connecticut avenue was the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are verrrrry different concepts of urban/walkable here than in NYC. I wish I'd moved to Capitol Hill when I first came to DC. I started out in Adams Morgan b/c I came here to go to georgetown for grad school and it was the farthest I could get from georgetown and still be able to walk to campus (in theory) and I hated it. Ugh. A very sorry excuse for an east village/brooklyn-type neighborhood. Anyway, congratulations to you on your move!

OK, native New Yorker, been down the same path. But the CT Ave. side of Cleveland Park is workable for a New Yorker used to walkability. It's all relative. And there used to be a deli there, Vace, that was really pretty good. They even had the only edible pizza in the DC Metro area. I hope it's still there. I wound up on Capitol Hill, too, FWIW.

There used to be an informal social club, forgot what it was called, comprised of transplanted New Yorkers. They'd get together once a month to piss and moan about the pizza, etc. I still can't get over you buy a newspaper here, they charge you sales tax, give you a writeen receipt and put the paper in a bag! WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are 5 and 8. So would like to be near activities / sports / classes, etc for them and someplace that has a sense of community, you actually know your neighbors, etc.

I definitely think either Wesley Heights or Cleveland/Woodley Park is what will fit your bill.

I just moved from Manhattan to DC. I would definitely not move to Cleveland park. I moved here too based on dcum recommendations. Don't.

People here are weird and cold. It took months to get people to even respond when I said hello. Also this place is not walkable whatsoever. There Is a strip of sad little restaurants, but the place is clogged with old racist people who think nothing of screaming at you because they think you're a nanny. I don't know of another sahm at all. So the assumption is that we are nannies, and they will feel free to treat you like trash. The zoo is really nice though. I have met some nice friends, but they are few and far between.

I am moving to Capitol hill where other former NYC friends have moved. Since you're looking for private schools, the school issue is not important for you. Honestly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise- NW dc is extremely suburban, and maryland and Nova are totally suburban.People who don't understand what life is like in manhattan will say crap like oh Bethesda has a great downtown (spoiler alert- it doesn't) and Arlington is walkable! (no it is chain store central with unfriendly types. Actually it's a lot like Hoboken).

I would definitely take a couple weekends to check out the city. When people say "great and walkable downtown" they literally mean one sad Starbucks and a bad deli. That is it. Dont rely too much on what people here say. They don't understand.

OMG, yes, PP, you described it PERFECTLY! I'm the PP who referred to a friend who said Connecticut avenue was the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are verrrrry different concepts of urban/walkable here than in NYC. I wish I'd moved to Capitol Hill when I first came to DC. I started out in Adams Morgan b/c I came here to go to georgetown for grad school and it was the farthest I could get from georgetown and still be able to walk to campus (in theory) and I hated it. Ugh. A very sorry excuse for an east village/brooklyn-type neighborhood. Anyway, congratulations to you on your move!

I don' see the appeal of Capitol hill honestly, there is a strip of businesses there too, it's not like there is stuff on every corner, you can go for blocks and blocks and it will be all houses, not much in terms of parks and playgrounds either. OP needs to visit and drive around all these neighborhoods to see for herself what she wants. I would make the shortest distance to DH's job and private schools the first priority. Capitol hill is a bit too far and DC streets get congested during rush hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown is the best, hands down. Its kind of like Soho, bur nicer. Everything else sucks big time compared to most of Manhattan.

HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahHhHah

Oh my god I just actually laughed out loud.

No Georgetown is very similar to South Street Seaport. Seriously!

Soho and Georgetown are as similar as Nancy Reagan and Beyonce.

SOHO sucks, it's a tourist trap for the most part, only more crowded than Gtown. Gtown is more comparable to West Village as far as residential streets are concerned.

Some parts of soho are touristy, for sure. Definitely agree with you! But Georgetown is not like the west village. Both have nice rowhouses, but I have lived in both and can confidently say that they are totally different. Again it's very similar to south street seaport. Google it.

There is more to Georgetown than M street. South Seaport is an outdoor shopping mall with river access, maybe comparable to some extent to commercial parts of Gtown, but there is more to Gtown beyond this. It's a sizable residential neighborhood and parts of it are pretty far from M street and very quiet. Plus, there is a college campus and presence of college students too.

South street seaport is too small to be comparable to anything. M street in g town is comparable to broadway in soho. NYU is right there as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are 5 and 8. So would like to be near activities / sports / classes, etc for them and someplace that has a sense of community, you actually know your neighbors, etc.

I definitely think either Wesley Heights or Cleveland/Woodley Park is what will fit your bill.

I just moved from Manhattan to DC. I would definitely not move to Cleveland park. I moved here too based on dcum recommendations. Don't.

People here are weird and cold. It took months to get people to even respond when I said hello. Also this place is not walkable whatsoever. There Is a strip of sad little restaurants, but the place is clogged with old racist people who think nothing of screaming at you because they think you're a nanny. I don't know of another sahm at all. So the assumption is that we are nannies, and they will feel free to treat you like trash. The zoo is really nice though. I have met some nice friends, but they are few and far between.

I am moving to Capitol hill where other former NYC friends have moved. Since you're looking for private schools, the school issue is not important for you. Honestly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise- NW dc is extremely suburban, and maryland and Nova are totally suburban.People who don't understand what life is like in manhattan will say crap like oh Bethesda has a great downtown (spoiler alert- it doesn't) and Arlington is walkable! (no it is chain store central with unfriendly types. Actually it's a lot like Hoboken).

I would definitely take a couple weekends to check out the city. When people say "great and walkable downtown" they literally mean one sad Starbucks and a bad deli. That is it. Dont rely too much on what people here say. They don't understand.

OMG, yes, PP, you described it PERFECTLY! I'm the PP who referred to a friend who said Connecticut avenue was the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are verrrrry different concepts of urban/walkable here than in NYC. I wish I'd moved to Capitol Hill when I first came to DC. I started out in Adams Morgan b/c I came here to go to georgetown for grad school and it was the farthest I could get from georgetown and still be able to walk to campus (in theory) and I hated it. Ugh. A very sorry excuse for an east village/brooklyn-type neighborhood. Anyway, congratulations to you on your move!

I don' see the appeal of Capitol hill honestly, there is a strip of businesses there too, it's not like there is stuff on every corner, you can go for blocks and blocks and it will be all houses, not much in terms of parks and playgrounds either. OP needs to visit and drive around all these neighborhoods to see for herself what she wants. I would make the shortest distance to DH's job and private schools the first priority. Capitol hill is a bit too far and DC streets get congested during rush hour.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are 5 and 8. So would like to be near activities / sports / classes, etc for them and someplace that has a sense of community, you actually know your neighbors, etc.

I definitely think either Wesley Heights or Cleveland/Woodley Park is what will fit your bill.

I just moved from Manhattan to DC. I would definitely not move to Cleveland park. I moved here too based on dcum recommendations. Don't.

People here are weird and cold. It took months to get people to even respond when I said hello. Also this place is not walkable whatsoever. There Is a strip of sad little restaurants, but the place is clogged with old racist people who think nothing of screaming at you because they think you're a nanny. I don't know of another sahm at all. So the assumption is that we are nannies, and they will feel free to treat you like trash. The zoo is really nice though. I have met some nice friends, but they are few and far between.

I am moving to Capitol hill where other former NYC friends have moved. Since you're looking for private schools, the school issue is not important for you. Honestly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise- NW dc is extremely suburban, and maryland and Nova are totally suburban. People who don't understand what life is like in manhattan will say crap like oh Bethesda has a great downtown (spoiler alert- it doesn't) and Arlington is walkable! (no it is chain store central with unfriendly types. Actually it's a lot like Hoboken).

I would definitely take a couple weekends to check out the city. When people say "great and walkable downtown" they literally mean one sad Starbucks and a bad deli. That is it. Dont rely too much on what people here say. They don't understand.

+100

+1000000000000000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown is the best, hands down. Its kind of like Soho, bur nicer. Everything else sucks big time compared to most of Manhattan.

HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahHhHah

Oh my god I just actually laughed out loud.

No Georgetown is very similar to South Street Seaport. Seriously!

Soho and Georgetown are as similar as Nancy Reagan and Beyonce.

SOHO sucks, it's a tourist trap for the most part, only more crowded than Gtown. Gtown is more comparable to West Village as far as residential streets are concerned.

Some parts of soho are touristy, for sure. Definitely agree with you! But Georgetown is not like the west village. Both have nice rowhouses, but I have lived in both and can confidently say that they are totally different. Again it's very similar to south street seaport. Google it.

There is more to Georgetown than M street. South Seaport is an outdoor shopping mall with river access, maybe comparable to some extent to commercial parts of Gtown, but there is more to Gtown beyond this. It's a sizable residential neighborhood and parts of it are pretty far from M street and very quiet. Plus, there is a college campus and presence of college students too.

South street seaport is too small to be comparable to anything. M street in g town is comparable to broadway in soho. NYU is right there as well.

I'm impressed that you could make so many snap judgments so quickly from your tour bus!

Also since you're so certain Georgetown is better than soho, could you do me a huge favor and point me to the fabulous restaurants and museums in Georgetown? Also where are all the fashionistas hiding in GTown? I seem to see the same pasty white chubby folks walking around in quilted jackets, mom jeans, and Michael Kors purses every single time. But I only lived in both, so what do I know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Village in Arlington, near Clarendon.

I rented a house here before we bought.

I cannot believe you would in good conscience suggest this to a former NYer. Seriously? It's the WORST of the suburbs. In NYC there is good pizza everywhere.... I guess you thought Lyons Village because of the Italian Store?

Come on. BE serious.

[Anonymous]

Nova realtor please stop spamming the thread. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown is the best, hands down. Its kind of like Soho, bur nicer. Everything else sucks big time compared to most of Manhattan.

HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahHhHah

Oh my god I just actually laughed out loud.

No Georgetown is very similar to South Street Seaport. Seriously!

Soho and Georgetown are as similar as Nancy Reagan and Beyonce.

SOHO sucks, it's a tourist trap for the most part, only more crowded than Gtown. Gtown is more comparable to West Village as far as residential streets are concerned.

Some parts of soho are touristy, for sure. Definitely agree with you! But Georgetown is not like the west village. Both have nice rowhouses, but I have lived in both and can confidently say that they are totally different. Again it's very similar to south street seaport. Google it.

There is more to Georgetown than M street. South Seaport is an outdoor shopping mall with river access, maybe comparable to some extent to commercial parts of Gtown, but there is more to Gtown beyond this. It's a sizable residential neighborhood and parts of it are pretty far from M street and very quiet. Plus, there is a college campus and presence of college students too.

South street seaport is too small to be comparable to anything. M street in g town is comparable to broadway in soho. NYU is right there as well.

I'm impressed that you could make so many snap judgments so quickly from your tour bus!

Also since you're so certain Georgetown is better than soho, could you do me a huge favor and point me to the fabulous restaurants and museums in Georgetown? Also where are all the fashionistas hiding in GTown? I seem to see the same pasty white chubby folks walking around in quilted jackets, mom jeans, and Michael Kors purses every single time. But I only lived in both, so what do I know?

I didn't live in soho, I lived on upper west side for many years. So not an expert on soho, but been there quite a few times. Gtown is nicer architecturally. I don't eat out much and don't care for restaurants. I am not sure what your point is though because I am the person who said all of DC area is very provincial compared to NYC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are 5 and 8. So would like to be near activities / sports / classes, etc for them and someplace that has a sense of community, you actually know your neighbors, etc.

I definitely think either Wesley Heights or Cleveland/Woodley Park is what will fit your bill.

I just moved from Manhattan to DC. I would definitely not move to Cleveland park. I moved here too based on dcum recommendations. Don't.

People here are weird and cold. It took months to get people to even respond when I said hello. Also this place is not walkable whatsoever. There Is a strip of sad little restaurants, but the place is clogged with old racist people who think nothing of screaming at you because they think you're a nanny. I don't know of another sahm at all. So the assumption is that we are nannies, and they will feel free to treat you like trash. The zoo is really nice though. I have met some nice friends, but they are few and far between.

I am moving to Capitol hill where other former NYC friends have moved. Since you're looking for private schools, the school issue is not important for you. Honestly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise- NW dc is extremely suburban, and maryland and Nova are totally suburban. People who don't understand what life is like in manhattan will say crap like oh Bethesda has a great downtown (spoiler alert- it doesn't) and Arlington is walkable! (no it is chain store central with unfriendly types. Actually it's a lot like Hoboken).

I would definitely take a couple weekends to check out the city. When people say "great and walkable downtown" they literally mean one sad Starbucks and a bad deli. That is it. Dont rely too much on what people here say. They don't understand.

This gal is spot-on correct. Relocated from NYC too. People here ARE weird. Rent first. Then you can decide where you want to live; very difficult to guess what it is like. Live and rent; less stress, and then after a year or so you can make a much more informed decision.