Anonymous wrote:Mt Pleasant is one of the best urban neighborhoods in DC, and probably one of the best in the country. Beautiful streets and housing stock; relatively safe and quiet; cute nice strip of retail on Mt Pleasant, and much more in Columbia Heights. Also walking distance to the zoo, Rock Creek Park, and Adams Morgan. Transit is the bus or walking to Columbia Heights metro, depending exactly where you are.
Hmm.
The original housing stock is nice, but nowhere near as nice as what you'd find in much of other cities like Boston, New York, Charleston or Savannah. And there are few blocks in Mt. P. where there aren't some homes that remain in substantial disrepair.
It is "relatively" safe and quiet if you are comparing it to Petworth and Columbia Heights, but not WOTP neighborhoods. Lots of car break-ins and lots of vagrants spilling over from Mt. Pleasant street into the residential areas.
The retail strip is not cute. It's still heavy on bodegas, cheap restaurants that cater primarily to Hispanic immigrants, and discount grocery stores. There's a smattering of hipster bars, and more upscale restaurants, but the latter mostly suck. To take one example, there's a little Brazilian cafe there now that's totally underwhelming and wouldn't last more than a week or two in the Ironbound district in Newark, or the Boston suburbs. The Thai restaurant that's on the strip doesn't hold a candle to any number of places in the suburbs. Etc.
Transit options are as described - OK, but not great for an urban neighborhood in the District.