Anonymous wrote:OP - I'm from Chicago. I'm very urban

I live in Del Ray next to Old Town. Like it a lot but don't LOVE IT but I don't think I'd love anything more than Chicago, SF or NYC. DC is not truly a "city" - it's kinda like a city - people here want to believe it is but it's not.

Here, the suburbs are not really 'suburbs" - there's quite a lot of stuff going on in them. Not that I would make it in Fairfax, Falls Church, Vienna and if I lived in Burke I'd probably die but there is a LOT there that you would not think would be convenient - the food sometimes is actually better scary to say. The food here will never be really really good - so many chains.

Anyway - the other thing to understand is that the walkable urban places you want to be - the schools past Elementary may not be so good. It's REALLY hard to find somewhere you are going to love meeting all your criteria and be able to stay for 20 years if you have kids and want to do public. That being said, here are my suggestions in no particular order:

Dupont - for walkability urban this is it!
G'town - I've always been a fan of G'town but agree that in recent times, it's kinda fallen apart v. some of the hipper up and coming areas like H St corridor
Upper DC/MD border as mentioned ie Palisades - I like this area
Cleveland Park - for me it's not urban enough
Bethesda - although that traffic there is a nightmare beyond - I categorically will not live up there because of this although I really really like Bethesda
Old Town/Del Ray - this is where we are and while Alexandria public schools have a mixed rep - there's enough pvt schools that are options. As well, you have in proximity, Old Town and Del Ray to each other + being so close to DC - I'm always in Dupont/G'town anyway. Is it really urban? No. But it is convenient and it's what I call practical walkable in that if you have small children, the things you are wanting to walk to/for are around. It's not perfect but for our budget it works - certainly less than $5M is what we had but for $1-2M - you will find the right location/house with some ease.
Clarendon/Lyon Village - you need a long term strategy for finding the right house there - you pretty much have to wait for someone to die If they are in the right house, nobody leaves that area who has kids. In NOVA, I think this would be my first choice

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why--yes, yes I have. I also lived in Berlin. I just walked home at 8pm and the sidewalks were packed and restaurant tables spilling out all over the sidewalk. It is very urban here now. I wouldn't live here in the 90s-early 2000s because I thought the same thing...even my pick sibling from Williamsburg/Brooklyn said he could actually live here now.

Yes, yes, Clarendon has such an ineffable, "je ne sais quoi" quality to it, or maybe it's more of a "je ne sais rien." You say urban, I say banal.

Anonymous wrote:

Why--yes, yes I have. I also lived in Berlin. I just walked home at 8pm and the sidewalks were packed and restaurant tables spilling out all over the sidewalk. It is very urban here now. I wouldn't live here in the 90s-early 2000s because I thought the same thing...even my pick sibling from Williamsburg/Brooklyn said he could actually live here now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This message board is insufferable from time-to-time.

The same usual tropes:

Capitol Hill is unsafe. Yes, parts are unsafe; parts are not.

DC doesn't have any good public schools. Simply not true.

Spring Valley is a cancer cluster...again, unsubstantiated. Look, I'm no defender of the Corps, but you can read the report for yourself. I'm an economist and read it with a critical eye out of curiosity. The usual commentary is completely off-base here. (Read it yourself, or ask me if need be.)

As for the OP, if her budget is really $5m, then this entire thread is useless. There are really only a few neighborhoods he/she should consider, and, frankly, they begin and end somewhere near Woodland/Woodley.

DC has good public schools. However, it has no good public high schools, and only one kinda OK middle school.

I wouldn't worry about dying from cancer if I lived in Spring Valley, since the boredom would get me first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - I'm from Chicago. I'm very urban

I live in Del Ray next to Old Town. Like it a lot but don't LOVE IT but I don't think I'd love anything more than Chicago, SF or NYC. DC is not truly a "city" - it's kinda like a city - people here want to believe it is but it's not.

Here, the suburbs are not really 'suburbs" - there's quite a lot of stuff going on in them. Not that I would make it in Fairfax, Falls Church, Vienna and if I lived in Burke I'd probably die but there is a LOT there that you would not think would be convenient - the food sometimes is actually better scary to say. The food here will never be really really good - so many chains.

Anyway - the other thing to understand is that the walkable urban places you want to be - the schools past Elementary may not be so good. It's REALLY hard to find somewhere you are going to love meeting all your criteria and be able to stay for 20 years if you have kids and want to do public. That being said, here are my suggestions in no particular order:

Dupont - for walkability urban this is it!
G'town - I've always been a fan of G'town but agree that in recent times, it's kinda fallen apart v. some of the hipper up and coming areas like H St corridor
Upper DC/MD border as mentioned ie Palisades - I like this area
Cleveland Park - for me it's not urban enough
Bethesda - although that traffic there is a nightmare beyond - I categorically will not live up there because of this although I really really like Bethesda
Old Town/Del Ray - this is where we are and while Alexandria public schools have a mixed rep - there's enough pvt schools that are options. As well, you have in proximity, Old Town and Del Ray to each other + being so close to DC - I'm always in Dupont/G'town anyway. Is it really urban? No. But it is convenient and it's what I call practical walkable in that if you have small children, the things you are wanting to walk to/for are around. It's not perfect but for our budget it works - certainly less than $5M is what we had but for $1-2M - you will find the right location/house with some ease.
Clarendon/Lyon Village - you need a long term strategy for finding the right house there - you pretty much have to wait for someone to die If they are in the right house, nobody leaves that area who has kids. In NOVA, I think this would be my first choice

Everyone has different tastes, even with respect to things urban. I lived in NYC for years, and hope to return some day, but Clarendon/Lyon Village would be my LAST choice among those you mentioned, including those in NOVA. It might appeal to someone who likes Celebration, Florida, but if you've ever lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Back Bay or Lincoln Park, you'll want to slit your wrists.

Anonymous wrote: