Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 13:57     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m from here. For non-transplants, the answer is Alexandria is Alexandria. City versus county is irrelevant besides where you went to high school. But growing up in Alexandria it’s all the same area and no one nit picked like they do on this board. Anyone who knows the area knows neighborhoods — “I’m from del Ray” versus “I’m from Belle Haven” was never this wow you’re from this political jurisdiction versus that that people discuss on here.


OMG yes! I'm from here too and it's literally all the same. It's just in the city there was only one high school but I had so many friends at that school and at the schools in fairfax county. Usually we'd say "I'm from Del Ray", "I'm from Kingstowne", "I'm from Alexandria West", "I'm from Mount Vernon", "I'm from the south side".....


Same. I was born at Alexandria hospital. We never made a distinction between the different area like the Fairfax side or the city side unless we were referring to the schools system. Besides that, it’s simply Alexandria.

All this “you don’t live in real Alexandria” stuff is what the transplants who moved here started making up.

Just like how there’s now this weird “north Vs south Arlington” thing.


Yeah it's sooo weird. Every time I hear people say this I laugh. I can tell they aren't from here. Yeah the only time we ever would mention the city was when we referred to schools too. But I went to football games at all the Alexandria schools...TC, Edison, Mount Vernon, WestPo, Hayfield etc.. I don't think football is big anymore but Friday nights in Alexandria used to be huge back in the day and all the homecomings
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 13:41     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Accountants at Target’s corporate headquarters once mistakenly sent ~$1 million in property taxes to Alexandria City government for a store that was actually in Fairfax County. The ALX address threw them off.

I technically live in Beverley Hills, which is up the hill from Del Ray. But I’ve found most people in this region don’t know most of the small neighborhood names so I find people use a better known geographic anchor to make it more understandable. I say “in Alexandria a mile north of Del Ray” and another friend in Belle Haven says “in Alexandria a mile south of Old Town”
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 12:04     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:On another forum, a poster commented that the Alexandria part of Fairfax County is not Alexandria. I see this come up a lot on this forum and there are a lot of Alexandria City posters who are very opinionated on this. Its kind of amusing.

My question for the sticklers on this: if I live in the Fairfax County part of Alexandria, where am I supposed to say I live?

I definitely can't just say "I live in Fairfax County." Do I need to say "I live in Alexandria, but the Fairfax County part, not Alexandria City" ? or "I live in Belle Haven/Fort Hunt/Hybla Valley/etc but I have an Alexandria address"?

Its such an odd hill to die on, but it comes up so often, there must be some good guidance the sticklers can give!







I know that thread, and no one was dying on any hill. The problem is that the OP of that thread was complaining that Alexandria is not walkable, that she couldn't get to any stores, restaurants etc, she basically said she couldn't get anywhere without a car and she hated living there and that she was always stuck in huge traffic. And posters replied that Alexandria is definitely walkable to restaurants, stores, parks, etc in almost every part and that she must live in Fairfax. And only when several posters pointed this out, finally did the OP admit that she lives in Hybla Valley.

These cases make things super confusing when it's the city of Alexandria vs Fairfax County. If I lived in Mt. Vernon or Waynewood, or Belle Haven or Kingstowne, that's what I would say. And the people who get all worked up about it when people get confused are the ones that actually live in Fairfax County. Conversations about school systems, amenities, etc get confusing. The city of Alexandria is its own animal.


I don’t know WTF you’re yammering about. Large swathes of Del Ray are not walkable


NP here. WHERE in Del Ray isn’t walkable? You’re high.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 11:01     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
You say Alexandria.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 10:34     Subject: Re:Alexandria vs. Alexandria
OP: Great to hear from so many locals on this!

Interesting comment comparing the Alexandria distinction to the North Arlington and South Arlington distinctions. I always thought that was a typical dmv competitive culture thing (N. Arlington > S. Arlington etc). I suspect there's a little bit of that at play with City of Alexandria vs. Alexandria in Fairfax.

And to the PP who referenced confusion....I don't think people are all that confused! I'm certainly not strolling into a City of Alexandria polling location on election day or enrolling my kids in an ACPS school.

And thanks to the poster who broke down the categories of description based on audience!
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 10:22     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
When I’m talking to people from the District proper, I say Alexandria because if I said Mount Vernon, they always mistake it for the Convention Center area. Otherwise, it’s always “Mount Vernon.”
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 09:23     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Do you also worry about how to say your age, whether it's 31 and 3 months or closer to 32, just 5 weeks and 2 days shy, because that's how it comes across to people who aren't in your neighborhood. Why would it matter to anyone other than your door dasher?
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 08:37     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m from here. For non-transplants, the answer is Alexandria is Alexandria. City versus county is irrelevant besides where you went to high school. But growing up in Alexandria it’s all the same area and no one nit picked like they do on this board. Anyone who knows the area knows neighborhoods — “I’m from del Ray” versus “I’m from Belle Haven” was never this wow you’re from this political jurisdiction versus that that people discuss on here.


OMG yes! I'm from here too and it's literally all the same. It's just in the city there was only one high school but I had so many friends at that school and at the schools in fairfax county. Usually we'd say "I'm from Del Ray", "I'm from Kingstowne", "I'm from Alexandria West", "I'm from Mount Vernon", "I'm from the south side".....


Same. I was born at Alexandria hospital. We never made a distinction between the different area like the Fairfax side or the city side unless we were referring to the schools system. Besides that, it’s simply Alexandria.

All this “you don’t live in real Alexandria” stuff is what the transplants who moved here started making up.

Just like how there’s now this weird “north Vs south Arlington” thing.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 08:29     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:I would just say “I live in the Fairfax county part of Alexandria.“ It is a completely different animal from the city.


The only "city" that you transplants are referring to is Old Town. Alexandria spans to Seminary Rd area, Baileys crossroads area/Alexandria West....like it's not the 3 mile radius you think it is. And anyone from here isn't even referring to Old Town most of the time because most of us from here are from Alexandria West, Seminary, Janneys neighborhood, Belle Haven, Van Dorn/Franconia/Richmond highway area etc.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2023 08:25     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:I’m from here. For non-transplants, the answer is Alexandria is Alexandria. City versus county is irrelevant besides where you went to high school. But growing up in Alexandria it’s all the same area and no one nit picked like they do on this board. Anyone who knows the area knows neighborhoods — “I’m from del Ray” versus “I’m from Belle Haven” was never this wow you’re from this political jurisdiction versus that that people discuss on here.


OMG yes! I'm from here too and it's literally all the same. It's just in the city there was only one high school but I had so many friends at that school and at the schools in fairfax county. Usually we'd say "I'm from Del Ray", "I'm from Kingstowne", "I'm from Alexandria West", "I'm from Mount Vernon", "I'm from the south side".....
Anonymous
Post 05/03/2023 21:56     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
I kinda like the term "South Alex," like the name of the hip apartment community near Kings Crossing.

Also say I'm from Mount Vernon.
Anonymous
Post 05/03/2023 20:53     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Most people use their mailing address location definition. This applies equally to those in the Fairfax, Vienna, and Falls Church areas where some post office addresses do not align with the political subdivisions with the same names. If your street address is in Vienna, that's what people say; clarifying whether that's in the Town of Vienna or not doesn't add anything unless someone asks specifically for some reason.


+1

I used to live in the not Falls Church part of Falls Church (22043). I always just said I lived in Falls Church or Tysons.


Also 22043 and we say Fairfax Co part of Falls Church; too many people follow up and ask if we’re in FCC so we just clarify up front. Or maybe we just don’t want people thinking we live in FCC.
Anonymous
Post 05/03/2023 20:41     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:On another forum, a poster commented that the Alexandria part of Fairfax County is not Alexandria. I see this come up a lot on this forum and there are a lot of Alexandria City posters who are very opinionated on this. Its kind of amusing.

My question for the sticklers on this: if I live in the Fairfax County part of Alexandria, where am I supposed to say I live?

I definitely can't just say "I live in Fairfax County." Do I need to say "I live in Alexandria, but the Fairfax County part, not Alexandria City" ? or "I live in Belle Haven/Fort Hunt/Hybla Valley/etc but I have an Alexandria address"?

Its such an odd hill to die on, but it comes up so often, there must be some good guidance the sticklers can give!







I know that thread, and no one was dying on any hill. The problem is that the OP of that thread was complaining that Alexandria is not walkable, that she couldn't get to any stores, restaurants etc, she basically said she couldn't get anywhere without a car and she hated living there and that she was always stuck in huge traffic. And posters replied that Alexandria is definitely walkable to restaurants, stores, parks, etc in almost every part and that she must live in Fairfax. And only when several posters pointed this out, finally did the OP admit that she lives in Hybla Valley.

These cases make things super confusing when it's the city of Alexandria vs Fairfax County. If I lived in Mt. Vernon or Waynewood, or Belle Haven or Kingstowne, that's what I would say. And the people who get all worked up about it when people get confused are the ones that actually live in Fairfax County. Conversations about school systems, amenities, etc get confusing. The city of Alexandria is its own animal.


I don’t know WTF you’re yammering about. Large swathes of Del Ray are not walkable
Anonymous
Post 05/03/2023 20:37     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
There are those on this board that are weirdly invested in “only the City is really Alexandria.” I’ve chimed in on this before because, as a historical matter, all of the area referred to as “Alexandria” (both the City and the part in Fairfax County) *is* Alexandria. It’s a long story, but what became the “City” was originally in Fairfax County (it was actually the Fairfax County seat at one point) & was split off because it was the part of Alexandria that was ceded to DC at one point and then returned. So, the City is actually the “newest” jurisdiction.

That said, as someone who lived in various neighborhoods in Alexandria for decades, most people who live there say “Alexandria” if talking to someone who isn’t from the immediate area & the specific neighborhood — “Old Town” or “Belle Haven” etc — if they are talking to someone who is familiar with the area. I can’t recall hearing anyone say “Fairfax County part of Alexandria.”
Anonymous
Post 05/03/2023 18:58     Subject: Alexandria vs. Alexandria
Anonymous wrote:On another forum, a poster commented that the Alexandria part of Fairfax County is not Alexandria. I see this come up a lot on this forum and there are a lot of Alexandria City posters who are very opinionated on this. Its kind of amusing.

My question for the sticklers on this: if I live in the Fairfax County part of Alexandria, where am I supposed to say I live?

I definitely can't just say "I live in Fairfax County." Do I need to say "I live in Alexandria, but the Fairfax County part, not Alexandria City" ? or "I live in Belle Haven/Fort Hunt/Hybla Valley/etc but I have an Alexandria address"?

Its such an odd hill to die on, but it comes up so often, there must be some good guidance the sticklers can give!







Well a lot of my friends and family are from Alexandria think 1945 and they consider Fairfax County Alexandria to be Alexandria, VA. I do as well. It's only the newcomers that think it's something different. But whatever. Our mailing address says Alexandria and so do those that live in Alexandria City.