Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. Typo corrected below. Damn Android auto correct.

DC is not city enough for me therefore tract home or McMansion in the urbane quarters of MoCo, Arlington, or Fairfax. Only the finest in cul de sac neighborhoods appeal to my discriminating cosmopolitan tastes. The traffic in DC suburbs is truly an indulgence only the most seasoned city connoisseurs can appreciate. Who needs a show at Studio Theater, an opera at Kennedy Center, or exhibit opening at the National Art Museum during the week when you have endless columns of SUVs to ogle at on 66, 270, or, yes, that splendid jewel of white flight, the Capitol Beltway.

Oh us urbane DC dwellers are constantly at the Kennedy Center abd Studio Theater watching shows, an amenity that is utterly unavailable to anyone not residing within District limits! We are oh so cultured and also have lots of free museums that only city-dwellers can use. Nothing says "cultured" like visiting Air & Space and riding in the similator games! We are so smug and urban as we ride around in our laughingstock of a Metro system. NYC is lame compared to us smarmy DCers, they wish they could pay for the urban grit of a subway system that is never on time and has killed more people than any transit system in this hemisphere. DC is for true urban sophisticates, who enjoy thr finer things in life, like stepping over piles of 7-11 filth and dodging bullets even in the nicest neighborhoods. We are so smarmy and important andedit our DCUM posts to fix typos.

I've encountered multiple people (friends of friends, usually millenials) who ask, "so, like, how did you GET here tonight?" I got here in my car; it took about 15 minutes. Enjoy waiting around 25 minutes for the metro at 1:00 am (oh, wait, it's now going to stop running at midnight even on weekends). "you live.... all the way out there??" Invariably - in every single case - these people moved here a few years ago from flyover country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

Call it silly, but as former NYC residents, that is exactly how we felt. Living in DC had most of the negatives of city living with a few of the positives, so we called it quits on DC and moved to the suburbs. If work or retirement took us back to the NYC area, we would again gravitate towards Manhattan or Brooklyn. But DC itself - got tired of it very quickly. It is incredibly parochial.

+1. Tho I do like DC, I think i viewed moving to the close-in burbs more in terms of what I could get around here that I could never get in NYC. That was a big SFH with yard just over the city line and 15 min to downtown on the metro, which station I could walk to. And good schools and retail, library, restaurants and trails all within walking distance. That's frigging amazing. In comparison, yes, NYC has a much more vibrant urban scene than anywhere DC has to offer but you'd need to travel so far out into jersey or upstate to get the other kind of stuff I just described (sans the 15 minute ride into the city of course). When I lived in Brooklyn, it took me longer to get to midtown than it currently does for me to get to metro center from my house. We live going back to NYC to be tourists and we like to try out new restaurants and plays when we hear of a good one (tho honestly, that scene is not as good as it could be - there's too much emphasis down here on old standbys - eg fiddler on the roof, phantom of the opera, shear madness for gods sake (how long has that been running at KC? And why???). Anyway, to that also who mentioned bloody bloody Andrew Jackson - yeah that was great but most productions here aren't. And that was the 2nd time I saw that. First was when it ran in NYC during fringe fest - many many years before touring here.

wrong. the shakespeare, folger and studio have consistently good/great productions. you seem to be into musicals, though.

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to OP, I would suggest parks, maybe a moms group in the area. Give it time

Yeah, this- I live in western Fairfax county, so farther than you, and I don't love it, even a little. But its closer to DHs job, I finished a contract job as we were expecting #2 and I felt like I couldn't say "no I want to stay in my tiny Arlington condo" walkable to a bunch of stuff and playgorounds! (even though yes, people on this board trash that area) at the expense of you spending your time commuting and not seeing your kids.

Such is life. We just make it a point to go out at night in the city once a month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

+1

+1000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Rabat, Philly, London and Stuttgart and visited several 'vibrant, urban' US cities like NYC. I prefer DC precisely because its none-of-the-above. It's small and feels quaint but its packed with vibrancy and architecture. I can't tell you how much it pleases me that DC does things differently, from the height restriction laws that actually guarantee you a pleasing view no matter where you are in the city (except Navy Yard and NOMA - what is UP with that??) to the centuries-old rowhomes in Kalorama/Georgetown to the international eclectic scene to the hundreds of museums. Maybe I'll move on again one day, but I'm perfectly happy now living downtown and enjoying what it has to offer. You have my sympathies OP.

I almost spit my coffee out that you put Stuttgart in with London. Stuttgart is...not even DC. Nashville, I think.

--Berliner.

Same with Rabat. And Philly. Come on people.

But was the PP classifying or grouping cities? I thought the point of his or her post was that he or she has lived in a number of cities.

For some people, city snobbery gets in the way of reading comprehension.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

Call it silly, but as former NYC residents, that is exactly how we felt. Living in DC had most of the negatives of city living with a few of the positives, so we called it quits on DC and moved to the suburbs. If work or retirement took us back to the NYC area, we would again gravitate towards Manhattan or Brooklyn. But DC itself - got tired of it very quickly. It is incredibly parochial.

+1. Tho I do like DC, I think i viewed moving to the close-in burbs more in terms of what I could get around here that I could never get in NYC. That was a big SFH with yard just over the city line and 15 min to downtown on the metro, which station I could walk to. And good schools and retail, library, restaurants and trails all within walking distance. That's frigging amazing. In comparison, yes, NYC has a much more vibrant urban scene than anywhere DC has to offer but you'd need to travel so far out into jersey or upstate to get the other kind of stuff I just described (sans the 15 minute ride into the city of course). When I lived in Brooklyn, it took me longer to get to midtown than it currently does for me to get to metro center from my house. We live going back to NYC to be tourists and we like to try out new restaurants and plays when we hear of a good one (tho honestly, that scene is not as good as it could be - there's too much emphasis down here on old standbys - eg fiddler on the roof, phantom of the opera, shear madness for gods sake (how long has that been running at KC? And why???). Anyway, to that also who mentioned bloody bloody Andrew Jackson - yeah that was great but most productions here aren't. And that was the 2nd time I saw that. First was when it ran in NYC during fringe fest - many many years before touring here.

Short version(?):
-NYC does cool/interesting culture more easily/at a lower price point
-DC does comfortable at a lower price point/more easily

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

Call it silly, but as former NYC residents, that is exactly how we felt. Living in DC had most of the negatives of city living with a few of the positives, so we called it quits on DC and moved to the suburbs. If work or retirement took us back to the NYC area, we would again gravitate towards Manhattan or Brooklyn. But DC itself - got tired of it very quickly. It is incredibly parochial.

+1. Tho I do like DC, I think i viewed moving to the close-in burbs more in terms of what I could get around here that I could never get in NYC. That was a big SFH with yard just over the city line and 15 min to downtown on the metro, which station I could walk to. And good schools and retail, library, restaurants and trails all within walking distance. That's frigging amazing. In comparison, yes, NYC has a much more vibrant urban scene than anywhere DC has to offer but you'd need to travel so far out into jersey or upstate to get the other kind of stuff I just described (sans the 15 minute ride into the city of course). When I lived in Brooklyn, it took me longer to get to midtown than it currently does for me to get to metro center from my house. We live going back to NYC to be tourists and we like to try out new restaurants and plays when we hear of a good one (tho honestly, that scene is not as good as it could be - there's too much emphasis down here on old standbys - eg fiddler on the roof, phantom of the opera, shear madness for gods sake (how long has that been running at KC? And why???). Anyway, to that also who mentioned bloody bloody Andrew Jackson - yeah that was great but most productions here aren't. And that was the 2nd time I saw that. First was when it ran in NYC during fringe fest - many many years before touring here.

I'm the Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson poster - I agree that wasn't the best example since it was in DC years after NYC but I was trying to think of productions at Studio (since the PP lived in Logan Circle). Anyhow, I totally understand what you are saying about DC burbs being close to the city and that being a huge plus and the problems of crime in DC (I felt safer in NYC than I do here but that is probably because I lived in the UWS in a building with a doorman). But honestly I encourage you to give DC theater another chance. I go to the theater several times a year and easily avoid all teh re-hashed crap you mentioned in your post (and I agree -WTF is up with Sheer Madness???). But between Arena Stage, Studio, Woolly Mammoth? and Signature Theater in Shirlington - there is definitely enough theater so that you can see a really great performance every few months. "Dear Evan Hanson" was at Arena last year and was wonderful and will be in NYC this fall - I still think about that show sometimes and tear up. Sarah Ruhl and Aaron Posner are two hot young playwrights and both have had shows debut in DC. Anyhow, I am really not trying to continue a DC vs NY debate, I am just a big theater nerd and I when I moved to DC after living in NY and Chicago, I thought I'd really miss being in a big theater city -- but honestly with a career and kids, there are more good shows in DC than I get a chance to see anyway. So if you haven't checked out those theaters, I definitely recommend giving them a chance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

Call it silly, but as former NYC residents, that is exactly how we felt. Living in DC had most of the negatives of city living with a few of the positives, so we called it quits on DC and moved to the suburbs. If work or retirement took us back to the NYC area, we would again gravitate towards Manhattan or Brooklyn. But DC itself - got tired of it very quickly. It is incredibly parochial.

+1. Tho I do like DC, I think i viewed moving to the close-in burbs more in terms of what I could get around here that I could never get in NYC. That was a big SFH with yard just over the city line and 15 min to downtown on the metro, which station I could walk to. And good schools and retail, library, restaurants and trails all within walking distance. That's frigging amazing. In comparison, yes, NYC has a much more vibrant urban scene than anywhere DC has to offer but you'd need to travel so far out into jersey or upstate to get the other kind of stuff I just described (sans the 15 minute ride into the city of course). When I lived in Brooklyn, it took me longer to get to midtown than it currently does for me to get to metro center from my house. We live going back to NYC to be tourists and we like to try out new restaurants and plays when we hear of a good one (tho honestly, that scene is not as good as it could be - there's too much emphasis down here on old standbys - eg fiddler on the roof, phantom of the opera, shear madness for gods sake (how long has that been running at KC? And why???). Anyway, to that also who mentioned bloody bloody Andrew Jackson - yeah that was great but most productions here aren't. And that was the 2nd time I saw that. First was when it ran in NYC during fringe fest - many many years before touring here.

DC sucks until you consider its suburbs. They deserve each other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

Call it silly, but as former NYC residents, that is exactly how we felt. Living in DC had most of the negatives of city living with a few of the positives, so we called it quits on DC and moved to the suburbs. If work or retirement took us back to the NYC area, we would again gravitate towards Manhattan or Brooklyn. But DC itself - got tired of it very quickly. It is incredibly parochial.

Exactly. We've done two years here and we're fleeing back to California. Slightly more expensive there, but the quality of life is inestimably higher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume that the love/hate people have from DC has little to do with the metropolistic factor of where they grew up, but just more to do with whether they liked where they grew up. One of my best friends had an idyllic childhood in suburban Kansas City. Hates it here. Another friend grew up in Manhattan. Hates it here. I have another friend who grew up in non-charming parts of suburban Indiana and finds DC quite nice compared to that. Same thing with the friend from rural Pennsylvania. And another friend who spent quite a bit of time in London but didn't love it there, but loves DC.

In other words, DC is better in comparison than a bland childhood. Or an unhappy childhood. Or a stressful childhood. But it's not better than a satisfying childhood.

Nah. I grew up in NYC, and loved it, and still like NY. And I also like DC just fine. Including the theater.

A lot of the refrain of "NYC is REALLY urban, DC is nothing like that" comes from people justifying a move to the suburbs. Not that there is anything wrong with moving to the suburbs, but the "its okay because DC is not really urban anyway" meme is silly, IMO.

Call it silly, but as former NYC residents, that is exactly how we felt. Living in DC had most of the negatives of city living with a few of the positives, so we called it quits on DC and moved to the suburbs. If work or retirement took us back to the NYC area, we would again gravitate towards Manhattan or Brooklyn. But DC itself - got tired of it very quickly. It is incredibly parochial.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Rabat, Philly, London and Stuttgart and visited several 'vibrant, urban' US cities like NYC. I prefer DC precisely because its none-of-the-above. It's small and feels quaint but its packed with vibrancy and architecture. I can't tell you how much it pleases me that DC does things differently, from the height restriction laws that actually guarantee you a pleasing view no matter where you are in the city (except Navy Yard and NOMA - what is UP with that??) to the centuries-old rowhomes in Kalorama/Georgetown to the international eclectic scene to the hundreds of museums. Maybe I'll move on again one day, but I'm perfectly happy now living downtown and enjoying what it has to offer. You have my sympathies OP.

I almost spit my coffee out that you put Stuttgart in with London. Stuttgart is...not even DC. Nashville, I think.

--Berliner.

Same with Rabat. And Philly. Come on people.

But was the PP classifying or grouping cities? I thought the point of his or her post was that he or she has lived in a number of cities.

Dump him.

^^^
So cultured! So urban!