Where to live and make friends in DC?
Hey monkeys, I’ll be in DC soon and wanted your advice on places to live and where to make some buddies.
@real.deal.llc wrote about meeting people at groups through The Frick and museums in NYC; is there a similar thing in DC? A few friends threw out the Capital Club too, whatever that is.
From what I’ve seen, Glover Park seems a good place to live (I went to school in the south and read that there are tons of SEC bars there). Is that still true? Cleveland Park seems chill too.
I’m working in Arlington, if it makes a difference.
If you're working in Arlington and went to a school in the south I'd suggest Arlington. Courthouse and Clarendon have a ton of bars that cater to the fratty under-25 crowd, and they're more metro accessible than Glover Park.
Yeah completely agree. Any one of those stops up to Ballston could be a fun area and will be a stop or two to your work. The orange line is really easy to zip into DC as well. You'll be close to Glover Park to hang out on the weekends. I like those luxury buildings they have right near the metro on the orange line.
Thanks TurquoiseHexagon and @Isaiah_53_5" ! Any buildings you recommend in Arington? The apartments I’ve seen are insanely expensive — $2500, $2600 before parking and utilities, and there’s construction everywhere I look. One place had construction inside the building and on three sides outside in Ballston.
I do fitness classes that look to be mainly in DC (boxing, CrossFit) and love going to concerts, but am not sure if the commute in/out would become tiresome after a while. Does being in the suburbs take away from your ventures into the city?
What are some of the bars you like in Clarendon/Courthouse?
Arlington isn't my scene at all lol so I can't comment on specifics, but $2600 seems very high. At that price point you could find a decent one bedroom almost anywhere in DC. I would think you could find a nice place in Courthouse/Clarendon for ~$2000-$2100, maybe even less. As far as the commute in terms of concerts or nightlife, they might as well be one city. That part of Arlington is very dense so I'd hesitate to call it suburban compared to most other places in the US and I'm guessing there's a place for CrossFit, but again, not sure.
Pro tip. Don't spend a fortune living in Clarendon/Courthouse. Spend $250-500 less per month in Ballston or East Falls Church and Uber to Clarendon for $15 round trip (that includes a tip!). I will never understand why people pay a ridiculous monthly premium to avoid taxi fare once or twice a week.
Glover Park is kind of hard to get to and the bars/food scene is better in other parts of the city. Arlington (Courthouse, Clarendon) is going to be a safe bet if you're around 22-27. I'd also suggest Dupont Circle, the Wharf if you want a new nice place, or anywhere around the U St corridor which as the largest collection of bars and close proximity to good restaurants.
There are a lot of meet ups in the city, as well as a lot of intramural type sports leagues. If you went to a pretty large school, there's a chance there's a large alumni base in DC too.
I really like DuPont and West End. I like U St and the Wharf, too, but wouldn’t want to live there. Too many people and commuting an hour each way, based on Google Maps, seems excessive (especially if Metro is having as many problems as I’ve read with fires and random shutdowns). The only bars I know of in Glover Park are Town Hall and Mason Inn.
What are some of the better parts of the city for food/bars, beyond U St?
14th Street leading into U St has a great bar and food scene. H St corridor has a good collection of bars/food, as does Columbia Heights (rapidly gentrifying area not too far from U St). New stuff is continuing to pop up in Capitol Hill as well Shaw, which is probably one of the hottest submarkets that's reaching saturation I'd say. Logan Circle has some food food, but unsure of bars. Georgetown has an established scene, but can occasionally be hard to get since there's no metro.
Columbia Heights and Petworth are hip (yoga moms+jogging stollers, recent grads with nose rings), 14th/U St a little further along in gentrification, accessible on Yellow Line if that works for where you are in NOVA. Loved going out on H Street but didn't necessarily want to live there (lol streetcar), maybe Capitol Hill/Eastern Market/Barracks Row might work for you. I'd just make sure you're close to what metro line you'd take to work. Lots of kickball/dodgeball leagues for making friends, tons of free museums with events.
Ha, based on that, the Columbia Heights/Petworth crowd might not take kindly to my more conservative appearance! What don't you like about H St? I'd be on the Orange and Silver lines.
H St is not close to the Orange and Silver lines at all.
Basically H St. still has terrible public transportation, and is in that phase of gentrification in which someone might be tweaking outside of the Whole Foods at any given time, but it has great bars and restaurants, on top of music and theater. Look into bikeshare for getting around too, they're pretty widely used and DC is very bikeable and walkable given its relatively small footprint.
Take it from a lifelong Washingtonian--you don't make friends in the D.C. area. You make friendly acquaintances who will eventually move away.
Anyone ever make the move down to DC from NY? Looking for any info on how the transition has played out, been considering personally for a while.
uhhh no?
DC to NYC
Not sure why you think you would like DC more than NYC... I don't think its even close.
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