Moving to D.C.

I'm moving to Washington this August for a semester in grad school (I know, bad choice, get experience, yeah yeah), and I was hoping the collective wisdom of SportsJournalists.com could aid me in this endeavo(u)r. Any info on good/bad places to live, good local music venues and the tricks of daily living in the area would be greatly appreciated.

One thing's for sure, I'm not bringing a car. I'll be commuting daily on the Red Line.

Thanks in advance. -j

 

Pffff. Rockville sucks and there's no point to living in Montgomery County if you're single and don't have kids and especially if you don't have a car. In fact, if you don't have a car, stay away from the Red Line all together. Far and away the worst line to rely on if you go by reliability. Overpopulated and because of the NTSB they are doing extended track work it seems like every six weeks or so.

Jlee doesn't state where he's going to school, this makes a big difference. If you're going to GW or Gtown, for example, check out Rosslyn if you are looking to save some money. If you're going to AU, you can live all up there, but that corner of DC is about as expensive as it gets. While I'd prefer not to live in Mont Co if I don't have kids, if you're going to AU you might find some deals in some spots maybe a mile or so or 1.2 miles from Bethesda and you can walk to the Metro or take a bus to AU.

Unless you are a trust fund baby or independently wealthy, living in the District is all about sacrifices. One suggestion I would make is don't get scared by a walk that's 0.7 to 1 mile from a Metro stop, especially if you are close to a grocery store and are only going to hop on the Metro for school and fun. You can find some deals being 0.7 miles from a Metro stop and that's only 15 min walk. Plus, for my money, fuck the Red Line. I'd rather be on the blue/orange or green/yellow line. Having the two lines makes a huge difference.

If you're going to Catholic, might as well live in Brookland. Good priced rents. Or if you're going to Sonner's school, George Mason, bring a car.

 

The red line blows. Always running off the tracks or always track maintenance. Something that delays the shit out of every train you'll want to take.

Green line sucks. You get stabbed there.

 

I always say Pentagon City and Crystal City (VA) are good places to live. I lived in Shirlington (Arlington), which doesn't have a metro but does have several bus lines that go through, and absolutely loved it.

In DC, Dupont seems to be a happening place. You hear about a lot of scary shit happening in NE and SE DC. Basically, if you live in the W portion of DC, you're going to be ok.

 

Zippy chance I'd ever live in SW. I work down there and the thought of living there scares the piss out of me. No thanks. I will say, though, that they're trying to revitalize SW. Ain't there yet. They DID just build a new stadium for the Washington Kastles (google it) on the SW Waterfront.

 

I'd live as close to Dan's Cafe as possible and drink there often.

 

I moved here in January and ended up in Crystal City. Not the best, but it's a decent enough combo of price and convenience. Never really have a problem with the Yellow Line. In the District, for places I could afford, I considered Columbia Heights.

 

I'm an Arizona State student. The capstone is an Arizona news wire service based out of Dupont House, which is on the red line, I'm told. Still getting an address from my professor/editor, who's on vacation at the moment.

 

Thanks for the insight so far, guys and gals. I just need root ideas to spring from, and this has been rather helpful already.

 

My friends who live there live in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase-Kensington area and commute. Granted, they're all probably quite a bit older than you are and have families and whatnot...

 

If you need to be on the Red Line and don't want to move to the far-out suburbs (where the cost of commuting might override any money you save in housing; one-way fare from Rockville to Dupont during "peak of the peak" rush-hour times is $5.05, and it's not like living in Rockville is cheap), you might want to consider parts of Capitol Hill close to Union Station or in NoMa near the New York Avenue station. There are somewhat cheap options there and your commute would be a snap.

@sostartled: "You hear about a lot of scary shit happening in NE and SE DC. Basically, if you live in the W portion of DC, you're going to be ok."

Do not listen to ridiculous blanket statements like this. Capitol Hill, which is one of DC's nicer neighborhoods, is a huge neighborhood split between NE and SE. Sure, there are parts of NE and SE that are not exactly the best places to live (across the river, mostly), but there are large swaths of livable places in both of those quadrants, just as there are places in NW where there are still some big-time problems. I mean, Columbia Heights in NW looks nice and gentrified with the suburban strip mall they built on 14th Street and with its ridiculously inflated housing prices, but crime in that neighborhood is still rampant, much more so than in many parts of NE and SE.