Suggestions for living/working in DC/Maryland?

April 26, 2009 5:43 PM

Don'tGoBackToRockville(?)-Filter: Moving to and working in Washington DC... or Maryland: Where do I live to make the best out of my commute?

I'm interviewing for jobs and will likely be working here, or here, or here. (specific office to be determined)

However, I'd rather live closer into downtown, since I really don't do suburban living well. (OK, I've never done it ever. So I'm wary.)
Plus I know I'll have frequent meetings and after-work events in downtown DC.

Suggestions on how to deal with commuting?
(I've had the good fortune of easy walking commutes until now!)
and any suggestions on where to live where I can make the commute not so horrible, and keep my car since I may not have good Metro access?

Would also appreciate a relatively safe area for a single female, and input on how expensive the neighboorhoods are relative to the general area.

Thanks!

posted by anonymous to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

I'll let others suggest specific neighborhoods, but wanted to point out that if you are anywhere in NW DC and work normal hours, you'll have a relatively easy reverse commute.
posted by i love cheese at 6:19 PM on April 26, 2009

I lived in Cleveland Park for two years. I'm not a big fan of DC, but Cleveland Park (esp. if you live near enough to Connecticut Ave.) is pretty non-suburban, which is to say, you can live without a car. (Though you can supplement with ZipCar.) The main strip there has most of the shops you'll need, and the Cleveland Park metro (red line) is right there as well. I felt safe and comfortable there, which I certainly can't say for other parts of the city.
posted by DavidNYC at 6:20 PM on April 26, 2009

If you don't do suburban living well, then you should probably look into down-town Bethesda, which will be a quick commute to these locations. Not cheap, though. There is a Metro stop there on the red line, which will get you to your after-work events in DC no problem.

Also, for slightly cheaper living you might look right around where you'll be working -- ie the Grosvenor/White Flint/North Bethesda area. There is an attempt at foot, right now, to build up the area around White Flint Mall into "the next Bethesda" -- tons of condos and retail going up in the area, along with already existing ones.

There are a bunch of options (condos/apartments) within walking distance of the White Flint and Grosvenor Metro stations, which are on the Red Line and will take you to some of the cool DC neighborhoods (i.e., Cleveland Park or Dupont Circle) in less than half an hour. NOTE: this corridor of Rockville Pike is heavily commercial, with about a zillion stores and restaurants (this may or may not be a plus for you).

If you want the name of some apartment / condo options (or even single family neighborhood locations) just message me here.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 6:26 PM on April 26, 2009

Yeah, the Red Line is going to be your friend, even though you have a car. I just signed a lease in NW; memail me and I'll share the results of my search.
posted by charmcityblues at 6:40 PM on April 26, 2009

I second downtown Bethesda. It's not typical suburban at all.
But if you wind up at the Montrose Rd. office, look into this or this. Even though it's suburban, it's very easy to walk to the Red Line or to some shops.
posted by chiraena at 7:37 PM on April 26, 2009

I grew up in Bethesda and have lived in Mount Pleasant in D.C. for ten years. I recommend looking at both Mt. P and Brookland, and also at Takoma Park. Bethesda has become very congested, expensive, and sterile in the last 10 years, and is now essentially condensed sprawl - charmless, with stupefying traffic and depressing cartoon architecture.

You'll have a slightly longer commute to connect to the Red Line from Mount Pleasant (about a 12 minute bus ride to Cleveland Park), but Brookland and Takoma are on the other end of the RL from Rockville. These are real, established, walkable communities with beautiful buildings, good restaurants, neighborhood bars, farmer's markets, street life, etc.

Street parking can be a struggle in Mount Pleasant (though I've managed to do it for a decade), but should not be a problem in Brookland or Takoma once you've gotten your residential sticker. I know single women living alone in all 3 neighborhoods, and none have had any problems beyond occasional and minor street harassment.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:53 PM on April 26, 2009

Bethesda has always felt very suburban to me. There's some nice shopping, but it's all very wealthy and sterile.

Anywhere on the red line north of Dupont should be fine. I personally like Woodly Park, though it's not super-affordable. Adams Morgan is nearby, and it's a very urban, happening area which unfortunately gets flooded with drunken fratboys on the weekends.
posted by lunasol at 9:12 PM on April 26, 2009

Can anyone guarantee a not-horrible reverse commute? I don't drive that way these days but I grew up in the area and any driving in any part of MD or Northern VA outside the beltway was pure torture no matter where you were going. Basically if you're afraid to drive you're going to have to live somewhere unhip and faux-urban like Bethesda or just bite the bullet and live out in Deepest Mo County, which at least has elevated the art of the funky strip mall to a sort of miracle. If you don't mind being trapped in jams every now and then definitely look into Tenleytown and other north-western neighborhoods, which are all still the safest in the city.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:59 AM on April 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Wow, this is a situation. Keeping your car in Adams Morgan is an unbelievable nightmare IMHO, unless you have a place with its own parking spot, you can NOT find street parking there at all most evenings without driving around for 30-45 minutes. Dupont also.

Columbia Heights is where all the cool kids move these days, it seems. U Street also cool and the most nightlife. Thinking it over.. living on the Red Line on Connecticut (Woodley/Cleveland Park) could work.. you have restaurants and bars and lots of young professionals, it's not hip or anything, but if you were around there.. you could drive home after work, ditch the car, and take the metro downtown to go out. There's Van Ness metro a ways up the street as well, that neighborhood is dullllll but safe and there's a metro stop right there. Or Tenleytown-AU over on Wisconsin.

The idea would be to have the drive be mostly a straight shot up Connecticut Ave if you can (IMHO Wisconsin Ave/Rockville Pike will be worse traffic, though I haven't tried it lately - if you do end up having to take Wisconsin out of the city, use 34th St as far as you can, it runs parallel and is faster).

Still.. It's hard for me to figure out how you'd commute out to Rockville and back into the city every day & not have it be a headache.. unless you could bump your work hours earlier, coming in around 7:30 - 8 instead of the usual 9-9:30?
posted by citron at 5:47 PM on April 28, 2009

Late to the party but:

I live near the Woodley Park station and my office is about a mile from White Flint. I love my area & feel very safe; Craigslist will give you an idea of the rents. As you go further north on the red line it gets cheaper, & they're all good neighborhoods....

My commute time via metro is 45min-1hr each way, depending on whether I walk or bus from White Flint to my office. Driving is no better: still about 45ish minutes door-to-door the few times I've had to do it. I suspect commuting routinely via car would be awful (we tend to use ours only on weekends, when it can be parked out-of-zone until a closer spot frees up); having to park it in Ad.Mo. nightly would drive me insane.

FWIW, the NIH has shuttles that go from main campus to the Exec Blvd/Rockledge offices. It's door-to-door, but they changed their schedule & it now sorta sucks -- my trip that way averages about 1:15.

MeMail me if more details would help you.
posted by Westringia F. at 10:34 AM on May 9, 2009