Tuesday, November 25, 2003

An island in Shaw

Catching up with a friend of mine, another DIY homeowner, we talked about some of the changes we noticed in our neighborhoods, mine Shaw, his Bladensburg, MD. Jon had bought his house so he'd be relatively close to College Park. At the time that was important. Now, College Park could be on the other side of PG County and he wouldn't know the difference. Once we get into our little areas the other parts surrounding sometimes don't seem all that close on a day to day basis.
I remarked that yes, I'm close to trendy and gettin' trendy neighborhoods like Chinatown, Dupont, Logan, and U Street. But even with Shaw neighborhoods of U Street and Logan, I'm not feeling the trendy on my walk home from the metro. My little world is Rhode Island Ave, a few houses, the bike shop, the Giant Supermarket, the gas stations, the ghetto marts, liquor stores, greasy carry outs and more houses. Not Rice, the new Thai restaurant 10 blocks away. Not the Starbucks or the Whole Foods or the art galleries or the Studio Theater, also 10 blocks away in Logan. The Chinese restaurants in Chinatown are 10-9 blocks away, not really including the road-of-death (New York Ave). Yet the cool stuff in Chinatown is 10+ blocks away.

I'm on the Eastern Shaw island. Nothing, besides the Giant, is in walking distance that even slightly interests me. Good thing, you can find a parking spot... that would mean more if I had a car.

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