LSyd goes to Washington, again and again

[LSyd]

pics from two trips to DC this year. one in winter, one in summer.

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Crystal City, Arlington
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some new urbanism
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Alexandria
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the ruins of Abingdon plantation now surrounded by Reagan National Airport
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[plinko]

I have limited experience with DC. Crystal City looks absolutely dreadful. Maybe I'm wrong?

Love the aerial shots coming in. We don't get many of those.

And this...WTF?

[Centropolis]

i love this.

it reminds me that i am eagerly awaiting the next season of house of cards.

i've always had an affection for washington, dc as a place, and my ancestors first settled in fairfax county right across the potomac and have a few place names. but it's not the place i think it is, and is of course now fully developed as a suburb (tysons corner, etc).

this is a pretty real feeling deal, thanks.

[Danny]

Cool pics! Thanks for sharing, LSyd!

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by plinko

I have limited experience with DC. Crystal City looks absolutely dreadful. Maybe I'm wrong?

Love the aerial shots coming in. We don't get many of those.

And this...WTF?

LSyd-- great photos! Thank you for posting these.

plinko--- Crystal City was almost entirely offices and hotels and had very wide streets but this is changing. There are several new restaurants that have opened in the past few years and more residential buildings in Crystal City. Arlington Co. has installed several bike lanes there as well. Crystal City is not too far from Potomac Yards, a booming area where an infill metro station is planned. As Potomac Yards fills out, this will help improve the vitality of Crystal City. Additionally, the local Business Improvement District has been fairly active in sponsoring local concerts and free outdoor films in an attempt to get people to stay beyond the normal business hours.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth had one of their excellent walking tours in Crystal City this past spring: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aimeec...57652656628946 .

[202_Cyclist]

This is a former church that has been converted to an arts space, Blind Whino. They have events occasionally throughout the year that are open to the public. The inside of the church, although a bit dated perhaps, has some great murals. There is a concert venue on the second floor and and a dance floor space and a stage on the first floor, with additional space for art shows. There was one party that my friends and I attended last October there that had a great blues band and an open bar with plentiful whiskey!

Also, I am glad you got to see Greenleaf... this is off the usual DC tourist area...

[destroycreate]

Wow, those aerial shots of DC are incredible!

I was just in DC last weekend and I was so impressed by the seemingly high level of condo/apartment living outside of the core, particularly as you're driving up I-95 from VA into the city.

For those of you more familiar with the area, would you say that DC has a much higher percentage of non single family housing even out in the suburbs versus other metro areas? Even in Alexandria some of the new urban developments we explored were incredibly well done -- we thought certain areas were historic but they were actually no more than 10 years old! Highly walkable, well planned, rowhome-style architecture. I really envy the quality of infilll DC sees. And it seems more culturally acceptable in the metro to live in that kind of development, even among the middle/upper classes.

[mSeattle]

Nice coverage of this national capitol city.

[Beedok]

Here we see picture of glorious Motherland's planning successes.

To be honest, it looks way more Canadian than most US cities seem to. Lots more apartment blocks, brutalism, and such, plenty of those shots could easily be Toronto or Ottawa.

[ColDayMan]

Great tour!

[LSyd]

thanks for the replies

Originally Posted by plinko

I have limited experience with DC. Crystal City looks absolutely dreadful. Maybe I'm wrong?

Love the aerial shots coming in. We don't get many of those.

And this...WTF?

Crystal City was a more enjoyable experience than I expected, plus I did aim for a "little Pyongyang" look with my photos. some interesting shops seem to be opening up (one with an amazing selection of dark beer; expensive, but insane selection made up for it), and there's a lot of good, affordable ethnic restaurants.

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[RCDC]

Great pics, aerials especially, thanks for sharing.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Well that was fun. Love the aerials. You sure got around L. Great tour.

Stereo?

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

Well that was fun. Love the aerials. You sure got around L. Great tour.

Stereo?

This person is always in front of the White House, praising Jebus. He is quite annoying. One megaphone would be more than sufficient. The other day he was outside of the L'Enfant metro station during lunch and completely overwhelmed the Peruvian pan-flute player who plays outside of the metro station. The Peruvian guy was not impressed.

[mrnyc]

dc is really something. it can put the anon in anonymous like no place else and then go to plenty of just the opposite, charm and local life. nice thread showing all that.

[Bedhead]

Great stuff - astonishing aerials!

[JMKeynes]

Beautiful!