Near Northeast (Washington, D.C.)

H Street, so long the center of the neighborhood's life, is being structured as an arts district. Theaters, jazz clubs, performance spaces, and exotic restaurants are appearing in the neighborhood. In 2005 and 2006, a substantial number of venues and bars opened in the H Street corridor, including the Argonaut, Sidamo, Showbar Presents the Palace of Wonders, the Red and the Black, Rock & Roll Hotel, and Little Miss Whiskey's Golden Dollar, among others. Business owners in that area are calling the area the Atlas District, after the movie theater (now a dance and performance studio) that has been its most prominent landmark for half a century.

The newcomers are rapidly gentrifying the area with sit-down restaurants, hip bars, more upscale retail establishments, but the older residents note that this process seems inherently to freeze out businesses owned by and targeted towards working-class long term residents.
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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Northeast,_Washington,_D.C.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:  38°54'9"N 76°59'36"W

Comments

  • Filled with hipsters
  • This is a relatively biased description of a once-blighted neighborhood that has recently been re-developed in an incredibly 'organic', culturally-aware manner. Instead of bringing in big box stores (like Columbia Heights), the H St neighborhood has been revitalized with local, independent businesses. There are, in fact, numerous "businesses owned by and targeted towards working-class long term residents' that are embraced and appreciated by newcomers to this area. 'Older residents' are happy that this neighborhood is becoming safer, with increased businesses, as opposed to boarded-up storefronts. Yes, there have been a few businesses that have closed, but they were in no way pushed out by 'hipsters.' There are quite a few 'working-class' people who have moved to this neighborhood to become long term residents. Please reconsider the second paragraph of your description.
This article was last modified 4 years ago