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Proposal: The 14-Up District


DonRocks

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Thing is, nobody (that I know of anyways) calls it Midcity. As a resident of the U Street Corridor, that's exactly how I would describe Standard's location. Or maybe just U street area. For the restaurants on 14th Street, my advice would be to pick a dividing line between the U Street area and Logan circle (R street?). Same thing going east on U, between the U Street area and Shaw (11th?). I think it's less important what's technically correct (if there even is such a thing) than what the common nomenclature is.

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"Mid-city" is a real estate agent-sounding label that no one in real life uses. U Street Corridor (anyone remember "The New U?") or even Logan Circle.

Definitely not Shaw.

Back in the mid-90s the real estate people called the area "Dupont East"...which at least was technically correct!

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In my mind I consider everything on 14th Street up to and including Masa 14 to be Logan Circle (because that is usually where I am walking from when I go there).

Back in the day, when I was living at 13th and T and the only places open on U Street were Ben's and Polly's -- we actually beat Polly's to the neighborhood by a couple of years -- the neighborhood was sometimes referred to as "Dupont East."

I always think of "U Street" as the commercial corridor and "Logan Circle" as the residential nexus.

ETA: cross posted with Tweaked on the Dupont East thing.

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Back in the mid-90s the real estate people called the area "Dupont East"...which at least was technically correct!

Back in the 80s, 14th Street was where the drug dealers, prostitutes, and cabbies would hit up Yum's for late night dining.

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Back in the 80s, 14th Street was where the drug dealers, prostitutes, and cabbies would hit up Yum's for late night dining.

True of my block here when I moved in.

I have been living in the neighborhood since 1988 and we call the area U Street or 14th and U. Standard and Cork Market are in our ANC 1B, Cork Restaurant and Estadio are in the Logan ANC if you want official designations. But I think of all four as in my quartier. And ,frankly, we all tend to include anything from 9th to 16th along U and down 14th from W to P Street, even though the Logan Circle residents would object! But visitors arriving by the U Street Metro would find all of that within walking distance.

Here are the boundaries of the U Street Neighborhood Assn:

16th Street to the West

8th Street to the East

"S" Street to the South and

Barry Place to Florida Avenue to W Street to the North

There was the Mid City Business Association which included restaurants on and off U and 14th Street corridors but I don't think the name has taken off in public's mind so not so useful for people browsing.

When someone asks me where i live I always say either U Street or 14th and U..

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The reason I asked this is that I think the restaurants on 14th Street deserve their own section in the Dining Guide, as opposed to being lumped in with the U Street Corridor. 90+% of those restaurants are either on U Street or on 14th Street - maybe I'll call it U Street Corridor (14th Street) or something like that.

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The business association there calls itself Midcity. And Midcity was the name for Shaw (the larger area, not the current smaller definition) before the neighborhood renamed itself for the school.

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Now you know about the fluctuations in DC neighborhood names. Adams Morgan only came about in the late 1950s to early 1960s. I'm astonished that any part of 14th Street is referred to as Logan Circle. I lived at Thomas Circle many moons ago when 14th St. was really down on its luck. Logan Circle was only known for the Victorian mansions being restored around it and for its prostitute problem. You could buy a six-bedroom townhouse at 14th and R Sts. for $65K. Stick around here long enough and you will be amazed.

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It is time for the 14th Street Corridor between P Street and U Street to have its own name. "Mid City" is fine with me, but looking at all the above discussion, nothing takes into account that this is now the city's most vibrant area for restaurant growth. Get moving, DC government! And in the mean time, maybe we can keep this discussion going here?

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I think U Street should be U Street and 14th Street should 14th Street. Mid City is completely directionless and holds no meaning.

If someone asked me where "Mid City" was I would probably say the area around the Convention Center/giant hole in the ground where the old convention center stood.

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I think U Street should be U Street and 14th Street should 14th Street. Mid City is completely directionless and holds no meaning.

If someone asked me where "Mid City" was I would probably say the area around the Convention Center/giant hole in the ground where the old convention center stood.

I don't think this works because there are too many other important parts of 14th Street (not to discount the other parts of U Street, but it's pretty clear what "U Street Corridor" means, and "14th Street" could be anywhere).

Maybe they could call it PU? (14th between P and U?) Or the UP district?

(I kind of like the UP district - it has both geographical and socio-economic meaning in just two letters, and it rolls right off the tongue. "Where you going out tonight?" "Up." I like it. Unless this is officially named, or someone convinces me that something's better, I'm calling it that in the Dining Guide. :mellow:)

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Really, the restaurants begin just north of Thomas Circle or N St, so starting at P sort of leaves out Thaitanic, Ghana Cafe, Popeye's ( ha ha...no, really) and even Churchkey /Birch and Barley. And really, are the few blocks north of U, containing Busboys and Poets, the Gas station sandwich place, Eatonville, etc. Part of 14th, or the U street corridor? too far south to be Columbua Heights...So why limit the identification to just between U and P?

even so, I like UP, because then it'll morph into "the EWE PEE," you know, like Miami Univesity is "THE EWE." Then it will either create fond associations for folks from Northern Michigan, or juvenile giggles from immature people like me.

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Really, the restaurants begin just north of Thomas Circle or N St, so starting at P sort of leaves out Thaitanic, Ghana Cafe, Popeye's ( ha ha...no, really) and even Churchkey /Birch and Barley. And really, are the few blocks north of U, containing Busboys and Poets, the Gas station sandwich place, Eatonville, etc. Part of 14th, or the U street corridor? too far south to be Columbua Heights...So why limit the identification to just between U and P?

even so, I like UP, because then it'll morph into "the EWE PEE," you know, like Miami Univesity is "THE EWE." Then it will either create fond associations for folks from Northern Michigan, or juvenile giggles from immature people like me.

The UN-district?

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Funny how the neighborhood names change over time. I was just looking at the neighborhood map that Sthitch linked to way up above. That version of "downtown" is utterly unlike what anyone would have meant by the term in the 1960s or 1970s. Downtown was, essentially, the shopping district centered on F Street east of the Treasury Department, above Pennsylvania and below New York. In other words, it wouldn't typically mean any part of this new "downtown" at all. And in the 1970s, it was remarkable how huge "Dupont Circle" grew to be, at least to the real estate people. I remember once when I was home-hunting, probably in 1978, seeing Beekman Place listed as being in Dupont Circle, not even "Dupont East" or "North". Even on the map above, they show Dupont Circle extending all the way to 15th Street, you know, over there by Logan Circle. They also show American University as being in Spring Valley. Sheesh, "Wesley Heights" is so called because of the Methodist university, seminary, and church there at the top of the hill. Spring Valley is called a valley because it's down at the bottom of the hill.

I guess I'm through now.

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Funny how the neighborhood names change over time. I was just looking at the neighborhood map that Sthitch linked to way up above. That version of "downtown" is utterly unlike what anyone would have meant by the term in the 1960s or 1970s. Downtown was, essentially, the shopping district centered on F Street east of the Treasury Department, above Pennsylvania and below New York. In other words, it wouldn't typically mean any part of this new "downtown" at all. And in the 1970s, it was remarkable how huge "Dupont Circle" grew to be, at least to the real estate people. I remember once when I was home-hunting, probably in 1978, seeing Beekman Place listed as being in Dupont Circle, not even "Dupont East" or "North". Even on the map above, they show Dupont Circle extending all the way to 15th Street, you know, over there by Logan Circle. They also show American University as being in Spring Valley. Sheesh, "Wesley Heights" is so called because of the Methodist university, seminary, and church there at the top of the hill. Spring Valley is called a valley because it's down at the bottom of the hill.

I guess I'm through now.

It would be an interesting study to see how what percentage of readers of this website know that the Reagan building was an ugly parking lot. And when I say ugly, I mean *ugly*. Finding street parking near the mall was a breeze (and was free), even at the Washington Monument - a lot of workers at Federal Triangle would play the 2-hour parking game, moving their cars a couple times a day to avoid tickets. You could also drive eastbound on E Street from the expressway all the way to Chinatown without ever leaving E Street. This sounds like I'm talking about the 1930s, but I'm talking about the 1990s.

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You could also drive eastbound on E Street from the expressway all the way to Chinatown without ever leaving E Street.

This is not actually literally true. You could drive east on E Street from the expressway to 15th Street, but it went all wobbly from there to the other side of "Freedom Plaza" (a place and name I have detested since it was foisted upon us in the 80s--one of the worst public squares in Washington or perhaps the world), with Pennsylvania Avenue and E Street being sort of hashed back and forth. I don't think you could drive to Chinatown without being on Pennsylvania Avenue and one numbered street. Before they built Pershing Park and Freedom Plaza, I can't remember exactly how those streets ran, but that was long before the 1990s. Just to close the circle: The E Street Expressway and the Potomac River Freeway are among the worst things that happened to Washington in the hideous assault on the American city that took place in the 1950s and 60s. Can't quite compare to the destruction of Southwest, but horrible, horrible, horrible.

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This is not actually literally true. You could drive east on E Street from the expressway to 15th Street, but it went all wobbly from there to the other side of "Freedom Plaza" (a place and name I have detested since it was foisted upon us in the 80s--one of the worst public squares in Washington or perhaps the world), with Pennsylvania Avenue and E Street being sort of hashed back and forth. I don't think you could drive to Chinatown without being on Pennsylvania Avenue and one numbered street. Before they built Pershing Park and Freedom Plaza, I can't remember exactly how those streets ran, but that was long before the 1990s. Just to close the circle: The E Street Expressway and the Potomac River Freeway are among the worst things that happened to Washington in the hideous assault on the American city that took place in the 1950s and 60s. Can't quite compare to the destruction of Southwest, but horrible, horrible, horrible.

You're right, it was wobbly, and I think even involved a turn or two to regain E Street. (The reason I remember this so well is that one day I made a conscious effort to try it.) Freedom Plaza, as a disaster, is arguably surpassed by the World War II Memorial. (And I say that even though my dad, Hilleary C. Rockwell, Jr., has his picture in the computer there (look him up, and pay a quiet tribute to our veterans when you do.))

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Freedom Plaza, as a disaster, is arguably surpassed by the World War II Memorial.

My distaste for the WWII Memorial is such that I have never visited it, even though I now work about two blocks away from it.

To return this to topic, many of your neighborhood designations have a parenthetical explanation. Why not "14th Street (Between X and Y)" replacing X and Y, of course, with whatever boundary streets you decide are appropriate? I don't think making up some bogus name like the UP District is a very good idea. Mid-city would be okay if that was actually a term anyone used.

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My distaste for the WWII Memorial is such that I have never visited it, even though I now work about two blocks away from it.

To return this to topic, many of your neighborhood designations have a parenthetical explanation. Why not "14th Street (Between X and Y)" replacing X and Y, of course, with whatever boundary streets you decide are appropriate? I don't think making up some bogus name like the UP District is a very good idea. Mid-city would be okay if that was actually a term anyone used.

14th. St. between X and Y is eight syllables!

It just doesn't seem right to call that strip either "U Street Corridor" or "Logan Circle." I like Mid City well enough, but it doesn't really mean anything (at least not that I'm aware of).

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It just doesn't seem right to call that strip either "U Street Corridor" or "Logan Circle." I like Mid City well enough, but it doesn't really mean anything (at least not that I'm aware of).

"Logan to U"? It is kind of catchy. It requires you to think a little about it. I smell a winner. :mellow:

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OK. Let's call a halt to this. Don doesn't get to name neighborhoods in DC because he doesn't live here and didn't grow up here. DC neighborhood names have grown "organically" and nothing anybody says on a website like this one will change it. I've just saved all of you several minutes of your lives. You're welcome.

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OK. Let's call a halt to this. Don doesn't get to name neighborhoods in DC because he doesn't live here and didn't grow up here. DC neighborhood names have grown "organically" and nothing anybody says on a website like this one will change it. I've just saved all of you several minutes of your lives. You're welcome.

Well, we'll see about that! (*Someone* gets to name them. I know DC a lot better than you do, I have *my own* Dining Guide, and I can call them whatever I want. So, nyah.) PS - Click, and then refer to the difference between "proposal" and "edict." :)

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OK. Let's call a halt to this. Don doesn't get to name neighborhoods in DC because he doesn't live here and didn't grow up here. DC neighborhood names have grown "organically" and nothing anybody says on a website like this one will change it. I've just saved all of you several minutes of your lives. You're welcome.

Well, "Penn Quarter" is entirely the result of a (successful) marketing campaign, so that's not entirely true. But there has to be some utility to a name. If something is given a new name in the dining guide, will anybody find the restaurants listed there? For anything from P to S, I'd look for "Logan" (notice I didn't call it Logan Circle, because it's a bit removed from the circle). North of P, I'd call it "U Street Corridor." If you give the area in-between a new name, will anyone know where to look for listings?

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Well, "Penn Quarter" is entirely the result of a (successful) marketing campaign, so that's not entirely true. But there has to be some utility to a name. If something is given a new name in the dining guide, will anybody find the restaurants listed there? For anything from P to S, I'd look for "Logan" (notice I didn't call it Logan Circle, because it's a bit removed from the circle). North of P, I'd call it "U Street Corridor." If you give the area in between a new name, will anyone know where to look for listings?

I will make it so (by clarifying with parentheses).

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I will make it so (by clarifying with parentheses).

I have no doubt you COULD rename an neighborhood by force of will, but if you are serious about it, it has to be catchy so--at least--the restaurants themselves adopt it. But it would be better if realtors liked it. Penn Quarter caught on because the people there, most notably the realtors, wanted to distinguish the area, which was being redeveloped, from Chinatown, which then was not. Realtors are also to blame for why Dupont (notice, again, I don't say "circle") is now so huge. Personally, I don't think 14-Up is catchy enough. "North Logan" is catchier (and likely to be reused) but lame. Personally, I'd call it "Riggs," after the short little street that runs for a block through the area you're talking about.

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I like Riggs. I don't know why, but I really do. But Realtors would def go with North Logan.

Five minutes ago, I PM'd RWBooneJr and told him I like Riggs, too - it's catchy, but let's not forget about Riggs Rd. near N. Capitol and New Hampshire. North Logan is descriptive, and leaves a bit of leeway for 13th, Vermont, etc. although that might impinge upon Shaw (and it's a long way to Marvin). I'd venture to say that many people here can name several restaurants and business on 14th. between U and P, but can't name many on 13th. These are all good ideas, or at least none of them are really "bad" ideas - for me, the important thing is that the businesses on 14th need to be distinguished between the businesses on U. (In miniature, Adams Morgan has the same situation with 18th. and Columbia, but I'm not sure that's big enough to merit subdivision).

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Adams Morgan has the same situation with 18th. and Columbia, but I'm not sure that's big enough to merit subdivision.

My original response somehow got deleted, but . . .

You definitely don't want to divide the Adam-Morgan neighborhood historically. Adams is still on 19th north of the Hilton and Morgan was nearby at 18th and California. Also, evoking segregation is never a good idea.

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My original response somehow got deleted, but . . .

You definitely don't want to divide the Adam-Morgan neighborhood historically. Adams is still on 19th north of the Hilton and Morgan was nearby at 18th and California. Also, evoking segregation is never a good idea.

[Last deleted post on entire website was October 1 at 2:45 and it was my own. :)] Very few things in life are definite, and one could easily mentally "segregate" 18th Street alone into quadrants (just like you did with hamburgers: NE, NW, SE, SW), just because there are so many restaurants there. Georgetown could be divided up too, for that matter. Again, this is in terms of restaurant identification, and not so much for assigning stigma to plots of real estate. Maybe with the age of GPS, this is less relevant than it was five years ago. Hell, I have "Downtown" parceled out into only three districts, and I think it should be divided into more than that.

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