hands11 wrote:DCZards wrote:Wes_Tiny_Abe_ wrote:
Please do not confuse a bunch of kickball playing, snowball fighting, white wanna-be urban try hards with black pro athletes.
Cities all over the country have bars, clubs, restaurants, cultural institutions, political functions, etc...
Every city looks the same now.
Pro black athletes are better off going to Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami etc...
Your frustration with the changes in this city are legitimate, Wes. I agree with it on a lot of levels, especially the dislocation of long time residents that has resulted from it. But you're letting it cloud your view of some of the benefits of those changes.
Yes, most cities have bars, clubs, restaurants, museums etc. But that doesn't mean that the number, quality or prestige of those places are equal to what they are in a major and high-profile city like DC. And please don't put Atlanta on the same level as LA, NYC, Miami and Chicago.
BTW, the gentrification that you hate so much in DC is also taking place in all of these other cities.
Cities across the country changed from the 60 till today. I grow up in the Potomac area and when I was growing up I remember being shocked to meet a white person who said they grow up in DC.
Mostly when we went into the city it was into Georgetown or down Wisconsin. That's where the clubs where mostly. Then for the more brave, we would venture down main street. But all the action is right there is NW. Then Adams Morgan got rolling but it really was never as fun.
Older people would tell me stories about how DC used to have a ton of white people. But the suburban sprawl happened and most the white families left the city and moved to NVA and Potomac, Chevy Chase, Bethesda. I'm sure the racial tension of the 60s had something to do with that. Well with this last housing boom from 2000 to 2007, the Metro build out and Version center in China Town, there was a lot of reinvestment in the city. Entire blocks got renovated. Same happened in Baltimore. Well now you have people returning to the city again. Things go in cycles.
In 1940 DC was 71.5% white and 28.2% black
in 1950 is was 64.6% white and 35.0% black
In 1960 is was 45.2% white and 53.9% black
in 1970 is was 27.7% white and 71.1% black
In 1980 is was 26.9% white and 70.3% black and 1.0% Asian and 2.8% spanish
In 1990 is was 29.6% white and 65.8% black and 1.8% Asian and 5.4% spanish
in 2000 is was 30.8% white and 60.0 black and 2.7% asian and 7.9% spanish
in 2010 is was 38.5% white and 50.7% black and 3.5% asian and 9.1% spanish
Its still not as white as it was in the 60s but it is trending that way. By 2020 that will probably be true. Something about divided equally between whites and blacks only with more asians and spanish this time.
Sounds like a cool city to me.
Hey, I remember when things hit rock bottom in DC and it was the murder captain of the country. That's not good for any body. It go so bad at one point you couldn't even go to Georgetown safely.
Money returning doesn't have to mean boring or cookie cutter. Look at LA.
Have you been on the Sunset Strip lately or recently?
The former epicenter of Glam Metal is not even close to being what it once was.
It sucks now.
It blows.
R.I.P. Sunset Strip.
