Georgia Ave

It is my pleasure to present Volume Two ( here is Vol. One if you missed it.) of Intangible Tales by local blogger Intangible Arts. Intangible Arts’ assignment for Vol. Two was to demystify Georgia Avenue. Enjoy the journey.

Georgia Avenue has become DC’s new test lab for balanced development. It’s an ambitious task, and I’m not sure it’s ever been done right.

Tricky! How to balance the new money vs. the long-time residents that are the backbone of the neighborhood, in one strip of development? Other neighborhoods have tried this and failed miserably (creating national retail hell-holes with no local flavor), and that is why we watch our little street with great interest.

I heard from one new resident that Georgia Avenue can be a damned scary place. Maybe that’s true, but a little familiarity can go a long way. When we bought our place, we didn’t have anyone to point out the neighborhood gems, and so we’ve tried to find ’em ourselves. As a result, the strip isn’t nearly as damned-scary as some might think.

And that’s the real point here: A brief tour of my home stretch of Georgia Avenue, southward from the Petworth Metro to the top of Howard University. Due to space, it’s a short list. Story continues after the jump. (more…)