In Search of Understanding

If the suburbs are cut out of an LL Bean catalog, then Logan Circle is a future Banana Republic Home.

Clearly I'm having a hard time with DC gentrifying. And so I've taken baby steps through this new place, trying to acclimate myself with new shops, restaurants, and all the white people who walk with assuredness through neighborhoods where, ten years ago, my boys were buying weed. It's been rough.

But. Last Sunday, the beautiful day that it was, beckoned me out of bed (a feat given my late late recession into it, and the hug that was my new flannel sheets) and onto the streets for a six hour marathon walk through the city in search of understanding.

Through our meanderings, I got a good look at the new 14th and P Street area, Logan Circle, with its newness that the neighborhood itself seems to be just getting used to. Not just that the ladies of the night are elsewhere with the drug addicts and dealers (may they find their own salvation) but that it seems as carefully envisioned and choreographed as a designers Spring collection. I could be wrong (and encourage you to post with comments). The streets have been cleared, a team of designers called in, and now on the runway: Whole Foods, Logan Circle Tavern, Starbucks, Mekado, and the yoga place on the second floor above the liquor store.

All to rave reviews from the Wilson Buildings and the newcomers who love DC's latest incarnation.

There's nothing wrong with the new development. In fact, the stores bring tremendous economic vitality and the street traffic an exciting energy. There are folks out and about at all hours of the night conducting legal business.

But. Aren't neighborhoods supposed to evolve according to the residents' tastes, needs, lifestyle? Don't neighborhoods grow? I think of humble 12th Street, with the 3610 Lingerie shop, the Animal clinic, the mom and pop dry cleaners, the rusty hardware store, going strong. These places developed with the neighborhood, and of the neighborhood. Not from the pages of an urban development catalog.

Since when do urban communities respond to the call of condo development planners? I can picture an ABDO want ad: Sexy condo development ISO urban hipster. Must be 29-45, read Real Simple and the Onion; travel to Guatemala and India to visit friends; and appreciate a five minute walk to the theatre. Previous residence in DC not required, transplants preferred. Clearly, if you built the condo they will come. And a new neighborhood is born. Authenticity not an issue.

Truth to power, I would love to live in Logan Cirlce, and love it even more after I accepted the fact that I was living in Washingtonian magazine. But how much of the area is me, and how much a planner's vision? Who"owns" the block? I've got a lot more thinking to do about this.