H Street Shuttle: Symbolic of 'Hoods Reluctant Acceptance of "Outsiders?"

On Saturday, I was reminded of a particular graffiti tag that often catches my eye in the ladies room of The Raven. It reads something to the effect of, "If you need to take a cab here, you don't belong here." Of course, said graffiti has been since forever ago. Mount Pleasant was significantly less accessible by foot and public transit the first time I noticed that tag, some 6 years ago. I'm not really sure what the pervading attitude towards "non-locals" is in Mnt P. these days, although I suspect that it has calmed down a little. One can't live on the edge of the rapidly developing Columbia Heights and reasonably maintain one's neighborhoodcentricity. 

Today, a similar sentiment still lives for some on the H Street corridor today. Due to my dislike for overly-populated night- life haunts, I have come to really prize many of the establishments on H Street. Some, such as the Argonaut, have a cool, laid-back vibe where you can enjoy a quality beer and not scream to make yourself heard to the person sitting next to you. And in the case of Saturday, the bartender will be cute and he'll dedicate himself to refilling your pint of Allagash White practically every time you turn your head. As my own neighborhood lacks such an establishment, I often put up with the inconvenience of traveling across the city for such an experience. That however, does not seem to sit well with certain long-time residents of the area, one of whom I met on Saturday.

Very drunk, he took it upon himself to systematically annoy my friend and me for a good chunk of the night. It started off innocuously, but didn't get belligerent until after he asked where I lived and I said "Woodley Park." Apparently, that makes me a bougie snob unwelcome at his favorite watering hole.

Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me.

I am so tired of this assumption. There are plenty of reasons to live in WP besides the fact that you may enjoy living among the upper-middle class. Living there doesn't mean that you're a certain kind of person any more than living in Columbia Heights means that you're a gang member or a yuppie.

I can understand the anxiety felt by a long-time DC resident at the prospect of sharing a bar with a white 30-something woman who lives in WP. But give me a break. I'm sure there are people who live in the neighborhood who are way more of an indicator of a transitioning and threatening demographic than I am. I, who lives in a friggin' studio apartment and struggles to make ends meet each month. So leave me alone to enjoy my yuppie beer, good sir.

Eventually it was time to go home, a detail that brings me to the actual point of this post. Hurting for funds in a bad way, the sort of bad way that makes me inclined to not want to take *any* cash from the ATM, I am swept with a momentary fit of thrift and decide to wait for the H Street Shuttle. I have taken said shuttle before and have found the wait time only minorly painful. Crossing H Street to find the stop, I see the shuttle pass going in the opposite direction and think that it won't be terribly long before it heads back to safely transport me to Gallery Place.

I think wrong. 45 minutes later,  I am frazzled, exhausted, I need to pee and most importantly, I am no closer to home than I was when I embarked on my journey. Also, at some point, some dude leered and muttered menacingly in my face. I can see the shuttle idling several blocks away like some impossible oasis of safe transit but it will not come any closer. It finally arrives and before long, I am tucked safely into my bed. However, my journey home has taken me approximately an hour and a half, thanks to the glorious inefficiencies of the H Street shuttle.

I now find it ironic that despite the apparent intolerance among many for outsiders on H Street, they make it damn difficult for a person to return to "their side" of the city.

I am hoping I can chalk this experience up to bad night and that the shuttle will return to better form.

Comments

[LA Cochran]

My experience with H Street is that the proprietors definitely want you there. They're grateful for the business.

[LiLu]

"Living there doesn't mean that you're a certain kind of person any more than living in Columbia Heights means that you're a gang member or a yuppie."

THANK YOU.

The week before we moved to CH I read this incredibly offensive post from a NOVA blog about how everyone living here is a yuppie wanna be hipster, and that the BURBS are really where it's at. Look, to each their own, but sweeping generalizations like that immediately invalidate any point you might have had, same as your friend there.

That said, I love me some H Street, especially some Granville Moore's. We should go back with a big crew just to piss 'em off. Popped collars required. :-)

[Jamie]

Couple nits to pick:

1) how can someplace be "less accessible by foot?" The raven hasn't moved to my knowledge... :)

2) Yuppies live in Columbia Heights? I thought we were firmly established as a place where only Hipsters live. Yuppies live in Cleveland Park! Die yuppie scum!

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, I entirely agree. Fortunately, I have always been careful to live in "transitional" neighborhoods. This means that I am always in the position of making fun of everyone else who has lived there for any period of time that's less than I have, or does not live there. Like, when I lived in Mt. Pleasant, after a year, I could mock the newcomers who'd only been there for six months, and after five years, there might as well have been a street named after me.

Oh, umm, oops, just kidding. Really!!

I actually have always embraced "visitors" to neighborhood establishments. The attitude is so lame and short-sighted, since none of the businesses on H street could survive without lots of people from OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS and (gasp) across the river patronizing them. The next time that happens, I'd suggest the following responses:

1) I can't believe you actually hang out here, the Argonaut. It's both trendy and so two years ago. Sell-out. I only came because I had to meet someone.

Depending on their age and your estimation of how long they've lived around there....

2) When I moved to Cleveland Park, back when you were growing up in Fairfax, it was so dangerous that the cops were scared to go there so fuck off.

3) Yeah, I am a rich yuppie from Cleveland Park! I would be glad to share the wealth and buy you a drink, but I don't believe in supporting the bad habits of unemployed drunk street urchins.

4) Nice to meet you! Enjoy it here while you can, because I'll be buying your foreclosed home next year.