Apartment Showcase Blog

Send in the crowns: Last year's royal couple holds court at the 2010 Columbia Heights Day. (Dallas Lillich)

We’ve featured the recently chic Columbia Heights neighborhood in Northwest more than once on this blog, and we’ve decided to do it again, because on August 27 it’s the 5th Annual Columbia Heights Day (and whatever you think of Columbia Heights, me or this blog, you have to love the blue coloring of said link).

[ Related: What's So Great About Columbia Heights? Only Everything ]

Supported by a bunch of companies and businesses (Giant, DC USA, the Looking Glass Lounge and Chatel Real Estate, among others), this event will help anyone looking for apartments in Columbia Heights see that this is quite a place to set up house.

What’s on tap, you ask?

Columbia Heights Day features two stages of live music and arts performances. It also features the second DC State Fair (Yes, we know that Washington, D.C., is not a state. Happy?), the 2nd Annual King and Queen of Columbia Heights pageant, a dog parade, morning yoga, and a Kid’s Zone replete with a petting zoo.

Along with, of course, contests, raffles and general bonhomie.

Also on hand will be more than 40 local artisans, businesses and community groups.

[ Related: Thumbs Up for National Harbor's Movies on the Potomac ]

Hungry? Several food trucks will be there (Pleasant Pops, DC Slices, El Floridano, Eat Wonky and others) to feed the masses, and local restaurants will offer festivalgoers deals throughout the day as well.

Those who want to cut loose should attend the after-hours party.

The event will take place at the Harriet Tubman Elementary Field (11th and Kenyon St., N.W.) from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s located a short distance from the Columbia Heights Metro stop on the system’s Green/Yellow Line.

So come on out and show your support for a burgeoning neighborhood – and have some fun to boot.

All in good taste: RedRocks at the corner of Park and 11th was named a 2011 "Best Bet" for pizza by The Washington Post. (Google)

Today, we’re lucky to hear from someone who literally wrote the blog on Columbia Heights.

Andrew Wiseman is the writer of New Columbia Heights, a nifty portal about the popular neighborhood in Northwest, D.C. If anyone knows what’s so great about Columbia Heights, it’s this guy.

Here, in his own words, is why you should consider renting an apartment in Columbia Heights.

I’m a big fan of Columbia Heights. When people ask why I like it, I always say it’s got everything. It’s close-in, has lots of transit, shopping, restaurants, nightlife and fun, interesting things going on. If you live here long enough, you see people you know all the time.

It’s not for everybody: If you’re used to the outer suburbs, quiet cul-de-sacs and the worst crime being a neighborhood kid spray-painting a stop sign, you may not like it. That said, it’s got more than enough to appeal for those who would only think of living in the city, plus those moving from elsewhere who want some city life. As the Kenyon Street mural says, it’s diverse: Recent immigrants, college kids, young professionals, families in their 30s, older families who’ve been in the area for generations and the much-maligned hipsters (whatever that means, and a lot fewer than you may have heard) all live here.

It’s easy to get around: Adams Morgan and U Street are short walks, as is Mount Pleasant, which has a nice little strip of restaurants, bars, funky dollar stores and Latin American food. There’s the Metro, DC Circulator and Metrobus, which runs in every direction. Lots of people bike, and there’s a bunch of Capital Bikeshare stations, where you can rent a bike for a couple hours. Some friends swear by it and never take cabs anymore.

Shopping-wise, Columbia Heights has pretty much everything you need. There’s a decent and improving Giant, Target (also with groceries), new vintage clothing boutiques like Black Eyed Susie’s and Hella Tuff, and yoga places. The DC USA shopping center also has a Best Buy and some other random, suburban-type retailers (Staples, Vitamin Shoppe, Lane Bryant, etc.), plus there’s a Harris Teeter in Adams Morgan. Supposedly, another grocery store is coming into the DC USA shopping center – my bet/hope is Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Market, since there are only so many grocery chains that aren’t already nearby.

[ Related: DC USA Shopping Center Leads Columbia Heights Revival ]

There’s a lot to eat. For example, “food” is the most common tag on my blog. You can go from quick eats to home-style Latin American to fancy stuff. El Rinconcito II Café, El Rinconcito Deportivo, Taqueria Distrito Federal, and a bunch of rotisserie chicken places offer good and inexpensive Salvadoran and Mexican food. There’s quick stuff, including Chipotle (always a huge line), Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, and Panda Express.

There are two good pho places, plus The Heights, an American bistro; Eatonville, a great, upscale Southern food spot; and CommonWealth, an English “gastropub” (hearty English grub and beer) that’s changing ownership but should remain about the same.

There’s lots of pizza: Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza (thin and crispy, and, yes, that “a” is supposed to be there) and RedRocks vie for the city’s best in online polls. Plus, there’s Radius in nearby Mount Pleasant. Most spots also have brunch. A 24-hour IHOP just came in and is almost always packed. There’s always more places coming.

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The Wonderland Ballroom
1101 Kenyon St., NW
Washington, DC 20010

And bars. You can’t start without The Wonderland Ballroom, the neighborhood meeting place that has since become packed on weekends – good if you want to dance and get sweaty in a crowd. If not, come during the week or sit on the patio during the afternoon.

Other 11th Street spots have contributed to the strip being named “Columbia Heights’ Hip Strip” in The New York Times, including Room 11, a great little wine/cocktail/small plates spot, and Meridian Pint with tons of American craft beer.

Farther up 14th Street is the Red Derby, where you’ll find great atmosphere and lots of beer served only in cans, and over on Georgia is the Looking Glass Lounge, a slightly more upscale spot owned by the Wonderland folks, though the Petworth ‘hood may claim it as their own. Lots of places do pub trivia as well and other random things like stand-up comedy (Looking Glass) or live band karaoke (Wonderland). Again, Mount Pleasant, with fun dive the Raven Grill and neighborhood-y Tonic Mount Pleasant – and all the U Street and Adams Morgan bars – isn’t far.

[ Related: Adams Morgan's Bawdy, Bluesy Madam Deserves a Look ]

There are outdoor things to do: a neighborhood festival, a farmers’ market, the beautiful Meridian Hill Park with drum circles on Sundays. You can kick a soccer ball around in random pickup games at Harriet Tubman Elementary School. There’s a dog park on 11th and a new community garden, too.

The neighborhood has a diverse housing stock as well. There are plenty of traditional D.C. row houses, some recently renovated. One by one, the relatively few abandoned houses are getting turned into nice ones, including the row houses on my blog’s banner. There’s a bunch of nice, new apartments and condos on 14th, plus more coming. Rents generally get less expensive as you go east and north.

It’s tough for me not to be too complimentary about the neighborhood I’ve been in for more than three years. Like any place, there are some negatives – it’s the city. And I’m worried about too many chain places coming in at the expense of local, interesting spots. None of that’s enough to dissuade me or all the other folks moving in though. The neighborhood’s cool but not too cool, fun but not too fun, and interesting but not too interesting. I can’t ask for more than that.

– Andrew Wiseman, Writer, New Columbia Heights blog

Enlarged to show retail: Named Washington City Paper's "Best Designed Retail Space" of 2009, the mammoth DC USA shopping complex makes for a can't-miss landmark along 14th Street. (Google)

Opened in 2008, DC USA claims it’s the District’s “largest retail complex.”

With three levels, 500,000 square feet of retail and restaurant choices, including the city’s only Target – and this one a two-level, 180,000-square-foot job – it’s easy to see why. Like many Targets across the nation, the one here recently introduced an expanded grocery section for shoppers, which is always convenient: Get your socks, basketballs and apples all in one place.

Not only that, but DC USA has one of only two Best Buy stores in the capital.

But DC USA means more to Northwest’s Columbia Heights neighborhood than a mere shopping extravaganza. According to The Washington Post, it’s part of a billion-dollar gentrification project that is bringing a positive change to a once-blighted area. Not to say that Columbia Heights will resemble Bethesda anytime soon, but it is more livable than it was just a decade or so ago. The Columbia Heights Metro station on the Green/Yellow Line, opened in 1999, is conveniently across the street from the shopping complex.

[ Related: Columbia Heights a Top Destination for Northwest Renters ]

Getting back to the store list, nearly everyone needs office supplies now and again: copiers, printers, cartridges, computer paper, pens. For all of that, there’s no better place than Staples. They even have those stupid Easy Buttons, which I’ve never bought but am tempted to. Does that make me stupid? We’re all stupid. Moving on …

For clothes shoppers, there is Marshalls, Lane Bryant and of course Target (and shut your mouth, because I’ve bought stuff there; of course, my fashion sense is nothing to shout about), and the health-conscious can join the Washington Sports Club or buy some goodies at the Vitamin Shoppe.

For electronics, you have standby RadioShack and the aforementioned juggernaut Best Buy. While I see no four-star fare here, I do spy Panda Express. Who doesn’t like Chinese food?

So, for the apartment renter who’s thinking about taking up quarters in newly-fashionable Columbia Heights, DC USA will provide you with a neighborhood shopping center unlike any other in the city.

Big deals: At three levels and more than 500,000 square feet, DC USA is the largest shopping center in the city. (Photo: Google)

Columbia Heights in Northwest, Washington, D.C., has seen a gentrification process over the last decade or so, and with a billion dollars plunked down in a variety of projects in the neighborhood over that time (yeah, that’s a 10-figure number they’ve been throwing around), it may be time for the smart apartment renter to make their move.

One great thing about the neighborhood is that it has its own WMATA Metrorail stop – aptly named Columbia Heights – on the system’s Green/Yellow Line.

The most ballyhooed of the new retail projects is the mammoth DC USA shopping complex, which, as it happens, is conveniently located across the street from the station. This shopping paradise boasts the city’s only Target – and a two-story job at that, which now features fresh groceries – a Best Buy, Marshalls and Lane Bryant. Those interested in getting – or staying – in shape might want to join the Washington Sports Club. Additionally, the place reportedly has 1,000 parking spaces in its underground garage financed by you, the Washington, D.C., taxpayer, to the tune of an outrageous $40 million. The least you could do is get your money’s worth.

The expanded grocery section in Target is significant because it gives shoppers another choice besides the neighborhood Giant.

Then there’s the Ballad of Elwood.

Organic grocer Elwood Thompson is scheduled to come to DC USA sometime in the future. There has been some back-and-forth discussion between the store and a city councilmember recently, continuing an intriguing saga that has lasted for a few years now. Here’s hoping they get this worked out: Organic vegetables and gourmet cheese are more satisfying than bureaucratic-cum-retail fighting.

Drama nerds will be placated knowing that Columbia Heights’ historic Tivoli Theatre, part of the larger Tivoli Square, is now home to GALA Hispanic Theatre. The Tivoli Theatre, a mammoth Mediterranean Revival-style beauty, was Washington’s largest theater when it opened in 1924 and was designed by famed theater and cinema architect Thomas W. Lamb. In addition to the GALA, today’s Tivoli Square houses a Ruby Tuesday restaurant and the aforementioned Giant Food.

Any renter who’s thinking about settling down in Columbia Heights may want to read the New Columbia Heights blog, as it seems to have its finger on the neighborhood’s collective pulse.

All in all, it looks like a fantastic time to move here.