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A while back I submitted a column about why I believed New York City was overrated. Needless to say, I ruffled a few feathers over that one. Tough. But maybe I came down too hard on New York City since I’ve been there so many times that I shook off the initial awe. It may be overrated to me, but it’s not necessarily the poster child of being overrated. That honor goes to Washington, D.C. I know I’m going to cause some butt puckering on this one, but it has to be said.
Again, make sure you pay attention to my wording. Like the New York piece, this isn’t a column that says, “Washington, D.C. sucks.” I’m using the term “overrated” because while it is a fine city, it is way overhyped. It definitely doesn’t help that when D.C. people talk about why they love D.C., they talk to you like you’re from Somalia or Afghanistan, as if you have never experienced civilization before. It’s a nature versus nurture thing. People who grew up in the D.C./NoVa/MD bubble grew up in such expensive areas they assume everywhere else is a garbage heap. In the words of a friend, “So much privilege they’re naturals to become social justice warriors.”
So when someone talks about why they love D.C., what’s one of the first things they talk about? Brunch. “Oh my goodness the brunch scene *heart eye emoji*!!!” I had a good laugh at a joke that D.C. was melting down over Trump because they were scared he’d destroy D.C. culture by banning brunch. They tell you how people jog up with their dogs and have bottomless mimosas with their friends for hours and hours and blah and blah and blah. Cool story, I saw that last Sunday at my favorite brunch place in Brookhaven and probably paid 30% less than you did. People be brunchin’, am I right? In fact, since brunch is trendy now, every major city has a handful of great brunch places and frankly eggs Benedict and bottomless mimosas are tough to mess up. I don’t know how you could possibly enhance brunch beyond the phenomenon it has become in every major city. Like I said, the scene is probably one of the best in the country, but it doesn’t make other brunch scenes incomparable.
Okay, so I’m not impressed by the brunch scene. What about the great American monuments? The great symbols of American exceptionalism, balance of power, Constitutional rights, and representative government? Well, from a partisan perspective I can say it’s depressing that the great Americans who designed and built those monuments are turning in their graves. From a non-political perspective, I would expect the great monuments of our nation’s capital to be on par with those of the other great historical cities of the world, and they are beautiful. They’re about what you’d expect, and touring the monuments is probably a one to two day event. It’s about equally impressive to seeing Manhattan from across the Hudson River or seeing the Santa Monica Mountains from the Santa Monica Pier. And as someone who loves history, most monuments get old after a while. The newness wears off.
Finally, it’s too expensive. It’s as bad, if not worse, than New York City. Once you get past what I like to call the “tourist aspects,” like sightseeing and experiencing the unique culture and local restaurants, you’re basically living in an overpriced, well, Atlanta. Sure, it’s the nation’s capital, and every nation’s capital and major metropolis has high costs of living, but the fact remains. As someone who has several transplant friends living in the D.C. area for work, once you get past the initial touristy awe it’s, as I mentioned earlier, an extremely expensive Atlanta. Shocked that The Rent is Too Damn High Party hasn’t gained traction in the D.C. metro area. You shouldn’t have to live with three other people in your early thirties unless it’s a spouse and children.
All that said, D.C. is a great place to visit if you have never been or if you have a reason to go. Otherwise, you take your political or government contractor job and hope you make enough to live a reasonable quality of life.
Hopefully this article is published before I head up next month as I’m sure the city will be happy to see me..
Image via Shutterstock
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@5OClockShadow_
I feel like I’m the perfect amount of douche that could thrive in that city.
Honestly, the fact that you’re so self aware of this may be the thing saving you from going over the edge.
“”He who knows that he’s a douche, is not actually a douche.” – Socrates ” – InhocFaF
Not DC, but I couldn’t help myself
You are.
DC is a great place to visit friends and be able to leave on Sunday
Literally what I’m doing next month. After this column the city will be happy to see me.
the “Literally” was redundant in that sentence son
Probly gonna be downvoted but I feel that way about NYC too
Good thing I live in Iowa where nobody ever says it’s overrated. PGP.
Is it even rated?
I think Iowa is underrated.
To be blunt, if one of the things you’ve heard about “top things about DC” is the brunch scene, that says a lot more about the people you associate with than the city itself.
Here are things that I like about DC (that do not involve brunch):
– the sheer walkability of it. You know what’s a great way to avoid traffic? Not drive a car. I like being able to walk to most of my destinations, or barring that, taking a bus or even the (dreaded) Metro. As easy a target as Metro is, I think a lot of people take it for granted that it’s still better than most of the public transit systems in the US that are not the MTA.
– the impressive amount of things to do (in the city). Every major sports team is represented here. Our museums (which you most certainly did not get through in a weekend) are free and have regular (free) events. We have enough movie theaters to cover the gamut of blockbuster and arthouse foreign flick and then some. We have amazing music venues. Hell, our underground punk scene, while not as big as it was in the 90s, is still going strong if you know where to look. Want to commune with nature? Go to Rock Creek Park in the middle of NW. There are even free events as embassies, ffs. My point is, if all you can figure out to do every Sunday is get shitfaced over bottomless mimosas, you’re not trying hard enough.
– the impressive amount of things to do (outside the city). There’s great places to hike. The beach is two hours away. Other large cities are nearby. It’s a great homebase for springing off into just about any direction and finding something else new.
And I’ll stop there, because this is getting out of hand. Basically, your review of DC reads like something I would expect from a high schooler’s field trip: you did the bare minimum of tourism, and extrapolated from there.
Thank goodness you showed up, too many people were agreeing with me.
Haha, sorry for getting a little inflammatory there. DC seems to just be a popular place to hate on, even ignoring politics.
I get it to some degree. If all I did was spend time at happy hour with the try-hards on the Hill bragging about who they know, then Ubering back to my expensive studio in the “trendy yet somehow still sketchy for that pricepoint” apartment, I wouldn’t like it either. There are obviously negatives, but I’m still a fan of the city, and always happy to help people find the cool parts of it.
Could not agree more. And that’s not even including the endless wineries 2 hours south in Charlottesville
Did a winery and brewery tour around Charlottesville 2 weeks ago. Fantastic area cant wait to go back!
Moving to the District in June…Need to pick your brain about all of this.
Yeah, let me know. I’ll set up a reddit account for the PGP sub sooner or later.
^this… plus the fact that we do have a really awesome food scene for any taste (I’m getting Uighur tonight).
Also the cost of living is way less than New York, and any boyfriend (who grew up in manhattan and still wants to move back to NYC) laughed when the author said the prices were on par. Yes DC has its moments where I want to leave, but overall, I am happy I live here.
DC’s food scene is a little bizarre. The staples of ethnic food that you’d expect in a larger city (Chinese and Mexican, IMO) aren’t very well represented in the city proper. You’re going to have to go to the ‘burbs for the best examples of it. And of course, you’ll have every New Yorker bashing on the pizza, because that’s just what New Yorkers are bred to do.
For other, less popular ethnic food though? Phenomenal. I’m a big fan of the Ethiopian and Salvadorian options we’ve got.
I’d like it if there were a bit more in-betweens for cheap fast food and expensive sit-down but DC has some really great options for food all things considered.
I mean we really don’t have good pizza compared to New York… Also, Ethiopian is amazing and I am genuinely depressed Zenebech is gone! Salvadorian is great too, but give me injera any day.
Ercilia’s pupusas all day er’ day
Fun fact: Zenebach baked the injera for pretty much every Ethiopian restaurant in the city. I haven’t kept up with who’s replaced them, but it was crazy to me to think that one restaurant had such a huge impact on the entire city.
Zenebech is supposedly just moving… keeping my fingers crossed!!
Walkabililty? …to where though? Another brunch restaurant? I’ve been here a few years now. Other then eating at a restaurant and going to museums there really not much to do here that doesn’t cost half a weeks paycheck. (& I do make good money)
You should write a column about a city that’s underrated. I’m curious to see what you’d pick.
Kansas City
As much as I’d like to pitch the ATL, I don’t want to be discredited over hometown bias. Let someone else write that one.
-Pittsburgh. People shit on it but I went up for a conference and it’s a cool city.
-Philly. See above.
-Savannah
-Houston is a dirty but underrated city
-Cleveland was better than I expected but I don’t know if that means it’s “underrated”
I’m sure there are others I left out but that’s why I’m going to try to travel more this year.
If you wanna come to Pittsburgh, I’ll point you in the right direction and pound some beers. Very solid small city that’s pretty cheap
Had Primanti Bros every day I was there
Agreed, it’s the perfect size for a weekend visit.
Pittsburgh, in my experience, is the worst mix of trailer trash and a midwest city. Philly and Savannha, definitely agree those are underrated.
Don’t sleep on the city of brotherly love
It’s hard to say Chicago is underrated, since it’s pretty popular and all that, but I’m constantly amazed at how awesome a city it is given the relative low cost to live there. I mean, I’m from the Boston/NYC area, so that’s my frame of reference, Chicago is every bit as awesome for, what, 60% the cost?
I’ve always been told its a great place to live while in your 20s but after that you need to get the hell out.
I’ve always heard that D.C. Is Hollywood for ugly people
I can’t totally disagree, but I love it regardless since I grew up here.
St. Paddy’s recommendations?
Besides the numerous bar crawls between DC and nova, fado’s is a favorite. I’ve heard ri ra in Georgetown does deals as well.
Fucking commi
5 years here, and I’m hitting my limit. California is looking very nice right now.
West coast is the best coast baby.
Santa Monica. I spend every December there.