Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

clarendon

I spend so much time in Arlington’s Clarendon neighborhood, you’d almost think I live there. (Actually, that’s pretty close to the truth: I lived down the street in Courthouse for a year, and now I live down the street in the opposite direction in Ballston.)

Clarendon is home to some of my favorite local restaurants, and I’ve watched with increasing wariness as the neighborhood has changed over the past few years. In 2003, I mourned the passing of Cafe New Delhi. I worried — and cheered — as Nam-Viet survived the construction of The Clarendon apartments. The opening of the monstrous Cheesecake Factory seemed to mark a psychological tipping point, a pervasive fear that soon enough, Clarendon will be just a larger-scale version of chain-happy Pentagon Row. I groaned earlier this year when yet another Irish pub came in, replacing the neighborhood hardware store. I continue to wonder about what’s going to happen with that strip of restaurants and Vietnamese shops between Clarendon Ballroom and the Public Shoe Store, which all closed in quick succession earlier this year and have yet to be re-occupied. I’m a bit bummed that ice cream shop Lazy Sundae has relocated to Falls Church — though I confess that I rarely patronized it.

I have said many a prayer for the continued survival of my personal favorites: Kabob Bazaar, Nam-Viet and Faccia Luna. (I’d throw Whitlow’s on that list, too, but for whatever reason I feel like it’s doing well enough that it’s not at risk.)

Today’s Washington Post looks at Clarendon’s history and future, and how it risks becoming a victim of its own success as the independently-owned neighborhood shops and restaurants are priced out of the market and replaced with big chains. (Some might say that line has already been crossed.)

To accompany the story, I worked on the online version of a huge graphic about Clarendon, featuring a map of recent development in the area.

Clarendon, which over the past few decades has become the prototype of a modern urban village, is at a crossroads. Today, the Arlington enclave is a walkable medley of quirky shops and premium national retailers, older tree-lined neighborhoods and soaring new condominiums, a few office buildings, a wide selection of restaurants and a Metro stop. Tucked between the mini-metropolises of Rosslyn and Ballston, it combines homey friendliness with convenient commerce and a 20-minute commute to downtown Washington.

But the neighborhood’s character is changing, both driven by and reacting to a shift in its commercial real estate. More affluent, less workaday, more trendy, less mom-and-pop, Clarendon has become such a retail and residential magnet that it may be losing the ambience that made it such an appealing place to live, work and shop.

It’s starting to look a lot more urban and less village.

(Washington Post: “More Urban, Less Village” - 11/13/06)

I’m a bit torn about the whole thing. I don’t want to subscribe to some kind of blanket belief that all chains are bad. And I’ve never actually patronized some of the independently-run places that have closed. I want to see Clarendon do well.

But at the same time, I’ve seen how expensive the neighborhood has gotten — Rob and I couldn’t really afford to rent there, much less buy. Many of the new shops are geared at a demographic more affluent than my own. And I hate the fake, generic “urban village” architecture of the Market Common projects.