they are, but at the same time their size allows for easier living. here in NYC i find the wages are much higher to compensate for the cost of rents. i pay 800 for a room in a 3BR apt but i’m in one of the more desirable parts of town, relatively speaking. and i can’t think of anyone my age (26) who is making less than 25-30k per year, even in retail.

of course, i moved here for two reasons: love and the fact that my hometown of DC was so expensive that i couldn’t afford to live anywhere but with my parents.

To characterize what’s happening as “nudging out” the bohemian artistic class just doesn’t make sense since it’s not really any more expensive to live here now that it was 15 years ago. In some ways it’s gotten a lot better from the “bohemian’s” point of view (if not the anti-gentrifiers). The city is generally a safer place to live. Parts of the city where your typical bohemian would never have dared to live 15 years ago - Petworth, Shaw, U Street/Florida Avenue, LeDroit Park, and so on - are now thriving.

Sure, Philly and Baltimore are cheaper cities. But New York, Boston, San Francisco, LA are much more expensive cities. So what?

And there are more places to see music then there have been for some time…
None of that means anything since my rent prohibits the purchasing of vegan
cookies, stacks of vinyl, and show tickets.

Nor does my rent mean I can afford the $8 banana split or $7 milkshake I spotted at a Dupont Circle ice cream shop.

Last thoughts: Go ask the people who live in Dupont if they consider themselves part of Adams Morgan. Guess what they’ll say? No, Adams Morgan is shorthand for Friday Night Happy Hours.

I’m not sure what “bohemian” means in Adams Morgan. Maybe it stands for the people who wait in line at Pasta Mia.

Of course there are a number of reasons behind this, and DC is not Philadelphia or Baltimore. I should probably quit my griping and just move to one of those cities, but I do wish those sort of opportunities were available for us here.

In a nutshell, my point in relation to this blog is that the housing prices are too ridiculous here to foster any genuine sort of “bohemian” atmosphere and the adjective becomes almost laughable in this environment.

But, at age 27, I make $30,000 per year with a 20-hr-week retail gig and as a freelance graphic designer for several nonprofits. I am very happy with the work I do, the freedom of my schedule, and the variety I have. And as far as incomes go nationwide, I’m doing all right.

People like me should be able to find their place in this city. There should be room for us.

As is, I pay $800 for a small room in a very shabby house with four others. I don’t mind living with others, and I also don’t mind living shabby. I do mind paying that price for it and barely being able to keep myself afloat financially. I am an adult veering towards my 30s, yet I have no semblance of a saving account, no prospects of owning property, and can’t even look as far as dreaming of having my own bathroom. Forget affording my own studio.

I’ve tried very hard not to get sucked into the wealth and power-obsessed mentality I see around me, but honestly I can’t compete financially in this world, as much as I love living amidst the sights and sounds of the city.

And I urge you to check out Craigslist. Go to the “room for rent” section and put your maximum limit at $800. The spots you will find, even in Petworth and Columbia Heights, are few and far between. Not to mention for every available spot, there are 30 young people edging against you competing for it.

I don’t know what the solution is, here, but I do think that the wealthy will eventually nudge out any sort of grittiness and true character of the city, that Starbucks will land on Columbia Heights corners, and anyone not making a respectable professional salary will be forced to the suburbs and beyond.

I sound like an elitist snob and certainly gentrification complaints are nothing new or original, I’m just venting here.

According to the inflation calculator at bls.gov, we’ve had 53% inflation in that time period. That make $800 today is the equivalent of about $522 in 1991 - which is about in the zone.

Considering that home sale prices have essentially quadrupled in that time, that makes renting around here seem like a pretty damn good deal compared to then.

Bottom line is if all these artists could afford $500 a month 15 years ago then they ought to be able to afford $800 a month today. And that’s probably at the high end of the rent spectrum. Columbia Heights is significantly cheaper than AM, and a hell of a lot safer than it was 15 years ago.

These prices preclude people of many professions — artists, writers, teachers, retail workers, musicians, etc. etc. — from living in the area. Is it really so “bohemian” and diverse if it’s full of consultants, legal clerks and other slick urban professionals.

Housing prices are out of control and they will drive the character and diversity out of all of these neighborhoods.

Adams-Morgan is just shorthand, anyway, for the greater Adams-Morgan - Columbia Heights - Mount Pleasant - Petworth - Dupont collection of neighborhoods where these folk live. It’s like referring to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco - it’s more dirt punk and wealthy professional, now, but people will refer to it as the focus of the City’s bohemian class simply because it’s a recognizable name.