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Neighborhood Index > C-SPANistan

Capitol Hill, Lincoln Park, Stanton Park, Rosedale

The yuppie surge is fueling these new economies, boosting the local schools, and improving the parks and libraries, but it's also raising rents and making for some fantastic gentrification battles.

Arbitrary Rankings

Kid-Friendliness: 10

Capitol Hill has lots of schools. Neighbors banded together in the ’90s to turn three public schools into the Capitol Hill Cluster School, which has such a good reputation now that even in-boundary parents find themselves camping out to get their kids a spot. Things are looking up for the rest of the long-crummy schools in the hood as well, most of which got brand-spanking-new libraries thanks to neighborly efforts.

Housing: 7

Don’t be too discouraged by the million-dollar town houses. Reasonably-priced apartments and houses are available, though the better deals are farther from the fun stuff on Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Barracks Row. Congressional group houses are typical: Fratty front-yard cookouts with beer pong are a common sight.

Eats: 9

The famous restaurants in the area are famous not so much because they’re good but because they’ve been bad for so damn long, like the Tune Inn and the Hawk & Dove. Newer places have some great menus.

Consumer Goods: 11

C-SPANistan boasts both a Safeway and a Harris Teeter, a legendary hardware store (Frager’s), and several cutesy pet stores. And let’s not forget that awesome flea market.

Nightlife and Culture: 8

Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Barracks Row are old standbys of the boozy button-down scene. But the glut of drunken federal employees is lately counterbalanced by hipsters and rock shows over on H Street NE.

Intangibles: 7

C-SPANistan is D.C.’s truest meta-neighborhood. Parts of it are rich like Georgetown but not as pretentious; funky like Adams Morgan but not as dangerous; green like Shepherd Park but not as lonesome; filled with working stiffs like Farragut North but not as stuffy.

C-SPANistan in the City Paper Archives

Capitol Hill