D.C. Neighborhood Guide - Anacostia, Fairlawn, Barry Farm, Buena Vista

Carryouter Banks

Demographics

Population: 21,762
Percent Black: 97.9
Percent White: 1.1
Percent Hispanic: 0.5
Percent Foreign-Born: 1.7
Percent Children: 34.4
Poverty Rate: 34 percent
2005 Median Home Sale Price: $255,670
2007 Violent Crimes Per 1,000 Residents: 18.9
2007 Property Crimes Per 1,000 Residents: 33.8

Sources

Touchstone

Go-go music, D.C.’s indigenous percussive funk, was especially popular in Anacostia in its heyday. There’s a picture of go-go godfather Chuck Brown atop the Big Chair in the Anacostia Community Museum. Acts like Barry Farm’s Junk Yard Band got big in the ’80s and then got a bad name with law enforcement and NIMBY types. Despite efforts to ban live go-go at various clubs around town, the genre lives on: At Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a sign announces an early Juneteenth event—Jammin’ 4 Jesus—that features go-go.

More Touchstones

D.C. Neighborhoods Flickr Pool

Anacostia, Fairlawn, Barry Farm, Buena Vista

The buildings are lovely, and the sidewalks have potential, though you get the feeling it's going to take a long time before blond yuppies spend their flip-flopped weekends drunkenly stumbling around here.

Read Arin Greenwood's Full Essay

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Arbitrary Rankings

Kid-Friendliness: 3

There are lots of schools, playgrounds, and parks for you and your kids to enjoy, plus your house will likely have a big private yard of your own. With all these families in the neighborhood, your kids’ll have friends to play with, too. On the other hand, there’s nothing in the way of kid boutiques or other yuppie-baby frills. The public schools, save for select charters, are terrible.

Housing: 17

1-bedroom, 1-bath rentals are listed for less than $1,000 per month. A 4-bedroom, 2-bath detached house is listed for $190,000, and a 6,581-square-foot Victorian is listed for $279,000. If those don’t look good to you, try a nice row house in nearby Fairlawn.

Eats: 4

That soul food joint—Anacostia Restaurant & Catering—is delicious, but it’s also one of the only games in town thus far. Carryouterbanks’ titular dining malaise is one thing it has in common with other east-of-the-river communities: please be seated signs are scarce.

Consumer Goods: 4

This is a retail Mecca in abeyance. Right now there are a few corner stores, a barber shop, a new city government facility, but not much else in the way of shopping. New retail space has been built and more is under construction.

Nightlife and Culture: 5

Not tons of nighttime activities, but the Frederick Douglass house is one of the city’s great attractions.

Intangibles: 10

Anacostia has great houses at great prices, wonderful views of the city, nice parks, interesting history, and a sort of rough tropical feel to it, with its overgrown greenery and a distinct absence of hustle and bustle. But it also feels decrepit for now, and not in a fun gritty urban way, but in a sort of sad down-on-its-luck kind of way. If development comes, Anacostia could really take off and become a wonderful—rather than just a quiet, interesting, and affordable—place to live.

Carryouter Banks in the City Paper Archives

He's Still Marion Barry
One year into his latest political comeback, Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has found that drug use is his most reliable way back into the headlines.

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Anacrchostia Jun. 20, 2008
10:45 am

Funny and honest article. Anacostia has a lot of charm and coziness. I definitely get strange looks when my friends (regardless of race) give a puzzled and concerned look as to why I "choose" to live here.

Whether or not change may come, I enjoy living in an inexpensive, community-oriented and lively place, even if it embarrassingly lacks some basic amenities.
EMPH Jun. 24, 2008
12:07 pm

Fairlawn doesn't really share the same demographics, architecture, or environment from Anacostia or Barry Farms. It might be interesting to contrast that neighborhood from the others.