D.C. Neighborhood Guide - Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, Pleasant Plains

Liquorridor

Demographics

Population: 62,395
Percent Black: 44.6
Percent White: 24.1
Percent Hispanic: 26.7
Percent Foreign-Born: 31.1
Percent Children: 18.8
Poverty Rate: 22.1 percent
2005 Median Home Sale Price: $527,373
2007 Violent Crimes Per 1,000 Residents: 16
2007 Property Crimes Per 1,000 Residents: 38.2

Sources

Touchstone

Your dog may like to play with other dogs, but what about more exotic wildlife? Take him for an off-leash run at Walter Pierce Park as Rock Creek deer look on and National Zoo primates caw at the sunrise.

More Touchstones

D.C. Neighborhoods Flickr Pool

Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, Pleasant Plains

Adams Morgan is a puzzle—it's simultaneously cheesy, exhausting, exhilarating, and tedious.

Read Justin Moyer's Full Essay

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Arbitrary Rankings

Kid-Friendliness: 5

Walkability and access to playgrounds and schools makes Liquorridor an urban breeders’ wet dream. But beware: Crossing Mount Pleasant Street and Columbia Road demands Frogger–like abilities. Also, many nearby schools are, unfortunately, public.

Housing: 7

Liquoriddor has everything: apartments, condos, English basements, small town homes, sprawling town homes, and detached houses. Deals can be had, but don’t expect 1BRs to dip much below $1,000. And don’t expect a deal if you’re buying—median home sale price, 2007: $527,373.

Eats: 8

Liquoriddor’s dining options run the gamut from grease (Don Juan’s, Jerusalem Cafe, Julia’s Empanadas) to relative glamour (Perry’s, Pasta Mia, Meskerem).

Consumer Goods: 5

Columbia Heights’ big-box explosion will satisfy anyone unwilling to travel to Seven Corners for a flat-screen TV or really inexpensive toilet paper. For those who prefer slumming it (and supporting local business), boutiques on 18th Street, bodegas on Columbia Road, and dollar stores on Mount Pleasant Street beckon.

Nightlife and Culture: 9

18th Street NW is the District’s best bet for binge-drinking and one-night stands under abstract Christmas-light representations of giant slippers, while the dimly lit bars of Mount Pleasant offer a more intimate hang. Much of Columbia Heights turns into a pumpkin long before midnight, but Wonderland will keep you wondering where the next drink is into the wee hours.

Intangibles: 4

While the rodent population in Liquorridor isn’t what it used to be, you might want to avoid “Rat Park” at the intersection of Columbia Road and Mount Pleasant Street after dark. That rustling in the bushes isn’t the cool evening breeze.

Liquorridor in the City Paper Archives

Nice Ass!
Not even grandmas are safe from D.C.'s street harassers.

The Stoop At 1701 Euclid
On the corner, the Bennetts see drug dealers and junkies, craps games that go on all night, and their beloved grandson. Their neighbors see a conspiracy.

Battered Blue

My So-Called Stalker
Negotiations with fear, obsession, and the D.C. police

Queen of Beverly Court
Sex. Drugs. Strangled penises. Manon Cleary has seen it, done it, and painted it all.

The Big Cheese
An Adams Morgan reveler has three possible uses for his jumbo slice: Eat it, throw it at someone, or feed it to the rats.

Amateur Nights

You Deserve a Breakbeat Today
Peter Rosenberg brings the funk to the Golden Arches.

Gaston Neal, 1934-1999

The Missing Link
We like to think the half-smoke is D.C.'s indigenous street food. So why don't we know anything about it?

Taking a Hit
Pot smokers will have to adjust to D.C.’s new smoking ban.

That's Why the Haydee Is a Champ

Khat Calls
Some members of D.C.'s immigrant community bite off more than they can legally chew.

On the Hill
D.C.'s oldest gay bar keeps flying under the radar.

Adams Morgan

The Last Days of Christopher Savage
He came here to start a new life. It lasted five days.

Impressions of Adams Morgan, Saturday Night
On one night on 18th Street, an artist finds his muse.

Mount Pleasant

Should Mount Pleasant Rock All Night?
Chime in on the hottest topic west of 16th Street.

Land of Pleasant Living
Mount Pleasant, in pictures

Bout Pleasant
A long-standing live-music feud escalates between Mount Pleasant’s neighborhood groups.

The Mild Bunch
The wee hours in Mount Pleasant bring out the good, the bad, and the hungry.

Sun Blocks
Pepco and Mount Pleasant at odds on going solar

Columbia Heights

Won't You Be My Neighbor?
A couple moves to Columbia Heights to build a new neighborhood--and comes face to face with the old one.

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Mr T in DC Jun. 20, 2008
1:42 pm

I think the overall ranking for "Liquorridor" should have been a little higher. The individual rating for Consumer Goods should have been higher by a couple, and maybe the Intangibles was a little on the low side, too.