I Hate Hipsters, But I Seem To Love Their Neighborhoods

After one week in the Washington D.C. area, I am no closer to finding a job than I was when I first stepped foot  tiredly onto Virginia ground.  This timeline is far behind me getting my first job in Chicago.  By a week in, I had already had two interviews and a start date at the job I eventually had all but the last few months that I was in Chicago.  Sure that wasn't the greatest career trajectory, but it was something.

Of course it would help if I had applied anywhere in the past week.  I did change the address on my resume to the temporary one in Virginia, so I hope that helps.

What I've been doing more of is learning the lay of the land.  I now think I know what I'm doing with the local bus system (though there's always a new angle that catches me off guard).  And I'm beginning to sense a rhyme and reason to the grid system in Washington D.C.  I haven't yet placed the Metro stops with the streets, but I'm starting to learn names of neighborhoods that I've never been to.

And, in doing so, I'm learning that, despite my initial wonderment of how anyone can afford to live in the city, there are neighborhoods that people without six figure salaries can afford to live in within the confines of the District.  And some of them are nicer.  Well, not Lakeview nice (though I don't want to make that mistake twice), but like Humboldt Park nice.  And on train lines to boot.

Though it would seem that these neighborhoods are inhabited by hipsters (at least according to Washington D.C. Not For Tourists).  I moved here partially to get away from them.  But I guess they are the first wave of gentrification and I do have a thing or two in common with them so they're inescapable.

I'm thinking if I do live in the city, it's going to be in Columbia Heights, Petworth, or Cleveland Park.  With an outside chance at Tenleytown.  And, if I win the lottery as well as get a job, maybe Logan Circle.

I made the mistake of wandering around that neighborhood just south of the Black Cat and falling in love with it.  Then I made a mistake of reading in the park itself.  And since I love Logan Square (which is, by everything I read, more like Petworth), how could I not fall in love with Logan Circle?  Well, there is one reason...

The cheapest studio I found in Logan Circle was $1295 a month.

Yes, Chicago people reading this, that's a studio.  That's seems to be about the low end for a one bedroom in most of the other neighborhoods that I listed.

Tomorrow I'm going to scope out those other neighborhoods - which are all off the Red Line or Green Line - as well as the Maryland suburbs which are further down those lines.  Ironically (or not), I'm going to need to find a job before I even know where I should be living in Washington D.C. or its environs.  But, maybe that's for the best.  I'm not going to look at any properties, but at least it's something to do.

Something to keep me going as I fill out more applications online and continue to work on my resume.