Adams Morgan
“Not the typical neighborhood that you would expect to find in Washington, DC. Vivacious. Georgetown may be more famous, but city-dwellers know the real place to be is Adams Morgan. It’s hip but not yuppified, diverse but not preachy, safe but still gritty, cool but not uppity, and fun but not taken over by Starbucks and Disney. Adams Morgan is, for many, the toast of the DC urban experience.
Physically, Adams Morgan benefits – or suffers from (depending on your point of view) – a location just north of the original planned city, and is sandwiched between the Georgia Avenue corridor and Rock Creek Park. That all means two things: 1) Adams Morgan is off the proverbial beaten path, hidden from suburban gentrification; and 2) its street network is based on European design rather than the grid, which has created a more intimate, less predictable environment. Thus, Adams Morgan is in many ways an antithesis to Washington at large. It’s not monumental nor is it high-profile. Rather, it caters to the resident and the sidewalk vendor.
Adams Morgan represents not just a hip hang out; for many it represents an ideal. It’s fantastically interesting, unmistakably urban, dense and busy, but still manages to pander to the person rather than the group.” – PPS Project For Public Spaces