February 8, 2005
Your Wonderland's a Wonderland
I know I'm the last kid on the block to pay a visit to Wonderland in Columbia Heights, but I think I made amends by showing up last Friday and getting fairly crunk'd. I have to say that I enjoy the place -- nice space, interesting beer list assembled by someone who knows what he/she's talking about, good music and comfy chairs if you get there early enough.
The problem with Wonderland is that it's a bit divey in a neighborhood that is gentrifying like gangbusters. I distinctly remember feeling vaguely menaced getting gas on Harvard Street in 2002 and I was sure I'd be a little freaked walking from the Metro to (gasp) 11th Street. But nearly every house I passed on the way has had hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into it and I didn't encounter any of the neighborhood nastiness one might expect from the press.
But with all this money flowing in to Columbia Heights, will Wonderland be around for very long? Will we have to wait for the messageboard whiners and their ANC enablers to crack the whip on the area's only boozy outpost? The less these busybodies have to worry about crackheads and rats and muggings, the more they will turn to that strange phenomenon that is completely alien to most urban neighborhoods: noise. Witness Adams Morgan residents' battles with Blue Room and other establishments and the bewildering surprise of neighborhood types at the fact that the economic activity that has driven up the price of their assets has come from people visiting the area and spending money.
Of course, this may never happen. As Joel Kotkin noted in the Sunday WaPo, inner-cities are becoming niche communities for the young and childless and the "won't somebody pleeeease think of the children" types are nearly entirely relegated to the suburbs (thank God). Perhaps people live in Columbia Heights because they want to be able to walk to U Street or Adams Morgan or have a Delerium Tremens in the neighborhood with some tattoed people after work.
But when you have active neighborhood people, you'll have an argument about it. On the notorious message board, Wonderland is being compared to El Rinconcito, a bar/restaurant assuredly not frequented by hipsters. Apparently, Wonderland is quieter on the outside, less violent and produces less public urination. An addendum to this is that if you mention that fact, someone somewhere will read it and call you a racist.
I'm starting to get the feeling that if you say anything on that message board, someone will call you a racist.
Posted by rj3 at February 8, 2005 12:45 PM
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Comments
I'm always amazed at the people who buy those "luxury condos" newly built along 18th and U streets and then have the gall to complain about noise. Did they somehow miss the strip of bars there when checking the place out?
Posted by: chrisafer at February 8, 2005 4:31 PM
Yeah, it wasn't the best message board in the world for posting a bunch of haikus about how I love Asian poontang, that's for sure.
Posted by: The DCeiver at February 8, 2005 4:34 PM
i used to wonder the same thing, chrisafer, but now am convinced that they know full well the characteristics of the neighborhood they're moving into, but have such a sense of entitlement as to feel that after they plunk down their $500K, they have a right to wield all the tools now at their disposal - the ANCs and assorted municipal agencies - to remake the neighborhood to their liking. And who's gonna call shenanigans on them? Not the city govt, which is hoovering up the property taxes. So it's left to local businesses & advocacy groups that are forced to openly advocate for bars, which is, politically, a little harder than advocating for, say, disabled orphans. It's a sorry state, I tell you. Why didn't those shithead "anarchists" spraypaint the "lofts" instead of trashing everything else? Oh wait, I know. Because they're from the 'burbs and don't know a goddamn thing about the neighborhood. (btw, i don't condone spraypainting peoples' homes).
Posted by: sq at February 8, 2005 7:21 PM
Fucking racist.
Next time you're coming to Wonderland, let me know.
Posted by: JK at February 8, 2005 7:52 PM
I would have called you on Friday, but you have no phone. Neanderthal.
Posted by: rj at February 8, 2005 8:03 PM
I did call you Friday, JK, but you apparently had no phone.
Posted by: Michael at February 9, 2005 9:05 AM
You people know where I live, come knock on the door! New phone en route, btw.
Posted by: JK at February 9, 2005 11:09 AM