Bike Friendly Living Recommendations?

[DaveK]

Would be a very easy commute from downtown Silver Spring where there’s a bunch to do, as well as easy access to the Georgetown Branch Trail to Bethesda and DC, Metro’s red line into DC, and the Beltway if you were so inclined to drive somewhere. If it’s too expensive there the Sligo Creek trail goes up into Wheaton where the cost of living is very reasonable (my friends live 100ft off that trail and have a great house) but not so much to do at night.

You could also look in the Petworth neighborhood in DC, the costs of living aren’t too bad and there’s lots going on, but it is still very much (to quote a realtor’s term) “up-and-coming”. Kansas Ave gets you most of the way to work with bike lanes.

Honestly, if you’re open to a 10-mile bike commute, you can live almost anywhere in DC.

[dasgeh]

Congrats on landing a job and welcome.

I know nothing about Takoma Park, but I’ve heard it’s very bike friendly. I have some friends in a group house in the District who are looking to fill an opening. They are super-duper bikey (I know them through my husband’s cycling team). I’ll see if the place is still open and PM you.

[5555624]

I tend to avoid Takoma Park, since it’s a Nuclear Free Zone. (I can’t carry cruise missles to take care of cars that cut me off.)

Takoma, on the other hand, on the D.C. side if the border is not too bad. The area has been building up around the Metro station in the past few years. I’m not sure what changes are going on a mile or two furhter west with the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, so you might look there, too.

[SurlyTed1187]

I would be open to considering the group house for starting out while I get myself established in the area for the first few months. Please do let me know what the status is with it.

And super-duper bikey would be a plus!

[SurlyTed1187]

@dasgeh 15900 wrote:

Congrats on landing a job and welcome.

I know nothing about Takoma Park, but I’ve heard it’s very bike friendly. I have some friends in a group house in the District who are looking to fill an opening. They are super-duper bikey (I know them through my husband’s cycling team). I’ll see if the place is still open and PM you.

I would be open to considering the group house for starting out while I get myself established in the area for the first few months. Please do let me know what the status is with it.

And super-duper bikey would be a plus!

[Riley Casey]

Craigslist is a popular place for Takoma Park listings. There are a great many apartment buildings along the Sligo Creek Parkway ‘corridor’ and its been a great neighborhood for decades ( take it from an ex-Takoma Park hippie). A couple of things to be aware of, East of New Hampshire Ave is not Takoma Park regardless of the description in the advert. Sligo Creek is at the bottom of a sizeable valley so biking to the Metro station or to downtown Silver Spring ( the nearest commercial area ) means some serious hills. On the other hand Takoma all in all is one of the highest areas in or around the city so just about all of downtown is ‘down’ from TP. Welcome to the area.

[SurlyTed1187]

Coming from Atlanta, and the mountains of western nc for college, I am used to hilly rides. That is one reason why I’m not headed to Florida. Too flat for me. I just bought a map of the dc area so
I can study up on locations and distance.

[Terpfan]

I used to live relatively close to there.

For starters, the Sligo Trail goes for a long time and has some linkups too. It starts near Wheaton if I remember right and goes down to Brentwood where it hits up with Anacosta-related trails. As many have suggested, your best for living would probably be Silver Spring.

Silver Spring-Be forewarned that rental properties in ‘Silver Spring’ will actually bring up a ridiculous set of areas ranging from near-Ashton (a good 15-20 miles north and west) and straight up 29 as far as Cherry Hill (sort of north of College Park), neither of which are really ‘Silver Spring’ that folks are referencing. I have absolutely no clue why everything in MoCo (acronym for Montgomery County) tends to have a Silver Spring zip code. Similarly in Virginia, I swear Alexandria is the all encompassing zip code. I tell people I live there and they start thinking everything from Arlandria down to Mt. Vernon. Anyway, there is a fairly decent youthful crowd to SS. If you move there or when you’re visiting, look for an underground burger/dive-bar called ‘Quarry House’ (underneath an Indian restaurant) and you will not be disappointed. The main stretch of stuff is over near Ellsworth. They have a big movie theatre, Irish bar, pool hall, there is pirate bar not too far away, and a few other places. Silver Spring will be moderate/moderate-to-high pricing for the area. If you want, I can go into a lot more detail about this area.

Takoma–There are some new nice looking condos right by the Metro. Otherwise, there aren’t a lot of apartment buildings that I would recommend living within there. You may be able to live in a group house with roommates nearby. A lot of folks will confuse the apartments along Sligo Creek Pwky with Takoma, but they’re actually considered Silver Spring. They have mixed reputations from what I gather, but they’re safe. Takoma is more coffee-shop nightlife. On the DC side you will find a bar or two that are decent and a good bbq place. In between Takoma and Silver Spring is a great local pizza joint (Ledos) along Georgia Avenue.

Bethesda–This may give you a decent commute into work. The problem here is that Bethesda housing is very expensive. However, they have some good bars/nightlight, also right off the metro and they have a good slieu of restaurants. You could probably also live a little further up in Grosvenor and take Beach Drive to the CCT I think. (Oh, in Bethesda–Bethesda Bagels–awesome)

You could also live in a lot of the eastern edges of NW quadrant of DC. Someone tossed out Petworth–sort of up and coming. The nightlight side is better over at Columbia Heights. If you live in these areas, I would suggest taking the back streets rather than the big ones on your commute. It’s basically a grid (letters e-w, numbers n-s, states-diaganal) divided into four quadrants. NW, NE, SE and SW. But since it was originally designed with Alexandria in it, SW is pretty small.

White Oak–lot of housing (this will be called Silver Spring), but I don’t know if I would recommend it. Would make for a fairly easy commute.

Ok, I’ve written more than enough. If you want more, let me know or just ask specific questions.

[vvill]

I love Quarry House and I don’t even live close to Silver Spring.
/end interjection

[SurlyTed1187]

That is a lot of info. I’ll be visiting the area next week, and I’ll scout out some areas. The more base info I have, the better prepared I’ll be in knowing what’s what. This is exciting stuff. First time I’ll be taking off on my own!

[creadinger]

@Terpfan 16001 wrote:

There is pirate bar not too far away….

Unfortunately, the Piratz Tavern is no more. It was featured in a bar makeover show because of a lack of business. Apparently there aren’t enough swashbucklers in the area to keep a place like that alive. I lived in downtown SS for a few years and we went for a several-hour-long-drink-fest. It was fun, but weird.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/spike-tv-show-gives-silver-springs-piratz-tavern-a-makeover/2012/02/21/gIQADLA9SR_story.html

The Quarry House is more than enough of a reason to move to downtown SS though. There’s also no shortage of ethiopian restaurants to fulfill any of your meat/lentil needs. There’s a good crepe place, a Whole Foods you can walk/bike to, and Fenwick beer and wine has a huge selection of hard to find beers.

I really liked living there.

[SurlyTed1187]

Before I even consider bars, or clubs (I drink occasionally, not weekly or nightly). I need to worry about a good area, that is bicyclist friendly,and fun area to live in. I appreciate the advice on bars and restaurants, but right now, a place to feel comfortable riding my bike for errands, and not feeling like I’m going to be broken into because the folks across the street have seen me with three different bikes going in and out.

[americancyclo]

@SurlyTed1187 16043 wrote:

that is bicyclist friendly,and fun area to live in.

I think we can all grasp what bicyclist friendly means, but I also think we all have a different idea of what is ‘fun’.
for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2fzM-cPfvg

any ideas on what you consider ‘fun’ might help! Some people might think drinking is fun, while others might think late night food truck stands are fun. or clowns.

[Greenbelt]

@SurlyTed1187 16043 wrote:

Before I even consider bars, or clubs (I drink occasionally, not weekly or nightly). I need to worry about a good area, that is bicyclist friendly,and fun area to live in. I appreciate the advice on bars and restaurants, but right now, a place to feel comfortable riding my bike for errands, and not feeling like I’m going to be broken into because the folks across the street have seen me with three different bikes going in and out.

Since your work is near the Sligo Creek Trail (?), I’d consider locations all along the other Anacostia Tributary trails as possibilities. I commute from Old Greenbelt to DC on these trails, and I think they’re wonderful. The NE branch trail, in particular, is very nice, and high speed (few grade crossings, generally pretty wide and fast and not too crowded). -Jeff

Detailed trail map
http://www.pgparks.com/Assets/Parks+$!26+Recreation/PDF/Maps/Anacostia+Trail+Map+2010.pdf

[Riley Casey]

Not sure where the anxiety about living along Sligo Creek in Takoma Park is coming from but you could live with a few hundred yards of the Washington Adventist Hospital and be in a very safe, friendly, diverse neighborhood. The DC area is a major metropolis with almost six million people when you measure the far flung commuter ex-urbs. People get held up at gun point in front of million dollar homes here – just about as often as people get bitten by sharks. Very slightly more than that in urban blight sections but thats life in a large city. Get over the anxiety and get into the joy and excitement of rubbing shoulders with 4 -6 million of your fellow hominides.

@SurlyTed1187 16043 wrote:

Before I even consider bars, or clubs (I drink occasionally, not weekly or nightly). I need to worry about a good area, that is bicyclist friendly,and fun area to live in. I appreciate the advice on bars and restaurants, but right now, a place to feel comfortable riding my bike for errands, and not feeling like I’m going to be broken into because the folks across the street have seen me with three different bikes going in and out.

[Author]

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