DC neighborhoods

Tam goes on about DC and how people in their own area know where the bad part of town is.

Oh yes.

As a lifelong resident of the DC Metropolitan Area, I can confirm, expand, and elucidate on this very topic. 

First of all, "DC Metro Area" is the old way of calling it.  It's now called the DMV.  Department of Motor Vehicles?  No.  In Maryland we call that the MVA.  The Motor Vehicle Administration.  No, DMV is supposed to mean "DC Maryland Virginia."  I still call it DC Metro.  DMV is stupid on stilts. 

In the old days, the area of town know as the 'bad part' was called Southeast DC.  DC is divided into zones, obviously.  Sorta pie shaped sectors, and you even write that on the address of mail you are sending to town.   The part where you saw the most murders in the 80s (like 500 a year) had SE DC in the return address field.  Not no more.  Nowadays the bad part is called "East of the River".  Meaning the Anacostia river.  (The whole town is east of the Potomac.)  It's still sorta Southeast, but gentrification has set in.  Parts of the old Southeast closest to downtown are now kinda tony neighborhoods.  Well, mostly.  No, now, East of the River is where you can find your concentrated criminal activity.

The Capitol is in the Center.

In the 80s, 14th street was famous for being where the street walkers were.  I dunno where the hookers are now, but suspect they aren't as thick as they used to be on 14th.  Maybe U Street? 11th?  And the pimps still LOOK like a 1970s movie.  Canes, caddies, purple clothes, big hair. It's like a uniform.  At any rate, look for concentrations of hotels and entertainment districts.  Slightly north of downtown, like where Chinatown is (and which is where the hockey and basketball teams play)

My crotchety old neighbor Archie grew up in the shadow of the National Cathedral.  Northwest DC.  He said if you want a good time, date a gal from "East of the Park" meaning west of Rock Creek Park, the Zoo being the southern terminus, and it is near the center of town.  You were still in Northwest when east of the park, but you were almost Northeast DC.  Slightly less nice neighborhood.  Where the girls were looser, according to Archie.  Maybe they were Catholics?  You want to MARRY a gal from West of the Park.

Come to think of it, Logan Circle might be Northeast.

Georgetown?  Where the old money is?  Used to be a slum in the 20s.  Close to the river and close to the canal and close to the industrial parts of DC.  Well, that area also gentrified, bigly, and rich white people bought up the colonial era homes and spruced em up starting in the 30s.  Before them it was a lot of freedmen living there, close to day labor jobs.  Used to be a brewery in the area.  The Heurich brewery.  Made Senate beer.  Didn't bounce back well after prohibition, and closed in the 50s.  They built the Kennedy Center on the site.  Northwest DC

The place where that lady was stabbed in the green zone?  That is Northwest DC.  West of the Park.  Supposed to be the good side of town.  The part of town has 3 murders a year, maybe, not 100+.  And that is why Tam heard about it on the news all the way over in Indy.

Meh, I dunno...  Irving Street is awful close to downtown...  Sort of a gray area.  Sure, she was a white lady and a dog walker, and cut to ribbons with a knife in broad daylight.  That doesn't stick to the script in any part of town.   About where the W is in the NW part of the map above.