Neighborhood Part III: Barcroft Community House

In our neighborhood, at the corner of Buchanan and 8th St S is a little white church surrounded by a lovely landscaped yard, with a grill and wheelchair ramp in the back.

It's theI mentioned in my last neighborhood post that the community 4th of July parade ended up here, and we had a potluck picnic on the lawn. When I asked my neighbor Catriona when they moved to the neighborhood, she said they discovered the Community House when looking for a place to have their wedding reception in 2000. They loved it, and the neighborhood, and bought one of the houses for sale right after getting married. Then a few weeks ago Catriona's daughter Gillian had her birthday party here, and kindly invited us, so we got to see the inside. It was also great to have a destination we could walk to with the stroller, something we miss about Brooklyn.

It's a simple building - a large main room with wood floors, high ceiling and a stage at one end. A small hallway leads to a kitchen, single bathroom, and the back door. Quite echo-y with a bunch of 3 and 4-year-olds running around yelling. Catriona told me it rents for $15/hr during the week, and more on weekends. During the birthday party I was struck by the old charm of it - things like the decorative windows:

and this EXIT light:

On the way home I found this historical marker sign tucked in the bushes:

It's just a lovely part of the neighborhood, a place to gather and care about together, a little piece of history that belongs to our little community in this massive metropolitan area.

Neighborhood Part II: Barcroft

Our little neighborhood in South Arlington is called Barcroft. Its borders are Rte 50 on the north, S. George Mason on the east, Columbia Pike on the south and a green space on the west.

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It's been intriguing moving into a suburban neighborhood after living in apartments for so long. I was curious what it would be like to have our own space and what neighbor interactions would be like. One of our first introductions to the neighborhood was the 4th of July parade. I had met a woman a few doors down who has a 4-year-old daughter, and she told me about the neighborhood parade, so we went. It was adorable, with kids and adults in costumes, waving flags, playing music, riding decorated bikes, trikes and wagons up and down the streets. The parade ended at the Barcroft Community House, which will get its own post soon, where there was a potluck picnic/BBQ and awards ceremony. We met a few families and neighbors, and got the same message from everyone: this is a great neighborhood.

And so it seems to be. Every time we go to the park or out on a walk we meet someone new, very friendly, and usually with kids. "Oh, my favorite pizza place is ____", they tell me, or "You just missed our spring block party but we'll have one at Halloween." "Do you know about the neighborhood playgroup?" or "The schools here are great. My wife and I are both teachers..."

Indeed, Barcroft Elementary School, only 3 blocks from our house, is the only school in the county on a year-round schedule, which parents love because it puts vacations at off-peak times and avoids the long summer break that families with two working parents dread finding childcare for. It also draws an ethnically and socio-economically diverse group of students from surrounding neighborhoods, another perk that parents appreciate. In addition, two of the six or seven families I've met in the neighborhood are headed by gay couples, one of which is the Barcroft PTA president - more diversity that I can appreciate.

One of my dreads of surburbia has always been the homogeneousness, I know this shocks all of you. Same houses, same colors, same residents up and down each street. Luckily in an area as old as Arlington we can generally avoid such sameness inside and out. Take the houses. I love walking the streets in our neighborhood because almost no two houses are the same, and they're all interesting to look at.

Some are tiny:
Some are big (like this monstrosity next door to us, which looks even bigger from the back):
Some are old and charming:
Some, obviously new builds:
There are stucco bungalows:

And - this one's my favorite - brick and stone cottages:
There's even an occasional white picket fence:

And of course there's our funny little house on the odd-shaped end lot, which definitely doesn't resemble any other, and which we believe was somebody's afterthought. But we love it.

I was on quite the photographer's rampage yesterday and I don't want them to go to waste so here are some more houses in the neighborhood. Some are even for SALE...

(Check out the polka-dot door on the first one - you won't find that in some Nazi covenant community!)

Neighborhood Part I: Bay Ridge

One post I never got done for my May/June "Things I'll Miss" series was about my neighborhood in Brooklyn, Bay Ridge. It had a charm and familiarity that, after three years, was hard to bid farewell. The girls and I were out on the streets with the stroller almost every day, going to friends' houses, libraries, parks, shopping, music class or other errands, all within walking distance. The buildings, houses, and shops made up our 30-by-7 block home outside of home. Third and Fifth Avenues had all the main shopping and restaurants; the cross streets and other avenues were mainly residential. While it was sometimes a hassle to walk everywhere, I do miss the accessibility and closeness of that great community.

Ed commuted on an express bus that picked up literally outside our door, and cut at least 20 minutes off his otherwise subway commute. One of our favorite things about Bay Ridge was the waterfront walkway that stretched from the Verrazano Bridge to the 68th Street Pier, and which they renovated shortly after we moved there. We always lived close to the shore and could hop over there for a stroll along the water whenever we wanted, as long as we were willing to tolerate all the fishermen and the disgusting messes they made, and left, on the asphalt.

Bay Ridge was the perfect place to live in Brooklyn. It was made up of a mix of elderly and long-time residents, young professionals, and young families that had just outgrown their tiny Park Slope apartments with their second child. There were also many Greek, Italian and Middle Eastern residents. It was safe, people were friendly (for New Yorkers), and (for New York) it was a lovely place to live. I had so many favorite places; I took my camera out a few times to take pictures but didn't get as many as I wanted. Here are a few: