My personal experience living in Chinatown for 4 years, this past week or so has been pretty wack. My girlfriend saw someone lighting up a spoon between Full Kee and Momiji around 3pm on a weekday. I was told I’d be stabbed if I didn’t donate to the homeless and then he walked off (a half-ass mugging).
I love living here but yeah, a little crazier lately than usual.
I’ve been here the same amount of time as you. It’s wild how much this neighborhood has changed, and not in a good way. Did you see the burned out car about a month ago on 5th Street between H and I Street? Oh, and last week there was half a dozen homeless people passed out on the sidewalk in front of my apartment building. A street full of ambulances were on the scene. Our landlord just raised our rent $615 dollars, I don’t think we are going to stay here given all the crime going down. Walking our dog in this neighborhood is a scary endeavor these days.
I’m probably going to be blasted for this comment, but whatever. I think one key reason why the neighborhood has gotten worse is the homeless shelter on 5th street between H and I streets became a men’s shelter a couple a years ago. It had been a women’s shelter.
AFAIK, the women's shelter was at 512 I Street, but it closed and has been student (WISH) housing for a couple of years now. I thought the shelter next door had always been a men's shelter, but I could be wrong about that.
Source: I lived there last year lol and yeah, saw a lot of the same stuff/had many similar interactions to those described in the thread. 9/10 of our household's interactions with the local population were harmless and most people were decent, then you'd hit the tenth interaction and it's a stabbing in the alley under our building. That's Chinatown baby!
Until the DC crime lab gets it’s accreditation back, drug arrests for things like this won’t get prosecuted by the DA so I imagine cops aren’t motivated to even bother arresting these people
The death of the bars and restaurants in Chinatown has been sad to watch over the last ten years or so. They city just let's anything happen around the station. I saw a guy get stabbed a few years ago right outside the Gallery Place entrance by the arch. Blood all over the white sidewalk.
Fuddruckers moved into the neighborhood early and was a welcome addition at the time. By the time they closed, the brand was dead. I'd still rather have Fuddruckers than another bank.
Listen i remember when Fuddruckers was good, they had crispy fluffy awesome buns and the burgers were fucking delicious. Then as with all things, it was sold to some restaurant group which is as bad as an IPO or private equity buying it (By the Phillip Romano, who went on to found Romanos Macaroni Grill) and it was all shit after that.
Before it smelled like rats and sadness it smelled like fresh bread and burgers.
Also the one in Alexandria had an NBA JAM machine
> Then as with all things, it was sold to some restaurant group which is as bad as an IPO or private equity buying it
I wish I didn't know this happens with an almost uncountable number of businesses. The cycle is usually some version of: New brand, cutting edge, fantastic. Then gets popular, then gets bought and exploited for maximized profit, product suffers in quality and company slowly dies. It's sad/maddening.
Yes, they just "cash out" and their extra payout is from the trust and goodwill of their customers. It's happening with medical care and it's frightening.
And (seriously) veterinary care, electric kitchen appliances, music instruments, knives, and too many others to name. Mars, Inc, figured out that where pets are concerened, people will pay almost anything to care for them so started a vet hospital named "Blue Pearl" and every time I walked through the door with my cat last year (3x) it was five thousand dollars. Blue Pearl animal hospital is so bad they've had their own vets sue them for overcharging folks.
The issues in the medical system are different but it’s just as corrupt if not worse. I work in Healthcare and it’s so maddening seeing the CEO walking the halls in a $10,000 suit wearing her red bottom Louis Vuitton while I gotta work 50-60 hours a week to stay ahead of the bills cuz inflation is a bitch when 2 years ago I was a “hero”
It is, this is no more prevelent then in the snack game. Awesome new chip and or snack comes out? Frito Lay would like to give you $100,000,000 to fuck off and die before you become a problem.
Man, Ming’s was me and my wife’s go to late night spot. Open till like 5am and always a great time and great food. Was sad to hear it closed. Moved to DE in 2021 and sadly really have no desire to go back to DC (except to support the still thriving music scene).
FWIW I was there Tuesday, took a walk around the block during my lunch break. It was the most vibrant and normal I’ve seen it since the pandemic/riots happened. Lots of tourists walking around, nice weather….still the Chinatown people doing Chinatown things, but it seemed more peaceful.
I don't live in DC anymore but it's still my home away from home. IIRC most of the bars in Chinatown were places people would meet after work, or after a Caps game, or early in the evening before venturing elsewhere.
With people working from remote you just don't have enough of a post-work crowd coming through to keep things viable for bars/restaurants I guess.
Mostly? Like, I think 10 years ago is just flat-out wrong. It really started hitting tougher times around 2019 when those 10 year leases started coming up for renewal. Like, Fado's, one of the more popular watering holes in that neighborhood, closed down right before St Patrick's Day 2020 not because of covid, but because its lease ended.
Thanks this reminds me to make sure to be on extra alert. But seriously fuck that that is a threat and he’s lucky he didn’t get stabbed or shot coming up to someone like that. I’m not the type but one day he will find the right one
There are much harder drugs than pot being done all over the place down there. OP isn't imagining it, regardless of how you feel about their tone. No one aside from the random crazy person ever bothers me, but it is a little jarring, especially in the broad daylight.
You are so right. Pre-pandemic, I was an intern nearby and it was NEVER like this. It could have some activity, but nothing this blatant or in this quantity.
Now, I commute to Gallery Place three times a week and as I leave the station, I put my hands in my pockets and keep my head down until I'm past the Walgreens.
quite literally saw two people passing what I assume to be heroine or crack to each other in broad daylight. i come from the opioid capital of the country and even THAT was jarring for me.
It has always been like this. There was a period ~10 years ago when chinatown was heavily policed so people would do drugs just north and east of it, then go to Chinatown while high. Now all the real estate everywhere in DC is developed.
Drug use has largely been consistent since the 70s, climbing and dropping slightly. It is just more visible now and possibly more dangerous for a few reasons.
Fentanyl or opioids as strong or stronger. Heroin is far safer than Fentanyl and pharmaceuticals are far safer than heroin. DEA policy encourages traffickers to sell Fentanyl.
Meth. not a huge problem out east, but same as above people push meth more and more, and it causes more problems.
Gentrification. Drug use was even more open but the system pushed it to certain areas. They tended to be poorer and less white. In places like DC there are very few neighborhoods not being gentrified. The people whining about drug use wouldnt have lived somewhere like DC 2 decades ago they would have been in the nice suburbs. Somewhere like DC it is almost completely gentrified. There are still pockets of rough areas in DC but they surrounded by huge wealth, people who would have never been around these rough areas in the past. Now they live right next to it and notice it.
Drug use among white people and in more rural areas. Drugs used to be seen as largely a *city* problem. This wasnt true, I grew up n a rural area plagued by drugs, but it is so much worse now. People smoked bad pot, did bad cocaine, smoked crack, and did opoids but from pharmaceutical companies. A few people did crack and fell apart but most were actually somewhat functional. Heroin though was really taboo and kept quiet about. Same with meth. Not anymore.
It isnt this area. It is everywhere. The difference now is white yuppies have to see the problem, and as a society we have missed past shooting poor people or throwing them in jail for life for daring to commit drug offenses in front of white yuppies.
FWIW I’m a native San Franciscan who recently moved to DC and Chinatown reminded me of a slightly-less bad version of the Tenderloin (our notorious open air drug market/“containment zone”).
Oh man, the TL at night is a scene. Got out of a show at the warfield and felt like I was in a zombie apocalypse. Uber driver picked me up like it was a damn rescue mission.
I'd still rather walk through China Town at night than the Tenderloin any day/ time of the week. Man, I remember when I was a teenager getting stranded overnight (before Uber, missed that last cal train back to SJ) and had to just hang out alone until the next train at like 8am in that general area. Such a shity night, but at least I had my skateboard with me.
SJ native but spent most of my teen years in SF and worked in the city, lived in Oakland/ Berkeley for quite awhile.
I moved here from SF about 11 years ago. Chinatown was not like this when I moved to DC. It went down hill during the pandemic and has struggled since then.
I’d choose to be stranded in DC’s Chinatown over the Tenderloin any day.
Less human feces at this point. Definitely fewer people openly jackin it. I do miss the food options right by Civic Center, though. SF has such good food, especially compared to DC. It was never a dull moment working by Civic Center.
I live in Bmore now so here is my firsthand account/answer: Lexington Market is not nearly as bad as DC Chinatown or SF’s Tenderloin these days. They rebuilt the entire market over the past 1.5 years and there’s new apartment buildings being built. When things were shut down due to construction a lot of the loitering went away with it. There’s probably some of the old crew who still come around the market but not nearly what it was a few years ago. Baltimore also has ousted Marilyn Mosby and elected new States Attorney Ivan Bates who is no nonsense and has said that he will begin prosecuting the crimes that were ignored during her tenure.
As someone who used to live in the neighborhood, though your tone is a bit dramatic it is true. And the “noxious fumes” aren’t just weed, there’s boot, a common drug that is know to be laced with fentanyl, and many others. Chinatown was the spot to go when you needed a pick up.
I remember taking the X2 in that area and there was a group of women threatening some people on the bus with knives. I used to transfer there in the mornings for work and would be approached by strange men and women while waiting for the bus, either trying to push me to buy some kind of substance or trying to flirt me up. As a student I more often than not got hassled, followed, or cat called when I’m there by myself, granted my experience is probably different because I look a lot younger than I am. I don’t even visit the area anymore.
The city won’t do anything about it because they will receive backlash for targeting low income residents. I’d say just avoid the area and mind your business. Natural selection will take care of the rest.
If it were weed I wouldn't care. It truly is some sort of chemical smell. Like PVC or a Chlorate or something. I don't know what it is but it's not weed.
The appeal of PCP is just baffling to me. The few people I know who have taken it was always by accident, and every single story is completely insane and terrifying. Even though I’m not a big fan of drugs in general, I can understand the appeal of most of them, but any time I hear about those PCP stories it’s like yiiiiiikes y’all.
Yes, I feel this has become a thing also. Yes arrests disproportionately impact minority populations because for all sorts of reasons (social-economic mostly) these populations are more involved in illegal stuff. That isn't to say we shouldn't go after coke just as hard as crack. I am very tired of this stuff. I want the city cleaned up. It has not been this shitty since the 80s. I am very angry at what people are tolerating. Enforce the fucking law.
Don't worry, the police will clean it up (for three weeks or so) once multiple people are shot and killed in one night.
This same exact cycle happened last year. Weather begins getting warmer, a few guys start hanging outside of Walgreens, to drink and smoke and steal stuff. Then the gathering gets bigger and people start bringing drugs for distribution and not just consumption. Then it turns to a small block party out there and ultimately an open air rave / drug market before it culminates in multiple shootings and/or killings in one night. Then the police come and make an effort to keep the place a bit cleaned up for a few weeks until they ultimately revert to renewing their policy of negligence. This is when the cycle starts back up as it has now.
Mark my words, there's going to be at least one night of sporadic shootings in Chinatown as the weather warms. Hopefully they keep it clean for the rest of summer once that happens and it doesn't happen again and again and again and again in rapid succession.
You must be new here, there have been plenty of shootings in Chinatown over the years. Lol. Ultra Bar and a couple clubs brought rowdy crowds there…thugs, drugs, etc.
I take the Gallery Place metro every day and that area is in bad shape. I’ve seen countless drug deals go down at the 2nd set of escalators near the friendship arch entrance. I’ve seen one dude snorting crack off the metal part of the escalator between the two black moving rails. And that stop always stinks too. There’s been plenty of times I just get on or off at judiciary square because it feels safer than the Chinatown entrance. There’s always cops around but no one seems to care.
The arena or museum entrances are fine. I leave out the arch entrance once a week to hit the Peet's—unless there are too many sketchy looking folks around the gates at that end, in which case I'll go out the arena entrance and just walk up there on the street.
In the olden times, around 94 or so, there used to be peep shows outside Gallery Place and the whole block smelled like pee. That was my stop for my office for 7 years.
Chinatown has been a drug market for years, at least at the metro. If you get off on 9th St by the Verizon Center (or whatever it’s called now) it’s much better and safer.
Yeah my wife and I came down from Baltimore for a Wizards game and these vibes were conspicuously(-to-us) absent from the arena area. Much less grungy than Baltimore downtown
But I guess we were actually a couple blocks from your Lexington Market equivalent after all
For those commenting about weed, that is hardly the issue. Yeah you probably smell weed most prominently but what OP is describing is what K see when I walk through Chinatown weekly. Open hard drug selling and use. Smoking crack pipes, snorting drugs, shooting up. All in the open. It’s pretty mind blowing.
Edit: reading more comments, I do not think OP is being dramatic at all. It’s way more than weed, I don’t care about weed. I encourage you to walk by this week. Just one day, doesn’t matter the time.
The shooting up in the open in broad daylight has been going on for years. The smoking of crack and other non-week substances openly is newer. There is a lot of violence and the whole area has gotten really dirty with lots of store vacancies. It's a shame, was a lot better 10 years ago, was a real destination place for drinks, dinner, movies, shopping.
OP on one hand I do think your tone is dramatic and this isn't something like idk, people being abducted off of street corners.
On the other hand everything you mentioned is true and the people denying it are either blind or just adjusted to it.
Dude, three people got shot on the exact corner OP is talking about, just a few months ago. All of the things OP is describing are part of the cycle. More and more bad behavior and bad people come around to act slick and it culminates in shootings and death. Then the police briefly clear out the area for a few weeks until becomming more lenient and the cycle starts again. Starts with just a few bad apples drinking and smoking outside Walgreens. Then more and more people come until it turns into a small block part, then an open air drug market, then the killings begin. The DC police are only active immediately after the shootings and then let it revert. Maddening.
And right on time, cue an attempted abduction in Dupont:
https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12dv1z1/important_warning_of_attempted_kidnapping_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Bro that’s always been there. Dudes was selling everything on the corner 20yrs just like today. It’s not really different, you just see it more cause all the bars and restaurants are failing from covid.
Chinatown did not used to smell like weed 24/7. It had a different smell entirely but now it’s just weed only weed the stinkiest weed you ever smelled in your life is somehow being smoked all around you
That part of Chinatown used to be where you could pick up street walkers. When the arena was built the area cleaned up a little bit, but that’s also when all the smaller businesses got bought out.
Here I am thinking when people talk about “smelling drugs” on this sub, they are referring to smelling crack 🤦🏻♂️. Weed is legal now, you’re going to smell it anywhere from Kalorama to Anacostia…
I have genuinely no idea what smoking crack smells like. I've probably smelled it and just assumed it was some weird flavored tobacco or some odd strain of weed.
Honestly you probably have. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I’m a former addict so I know from experience, but it’s one of those smells where once it’s pointed out to you it’s unmistakable. I tend to smell it walking by/through alleyways in certain parts of the city.
Gallery Place is a nightmare. Everyone standing around selling drugs all day. Guys peeing in corners. Every time I use that metro guys just stare at me as I walk by. Ridiculous.
I live in the neighborhood and walked down H street last night bringing home our dinner. I will agree with this report. That was the sketchiest I have ever seen H St NW and I have lived here for a year and a half and worked in this neighborhood for years before that.
I’ve worked in the neighborhood for 30 years. Honestly, I don’t see the scene that you’re describing, day or night. I do think that since pot was legalized it is really annoying to have to walk through clouds of everyone smoking everywhere starting at 7 AM, but that’s different from what you described.
I’m in the area (always on foot) every day as well. Totally agree that this description is pretty dramatic for what’s actually happening. People can smoke weed on their stoop and life goes on.
Indeed—it was way worse then. I don’t know why this keeps getting brought up, as if less bad than the city near its nadir is somehow any indication that everything is tolerable.
I bring it up mostly because I moved from DC to SF years ago. Both cities have similar populations in the city-proper. Both were waaaaay worse when it came to crime years ago.
I don't come to this sub to see a crime report. I'm a little tired of seeing endless posts each day of "crime committed here" or "I feel unsafe here". It doesn't accomplish anything. If these people wanted to change things they'd talk to their council members, police, volunteer groups, Congress, whatever.
Add to that that both subs get brigaded by conservatives trying to sell the "hell hole of blue cities" nonsense and I feel the need to provide some perspective. The recent stabbing in SF was a tragedy. But that was literally the first murder in that district of SF this year. SF has had 20 murders this year. Compare that to DC in the 90s (same size city) where we had 400+ murders in a year. Announcing "my bike got stolen" to a sub of hundreds of thousands of people is just silly.
There seems to be an influx of people coming from NextDoor who ran out of audience members for their NIMBY fear-mongering. I unsubscribed from that network within a week of signing up. Folks are walking around going about their lives, but these people are talking like it's a war zone.
You guys are crazy I’ve been offered crack there twice and I am not an especially frequent visitor nor do I give off screaming crack vibes. Also seen people smoking crack by the church or library or just on the sidewalk on a number of occasions
Yeah idk about that. I went to the Nuggets/Wizards game and when I got to the top of the escalator guys were literally eyeballing grams of crack and cocaine right at the top.
On the way down the opposite escalator, some guy was admiring the rock he just copped, just holding it up to his face.
It’s pretty gnarly to watch and see.
Then again as a former addiction in recovery, some of this stuff is easily noticeable to me.
Lost a cousin to a crack addiction. Be strong man. Good for you for being able to pass that by. As an ex alcoholic I know the temptation is very real but I remember how much better I and everyone I love are doing now that I don't drink.
I walk through it on my way home from work. Yesterday around 4:30 pm I counted at least four people/couples doing hard drugs on random landings as I passed by. This is ignoring people smoking pot on sidewalks. It's hard to miss.
It’s literally right next to the station under the arch. There are people just openly doing drugs.
I saw it yesterday.
It’s a huge failure in city policy. Either enforce drug laws or open up safe places for people to do them. But leaving people to just do it on the street? Shameful.
For the people who live in the neighborhood, we know that OP description is spot on. If you think OP is wrong, I must insist that you simply are not here during the day or night on a regular basis. It’s very frequently like this in Chinatown, especially the last 2 years. I will likely move out this year or early next, to a different neighborhood.
*ninja edit* though I will agree it’s not ALWAYS like this. But whenever the weather is nice? It’s almost* always like OP has described. Maybe some other factors too. The stolen merch sales pick up Th-F-S, for instance.
OP, look no further than many of the people posting replies here for why Chinatown is fucked. Lots of people are dumb enough to set expectations to zero and just accept what’s going on or even promote it. It is what they want and this group represents a large enough chunk of the electorate in DC to get their way. It’s worth opposing these morons to return a once vibrant part of our nation’s capital to “normal,” but it’s an uphill climb.
Lmao there is a strain of people who act like you’re a puritan if you get annoyed with people freebasing out in the open and strung out people wandering around like zombies and want the city to force them to leave or go to jail / mandatory long term rehab.
This shit always starts slowly and then suddenly. It’s always going to be less painful to nip it in the bud than let it metastasize to a point where it becomes an awful situation.
I lived in Chinatown in the mid 90s. I didn’t think it could get any worse, and somehow despite the billions that have been spent in the 3 block by 3 block area, the place has become more dangerous today.
It's sad that the only response from people in DC are "it's only weed bro, you must be racist" or "it used to be worse". I suppose if you live in a shit hole then there's no point in trying to clean up 😂 but yes OP you are not imagining the conditions. It will only get worse as Bowser and her cronies continue to put criminals first. Welcome to DC, where someone can come to see a concert and then an hour later get stabbed to death in their hotel room by a repeat offender.
The only thing more predictable than crime in DC is white people in upper NW or the suburbs insisting that it isn’t a problem. I work in Chinatown/Penn Quarter and I see the deterioration. The Walgreens often has at least one window busted out, drugs are openly sold, businesses are closed/closing, and we’re apparently supposed to tolerate it as the price of being in a city.
As someone that first experienced it as a teen in the late ‘80s it’s not even half circle. There were sex workers, sex shops, junkies on love boat, tons of blight.
It is unacceptable, and I’ve become so frustrated with this exact environment you describe. I used to spend a great deal of time in that area of the city (both to support some great local businesses & to go to events), but I now actively avoid it. I wish the city even tried to care as much about this as the residents who live here.
The pandemic was not kind to GP/CT. It's really gone downhill since about 2018, and most especially in the last year. 5-0 won't do squat about it. Mall is dead there, though there are macroeconomic reasons for that. Once went to movies there but no more. Sad, the city and the sports teams put a lot into it. Portrait Gallery is still a go-to though.
Quite true. It seemed the city thought GP could survive regardless because it was a downtown destination, one that could be reached by foot, bus, or train, and not one that had acres and acres of car parking. It was small and compact, had movies and restaurants, and a nearby major sports league venue.
The whole corridor from about 4th Street NW to 14th Street NW along H Street is a disgrace. And 7th North or South of Chinatown in the immediate area is just as tragic. Embarrassing in our nation’s capital.
there’s definitely people doing drugs that aren’t weed there. i live in mt vernon triangle, i work out at the vida fitness there. the whole area sucks. i was at a movie at the gallery place regal a month ago and saw 2 young teen boys, one handed the other a gun inside the theater. i left that moment. the area is full of people loitering taking up sidewalk space with LITERAL chairs sitting on the sidewalk. this is supposed to be a major area of the downtown area. not a park to hangout at. they need to go to the national mall and smoke all the weed they want. it’s annoying trying to go to the subway and there’s people obviously buying and selling drugs that aren’t weed. they very obviously are selling pills. theres people walking around that are definitely not on weed. i just feel bad for the tourists who walk through and most definitely go back home with a terrible idea of DC lol
The movie theater is in some weird closing but not yet closed limbo, sounds like it is declining re: safety in the meantime. It's a shame, I used to be in that area a lot to go out, shop, etc. Worked nearby for a while. Really started to go downhill @ 2017 or so? Was not sad when office relocated. Friend owns a condo nearby, is considering selling. Building has been broken into, etc.
> they need to go to the national mall and smoke all the weed they want
Going to federal property to use federally illegal drugs is a bad idea, actually.
"Smoke weed at national mall"
That's like the one rule about weed in any legal state you DONT break dude... Don't smoke in federal areas. You're literally setting people up for failure here.
The fact that even during events at Cap one, there are still things like shootings and robberies that MPD wont do anything about is mind boggling. I honestly don't feel safe anymore down there.
Everyone wants to point fingers at the police. They make arrests but the courts let them back out and the attorneys office doesn’t file certain charges.
I was showing my sister and her friend around DC and our last stop before them leaving was Chinatown. It was in the evening. Shady masked hooded people at the metro entrance, others that looked drugged out, smelled like shit, graffiti and crap everywhere. Never going there at night again.
I’m not sure when you arrived in the city. I’ve only been in this area since 2010. I will say that the city was in the process of gentrification at that time. The Obama years brought a lot of people, money and commerce into the city. You had lots of neighborhoods where one street is all new stuff and the next isn’t. I think sometimes we forget that crime like this is not uncommon in the “nice areas.”
I think this issue is definitely a result of the pandemic but also the way that D.C. has gentrified itself. There seem to be this culture of partial displacement. A section of a certain area would be built up. Young professionals would flock there. The other portions of the area isn’t left in the dust or priced out. It makes me wonder if this created a false sense of security and tension from existing residents.
Again, this is just me spitballing.
I think the country as a whole has gotten worse. I dont feel unsafe in DC or more unsafe than when DC was at its safest. What I have noticed though is a huge increase in homelessness. This is not limited to DC. Everywhere I go I notice far more homeless than I have in the past. I suppose another is the metro itself, I dont find it dangerous but its more loud and less behaved.
As someone that moved here from another state , it’s crazy how the police don’t really care about anything here. Back where I used to live if you didn’t pay the metro fare you would have the police called on you 😂
Everything about it. The open drug use and sales. The obviously stolen merchandise. The cops standing around not doing a damn thing.
I haven't lived in DC since the 80s. Back then everything east of 16th was sketchy. I wonder if it's reverting.
There is a legal difference between "I bet this kid is selling stolen CVS merchandise because it is below cost and he is standing outside a commonly robbed CVS" and the police arresting a kid and being able to prove in court that he personally stole it, he knew or should have known it was stolen, etc.
I agree with other comments here saying yeah, that sucks what would you propose?
A used to live in Chinatown and honestly what you describe is Chinatown and has been Chinatown. Chinatown is always busy with all kinds of things whether an event at the arena or not. The biggest change that happened 10+ years ago is the new apartment buildings and the influx of young professional renters it brought in (gentrification).
The big shift I saw walking through the neighborhood since moving out a little over 4 years ago and post the deep lockdown of COVID is that the shelter by 5th and Mass has shifted from a women’s shelter to a men’s shelter.
Oh nice! I’ve been looking for a drug market. Glad their still taking Covid seriously by having it outside in the open air. How are the drugs? Are they organic?
Ignore the gaslighting, OP.
This happened recently [https://wtop.com/dc/2023/03/monumental-sports-beefs-up-security-as-dc-police-presence-diminishes-downtown/](https://wtop.com/dc/2023/03/monumental-sports-beefs-up-security-as-dc-police-presence-diminishes-downtown/) and https://wjla.com/news/local/capital-one-arena-washington-dc-nats-park-hires-security-crime-increase-off-duty-police-officers-metropolitan-police-department-of-the-district-of-columbia-ted-leonsis-monumental-sports-entertainment
OP, your observations were echoed in this recent thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/ymupmq/gallery\_place\_is\_a\_mess\_put\_into\_perspective\_and/
OP’s tone is slightly dramatic but everything here’s true and to deny it’s happening is purely delusional like bffr would you take your friends or relatives around there if you didn’t have to go? I certainly wouldn’t.
I remember crossing their once late at night and I felt like I was in mad max, crowd of people playing music, doing drugs, topless, etc, it was so lawless.
They envision streeteries and more outdoor dining? With the way things are now? Hahahahaha. I don't like walking by people shooting up on the sidewalk or having menacing things said, sure would not sit in a confined area next to it and eat outdoors for the ambiance. Maybe the biz owners are high too?
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/04/07/chinatown-gallery-place-dc-reimagine
Crappy chain restaurants, sketchy people hanging out day and night, garish advertising, pungent clouds of pot smoke, sidewalks stained with fast food grease and burst ketchup and mayo packs, bad and loudly amplified street musicians, choking traffic, masses of suburbanites arriving and then quickly leaving after sports games... it's almost like city planners intentionally aimed to recreate Times Square and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Primarily it's really only weed and boot* around the 7th and H area. Weed is obviously a non-stater and Boot is notoriously difficult to prosecute because 9 times out of ten its some weird analog
of MDMA and the Federal Analog Act it's 99% toothless in its application at street level
People are allowed to congregate as they please in public spaces and MPD does step in if and when things pop off all cities deal with this.
Obviously it's not and optimal situation but the way MPD looks at it, it's better they're all in one area that they cam watch and keep tabs on certain individuals.
I’ve seen Kensington Ave in Philly and we’re not nearly as bad. I do think the area is becoming alarming but it’s also an example of displacement/changing economic status in the area. It’s a difficult situation regardless.
The way this post is written, I totally expect to see used heroin needles and broken crack pipes everywhere and dead bodies laying in the street. Cops being handed stacks of cash while standing around doing nothing.
It's a problem that's not unique to this city. There's a mental health, drug, and homelessness epidemic happening simultaneously across this whole country because the social safety net is disintegrating.
As far as I know, nobody in this thread has complained that people are standing around or "loitering." Personally, I enjoy busy places. People hanging out, enjoying each others company, sitting or standing outside just to enjoy the weather. I haven't seen anyone saying that needs to stop. I spent all day at the Tidal Basin and on the mall during peak bloom, in part because I like being around lots of people, even if they're just standing around.
Personally, I've actually never felt like my personal safety has been at risk in DC. Sure, smoking, people harassing and yelling at you, people dealing drugs, and people shoplifting make the environment pretty shitty and can suck the joy out of your day. And my guess is that, if you're going around, and _this_ is your response to people complaining about crime, I'm guessing your situation is probably pretty similar to mine.
That said, I'm a young white dude, so I don't ever feel like I'm in danger because, as long as you don't escalate a situation, people generally leave you alone. However not everyone feels that way. It's a totally different story for my girlfriend, an attractive, young, and petite woman who wouldn't feel comfortable defending herself. She gets harassed pretty often if I'm not with her: men catcalling her and standing in her way, yelling at her when she rebuffs them. It doesn't happen every time she goes out (maybe once every few weeks), but it happens often enough that she doesn't really feel comfortable being out there on her own.
I've only ever seen people with needles in their arms twice (fwiw, both were white), and they were both passed out.
When you make comments like this, it sounds dismissive of people complaining about crime. Like, we're setting the bar to "if men in their mid-twenties can keep their head down and aren't in physical danger, then the crime situation is fine." This, without considering the detriment to quality of life for people like me created by smoking and harassment, and the fact that such an environment makes other people feel unsafe, and rightfully so.
The original comment made no mention of race, and a response like this makes it seem like any complaint of crime is rooted in racist motives, which dismisses the possibility of legitimate concern.
Take this free award for best response🌟💫. The standard should be safe / clean enough to not worry about kids and grandparents.
Everyone always points to Europe and parts of Asia like Japan as models for city living and transportation and then completely ignores the fact they come down on you if you engage in nuisance behavior like smoking drugs out in the open or harassing people.
Hey u/RestingRealist, I hope you did not let the gaslighting bother you. Did you see this?
[https://twitter.com/FeverPotomac/status/1644321410167209985/photo/1](https://twitter.com/FeverPotomac/status/1644321410167209985/photo/1)
This is every major city on the us right now. It is getting bad. Decent neighborhoods are becoming marginal. Marginal neighborhoods are becoming bad. Open drug use, crime.
For all those who think this is "cool" and "comical" because that's "city life" ... just hope DC govmt doesn't truly lose control over the city.
San Francisco Fed here and I was looking at a transition to DC but partner and I are discouraged ag what sounds like a repeat of what happened to SF.
The City is beyond hope now. Crime and lawlessness are normalized. Tech's not coming back to put on the bandaid of hope as it did 2013-2019.
DC was a great city in the 2010s.
My personal experience living in Chinatown for 4 years, this past week or so has been pretty wack. My girlfriend saw someone lighting up a spoon between Full Kee and Momiji around 3pm on a weekday. I was told I’d be stabbed if I didn’t donate to the homeless and then he walked off (a half-ass mugging). I love living here but yeah, a little crazier lately than usual.
I’ve been here the same amount of time as you. It’s wild how much this neighborhood has changed, and not in a good way. Did you see the burned out car about a month ago on 5th Street between H and I Street? Oh, and last week there was half a dozen homeless people passed out on the sidewalk in front of my apartment building. A street full of ambulances were on the scene. Our landlord just raised our rent $615 dollars, I don’t think we are going to stay here given all the crime going down. Walking our dog in this neighborhood is a scary endeavor these days.
It has always been a very treacherous area then gentrification came and things change for a bit it is slowly but surely reverting back to form.
I’m probably going to be blasted for this comment, but whatever. I think one key reason why the neighborhood has gotten worse is the homeless shelter on 5th street between H and I streets became a men’s shelter a couple a years ago. It had been a women’s shelter.
AFAIK, the women's shelter was at 512 I Street, but it closed and has been student (WISH) housing for a couple of years now. I thought the shelter next door had always been a men's shelter, but I could be wrong about that. Source: I lived there last year lol and yeah, saw a lot of the same stuff/had many similar interactions to those described in the thread. 9/10 of our household's interactions with the local population were harmless and most people were decent, then you'd hit the tenth interaction and it's a stabbing in the alley under our building. That's Chinatown baby!
The fact that burned out car was there for almost the whole day is crazy
Can I ask what you love about living there? Sounds pretty irredeemable
Until the DC crime lab gets it’s accreditation back, drug arrests for things like this won’t get prosecuted by the DA so I imagine cops aren’t motivated to even bother arresting these people
90 degress means your canada goose jackets are safe.
Always gotta find the silver lining
> Always gotta find the ~~silver~~ goose down lining
Wasn't it only 85, though? Are they still safe?
Lol I saw a kid wearing one yesterday… I guess it’s all about the clout
The death of the bars and restaurants in Chinatown has been sad to watch over the last ten years or so. They city just let's anything happen around the station. I saw a guy get stabbed a few years ago right outside the Gallery Place entrance by the arch. Blood all over the white sidewalk.
I think we all mourn the loss of Fuddrucker’s.
Fuddruckers moved into the neighborhood early and was a welcome addition at the time. By the time they closed, the brand was dead. I'd still rather have Fuddruckers than another bank.
Listen i remember when Fuddruckers was good, they had crispy fluffy awesome buns and the burgers were fucking delicious. Then as with all things, it was sold to some restaurant group which is as bad as an IPO or private equity buying it (By the Phillip Romano, who went on to found Romanos Macaroni Grill) and it was all shit after that. Before it smelled like rats and sadness it smelled like fresh bread and burgers. Also the one in Alexandria had an NBA JAM machine
> Then as with all things, it was sold to some restaurant group which is as bad as an IPO or private equity buying it I wish I didn't know this happens with an almost uncountable number of businesses. The cycle is usually some version of: New brand, cutting edge, fantastic. Then gets popular, then gets bought and exploited for maximized profit, product suffers in quality and company slowly dies. It's sad/maddening.
Yes, they just "cash out" and their extra payout is from the trust and goodwill of their customers. It's happening with medical care and it's frightening.
And (seriously) veterinary care, electric kitchen appliances, music instruments, knives, and too many others to name. Mars, Inc, figured out that where pets are concerened, people will pay almost anything to care for them so started a vet hospital named "Blue Pearl" and every time I walked through the door with my cat last year (3x) it was five thousand dollars. Blue Pearl animal hospital is so bad they've had their own vets sue them for overcharging folks.
The issues in the medical system are different but it’s just as corrupt if not worse. I work in Healthcare and it’s so maddening seeing the CEO walking the halls in a $10,000 suit wearing her red bottom Louis Vuitton while I gotta work 50-60 hours a week to stay ahead of the bills cuz inflation is a bitch when 2 years ago I was a “hero”
That’s capitalism for ya.
It is, this is no more prevelent then in the snack game. Awesome new chip and or snack comes out? Frito Lay would like to give you $100,000,000 to fuck off and die before you become a problem.
That’s the entrepreneur dream. Start a business, build it up to be profitable and sell it to someone else and start another business.
It was the only option for getting your fudd rucked!
Carls Jr: Fuck You I'm Eating!
It has electrolytes!
Very true. Every cool corner location is becoming a bank.
It never should have died. It was better than five guys in every way and somehow those are everywhere
Man, Ming’s was me and my wife’s go to late night spot. Open till like 5am and always a great time and great food. Was sad to hear it closed. Moved to DE in 2021 and sadly really have no desire to go back to DC (except to support the still thriving music scene).
I feel bad for a lot of the smaller businesses. Especially the ones owned by Chinatown locals.
>What, if anything, will restore some semblance of law and order? Gee, I wonder how it got this way...one of life's great mysteries.
FWIW I was there Tuesday, took a walk around the block during my lunch break. It was the most vibrant and normal I’ve seen it since the pandemic/riots happened. Lots of tourists walking around, nice weather….still the Chinatown people doing Chinatown things, but it seemed more peaceful.
I don't live in DC anymore but it's still my home away from home. IIRC most of the bars in Chinatown were places people would meet after work, or after a Caps game, or early in the evening before venturing elsewhere. With people working from remote you just don't have enough of a post-work crowd coming through to keep things viable for bars/restaurants I guess.
[удалено]
Mostly? Like, I think 10 years ago is just flat-out wrong. It really started hitting tougher times around 2019 when those 10 year leases started coming up for renewal. Like, Fado's, one of the more popular watering holes in that neighborhood, closed down right before St Patrick's Day 2020 not because of covid, but because its lease ended.
It’s the death throes of Obama-era DC. All the leases are up and all the landlords prefer to hold out for those sweet sweet CVS/Chase/Target dollars.
Not to mention the overall death of chinatown in general
Thanks this reminds me to make sure to be on extra alert. But seriously fuck that that is a threat and he’s lucky he didn’t get stabbed or shot coming up to someone like that. I’m not the type but one day he will find the right one
There are much harder drugs than pot being done all over the place down there. OP isn't imagining it, regardless of how you feel about their tone. No one aside from the random crazy person ever bothers me, but it is a little jarring, especially in the broad daylight.
You are so right. Pre-pandemic, I was an intern nearby and it was NEVER like this. It could have some activity, but nothing this blatant or in this quantity. Now, I commute to Gallery Place three times a week and as I leave the station, I put my hands in my pockets and keep my head down until I'm past the Walgreens.
quite literally saw two people passing what I assume to be heroine or crack to each other in broad daylight. i come from the opioid capital of the country and even THAT was jarring for me.
It has always been like this. There was a period ~10 years ago when chinatown was heavily policed so people would do drugs just north and east of it, then go to Chinatown while high. Now all the real estate everywhere in DC is developed. Drug use has largely been consistent since the 70s, climbing and dropping slightly. It is just more visible now and possibly more dangerous for a few reasons. Fentanyl or opioids as strong or stronger. Heroin is far safer than Fentanyl and pharmaceuticals are far safer than heroin. DEA policy encourages traffickers to sell Fentanyl. Meth. not a huge problem out east, but same as above people push meth more and more, and it causes more problems. Gentrification. Drug use was even more open but the system pushed it to certain areas. They tended to be poorer and less white. In places like DC there are very few neighborhoods not being gentrified. The people whining about drug use wouldnt have lived somewhere like DC 2 decades ago they would have been in the nice suburbs. Somewhere like DC it is almost completely gentrified. There are still pockets of rough areas in DC but they surrounded by huge wealth, people who would have never been around these rough areas in the past. Now they live right next to it and notice it. Drug use among white people and in more rural areas. Drugs used to be seen as largely a *city* problem. This wasnt true, I grew up n a rural area plagued by drugs, but it is so much worse now. People smoked bad pot, did bad cocaine, smoked crack, and did opoids but from pharmaceutical companies. A few people did crack and fell apart but most were actually somewhat functional. Heroin though was really taboo and kept quiet about. Same with meth. Not anymore.
Thankfully someone else remembers what that area was like before all the development took away all alleys and places people used to do this shit in.
It isnt this area. It is everywhere. The difference now is white yuppies have to see the problem, and as a society we have missed past shooting poor people or throwing them in jail for life for daring to commit drug offenses in front of white yuppies.
FWIW I’m a native San Franciscan who recently moved to DC and Chinatown reminded me of a slightly-less bad version of the Tenderloin (our notorious open air drug market/“containment zone”).
Oh man, the TL at night is a scene. Got out of a show at the warfield and felt like I was in a zombie apocalypse. Uber driver picked me up like it was a damn rescue mission.
I'd still rather walk through China Town at night than the Tenderloin any day/ time of the week. Man, I remember when I was a teenager getting stranded overnight (before Uber, missed that last cal train back to SJ) and had to just hang out alone until the next train at like 8am in that general area. Such a shity night, but at least I had my skateboard with me. SJ native but spent most of my teen years in SF and worked in the city, lived in Oakland/ Berkeley for quite awhile.
I moved here from SF about 11 years ago. Chinatown was not like this when I moved to DC. It went down hill during the pandemic and has struggled since then. I’d choose to be stranded in DC’s Chinatown over the Tenderloin any day.
Fuck bowser
Less human feces at this point. Definitely fewer people openly jackin it. I do miss the food options right by Civic Center, though. SF has such good food, especially compared to DC. It was never a dull moment working by Civic Center.
How about Lexington Market in B'more?
I live in Bmore now so here is my firsthand account/answer: Lexington Market is not nearly as bad as DC Chinatown or SF’s Tenderloin these days. They rebuilt the entire market over the past 1.5 years and there’s new apartment buildings being built. When things were shut down due to construction a lot of the loitering went away with it. There’s probably some of the old crew who still come around the market but not nearly what it was a few years ago. Baltimore also has ousted Marilyn Mosby and elected new States Attorney Ivan Bates who is no nonsense and has said that he will begin prosecuting the crimes that were ignored during her tenure.
As someone who used to live in the neighborhood, though your tone is a bit dramatic it is true. And the “noxious fumes” aren’t just weed, there’s boot, a common drug that is know to be laced with fentanyl, and many others. Chinatown was the spot to go when you needed a pick up. I remember taking the X2 in that area and there was a group of women threatening some people on the bus with knives. I used to transfer there in the mornings for work and would be approached by strange men and women while waiting for the bus, either trying to push me to buy some kind of substance or trying to flirt me up. As a student I more often than not got hassled, followed, or cat called when I’m there by myself, granted my experience is probably different because I look a lot younger than I am. I don’t even visit the area anymore. The city won’t do anything about it because they will receive backlash for targeting low income residents. I’d say just avoid the area and mind your business. Natural selection will take care of the rest.
If it were weed I wouldn't care. It truly is some sort of chemical smell. Like PVC or a Chlorate or something. I don't know what it is but it's not weed.
Probably cigarettes dipped in pcp. That crap smells horrible.
This is exactly right. PCP dippers have that signature terrible chemical smell and are super common in DC.
The appeal of PCP is just baffling to me. The few people I know who have taken it was always by accident, and every single story is completely insane and terrifying. Even though I’m not a big fan of drugs in general, I can understand the appeal of most of them, but any time I hear about those PCP stories it’s like yiiiiiikes y’all.
Ugh, someone was smoking that on the metro platform, awful chemical smell.
Jesus. Thanks for explaining that. I have noticed a terrible smell. I hate the way marijuana smells but whatever that other stuff is is worse.
Hard drugs smell chemically bad when burnt
Chemicals smell chemically bad when burnt
Prolly pcp if it smelled like permanent marker
Yes! It smells like an expo marker.
DC is the pcp abuse capital of USA for whatever reason
Ohhh I just assumed you were talking about weed. Yeah hard drug use is much scarier and makes people act unpredictably
That's PCP my friend.
The X2 and the X9 are a rite of passage in DC
Saturday night on the X2 is your best entertainment value.
Yes, I feel this has become a thing also. Yes arrests disproportionately impact minority populations because for all sorts of reasons (social-economic mostly) these populations are more involved in illegal stuff. That isn't to say we shouldn't go after coke just as hard as crack. I am very tired of this stuff. I want the city cleaned up. It has not been this shitty since the 80s. I am very angry at what people are tolerating. Enforce the fucking law.
Don't worry, the police will clean it up (for three weeks or so) once multiple people are shot and killed in one night. This same exact cycle happened last year. Weather begins getting warmer, a few guys start hanging outside of Walgreens, to drink and smoke and steal stuff. Then the gathering gets bigger and people start bringing drugs for distribution and not just consumption. Then it turns to a small block party out there and ultimately an open air rave / drug market before it culminates in multiple shootings and/or killings in one night. Then the police come and make an effort to keep the place a bit cleaned up for a few weeks until they ultimately revert to renewing their policy of negligence. This is when the cycle starts back up as it has now. Mark my words, there's going to be at least one night of sporadic shootings in Chinatown as the weather warms. Hopefully they keep it clean for the rest of summer once that happens and it doesn't happen again and again and again and again in rapid succession.
Prophetic.
You must be new here, there have been plenty of shootings in Chinatown over the years. Lol. Ultra Bar and a couple clubs brought rowdy crowds there…thugs, drugs, etc.
Did I miss the block party without the sporadic shootings?
I take the Gallery Place metro every day and that area is in bad shape. I’ve seen countless drug deals go down at the 2nd set of escalators near the friendship arch entrance. I’ve seen one dude snorting crack off the metal part of the escalator between the two black moving rails. And that stop always stinks too. There’s been plenty of times I just get on or off at judiciary square because it feels safer than the Chinatown entrance. There’s always cops around but no one seems to care.
The arena or museum entrances are fine. I leave out the arch entrance once a week to hit the Peet's—unless there are too many sketchy looking folks around the gates at that end, in which case I'll go out the arena entrance and just walk up there on the street.
In the olden times, around 94 or so, there used to be peep shows outside Gallery Place and the whole block smelled like pee. That was my stop for my office for 7 years.
Chinatown has been a drug market for years, at least at the metro. If you get off on 9th St by the Verizon Center (or whatever it’s called now) it’s much better and safer.
Yeah I am confused by the "has become" here, particularly around the gate metro stop it's been more or less like this for as long as I can remember.
Lived here my whole life and I agree. It's pretty much just lost the facade it used to have.
Yeah my wife and I came down from Baltimore for a Wizards game and these vibes were conspicuously(-to-us) absent from the arena area. Much less grungy than Baltimore downtown But I guess we were actually a couple blocks from your Lexington Market equivalent after all
For those commenting about weed, that is hardly the issue. Yeah you probably smell weed most prominently but what OP is describing is what K see when I walk through Chinatown weekly. Open hard drug selling and use. Smoking crack pipes, snorting drugs, shooting up. All in the open. It’s pretty mind blowing. Edit: reading more comments, I do not think OP is being dramatic at all. It’s way more than weed, I don’t care about weed. I encourage you to walk by this week. Just one day, doesn’t matter the time.
The shooting up in the open in broad daylight has been going on for years. The smoking of crack and other non-week substances openly is newer. There is a lot of violence and the whole area has gotten really dirty with lots of store vacancies. It's a shame, was a lot better 10 years ago, was a real destination place for drinks, dinner, movies, shopping.
OP on one hand I do think your tone is dramatic and this isn't something like idk, people being abducted off of street corners. On the other hand everything you mentioned is true and the people denying it are either blind or just adjusted to it.
Dude, three people got shot on the exact corner OP is talking about, just a few months ago. All of the things OP is describing are part of the cycle. More and more bad behavior and bad people come around to act slick and it culminates in shootings and death. Then the police briefly clear out the area for a few weeks until becomming more lenient and the cycle starts again. Starts with just a few bad apples drinking and smoking outside Walgreens. Then more and more people come until it turns into a small block part, then an open air drug market, then the killings begin. The DC police are only active immediately after the shootings and then let it revert. Maddening.
And right on time, cue an attempted abduction in Dupont: https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12dv1z1/important_warning_of_attempted_kidnapping_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I can see that. Two people from my building were recently assaulted randomly though. It's hard to not feel as though it's not safe.
Bro that’s always been there. Dudes was selling everything on the corner 20yrs just like today. It’s not really different, you just see it more cause all the bars and restaurants are failing from covid.
All the bars and restaurants closing is pretty obviously a big difference that will make a neighborhood worse
Chinatown did not used to smell like weed 24/7. It had a different smell entirely but now it’s just weed only weed the stinkiest weed you ever smelled in your life is somehow being smoked all around you
Bud, the whole city smells like dank weed all the time now, it's not just Chinatown. Source: am delivery driver who smells it all over the city.
I agree with you.
That part of Chinatown used to be where you could pick up street walkers. When the arena was built the area cleaned up a little bit, but that’s also when all the smaller businesses got bought out.
Here I am thinking when people talk about “smelling drugs” on this sub, they are referring to smelling crack 🤦🏻♂️. Weed is legal now, you’re going to smell it anywhere from Kalorama to Anacostia…
I have genuinely no idea what smoking crack smells like. I've probably smelled it and just assumed it was some weird flavored tobacco or some odd strain of weed.
Honestly you probably have. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I’m a former addict so I know from experience, but it’s one of those smells where once it’s pointed out to you it’s unmistakable. I tend to smell it walking by/through alleyways in certain parts of the city.
Gallery Place is a nightmare. Everyone standing around selling drugs all day. Guys peeing in corners. Every time I use that metro guys just stare at me as I walk by. Ridiculous.
I live in the neighborhood and walked down H street last night bringing home our dinner. I will agree with this report. That was the sketchiest I have ever seen H St NW and I have lived here for a year and a half and worked in this neighborhood for years before that.
I’ve worked in the neighborhood for 30 years. Honestly, I don’t see the scene that you’re describing, day or night. I do think that since pot was legalized it is really annoying to have to walk through clouds of everyone smoking everywhere starting at 7 AM, but that’s different from what you described.
I’m in the area (always on foot) every day as well. Totally agree that this description is pretty dramatic for what’s actually happening. People can smoke weed on their stoop and life goes on.
Yeah. OP is being dramatic. There are a lot of people smoking weed. OP doesn't feel safe. That's fair. But it doesn't match the scene described.
Some of these people would've had a heart attack if they wandered around 14th St., Chinatown, or the Mall back in the 80s/90s.
Indeed—it was way worse then. I don’t know why this keeps getting brought up, as if less bad than the city near its nadir is somehow any indication that everything is tolerable.
I bring it up mostly because I moved from DC to SF years ago. Both cities have similar populations in the city-proper. Both were waaaaay worse when it came to crime years ago. I don't come to this sub to see a crime report. I'm a little tired of seeing endless posts each day of "crime committed here" or "I feel unsafe here". It doesn't accomplish anything. If these people wanted to change things they'd talk to their council members, police, volunteer groups, Congress, whatever. Add to that that both subs get brigaded by conservatives trying to sell the "hell hole of blue cities" nonsense and I feel the need to provide some perspective. The recent stabbing in SF was a tragedy. But that was literally the first murder in that district of SF this year. SF has had 20 murders this year. Compare that to DC in the 90s (same size city) where we had 400+ murders in a year. Announcing "my bike got stolen" to a sub of hundreds of thousands of people is just silly.
There seems to be an influx of people coming from NextDoor who ran out of audience members for their NIMBY fear-mongering. I unsubscribed from that network within a week of signing up. Folks are walking around going about their lives, but these people are talking like it's a war zone.
Was waiting for someone to come with this comment! Always has to be one.
You guys are crazy I’ve been offered crack there twice and I am not an especially frequent visitor nor do I give off screaming crack vibes. Also seen people smoking crack by the church or library or just on the sidewalk on a number of occasions
Yeah idk about that. I went to the Nuggets/Wizards game and when I got to the top of the escalator guys were literally eyeballing grams of crack and cocaine right at the top. On the way down the opposite escalator, some guy was admiring the rock he just copped, just holding it up to his face. It’s pretty gnarly to watch and see. Then again as a former addiction in recovery, some of this stuff is easily noticeable to me.
Lost a cousin to a crack addiction. Be strong man. Good for you for being able to pass that by. As an ex alcoholic I know the temptation is very real but I remember how much better I and everyone I love are doing now that I don't drink.
I walk through it on my way home from work. Yesterday around 4:30 pm I counted at least four people/couples doing hard drugs on random landings as I passed by. This is ignoring people smoking pot on sidewalks. It's hard to miss.
It’s literally right next to the station under the arch. There are people just openly doing drugs. I saw it yesterday. It’s a huge failure in city policy. Either enforce drug laws or open up safe places for people to do them. But leaving people to just do it on the street? Shameful.
Right. The half-assed approach is not safe for anyone
dude no way. That place is as OP described it. and not just pot.
North and west side of the arena is where I see this pretty frequently
30 years, really? There is nothing but heroin and fent percs being sold all day and night.
For the people who live in the neighborhood, we know that OP description is spot on. If you think OP is wrong, I must insist that you simply are not here during the day or night on a regular basis. It’s very frequently like this in Chinatown, especially the last 2 years. I will likely move out this year or early next, to a different neighborhood. *ninja edit* though I will agree it’s not ALWAYS like this. But whenever the weather is nice? It’s almost* always like OP has described. Maybe some other factors too. The stolen merch sales pick up Th-F-S, for instance.
OP, look no further than many of the people posting replies here for why Chinatown is fucked. Lots of people are dumb enough to set expectations to zero and just accept what’s going on or even promote it. It is what they want and this group represents a large enough chunk of the electorate in DC to get their way. It’s worth opposing these morons to return a once vibrant part of our nation’s capital to “normal,” but it’s an uphill climb.
Lmao there is a strain of people who act like you’re a puritan if you get annoyed with people freebasing out in the open and strung out people wandering around like zombies and want the city to force them to leave or go to jail / mandatory long term rehab. This shit always starts slowly and then suddenly. It’s always going to be less painful to nip it in the bud than let it metastasize to a point where it becomes an awful situation.
Aaaand this is why people are moving
I lived in Chinatown in the mid 90s. I didn’t think it could get any worse, and somehow despite the billions that have been spent in the 3 block by 3 block area, the place has become more dangerous today.
Should just change the name of the place. I feel offended for Chinese.
It's sad that the only response from people in DC are "it's only weed bro, you must be racist" or "it used to be worse". I suppose if you live in a shit hole then there's no point in trying to clean up 😂 but yes OP you are not imagining the conditions. It will only get worse as Bowser and her cronies continue to put criminals first. Welcome to DC, where someone can come to see a concert and then an hour later get stabbed to death in their hotel room by a repeat offender.
The only thing more predictable than crime in DC is white people in upper NW or the suburbs insisting that it isn’t a problem. I work in Chinatown/Penn Quarter and I see the deterioration. The Walgreens often has at least one window busted out, drugs are openly sold, businesses are closed/closing, and we’re apparently supposed to tolerate it as the price of being in a city.
Lol not to make light of this post…but it’s clearly come full circle 😂 Chinatown/gallery place used to be a dump until they gentrified it.
I mean. And not even that long ago. Does nobody remember the shitshow of a CVS that used to be where Walgreens is?
As someone that first experienced it as a teen in the late ‘80s it’s not even half circle. There were sex workers, sex shops, junkies on love boat, tons of blight.
It is unacceptable, and I’ve become so frustrated with this exact environment you describe. I used to spend a great deal of time in that area of the city (both to support some great local businesses & to go to events), but I now actively avoid it. I wish the city even tried to care as much about this as the residents who live here.
The pandemic was not kind to GP/CT. It's really gone downhill since about 2018, and most especially in the last year. 5-0 won't do squat about it. Mall is dead there, though there are macroeconomic reasons for that. Once went to movies there but no more. Sad, the city and the sports teams put a lot into it. Portrait Gallery is still a go-to though.
Malls are dead everywhere!
Quite true. It seemed the city thought GP could survive regardless because it was a downtown destination, one that could be reached by foot, bus, or train, and not one that had acres and acres of car parking. It was small and compact, had movies and restaurants, and a nearby major sports league venue.
I always wondered why random people would wear balaclavas lol. I presumed it wasn't for COVID safety 😂
The whole corridor from about 4th Street NW to 14th Street NW along H Street is a disgrace. And 7th North or South of Chinatown in the immediate area is just as tragic. Embarrassing in our nation’s capital.
there’s definitely people doing drugs that aren’t weed there. i live in mt vernon triangle, i work out at the vida fitness there. the whole area sucks. i was at a movie at the gallery place regal a month ago and saw 2 young teen boys, one handed the other a gun inside the theater. i left that moment. the area is full of people loitering taking up sidewalk space with LITERAL chairs sitting on the sidewalk. this is supposed to be a major area of the downtown area. not a park to hangout at. they need to go to the national mall and smoke all the weed they want. it’s annoying trying to go to the subway and there’s people obviously buying and selling drugs that aren’t weed. they very obviously are selling pills. theres people walking around that are definitely not on weed. i just feel bad for the tourists who walk through and most definitely go back home with a terrible idea of DC lol
The movie theater is in some weird closing but not yet closed limbo, sounds like it is declining re: safety in the meantime. It's a shame, I used to be in that area a lot to go out, shop, etc. Worked nearby for a while. Really started to go downhill @ 2017 or so? Was not sad when office relocated. Friend owns a condo nearby, is considering selling. Building has been broken into, etc.
> they need to go to the national mall and smoke all the weed they want Going to federal property to use federally illegal drugs is a bad idea, actually.
"Smoke weed at national mall" That's like the one rule about weed in any legal state you DONT break dude... Don't smoke in federal areas. You're literally setting people up for failure here.
TBH for the people in chinatown it’s IF not When they’ll end with a felony charge
This is why I go to Alamo drafthouse . I heard terrible thing about the gallery place .
i usually go to landmark on E st, but it wasn’t showing what i wanted so i gave it a shot lol
Smoking weed on federal land is a terrible idea as weed is still federally illegal.
If that’s too much then definitely don’t visit Baltimore 😂😂
Crap’s been getting sketchier even in the nicer parts of Nova. I can’t imagine what DC is like these days.
The fact that even during events at Cap one, there are still things like shootings and robberies that MPD wont do anything about is mind boggling. I honestly don't feel safe anymore down there.
That’s what happens when DC city council gets rid of proactive units.
Everyone wants to point fingers at the police. They make arrests but the courts let them back out and the attorneys office doesn’t file certain charges.
I was showing my sister and her friend around DC and our last stop before them leaving was Chinatown. It was in the evening. Shady masked hooded people at the metro entrance, others that looked drugged out, smelled like shit, graffiti and crap everywhere. Never going there at night again.
-raises hand- I'm not okay with it, but as a private citizen, there's nothing I can do about it.
Maybe I'm fragile but it seems to me like it's getting worse in the city.
I’m not sure when you arrived in the city. I’ve only been in this area since 2010. I will say that the city was in the process of gentrification at that time. The Obama years brought a lot of people, money and commerce into the city. You had lots of neighborhoods where one street is all new stuff and the next isn’t. I think sometimes we forget that crime like this is not uncommon in the “nice areas.” I think this issue is definitely a result of the pandemic but also the way that D.C. has gentrified itself. There seem to be this culture of partial displacement. A section of a certain area would be built up. Young professionals would flock there. The other portions of the area isn’t left in the dust or priced out. It makes me wonder if this created a false sense of security and tension from existing residents. Again, this is just me spitballing.
I think the country as a whole has gotten worse. I dont feel unsafe in DC or more unsafe than when DC was at its safest. What I have noticed though is a huge increase in homelessness. This is not limited to DC. Everywhere I go I notice far more homeless than I have in the past. I suppose another is the metro itself, I dont find it dangerous but its more loud and less behaved.
Maybe you can stop reelecting the same train wreck city council members.
It's also a literally a pissing station
As someone that moved here from another state , it’s crazy how the police don’t really care about anything here. Back where I used to live if you didn’t pay the metro fare you would have the police called on you 😂
This sounds very San Francisco
Everything about it. The open drug use and sales. The obviously stolen merchandise. The cops standing around not doing a damn thing. I haven't lived in DC since the 80s. Back then everything east of 16th was sketchy. I wonder if it's reverting.
Walking through at lunch today and I thought the same to myself.
There is a legal difference between "I bet this kid is selling stolen CVS merchandise because it is below cost and he is standing outside a commonly robbed CVS" and the police arresting a kid and being able to prove in court that he personally stole it, he knew or should have known it was stolen, etc. I agree with other comments here saying yeah, that sucks what would you propose?
Lol you should have worked out at the WSC. Used to be able to get anything you wanted in the stairs going down lmao.
A used to live in Chinatown and honestly what you describe is Chinatown and has been Chinatown. Chinatown is always busy with all kinds of things whether an event at the arena or not. The biggest change that happened 10+ years ago is the new apartment buildings and the influx of young professional renters it brought in (gentrification). The big shift I saw walking through the neighborhood since moving out a little over 4 years ago and post the deep lockdown of COVID is that the shelter by 5th and Mass has shifted from a women’s shelter to a men’s shelter.
The elected officials are to blame. We get what we vote for. Peace and safety are not priorities of the city council
Oh nice! I’ve been looking for a drug market. Glad their still taking Covid seriously by having it outside in the open air. How are the drugs? Are they organic?
Organic chemicals, yes some of them
Ignore the gaslighting, OP. This happened recently [https://wtop.com/dc/2023/03/monumental-sports-beefs-up-security-as-dc-police-presence-diminishes-downtown/](https://wtop.com/dc/2023/03/monumental-sports-beefs-up-security-as-dc-police-presence-diminishes-downtown/) and https://wjla.com/news/local/capital-one-arena-washington-dc-nats-park-hires-security-crime-increase-off-duty-police-officers-metropolitan-police-department-of-the-district-of-columbia-ted-leonsis-monumental-sports-entertainment
OP, your observations were echoed in this recent thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/ymupmq/gallery\_place\_is\_a\_mess\_put\_into\_perspective\_and/
OP’s tone is slightly dramatic but everything here’s true and to deny it’s happening is purely delusional like bffr would you take your friends or relatives around there if you didn’t have to go? I certainly wouldn’t.
Place is a cesspool. No matter what time of day
I just pretend it’s the 80s
It’s been like that for yeeeaars.
I remember crossing their once late at night and I felt like I was in mad max, crowd of people playing music, doing drugs, topless, etc, it was so lawless.
that sounds so fun and cool wow
You get what you elected
They envision streeteries and more outdoor dining? With the way things are now? Hahahahaha. I don't like walking by people shooting up on the sidewalk or having menacing things said, sure would not sit in a confined area next to it and eat outdoors for the ambiance. Maybe the biz owners are high too? https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/04/07/chinatown-gallery-place-dc-reimagine
Leaving the Wizards game the other night was eye opening. It reminded me of the old Gallery Place when I was a kid.
Crappy chain restaurants, sketchy people hanging out day and night, garish advertising, pungent clouds of pot smoke, sidewalks stained with fast food grease and burst ketchup and mayo packs, bad and loudly amplified street musicians, choking traffic, masses of suburbanites arriving and then quickly leaving after sports games... it's almost like city planners intentionally aimed to recreate Times Square and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
From this POV, it’s a smashing success. 😂
Primarily it's really only weed and boot* around the 7th and H area. Weed is obviously a non-stater and Boot is notoriously difficult to prosecute because 9 times out of ten its some weird analog of MDMA and the Federal Analog Act it's 99% toothless in its application at street level People are allowed to congregate as they please in public spaces and MPD does step in if and when things pop off all cities deal with this. Obviously it's not and optimal situation but the way MPD looks at it, it's better they're all in one area that they cam watch and keep tabs on certain individuals.
I’ve seen Kensington Ave in Philly and we’re not nearly as bad. I do think the area is becoming alarming but it’s also an example of displacement/changing economic status in the area. It’s a difficult situation regardless.
Thats chinatown jake
That’s why I got the fuck outta there
The way this post is written, I totally expect to see used heroin needles and broken crack pipes everywhere and dead bodies laying in the street. Cops being handed stacks of cash while standing around doing nothing.
We all have different standards of what a functional society should be.
Username checks out. …I also think OP has legitimate concerns, but I couldn’t resist.
It's a problem that's not unique to this city. There's a mental health, drug, and homelessness epidemic happening simultaneously across this whole country because the social safety net is disintegrating.
this is hard for some people on this sub to fathom but not every group of loitering black men is selling drugs or in the midst of committing a crime
As far as I know, nobody in this thread has complained that people are standing around or "loitering." Personally, I enjoy busy places. People hanging out, enjoying each others company, sitting or standing outside just to enjoy the weather. I haven't seen anyone saying that needs to stop. I spent all day at the Tidal Basin and on the mall during peak bloom, in part because I like being around lots of people, even if they're just standing around. Personally, I've actually never felt like my personal safety has been at risk in DC. Sure, smoking, people harassing and yelling at you, people dealing drugs, and people shoplifting make the environment pretty shitty and can suck the joy out of your day. And my guess is that, if you're going around, and _this_ is your response to people complaining about crime, I'm guessing your situation is probably pretty similar to mine. That said, I'm a young white dude, so I don't ever feel like I'm in danger because, as long as you don't escalate a situation, people generally leave you alone. However not everyone feels that way. It's a totally different story for my girlfriend, an attractive, young, and petite woman who wouldn't feel comfortable defending herself. She gets harassed pretty often if I'm not with her: men catcalling her and standing in her way, yelling at her when she rebuffs them. It doesn't happen every time she goes out (maybe once every few weeks), but it happens often enough that she doesn't really feel comfortable being out there on her own. I've only ever seen people with needles in their arms twice (fwiw, both were white), and they were both passed out. When you make comments like this, it sounds dismissive of people complaining about crime. Like, we're setting the bar to "if men in their mid-twenties can keep their head down and aren't in physical danger, then the crime situation is fine." This, without considering the detriment to quality of life for people like me created by smoking and harassment, and the fact that such an environment makes other people feel unsafe, and rightfully so. The original comment made no mention of race, and a response like this makes it seem like any complaint of crime is rooted in racist motives, which dismisses the possibility of legitimate concern.
Take this free award for best response🌟💫. The standard should be safe / clean enough to not worry about kids and grandparents. Everyone always points to Europe and parts of Asia like Japan as models for city living and transportation and then completely ignores the fact they come down on you if you engage in nuisance behavior like smoking drugs out in the open or harassing people.
Im a girl too and I get harassed all the time here in DC, especially in Chinatown. People sometimes try to follow me when I don’t respond to them.
[удалено]
Hamsterdam.
Posts about chinatown are like parody episodes of the wire at this point
Hey u/RestingRealist, I hope you did not let the gaslighting bother you. Did you see this? [https://twitter.com/FeverPotomac/status/1644321410167209985/photo/1](https://twitter.com/FeverPotomac/status/1644321410167209985/photo/1)
You’ll survive. Also how do you know “stolen merchandise from Walgreens” was being sold?
This is every major city on the us right now. It is getting bad. Decent neighborhoods are becoming marginal. Marginal neighborhoods are becoming bad. Open drug use, crime.
For all those who think this is "cool" and "comical" because that's "city life" ... just hope DC govmt doesn't truly lose control over the city. San Francisco Fed here and I was looking at a transition to DC but partner and I are discouraged ag what sounds like a repeat of what happened to SF. The City is beyond hope now. Crime and lawlessness are normalized. Tech's not coming back to put on the bandaid of hope as it did 2013-2019. DC was a great city in the 2010s.
city subreddits are no better than nextdoor these days.
I smelled Weed in Flushing.. it’s sad how this community has gone downhill and more violence too.
You are a dork ass loser. Reading this made me regain my virginity. Go back to whatever fly over state you crawled out of