I lived, for a short time, on Connecticut Avenue in DC and it was with a few hours of layover and a profound sense of nostalgia that I took a very familiar train journey, on the red line from Union Station to Cleveland Park.
Things there have both changed and not changed. The Uptown Theatre is, of course, still there and a few of the shops – Uptown Opticians, Magruder’s Farmers’ Market, Ireland’s 4 Provinces (now called Ireland’s 4 Fields), Nanny O’Briens and the 7-Eleven – that I used to frequent are still there. The Park & Shop by Cleveland Park metro station was one of the USA’s first strip malls; fortunately, it was still enough of a novelty for people to give some consideration to making it attractive and it is vastly more pleasant that some of the shopping parades you might see in the USA today. Some have gone; the coffee shop I used to stop at almost every day has been replaced by a health food store and a couple of bars have gone.
That much is to be expected; business close, people move on and areas change. What surprised me was that Cleveland Park – a relatively well-heeled neighbourhood – seemed to be suffering. Even on Sundays, it used to be busy and it was always well-kept. Now, there are a few empty shops and the streets are a little shabby. I suppose that the recession means people aren’t painting the storefronts and the District can’t pick up the trash as often; I don’t know. It was terribly sad to walk around. Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure that Cleveland Park is still a lovely place to live and it’s still pretty well-to-do; my memory is probably adding a goodly amount of gilding as well. If there is one part of the USA that I know better than any other, it is Cleveland Park. That little part of Washington is suffering.
Anyone watching me wander round must have thought I was quite mad but, in the end, there didn’t seem much to do other than head back to Union Station. I guess that Peter de Vries was right – “nostalgia isn’t what it used to be”.
xD.