RSS FeedThe Bridge & Tunnel Crowd…In DC?
A subtle, invisible line winds its way down the banks of the Potomac. You first learn about it in high school. “We had to go all the way out to Tysons…I mean, why couldn’t we have just gone to Mazza on Wisconsin Ave.” After college it got reinforced. “I work in Rosslyn *but* it’s walking distance to Georgetown. Third Edition isn’t *that* far away for happy hour.” (Third Edition is now back, in fact. Time to resurrect Samantha’s and Rally in the Alley?) To oblige a late breaking Valentine’s Day party invite I realized I had not been to Virginia in months. Did I need my passport? Would Metro ask to see my visa? What would I discover on this expedition to Terra Virginia Firma?
As a card carrying urbanist, attending an event within a fifteen minute walk of a subway stop meant leaving the four-seater in the garage and taking the chauffeur driven 64 seater (times 6) underground. When the Metro goes fast enough under the Potomac River to Rosslyn, the train drops and rises fast enough that you can feel the pressure change. (This is the captain speaking…Flight Orange now making its final approach into Rosslyn…please pop your ears and take your seats.) The party was a short walk away after emerging in the Old Dominion and it was fun to catch up with old friends (Didn’t I go out with you in 2005?) and make a few new ones too. (Text me your number and we’ll hang out.) Walking back to the Rosslyn departure terminal, my thoughts relaxed about the ride home to downtown DC. My synapses chanted in unison, “nice, quiet, calm…nice, quiet, calm.” After all the socializing and jabbering that being social entails a nice, quite, calm ride awaited. Right? Right! (Bzzzz. Wrong! I’m sorry. X gets the square.)
Peering in to the arriving 11 pmish train as it slowed, my eyes crossed off earlier, calming thoughts. What’s with all the people? Doors open. Lots of activity going on. A cacophony of staccato voices louder than a Friday night at Brasserie Beck all going at once mixed in with a hovering aroma. Axe blended in with Fantasy – vintage 2009, I’d say. (It is a good growing year after all.) Lots of 20-somethings to 40-somethings chatting it up, texting it up and phoning it up – most seats taken up. “Dude…what stop do I get off at? Doooood, Woodley Park is on the red line!?!? I’m on the orange line, du-ude!” (Dude, you’re not going to get hired if every other word you say is dude.)
A strange feeling came over me, inklings of it vaguely familiar. Then, a few memories over the last year kicked in. There were the constraining tube tops, raggedly short jean minis with hoop earrings the circumference of the Earth and constant gum smacking. (Hmm.) There were multiple people constantly checking the Metro map above the senior seating (Hmm.) There were the surprised reactions to dropped calls under the river. (Hmm.) All of it late in the evening.
Casting the feeling aside, our motley crew thundered into Metro Center where I got off and hoofed it to the cozy PQ abode. The usual routine awaited…fob, door, squeaky floor, elevator call button, fob, squeaky floor, floor button, funny feeling (oh..we’re going up!), carpeted floor, apartment key, apartment, bedroom, bed, rest…at last. I flipped on SNL and that’s when my brain pulled the evening apart and reassembled it in one deft motion. The outline of a shadowy, hazy notion became more recognizable and snapped into focus as the eureka moment arrived.
Does DC now have a quantified, certified, bonafide bridge and tunnel crowd?
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Comments
Tough crowd today, I may be the lone voice of praise but I thought this was a great post. Captured a night out/feeling I think many pq residents can identify with.
And while it wasn’t central to the post I loved the “dude” line.
i liked it too!!!!.. and you bet we have a bridge /tunnel crowd…
thats the beauty of H street…they are still afraid to go there….
i remember (not so long ago) when they were afraid to be in our hood after dark…kind of fondly…*sigh*..
xoxo
My point is: the bridge and tunnel moniker goes both ways. The only thing worse than kids driving in from Herndon to eat Jumbo Slice and vomit in Adams Morgan, is people ZipCar-ing out to Wegmans and telling everyone how boring the suburbs are and how vibrant downtown is. If it’s so damn vibrant, why are you paying through the nose for vegetable that aren’t rotten?
In 1980, yours truly was one of that bridge and tunnel crowd who was going to the original 930 Club and DC Space. It’s what made me want to buy a house downtown in the first place.
I’ve never liked the phrase “bridge and tunnel” because it is disparaging of those who do not live in Manhattan (or, in this case, D.C.). Let’s be above using it here.
I couldn’t get through this badly written piece of junk. I stopped around the point where you linked to Honda’s website. What “card-carrying urbanist” has a car? Ugh, this blog post is terrible.
This was an interesting post- thanks for writing it.
To the rest- Stop being such snobs. Why the hell are you trying to label people in a derogatory manner? Some of you would probably judge me and assume I was bridge and tunnel (you know, just because), but in fact I was born and raised in DC. I don’t think it’s helpful to make such superficial distinctions. We should want everyone to feel welcome, especially in an economy like this. Same goes for those who disparage tourists.
Seems to be an ever growing number of these disparaging elitist comments with our economy morphing into a socialist mass.
Seriously tough crowd today. Maybe it’s because it’s supposed to rain all weekend and everyone is getting a head start on being crabby.
I enjoyed the poetic post!
I prefer “orange-liner” for those non-natives who grace us with their weekend presence. Let NYC have the B&Ters. I believe if you have to put up with all of the bull**** that living downtown entails, then you can thumb your nose at those rubes who live in Vienna and douse themselves in AXE.
I just moved from PQ up to NW off Wisconsin so will I be called a 30-busser.
Every other word used is not ‘dude’ – it’s ‘like’. Dude is not as hip now.
Otherwise this post is nice.
Williamsburg-Greenpoint and the Lower East Side are the most dynamic neighborhoods in NYC right now, but I would say DC’s version is actually turning into H St. NE….BUT we are not NYC…by a long shot
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Well, you had to use a bridge and a tunnel to get to Rosslyn, yes?
Honestly, when hasn’t DC had a bridge-and-tunnel crowd? Did you just move here last week?
There’s this book called, “City Mouse and Country Mouse.” You should check it out sometime. I hear they’re making a movie of it starring Christian Bale, Helena Bonham Carter, and a bunch of homocidal robots.