"We have lived a short block and a
half from Columbia Pike, near the Wendy’s, for thirty-one years. Before that we
lived at Fairlington. My wife, Debbie, had lived in Arlington and worked in
Washington DC. I was freelancing as an editorial illustrator and was happy to
move to Arlington. Her sister lived nearby, just across I-395, so it was important
to Debbie that we remain in Arlington. Thirty years ago as a young couple with
two daughters and me a struggling artist, we could afford to live in Arlington.
My father had lived in Arlington
during the 1950’s when he was a bachelor and worked at the National Security
Agency, which was located where the National Guard complex is now located. He
got married to my mom and I was born here and we lived in the Buckingham
neighborhood. Mom went to get milkshakes at the drugstore when she was
pregnant. But NSA moved to Maryland and so did we.
Living in Arlington has been great. But if
we were young again we couldn’t afford to live here. Unfortunately, like so
many other families, neither of my children can afford to purchase a house in
Arlington, despite their good jobs and multiple undergraduate and graduate
degrees. Between my daughters and
son-in-law there are two undergrad and three graduate degrees at George Mason
University. I worry about not just lower-income families,
but also middle-income people and what this means for Arlington. Diversity has
always been important to us, and there still seems to be the possibility for
diversity across race, ethnicity and class, but for how long?
One of our daughters attended Washington-Lee High School and later attended George Mason University. She eventually
married at the Presbyterian church one block from our home. She is a
schoolteacher and her husband is a police officer. My son-in-law grew up
here as well. His mother attended the same church and his grandfather served as
a substitute minister from time to time. The congregation remains, but the
original church building is being transformed into an affordable housing, training
and worship facility. I think that’s a positive change, as the church
congregation was shrinking and they had a social justice bent to their work, so
they thought this way their good work would continue. I am all for this.
Our younger daughter attended
Wakefield High School and later attended George Mason University as well. She
is a social worker and is engaged to a young man who works for a health
insurance provider. They first met at Wakefield, after he emigrated from
Ethiopia. He came here when he was about thirteen years old, moving
to join his father and his uncle who had emigrated to Arlington before him. My
daughter and her fiancé still live in Arlington, renting the same apartment
that his uncle owns and had first lived in when emigrating here. But when they
get married I don't know where they will live. They are getting married
this summer in our backyard! Three years ago we traveled to Ethiopia to bring
his mother back to live and work in Arlington. There was a surprise engagement
party for them there. His mother now lives on Four Mile Run,
often shopping at the small Ethiopian establishments on Columbia Pike.
The changes along Columbia Pike have been slow
but consistent. I thought the trolley car idea would just speed up the changes
that would come, some for the better, others for the worse. I hope the changes
don’t push out old friends and eradicate the old places. One change I did not
like was when the Cowboy Cafe moved. They moved when they built the Giant grocery
store and redeveloped that area. There is an Episcopal church across from Bob
& Edith’s Diner where my dad attended as a bachelor. Did you know that 5
Guys started here at the shopping center where the Pike meets Glebe Road? Now
their shops are everywhere. I think there were five guys! She also taught the son
and grandson of the current owner of Bob &
Edith’s, who is himself the son of the
Bob and Edith. We still go there, to the original one, the tiny one. There is still
the Goodwill, now that’s a great place to get knick-knacks and found objects to
make collages, etc. We used to take our car to Alward’s Garage, a
quintessential one-hundred-year-old garage and the man who owned it was very
old, too. Looked like a Norman Rockwell garage. He was old-school Virginia. When
we moved here there were open fields strewn about. There were fields across
from Alward’s. Where the Chipotle is now there was nothing, just open fields.
The McDonald’s has been here forever and I have bought many big breakfasts
there—when the kids were little and even now. The veterinarian’s office across
from the CVS still has some old photos displayed of what the Pike used to look
like years ago.
Debbie is now retired from teaching
middle-school. I am still working, and continue to commute over three hours a day to and from Baltimore, three to four
days a week. I have been doing this for over thirty years to teach at the
Maryland Institute College of Art because
my children were thriving and happy here in Arlington.
Given the age of our house and its
“value” according to the County, I expect that when we do finally sell, buyers
will tear it down and rebuild. At this point our family story in
Arlington will end. This thought makes me sad. My house is not an
investment as much as a place to raise a family. I hear a lot within public policy
venues about property values, traffic, buying and selling property, Amazon and
more, but I don't hear much discussion about Arlington remaining a home."
