The District Chronicles

Issue date: 3/15/09 Section: Cover

Media Credit: Khalid Naji-Allah/Staff Photographer

From the comfort of a blue, purple and green checkered arm chair with a navy blue blanket draped across her, Eleanor Oliver reminisced about the decades of change her neighborhood has undergone.

She is 71 years young, and what she misses most are the dime stores which once dotted the streets of Cleveland Park.

"Every kid should grow up with a dime store," Oliver said, insisting that dollar stores have replaced the dime stores. "Dollar stores aren't the same," she argued. "They sell lots of junk!"

But Cleveland Park has lost more than dime stores. Rising rental fees have closed many shops Just around the corner from her house, Fosters Brothers Coffee closed last year, she said.

"Now the only place is Starbucks, which has no place to sit," Oliver added.

Cleveland Park is one of 16 neighborhoods that make up Ward 3 in Northwest Washington, D.C. It's bordered by Klingle Road to the south, Wisconsin Avenue to the west, Tilden Street to the North and Connecticut Avenue to the East.

The businesses straddling both sides of Connecticut Avenue at Porter Street to the north and Macomb Street to the south provide a convenient commercial haven for residents. Residents get their clothes cleaned, buy groceries and toiletries, dine out, get haircuts, and work out all on the avenue. Sam's Park and Shop sits at Ordway Street and Connecticut Avenue. Built in 1930, it is one of the oldest shopping centers in the country, residents boast.

The Uptown Theater, Warner Brothers established in 1936, still stands on the Avenue and is the only single-screen movie theater in D.C. It features first-run films.

According to Zillow Real Estate, the neighborhood has a population of 3,980 and a median household income of $63,532, making Cleveland Park one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the District. The median value for a two-bedroom home is $478,000 and a hefty $910,500 for a three-bedroom.

Oliver and her husband, Len, 75, first settled in Cleveland Park in 1962. They moved to Chicago in 1967, but returned to Cleveland Park in 1972.

Eleanor intimates that she and her husband wouldn't have been able to live in Cleveland Park if they were starting now. The neighborhood has become a lot fancier, said Oliver, who is retired from the education and government fields.

Nannies instead of mothers at playgrounds are tale-tell signs of an affluence fueled by two-income families. But what Oliver speaks with is pride about is the "solid sense of community" the neighborhood has. In the past, rallied together to tackle some of their common needs.

Continued...

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