Ama Interview, September 12, 2021

Ok great, what is your name?

My name is Ama. I live in Woodley Park. So I come across the bridge to Adams Morgan pretty frequently.

Okay great. So, is there a space in Adams Morgan that particularly meaningful to you?

Coffee shops, definitely. So I adjunct teach an online class during the Spring. So this was before covid, it was online. And now, of course, it was online like, going to coffee shops and being able to, sort of, make a mental separation between working at home or working in my office, and getting to just sit there, do some grading. It was always so nice. I would go to Philz a lot, I'd end up with the Line, which has a pretty interesting history, the building itself, being the former. Christian Science Temple, but yeah, usually, that part of Adams Morgan I liked going to the markets back when they were at the plaza. Now, they've moved up the road because of the pending development.

So speaking in general, but also looking at Adams Morgan and DC in general, how has space been changing around you?

So, during the pandemic and Woodley Park, like the Main Street area of We park on Connecticut Avenue, a lot of businesses went under, and it was interesting because it was mostly corporate chains, which I wasn't expecting. So they wasn't, there's not really a ton there right now. So if you want to go get coffee or do anything, go out to dinner, be pretty much go to Adams Morgan. It was interesting seeing how different businesses and AdMO been like banded together during the pandemic. So that's sort of a change that I've seen. But also in terms of of like housing development in the area. It just continues to get more expensive. Buildings continue to be updated to luxury condoms and buildings that we don't really need because we need more mixed affordable housing. So not necessarily gentrified in the way that I've seen. I'm seeing other areas like Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant gentrified but like a little bit in that direction.

And how does, how do you feel about these changes?

Kind of bummer [laughs]. You know, I think everyone should be more people, should be able to afford to live in these areas, especially because they've traditionally been pretty mixed income. Pretty multiracial not as yuppie, to use an old term [laughs], and I hope that as more condos or building developments happen in the area, it doesn't erase the culture and the history of Adams Morgan, but of course, when things like that happen there is something lost with it.

Looking to the future, what do you think the changes are going to mean to Adams Morgan?

I think things will probably become more expensive. Cost of living that will probably increase and I think a lot of people who are in creative areas, humanities, might have to relocate or pay exorbitant prices to live somewhere kind of cheap.

So that was our final question. Do you have anything you want to add?

Nope, shop local try and be ethical? I don't know. Yeah, that's it!