Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant Information
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Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., capital of the United States. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by 16th Street, NW, and the Columbia Heights neighborhood to the east, Rock Creek Park to the north and west, and Harvard Street, NW, and the Adams Morgan neighborhood to the south. Housing about 2% of D.C.’s population, or over twelve thousand people, the area has for a century been a mixed community of both the well-to-do and lesser income workers, with a strong base of immigrants.
The population of Mount Pleasant is a mixture of working-class Latinos, whites, and a declining population of African Americans. There is also a strong gay presence, mostly of middle-aged and older gay couples. Businesses in the neighborhood cater largely to the Latino community, despite an increasingly diverse population. Following the devastating 1968 riots and skyrocketing crime rate of the 1970s and 1980s, the neighborhood experienced a high level of displacement along with the rest of the city.
Physically, there are two contrasting land uses: The western four-fifth of the area is practically a wooded enclave bounded on two sides by Rock Creek Park; this part has about 1200 row-houses, many including one or two apartments. Recently, the housing cost run-up has these properties selling for prices between $650,000 and $1.2 million, like most Metro-accessible neighborhoods in D.C.
The eastern one-fifth of the land area, especially that bordering Sixteenth Street, or the next street over, Mt Pleasant St, is mostly mid-rise (four to nine story) apartment buildings. This is where over two-thirds of the population lives. There is a four-block commercial corridor with convenience shopping, with a small but growing number of establishments serving the rapidly growing number of higher income residents.
Rents are rapidly rising from about $1000 for a one-bedroom unit towards $2000 and even $3000 a month for a single-family row house. After decades of decay, many of the homes are once again owner-occupied. Many of the apartment buildings are also in the process of going condo. This rapid rise in the cost of living is part of affordable housing crisis facing most American cities. As with every healthy neighborhood in a thriving city, the character of Mt Pleasant is changing.