It's a walkable day in the neighborhood

[akaliko]

akaliko's Neighborhood Walkability History

Calculated using the nifty Google Maps mashup, Walk Score.

90 - 100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.

• 100: E. 78th & Lex. Beloved rent-controlled studio in the Upper East Side where I lived solo for the first time.
• 100: E. 14th & 1st. Subleased Alessandra’s place in the East Village for six weeks - my only experience of downtown.
• 97: E. 81st & Madison. My brother’s studio - crashed here for several weeks.
• 95: Cleveland St, London WC1. Where I lived my first year at UCL.
• 94: Warren & Smith, Brooklyn. First New York apartment, in BoCoCa (realtor-speak for the Boerum Hill-Cobble Hill-Carroll Gardens nexus). I loved living here.

70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.

• 87: Rosebery Hall, London EC1. First year halls.
• 85: Schafer House, London NW1. Final year halls.
• 75: Birchmore Walk, London N5. Lived in this ex-council flat in Highbury with my brother. It was about a mile from the Arsenal football stadium and that was the year Arsenal won the FA Cup, European Cup and came top of the league.
• 75: Jutland Close, London N19. Housesat this lovely townhouse in Archway in summer of 2004.

50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.

• 66: Windsor Rd, Medford, Ma. Where Huria, Marty and I lived second year at Fletcher. The score is quite accurate, but does not take into account how close we were to our most important amenity: Fletcher.

25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.

• 38: Not far from Georgetown Pike in McLean, Va. Childhood home #2. We moved here to be closer to school and work. One and a half miles from the CIA.
• 26: Somewhere in Springfield, Va. Childhood home #1. Two favorite memories: Lake Accotink Park and Potatoland, the state my brother and I established in the backyard.
• 26: Ahwatukee Foothills, Phoenix, Az. Lived here with the Meads right after college. Sprawling, sprawling Phoenix.

0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

• 0: Off Rice Rd, Wayland, Ma. My host grandmother’s house and the one place on this list where I haven’t actually lived. Stayed over frequently, though, and tested it in Walk Score to see if my feeling that it is not walkable at all was correct. It was. It is horse country and a Walker's Paradise in an entirely different sense, which is lovely, but means unless you want to do your grocery shopping at a full trot, you need a car.

And the many non-hotel places I stayed while working in DC from 2005-07:

• 98: New Hampshire & N, Dupont Circle West. Via the excellent Attache Property.
• 98: The General Scott, Scott Circle. Via Craiglist, lived here for just one week before the client pulled the plug and we went back to NY.
• 97: The Harrowgate, New Hampshire & Swann, Dupont Circle / U St. Via the not as excellent Pied-A-Terre Properties, this was my least favorite. Here I learned that daybeds don’t have good feng shui.
• 95: 22nd & N, Dupont Circle West. Again via Attache, an English basement - I’d assumed this wouldn’t bother me, but it did a bit.
• 91: 24th & K, Foggy Bottom. Via Craigslist, a studio in the basement of the rowhouse of a very nice Filipina World Bank staffer. Foggy Bottom itself is eh, but it is right by Georgetown. There was a lovely independent bookstore with good remainders. And another branch of Moby Dick’s… I really ate a lot of kebabs in DC.
• 74: Porter St, McLean Gardens. Via Craigslist, the first and favorite place I stayed while working in DC.
• 68: Ingleside Terrace, Mount Pleasant. Subleased from Katya.