Originally Posted by travellot
OK. Let me elaborate. There are certain things that a person looking for temporary housing can easily figure out. The cost of housing is, for example, is the first thing a prospect landlord will mention in the advertisement. So my friend was looking for a piece of advice about safety of areas. For example, is Chinatown a high/low crime area? Well, she is just trying to find out if there are places she has to avoid because of (un)safetiness. For all the other things, I am sure she will manage. Thanks.
Chinatown is one of those places where a few blocks in the "wrong" direction would be less than desirable. The area south of Massachusetts Ave NW and west of 6th St NW would be ideal. This area includes the Metro station, the very popular MCI Center indoor arena, and the burgeoning nightlife/restaurant scene around the arena. There are a bunch of huge brand new and desirable apartment/condo blocks around the Mass/NY Ave areas (north of Chinatown and east of the new Convention Center, aka Mt Vernon Triangle) which is generally considered up-and-coming i.e. they overlook abandoned buildings and empty lots. To the east of that is NoMa and, well, let's just not go there yet
South of Chinatown is the Penn Quarter which is very desirable with prices to match. So in a gist, the further north you go from the National Mall (Penn Quarter -> Chinatown -> Mt Vernon Triangle -> NoMa), the desirability and prices go down, and the unfortunate inverse relation to crime is true. I wouldn't walk around at night alone north of Mass Ave, 2 blocks from Chinatown. Hope that helps.