Longtime readers of this blog might know that I hate newly invented neighborhood names.
A few years ago, real estate developers JBG tried to rename the 14th and U Street area “14th and Shaw” in all their advertisements for their buildings and in D/CITY Style, a free newspaper they put out around the area. Thankfully the name didn’t catch on, but a few months later they were calling the area “North End Shaw.” That also didn’t catch on.
But now another bunch of developer doofuses have coined yet another name: the Bozzutto Group is saying their new building, Trellis House, is in the “heart of North Shaw,” going on about all the great stuff in North Shaw. They’ve also mentioned about something similar on the building’s Instagram page. Basically they’re trying to make “fetch” happen, but for a neighborhood.
This stuff always makes me mad. People have lived in this area for more than 100 years, and all of a sudden a real estate company thinks they can come along and rename it to try to sell some corny apartments.
And the dumbest part about this is that they have a map on their site showing where their buildings are, and the dot for Trellis House is literally next to the words “Pleasant Plains.” Because that’s the name of the area. And presumably, that also means Howard University is in North Shaw. News to them, I’m sure.
Pleasant Plains isn’t the best known neighborhood name, but it is on the Metro. And anyway, just because a neighborhood name wasn’t known throughout the city it doesn’t mean you should just throw it out. Here’s more on the history of Pleasant Plains.
Let’s not use this dumb new name.
