Langston

If you wander a little too far past the bars and rock and roll of H Street, you could find yourself in unfamiliar territory. Langston is not known being a particularly spectacular part of town, and the neighborhood itself is not a great prelude to the golf course it boasts. If golf is what you're after, it's worth it to go through the area. But if you're a hipster who was looking for a good time on a Friday night, you might as well go back to H Street and try and find the mini golf course at their country club.

Living here would be a tough putt. Langston is neighborhood in the northeast section of the city that is home to approximately 5,594 residents. The area is bordered by the Langston Golf Course, Benning Road N.E. and Maryland Avenue N.E. In 2010, the average price for a home within the neighborhood $226,228, with approximately 17% being owner occupied. In the neighborhood you will find mainly attached row homes as well as apartments.

Browne Education Campus, Phelps High School and Spingam Senior High Schools are located in the neighborhood. The neighborhood offers shopping options, including a Safeway grocery store. In addition you will find numerous restaurants here although many are fast food type of establishments. Residents will find numerous Metro Bus stops throughout the neighborhood. In addition to the golf course and associated driving range recreational opportunities in the neighborhood are limited. There are 4 places of worship within the neighborhood.

Crimes concerns will be an issue for many potential residents. Recent crime statistics point to numerous crimes against people and property, including assaults and robberies. As always one should review the most recent crime data and make an informed decision concerning the risk of crime, before moving into any neighborhood. This neighborhood will need to make strides against crimes in order to meet its potential.

You’d think Langston, being home to some important amenities, would be stable. But it isn’t. Just outside its borders you will find the stadium where the Washington Redskins used to play, but don’t anymore because of Langston’s bigger attraction: the golf course. To say that this golf course is in an unlikely location would be an understatement: normally, we consider golf courses something that you would only find in posh suburbs as part of an exclusive country club. But this is not the case: Langston Golf Course is in one of the more crime-ridden parts of the city, to the extent that the management is obliged to provide heavy security even during daytime. It is even more astonishing to think that the presence of a golf course has not attracted any gentrifiers at all: the golfers come in from elsewhere in order to play a game. Sure, there are some jobs, but this is about all that the course lends Langston.
Housing is extremely cheap, and also run down. Loads of homeless people and drug activity plague the area, and it is dangerous even during the day time. If you leave anything inside your car, expect it to be stolen. Going there for golf? Travel in a group and don’t take unnecessary things with you.

Langston is a small neighborhood in northeast DC. It, along with its closest neighbor Carver, shares one border with the US National Arboretum and another with the Anacostia River’s western bank. One of its major claims to fame is that it is the home of the Langston Golf Course, the first American golf course to allow African American players.
Unfortunately, Langston is not best known locally for its golf course. Instead, it’s famous for Langston Terrace, Washington D.C.’s first federally-funded housing project. Built in 1938, it was originally designed to house African Americans in the then segregated District.
Today, while the area is still predominantly African American, there are more middle-class families and older home owners than there has been in the past. While there are still plenty of retired folks who own their own homes, there are also a significant number of renters.
In addition to a number of fast food and family oriented restaurants, Langston citizens enjoy shopping at the local Hechinger Mall. There they can find everything from clothes to furniture to craft supplies. Like most malls, it is particularly popular among area teens.