Why you should visit Arlington rather than DC
Tamara Hinson discovers the fantastic diversity of Arlington County, which will soon see an influx of 25,000 Amazon workers
Wolfing down my second portion of dolma – ground beef, wrapped in vine leaves – I justify overindulging by vowing to use Arlington’s bike-share scheme later, although the arrival of a plate of vareniki (fried dumplings) leaves me wondering if my saddle can cope with the extra weight.
My waiter at RusUz, a Russian-Uzbekistani restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, is Tashkent-born Ismoil Rakhmatullaev, whose father opened the restaurant in 2012. Ismoil explains there’s a sizeable Uzbekistani community here, as well as in DC. His father lives near the Uzbekistani embassy, and a job at the embassy was the reason he came here. There’s no denying that DC, just across the river (the Lincoln Memorial is clearly visible from Arlington’s centre) can take some credit for the diversity of Arlington, a popular base for government employees who come from all corners of the globe to work in DC, but prefer to live on the quieter, greener side of the Potomac river.
Commonly referred to as a city, Arlington is actually an urban county, albeit one that feels like a cosmopolitan town. It will soon become even more diverse, thanks to Amazon’s decision to base its second headquarters, HQ2, in the Crystal City neighbourhood. Between 25,000 and 37,000 people will work in brand new buildings which will replace the older, uglier ones being quietly torn down. It’s certainly the prettiest building site I’ve seen. Hoardings surrounding Amazon’s recently purchased plots double as public art, daubed with uplifting mantras and silhouettes of bicycles picked out with artificial flowers.
For locals, it’s a welcome nod to Arlington’s vibrant art scene. Its public art collection is larger than those in most American cities, and masterpieces pop up in unexpected places. One afternoon, I stumble across a car park, its tarmac scattered with colourful, painted letters which look as though they’ve fallen from the sky. Another beautiful piece is Quill, a layer of 20,000 shimmering reflective discs covering one side of the Dominion Virginia Energy Substation in the Rosslyn neighbourhood.
The food scene is just as colourful. My favourite venue is Baba, a Serbian cocktail bar. “It’s designed to feel like the home of a Serbian grandparent,” explains Beijing-born waiter Max. He points out the bar’s bestselling cocktails, which include the Balkan caviar martini, served with a side of caviar and pickles.
It’s easy to see why Amazon’s Jeff Bezos set his sights on Arlington – a colourful melting pot where snappily dressed locals whiz to work on electric scooters, along glass-smooth bikes lanes winding from Arlington’s downtown to its beautiful riverside, morphing into the Mount Vernon trail connecting George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate with Theodore Roosevelt Island.
Arlington is incredibly bike-friendly, and was recently voted America’s fittest city by the American College of Sports Medicine. A particularly enjoyable route shadows the Potomac river, skirting the Pentagon and nudging up against the tiny Arlington Municipal airport, where locals gather to gawp at aircraft coming in to land, metres above their heads.
It’s a tricky approach for pilots, who must navigate various buildings with protected airspace, including Arlington’s Pentagon building, plonked in the centre of a tangle of roads and the most heavily policed car park I’ve ever seen. Confusingly, several roads, as well as my favourite bike path, pass through the car park. By day two I’ve been stopped three times by (albeit friendly) policemen, who embarrass me by bellowing helpful directions via loudspeakers atop their cars.
It’s good preparation for the interrogation I endure when I arrive at the Pentagon for a free guided tour. Upon arrival I’m required to show my passport and traipse through various X-rays and body scanners. It all feels incredibly serious, which makes the waiting room even more surreal. There’s a gift shop filled with Pentagon-themed tat and a queue of tourists lining up to pose behind a replica of the lectern used by Trump.
After a pre-tour briefing (in a nutshell: turn off your phones immediately, and don’t even think about stepping away from your group during the tour), we’re led through an additional checkpoint into the heart of the Pentagon, and the tour begins. It’s hard work. My naval officer guide explains that so much steel was used during construction that supplies dwindled. To preserve these precious metals, steep ramps were often installed, instead of lifts. There’s a florist and a Sprinkles cupcake bakery, and my guide points out a food stall in the tree-filled centre – rumour has it that during the Cold War, the Russians never had any less than two missiles aimed at this former hot-dog stand, thinking it was the Pentagon’s top-secret meeting room; when Soviets thought the officers were heading there to get high-clearance security briefings, in reality, they were just getting their lunch.
A final reminder of the area’s diversity comes at Dulles International airport, where I meet an Ethiopia-born airport worker who discovers my love of Africa, and gives me tips for my future visit to Addis Ababa. It’s easy to forget that I’m just kilometres away from the home of a president who appears to prize divisiveness over diversity. On the plus side, I’m already planning my return to Arlington. Top of my itinerary will be Kanpai, the Korean-owned Japanese restaurant where I gorged on a nine-dollar sushi feast, followed by Jaleo, a Spanish restaurant owned by Jose Andres, who dispatched employees to Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria hit. And then there’s Dama Cafe, an Ethiopian bakery famous for its chechebsas (flatbreads), and the fantastically kitsch Freddie’s Beach Bar, with its raucous drag shows and packed calendar of events – including DoD (Department of Defence) Pride happy hours for LGBT+ members of the armed forces. And maybe, just maybe, I might even squeeze in a visit to DC.
Travel essentials
Getting there
Virgin Atlantic flies from London Heathrow to Washington DC from £526 return.
Staying there
Doubles at the Crystal City Marriott at Reagan National Airport from £84, room only.
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