General Discussion

mia

(8,362 posts) Sat Sep 8, 2018, 11:47 AM Sep 2018

I, too, grew up in the crime-ridden streets of Bethesda, Maryland.

“I’m a native of this area. I’m a native of an urban-suburban area. I grew up in a city plagued by gun violence and gang violence and drug violence.” – Judge Brett Kavanaugh, on the second day of his Senate hearings for his nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States"

...By day, I was surrounded by drug dealers, pushing their Ritalin from their lockers and marijuana in the student parking lots. Every night, when I came home from lacrosse practice, I walked through streets flooded with white-collar criminals. On the weekends, juvenile delinquents filled the mall: Loitering, shoplifting, carousing — always unsupervised. There was no escape. You could try to call the police, but their idea of handcuffs was a slap on the wrist. The teens answered to no one.

When I got home, where I should have felt safest, I’d find my father lying on his SEC filings. My mom and I were just supposed to look the other way. He’d buy my silence with extravagant gifts. I knew something wasn’t right. But when crime is all you know, how can you ever learn right from wrong? And who was I going to tell? All the dads on my block were in on it. They were the first gang I knew, but they wouldn’t be the last....

...I’d say the only thing more dangerous than being a young boy in Bethesda is being a young girl literally anywhere in America after Kavanaugh gets confirmed.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-too-grew-up-in-the-crime-ridden-streets-of-bethesda-maryland

22 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

I, too, grew up in the crime-ridden streets of Bethesda, Maryland. (Original Post) mia Sep 2018 OP

I might have known this guy bigtree Sep 2018 #1

We may have crossed paths. mia Sep 2018 #2

I was actually more G-Town Square bigtree Sep 2018 #3

Ahhh. The horrors of Balducci's or Hamburger Hamlet! Now the Bethesda Triangle is worse than Bermuda erronis Sep 2018 #5

Not to mention Montgomery Mall MiniMe Sep 2018 #14

Hamburger Hamlet. The late, great. kwassa Sep 2018 #19

I went to school with some kids from Bethesda for a few years DFW Sep 2018 #4

Hey, a paper cut can get infected! nt 7962 Sep 2018 #9

Some of them avoided that danger by having their own credit cards DFW Sep 2018 #13

I remember terrifying times in Bethesda NastyRiffraff Sep 2018 #6

Used to hang out at that B&N too...before we drove down to G'Town in BMW's.. HipChick Sep 2018 #7

sounds horrible, I had no idea it was so bad. JHan Sep 2018 #22

I've been to Bethesda. WTF is Kavanaugh talking about? SunSeeker Sep 2018 #8

Back in the day, I stayed off the Red Line Metro bottomofthehill Sep 2018 #10

Brilliant! McCamy Taylor Sep 2018 #11

I remember this... mia Sep 2018 #12

Sadly True. A culture/nation that gives a pass to white collar crime and $$$ n/t MarcA Sep 2018 #15

Guilty Algernon Moncrieff Sep 2018 #16

I don't know Bethesda. Is that a rougher "hood" than, say, Arlington, VA? nt JustABozoOnThisBus Sep 2018 #17

Here's a comparison. mia Sep 2018 #18

Home of the rich and/or famous. kwassa Sep 2018 #20

What would my life be without McSweeney's? A dry empty shell is what. JHan Sep 2018 #21

bigtree

(86,005 posts)

1. I might have known this guy

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 11:49 AM

Sep 2018

...I grew up on the mean streets of Bethesda.

Actually hung out at Wildwood.

mia

(8,362 posts)

2. We may have crossed paths.

Reply to bigtree (Reply #1)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 11:53 AM

Sep 2018

Grew up there, too.

bigtree

(86,005 posts)

3. I was actually more G-Town Square

Reply to mia (Reply #2)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 12:26 PM

Sep 2018

...younger crowd.

Practically every night in the summer.

Definitely wild, not the least bit violent, tho... rest of the town was pretty dead (for teens). Maybe different near BCC.

erronis

(15,335 posts)

5. Ahhh. The horrors of Balducci's or Hamburger Hamlet! Now the Bethesda Triangle is worse than Bermuda

Reply to bigtree (Reply #3)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 12:55 PM

Sep 2018

I used to roam up and down Wisconsin Ave. and Old G'town Road back in the 50's (without parental supervision!). Later I lived behind the Square and daughters went to Bethesda and Rockville High. Now I get confused whenever I visit that area - too many people/cars and my slower reactions....

MiniMe

(21,718 posts)

14. Not to mention Montgomery Mall

Reply to erronis (Reply #5)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 02:28 PM

Sep 2018

at least before they expanded it. I used to love that mall. I learned to drive at that mall, that was when the blue laws were in effect so the mall parking lot was totally empty. Great place to learn to drive.

kwassa

(23,340 posts)

19. Hamburger Hamlet. The late, great.

Reply to erronis (Reply #5)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 03:43 PM

Sep 2018

Steak fries.

DFW

(54,437 posts)

4. I went to school with some kids from Bethesda for a few years

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 12:54 PM

Sep 2018

They sure were dangerous. The way they tossed their money around, you could have been hit by flying bundles of cash at any moment. It was downright scary, I tell ya.

7962

(11,841 posts)

9. Hey, a paper cut can get infected! nt

Reply to DFW (Reply #4)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 01:28 PM

Sep 2018

DFW

(54,437 posts)

13. Some of them avoided that danger by having their own credit cards

Reply to 7962 (Reply #9)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 02:27 PM

Sep 2018

Now in the mid-sixties, a 14 year old with their own credit card was an unusual thing, at least to most of us mere mortals. But I was an oddball outlander anyway--after all, what the hell was I doing living in Virginia of all places? To them, Virginia might as well have been Uganda.

NastyRiffraff

(12,448 posts)

6. I remember terrifying times in Bethesda

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 12:56 PM

Sep 2018

Hanging out at the Barnes & Noble, hiding from the terrifying hordes going into Mon Ami Gabi...it's amazing I lived through it.

HipChick

(25,485 posts)

7. Used to hang out at that B&N too...before we drove down to G'Town in BMW's..

Reply to NastyRiffraff (Reply #6)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 01:03 PM

Sep 2018

JHan

(10,173 posts)

22. sounds horrible, I had no idea it was so bad.

Reply to NastyRiffraff (Reply #6)

Mon Sep 10, 2018, 11:13 PM

Sep 2018

SunSeeker

(51,713 posts)

8. I've been to Bethesda. WTF is Kavanaugh talking about?

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 01:20 PM

Sep 2018

bottomofthehill

(8,347 posts)

10. Back in the day, I stayed off the Red Line Metro

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 01:28 PM

Sep 2018

Least some of those tough guys from the mean streets of Bethesda were out looking for trouble

McCamy Taylor

(19,240 posts)

11. Brilliant!

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 01:44 PM

Sep 2018

mia

(8,362 posts)

12. I remember this...

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 02:15 PM

Sep 2018

100 Hour Picket at the Hiser Theater in Bethesda, MD: 1960

https://www.flickr.com/photos/washington_area_spark/8567470400

Four demonstrators had been arrested a day earlier for trespassing and protestors responded by setting up a picket line that was part of a 100-hour consecutive protest. Each hour marked a year that had passed since the Emancipation Proclamation that was announced in September 1862 with the protestors adding an extra two hours.

The demonstrators were part of the Non-Violent Action Group (NAG) that had desegregated Arlington, Virginia and helped with the Hi-Boy restaurant in Rockville, Maryland. They were also picketing Glen Echo amusement park in Maryland at the time.

Counter-demonstrators in the background are picketing to keep the theater all-white. The sign that is visible reads, “Free Enterprise, Not Socialism.”

The theater was believed at the time to be the only one in Montgomery County that barred African Americans. Longtime owner John Hiser sold the theater in September 1960 rather than desegregate. The new owners opened the theater to all.

MarcA

(2,195 posts)

15. Sadly True. A culture/nation that gives a pass to white collar crime and $$$ n/t

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 02:39 PM

Sep 2018

Algernon Moncrieff

(5,790 posts)

16. Guilty

Reply to mia (Original post)

Sat Sep 8, 2018, 03:06 PM

Sep 2018

I don't know what it was, but every white boy (of which I was one) that grew up in places like Catonsville, Columbia, Bethesda, and Silver Spring back in the 70s and 80s claimed to be streetwise beyond all reason based on his visits to the mean streets of Baltimore and/or DC - probably to see the Smithsonian or get food at Harborplace.