Vienna, Virginia is a small town of 16,285 that has ranked as an impressive third best place to live in all of the United States in the most recent CNN Money and Money magazine list of the “100 Best Places to Live in the United States.” The city is located in Piedmont region of the state about five miles southwest of the Potomac River. It is just twelve mile west of Washington, D.C so it is a popular commuter “bedroom” community that offers pastoral, quite living outside the big city.
Vienna is famous for being the home of the School of Rock; a musical boot camp for kids. It is also very near the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. This is a former farm that offers all kinds of events to people in the area as well as an recognized college internship and an outdoor children’s theater company called Theatre in the Woods. There is also a very famous music club and coffee bar in Vienna called the Jammin’ Java that has historically featured many famous acts.
It is also home to Meadowlark Botanical gardens that boasts a real Japanese tea garden with rare cherry blossom trees as well many native flora and fauna collections. CNN Money rated it highly because of its walkability factor and unique businesses. The town also boasts a 45-mile bike path and park built on the track bed of a former railroad.
It is also green town with many energy saving initiatives and laws. Be prepared to reduce, reuse and recycle if you live here. Many of the homes, both old and new, tend to be outfitted with the latest energy saving technology.
The homes themselves tend to be huge and a quite new and made out of stone or brick. Many are built in retro Craftsman or Victorian styles. There are also quite a few post-modern homes from the eighties and nineties in the area as well.
Of course, the more wonderful an area is, the more it might cost to live there and that is certainly true of Vienna. Be prepared to pay quite high prices for real estate; the property taxes are among the highest in the entire country. The average listing price for a home as of November 13, 2013 is $1,062,198. There are not many bargains or short-sales to be had as there was only eighteen homes in foreclosure proceedings that week. Housing prices here have also risen 10.8% since the fall of last year with the average price per square foot being $368.
There are not many gay bars in Vienna, which is mostly a family-oriented community. However, there are a ton of gay haunts just across the Potomac in Washington, D.C. Most are only about 11 miles away. These include the dive bar Fireplace, the karaoke bar Freddie’s, the friendly Fab Lounge, the cozy Ditto’s Bar and the people-watching patio at Jack’s.
For more information about the attractions and economy in Vienna visit the website of the chamber of commerce at www.viennava.gov.
