Strolling Along Wodmont Avenue in Bethesda

Woodmont Avenue is a major thoroughfare in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. The area around the intersection of Woodmont with Betheda Avenue is especially appealing to residents and visitors alike. Not only is there a large Barnes & Noble bookstore (which effectively serves to anchor the area), there are many good restaurants, coffee bars, boutiques and other shops in the area. During spring, summer and fall, the place is alive with people and bustling with activity.

Many congregate in front of Barnes & Noble, where there’s a water fountain. While it’s nowhere near as grand as Rome’s Trevi Fountain, the fountain holds the same type of charm and appeal. In fact, people toss coins into this fountain, even though there’s no belief that by doing so, it guarantees a person of coming back to Bethesda. (As you’ll recall, from having seen the movie Three Coins in the Fountain , tossing coins in the Trevi Fountain supposedly means a person will return to Rome.)

On Saturdays and Sundays especially, people of all ages gather around the fountain to socialize and enjoy the warm, pleasant weather. The scene is faintly reminiscent of what travelers see when they journeyl to Italy, for example, and observe people gathering in piazzas to enjoy each other’s company. The activity around the fountain–mothers minding small children at play, individuals reading newspapers, others conversing and laughing together, etc.–is not the only European-like aspect of Wodmont Avenue.

A slew of restaurants offer sidewalk seating, both on Woodmont and on Bethesda Avenue. The developer responsible for reinvigorating this neighborhood purposefully designed wide sidewalks so that restaurant and cafe diners could view passersby as they ate and drank. People watching is as popular here as it is in Parisian sidewalk cafes. Thus, Jaleo, Cosi, Deli Dhaba, Levante’s, Austin Grill, Centro, Mon Ami Gaby, Chicken Rotisserie, and Cafe Deluxe, to name just a few, offer outdoor seating when the weather is nice. With all the umbrella-covered tables visible along the street, one could easily believe himself to be in a European locale, as opposed to one in a suburb of Wasington, D.C.

From time to time, the Woodmont/Bethesda Avenues intersection is also the site of street fairs. With the streets cordoned off to traffic, artists and craftsmen or restaurants, delis and cafes operate booths, putting their wares on display for the public at large. Usually the street fairs run all day long (in most cases on a Saturday or a Sunday, and sometimes on both days) and draw large crowds.

In many instances, musical groups are brought in to provide live entertainment. They usually mount a platfrom which can be seen from up and down the avenues. Depending upon the amplification systems they employ, they can be heard far afield, as well.

Also contributing to the European ambiance of the area is the slate of foreign films being continually shown at the Landmark Theatre (which is across the street from Barnes & Noble). Many of the films shown in the theatre are European in origin. Yes, they appear with subtitles, but that doesn’t diminish their popularity with moviegoers. Many times on the weekend, the evening shows of movies are completely sold out.

Bethesda, thanks to such areas as the Woodmont/Bethesda Avenues intersection, with its appealing atmosphere, ranks as one of the most desirable areas to live in the Washington, D.C. metro area.