NoMa

Stretching from Union Station to the south and Q and R streets NE to the north, the rapidly developing area takes its name from its location north of Massachusetts Avenue NE.

t is best known as a transportation hub and the home of Union Market, a restored grocery and specialty food hall that’s at the epicenter of DC’s gourmet scene. It’s also home to Gallaudet University, the nation’s first college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and National Public Radio.

Union Market, located in a restored, mid-century food hall, caters to couples, kids and chefs with its mix of restaurants, kitchen supply retailers and gourmet shops selling spices, meat and such. Creative businesses have popped up in the industrial zone surrounding the market, too, including an Angelika movie theater, Masseria, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant from chef Nicholas Stefanelli, and La Cosecha, contemporary Latin American marketplace. For International Women’s Day in 2015, LA-based graffiti artist Mr. Brainwash created a heart-filled mural at Union Market that has quickly become one of the neighborhood’s most Instagramable images.

Shops and restaurants have continued to redevelop historic buildings and push northeast through the NoMa neighborhood and across the border into Ivy City which has itself become home to distilleries, acclaimed restaurants and much more. The Uline Arena, a barrel-vaulted brick building that hosted the Beatles first U.S. concert now holds a flagship REI store and Red Bear Brewing Co., the District’s only 100 percent gay-owned brewery. The second-busiest Amtrak hub in the nation, Union Station is situated along Massachusetts Avenue NE. With shopping, restaurants and tours galore, Union Station is a good first stop on your trip to the NoMa neighborhood. You can also find Capital Bikeshare stations near NoMa, or hop on the eight-mile-long Metropolitan Branch Trail here, which goes all the way to Silver Spring, Md.