Northeast:
I have to admit that, most of the time, when I'm in NE, it's to go to someone's
house or just passing thru. It's mostly residential and there aren't that many
clubs. That's why I'm writing it up as an entire quadrant and not dividing it
neighborhood by neighborhood. However, Northeast is one of the most important
areas musically because it is the physical and spiritual home of go-go, DC's own
home-grown soundtrack. True go-go heads come here to see live bands like Backyard
and Northeast Groovers at such venues as Deno's, The Icebox, and the Black Hole.
Another thing worth mentioning in NE is Union Station, which is a great place
to eat lunch or dinner, catch Amtrak, do some light shopping, and make fun of
tourists. During summer afternoons, when thousands of people crowd this beautiful
building, you can hear at least a dozen languages swirling around you and catch
sight of large contingents of boy scouts, businessmen, and international students
taking a break from their busy convention schedules. Many neighborhoods here are
middle-class, well-kept, and quiet.
U
street / shaw:
Once upon a time, U Street was the heart of DC's African-American
community. Then came the riots of the late 1960s and residents and businesses
left in droves. Lately, though, it has been undergoing a revival and has become
one of the best club districts in the city, although, unfortunately, there seems
to be a huge black/ non-black divide between who goes to what clubs. One club,
however, that attracts a good mix is State of the Union, which is particularly
live on Sunday nights, when Sam "The Man" Burns spins house for some of the most
skilled dancers in the city. Some other clubs worth mentioning are Republic Gardens,
a favorite hangout of well-to-do young African-Americans and home of, supposedly,
the best-dressed crowd in town, and the Black Cat, one of it's most famous rock
clubs. Also in the vicinity are the 9:30 club, which attracts a diverse array
of national music acts and 11th Hour, a dressy, international club which features,
among other things, Swing music. One of the most famous landmarks on U is Ben's
Chili Bowl, a restaurant which has been in business since the '50s and is a good
place to get some late-night eats.
Downtown:
There is an Old Downtown and a New Downtown, and I always get confused as to where
one starts and the other ends, but, basically, both Downtown span roughly between
6th and 15th Streets and E and K Streets NW. It has often been said that Downtown
doesn't have much flavor, and that's pretty true, day or night. This may be changing,
though, because Downtown, like U Street, is undergoing a particularly vigorous
phase of urban renewal, which includes apartment complexes, movie theatres, retail,
and restaurants, most of which haven't been built YET. The catalyst for this renewal
was the massive MCI Center, bordering Chinatown. And, a great number of clubs
are clustered close to it. The Bank and Casbah sit side by side and feature a
mostly International crowd on all nights (as far as I know the heavily African-American
Sunday hip-hop night is defunct????). DC's two largest hip-hop clubs, The Ritz
and the colossal DC Live are right around the corner from one another. Other clubs
here include the dressy, Brazilian-themed joint, Coco Loco, and Retro-happy Polly
Esther's. There's even a club/restaurant IN MCI center called the Velocity Grill.
As you move further up in letters and numbers, you'll run into Zei Alley (closed),
which is the home to International favorites such as Zei and Spy (closed) as well
as Danko (closed) . Another international favorite, Diva, is nearby also. During
the day, there are a few shops worth popping into, such as the Warner Bros. store
and the Sports store and Museum at MCI, as well as such American-fare restaurants
as Planet Hollywood and TGI Friday's, but, at night, there is nowhere to go when
the munchies strike and that really sucks! For an area with so many clubs, it
continually disappoints me that no late-night diners or even fast-food places
have open doors past midnight here. For the most part, Dowtown is safe, day or
night, but, watch out for the homeless because they seem to be more aggressive
and more disturbed here than anywhere else. I feel for the homeless, but, I also
know that, while most are harmless, a few are drunk, desperate, and/or severely
mentally ill, so, watch your back. Another note to make is that this area is generally
shuts down at 3:30 and deserted by 4, so, if you're coming from the 'burbs and
haven't left the house by 1, don't even bother.
Midtown:
Dupont Circle and vicinity are also referred to as being in mid-town, but, that
area has it's own character and life, so, the area I'm referring to here generally
includes the small area between 16th and 22nd Streets and L and N Streets, NW.
This area used to include the old Cellar, which has now, as far as I know, relocated
to Georgetown. Across the street from Cellar is a restaurant called Red Tomato,
which, according to Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa in his rather offensive "I'm Okay,
Eurotrash" CityPaper article, is popular with the international crowd. Also in
the vicinity are New Orleans- themed club, Lulus and college-crowd dive, Odds.
As far as I know, aside from Red Tomato, there isn't much in the way of eating
around here, and certainly not after-hours. There isn't any shopping of note,
either. Also, much like downtown, this part of midtown lacks flavor and is dead
after 3.
Dupont
circle and vicinity:
Ahhhh, Dupont Circle, I got nothin' but love for
ya, baby! The circle is perhaps Washington's true urban heart. It is one of the
only places in DC where, day or night, one truly feels as if he/she is in a city
and not in a tourist trap or snob parade. Here people just go about their business:
they shop, they walk, they eat, they ride bicycles, they play chess, and they
hang out. And, Dupont is perhaps more enjoyable by day, when a greater number
of stores and restaurants are open. Connecticut Avenue is particularly heavy with
shops n' eats, including the all-night Kramerbooks/Afterwards restaurant/bookstore,
which has some tasty food. One of my favorite shops in the city is the 12" Dance
Records store on P St. It's a small joint, but, they carry some rare compilations,
as well as any dance-related single you could want. The fact that the majority
of the store is filled up with actual records (those round, black things, remember?)
makes it perfect for DJs, many of whom have worked or still work there, including
Club Heaven's DJ Yiannis and State of the Union's Sam "The Man" Burns. Also on
or near the Circle are Beadazzled, a store that sells more equipment for making
your own jewelry than I've ever seen before, Ginza, an Asian-ran-and-themed shop
which carries really cool knicknacks, statues, and plug-in waterfall thingys,
and a number of gay and lesbian-themed shops. If there's two things people in
the Dupont Circle neighborhood LOVE to do, though, it is drink coffee and read
because there are more coffee shops and bookstores here than you can shake a stick
at, including at LEAST 3 Starbucks and a huge Super Crown. Oh, and if you're hungry,
come here, too, because there are a billion restaurants, ranging from cheap to
tony. There's an especially good selection on the Asian tip, including Cafe Japone
and City Lights of China. Though I like it better during the day, Dupont is also
live at night. Restaurants stay open fairly late- some all night and there are
a number of clubs and bars, including the Circle, one of the city's most popular
gay clubs and Brickskellar, which offers more than 800 different types of beer.
Just South of the Circle proper, at the crossroads of Connecticut, Jefferson,
and 18th NW is a small, mostly house-oriented club district, which includes Red,
18th Street Lounge, Ozone (which may be under a different name now), and Lucky
Bar. Fairly out-of-place here, though, is the restaurant/International club, Sesto
Senso because most clubs here attract a trendy and well-dressed, yet more heavily
underground and American crowd. There are also a couple of movie theatres for
those cinematically inclined. Unlike in most parts of DC, a colorful crowd shows
up here at night. Dupont's strong link to the gay community means lots boy-boy
and girl-girl public displays of affection (though not as often as in SE!) and
a number of punk types hang out here, too. And, the Circle is not white nor black
nor Asian nor Hispanic, its everyone and everything.
Adams
morgan:
Performing double duty as an Ethiopian/Central American ethnic
enclave and a hip, noisy bar and restaraunt district, Adams-Morgan is one of the
most colorful, diverse, and lively places in DC. Go there during the day and you'll
find a quaint, laid-back atmosphere and a collection of decidedly downscale businesses:
check cashing stops, beer and wine stores, small markets, and hole-in-the-wall
Latin takeout and pizza joints. Go there at night and find one of the city's busiest
nightlife centers. Perhaps the best thing about Adams-Morgan is the food. Choices
abound here- from the aforementioned takeouts and pizza places to the critically
acclaimed Ethiopian restaraunt, Meskerem. There is even a restaraunt on the middle-level
of one of the neighborhood's most well-known dance bars, Heaven and Hell. Some
people refer to it as Purgatory! Of course, bars are the other big business in
Adams-Morgan. In this area, too, there is plenty to choose from: Heaven and Hell,
Crush, Madam's Organ, Felix, Cities, and many others. At these bars, you can hear
anything from Top 40 or house music DJs to live Jazz. Many of the restaraunts
also feature a live band from time to time- so, you can groove while you eat!
Whereas Georgetown and midtown tend to attract a large military and frat boy crowd,
Adams-Morgan gets more yuppies and trendies. It's the place to be if you are looking
for casual while trying to avoid trashy or for mainstream while trying to avoid
tourists. Adams-Morgan is not a shopping district like Georgetown or Dupont, but,
there are a few stores worth popping into, such as the Up Against the Wall warehouse
for discounted rave and hip-hop gear and the shoe store Shake Your Booty.
DUPONT CIRCLE
Out of
any neighborhood in DC, Dupont Circle and vicinity has, probably, the most urban
vibe. Unlike other busy areas like Downtown and Georgetown, Dupont is filled with
more locals rather leisurely going about their business than tourists or suits
speed walking from their offices to catch the Metro. In the circle itself, one
can find a diverse group of people simply chilling at all hours of the day and
night. This group includes everyone from old men playing chess to youths hanging
out with their friends, to crackheads looking for their next rock. Radiating out
from the Circle and in the area within a few blocks of it are a group of streets
with a wide variety of food, shopping, and entertainment choices. P Street and
Conneticut Avenue are particulary thick with businesses. 12 Inch Dance Records
on P is a good place to find rare dance singles and compilation disks, as well
as a sizeable collection of vinyl. As the place is run by DJs, on any given day
you might walk in and have Sam Burns or DJ Yiannis, two of the best local talents,
ring you up! Walk further down P and you will find Soho Tea and Coffee, where
all the party kids hang out. Tuesday nights there are like a club on the corner,
as dozens of young ravers and trendies split their time between Soho and nextdoor
neighbor, Bandlands' free college night. If there are two things people in Dupont
like to do, it's drink coffee and read. In addition to Soho, there is Xando and
at least two Starbucks'. Sitting on the Circle is a SuperCrown bookstore and there
are many other places to get literate, including Second Story Books and Kramerbooks
and Afterwords Cafe. Kramer's also has some of the neighborhoods best food. I
would reccomend their Oaxaca Pizza or garlic mashed potatoes. Yum! Indeed, Dupont
has many restaraunts, particularly on the Asian tip, including City Lights of
China and Cafe Japone. Dupont Circle is one of America's most famous gay meccas,
so, there is a definite homosexual business presence, especially along 17th Street.
There are several gay bars in the area, including Badlands, Chaos, Mr. P's, and
Omega. And, of course, there are lots of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders
to keep those businesses running.
DUPONT SOUTH
Just South of the immediate Dupont Circle area, at the crossroads of Conneticut
Avenue and 18th Street, is a smaller nightlife district that is different enough
from its neighbor to deserve recognition on its own. Dupont South should be called
Trendytown. With sushi restaraunt Dragonfly, chill-out joint 18th Street Lounge
(home of DC's only true exclusionary door policy), upscale club-restaraunt 1223,Euro
favorite Sesto Senso, and subterranean deep house club Red all on the same tiny
stretch of road, this neighborhood probably contains more slicked back hair, little
black dresses, and inflated egos per square foot than any other in the city. Unlike
Dupont itself, the clubs here are mostly straight- at least since Ozone disappeared
to be replaced by Alcatraz some two years ago or so.
Georgetown:
Georgetown is, perhaps, Washington's most famous and completely overrated 'hood.
I will give Georgetown its props that it is good during the day. There's good
shopping to be found at the heart (Wisconsin Ave. and M St NW), with Betsey Johnson,
Banana Republic, Gap, Urban Outfitters, and many more, as well as in the drop-dead
gorgeous Georgetown Park Mall. There's also good food to be found at such Restaurants
as Paolo's, Samurai, J. Paul's, Graffiti, and Pizzeria Uno. While the bars of
Georgetown (and they are pretty much ALL bars, not clubs) are dead by 3, there
are several places for late night eats, including the Subway near SportsFans,
Au Pied de Cochon, and the Georgetown Cafe. Au Pied de Cochon is probably your
best bet if you don't mind the 20-minute wait. A lot of bizarre people show up
there after 3 a.m. One weekend, there was a man in a cow-print fur coat and matching
top-hat, another an old man who kept circling the joint with toilet paper stuck
to his shoe, and yet another, a very drunk girl who gave an impromptu strip show
on top of the bar! As for the bars, if you're into really trashed frat boys and
Marines and Baltimore-type girls (I hate to be offensive, but, y'all know what
I mean) with big hair and tight jeans, Georgetown bars are for you, especially
SportsFans. Personally, I have a better time walking through some of the neighborhoods
around the Wisconsin/M strip and picking out houses I want, but, will never be
able to afford than going to Georgetown joints. The only problem with Georgetown
during the day that doesn't occur so much at night is the fact that Georgetown,
because it is very upscale, is a particularly snobby part of town and if you don't
like snobs, you probably won't like many of the people in Georgetown. On the upside,
Georgetown is probably the safest neighborhood in DC; the kind of place your parents
will readily approve of you being at any hour of the day or night. Its also one
of the few non-mall places tourists hang out. It is quaint and pretty, but, it,
like Downtown and Midtown, lacks any noticeable flavor.
Upper
northwest:
Upper Northwest, which basically includes the long strip of
shops and businesses along Wisconsin Ave. from just above Georgetown to the Maryland
border should, in many places, be referred to as UpSCALE Northwest, because here
lies some very expensive shopping. Concentrated on a strip in the Friendship Heights/Chevy
Chase neighborhoods are Tiffany, Cartier, Saks 5th Avenue, Saks Jandel, Versace,
Gianfranco Ferre, and more, as well as the ritzy Mazza Gallerie and Chevy Chase
Pavillion malls. A number of radio and TV stations are also located here, including
Fox 5 and Mix 107.3. There are also many places to eat along the strip, from cheap
to expensive. The Wisconsin strip, it seems, has more movie theatres than any
other in DC, a city sorely lacking in screens (Well, until the 23-screen movie
wonderland moves into downtown). Let me make this clear, though, there's a lot
of stuff in Upper NW, but, not a lot of bars or clubs. It's mainly a restaurant/shopping/media
district, which means everything closes down by 1 or so.
Capitol
hill / navy yard:
Finally, this is the last neighborhood up for analysis
and it is probably the best CLUB district in town. Capitol Hill/Navy Yard can
pretty much be split up into two close-by, but distinctive districts: The Capitol
Hill bar area, the heart of which is Pennsylvania Avenue SE and the Club district
roughly between 1/2 and First Streets and L and M Streets SE, near the Navy Yard.
The bars on the Hill, which include Politiki, Hawk N' Dove, Tune Inn, and Zack's,
cater to a largely mid-20s to mid-30s government worker crowd that tends to come
here from nearby neighborhoods. The clubs near the Navy Yard, however, are a diverse
lot that attract a racially and sexual-preference heterogeneous crowd from all
over the DC area. Nation, on 1/2 Street is a humongous concert venue that turns
into a universe of youngish (16-24) raver-types for Friday night Buzz parties.
Mirage, nearby, is a predominantly African-American establishment which features
live dancers of both sexes many nights. Wet, I don't know much about, but, apparently
is a pretty much exclusively gay club. The Edge is predominantly gay, too, but
attracts a smattering of straight types on some nights who come to enjoy the good
music. And, then, there's the granddaddy of them all: Tracks 2000, a mammoth club
that has been around forever and, because of its enduring popularity with ravers,
pretty boys, lesbians, drag queens, goths, coke and ecstasy lovers, and house
and disco heads of all stripes, will probably never go away. It is the different
character and intermixing of the crowds of each of these spots that makes Southeast
so much fun. It is here and not anywhere else, not even in Dupont, that you can
truly let your hair down, take your clothes off, and get wild. Due to the area's
isolation and probably due to the fact that there wouldn't be much business during
the day, there is no shopping and very few restaurants here. There exist only
a couple of fast food joints on South Capitol Street and I'm not sure how late
they're open. Part of the allure of the Capitol Hill/Navy Yard zone is the perceived
danger involved. Make no mistake about it, these are dark, desolate neighborhoods
that you wouldn't want to be in alone at night. The problem is, when people hear
the description Southeast, they think of Anacostia and assume terrible things
are sure to happen. Wrong. This is on the North side of the Anacostia river and,
although it is shady, it's certainly not the worst area in the city. Just make
sure to absolutely lock your doors whenever you leave your car and bring along
at least one other person to walk with you (regardless of what sex you are) and
you'll be fine. Don't believe the hype. |
