202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.WASHINGTON AFTER-HOURS USED TO BE AN OXYMORON. Public transportation set its clock by the bureaucracy, commuters had too far to go (and come back the next morning) to stay out late, and big expense-account money was lavished on restaurants and buddy bars. Besides, Washingtonians suffered from a persistent cultural inferiority complex that had them running to buy tickets to see touring theatrical companies while not-so-benignly neglecting homegrown troupes.
Nowadays, though, the joke about Washington nightlife being an oxymoron is just that: a joke. It’s not that there’s too little nightlife around, it’s that there’s too much. Washington is a hodgepodge of big-city bustlers, bureaucrats, yuppies, journalists, diplomats, artists, immigrants, CEOs, and college students; and the fact that many of these groups overlap, and others evolve, means you can dabble in a little of everything.
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Drinking and dining are major elements of nightlife culture these days; check the “best” lists and neighborhood descriptions in Part Six: Dining and Restaurants as well.
Washington’s legitimate theatrical community is underestimated but excellent—and it’s booming, both physically and intellectually. The expansions of Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, and most impressively, Arena Stage, plus the opening of the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, and other multispace performance venues, has established Washington as one of the country’s premiere arts centers.
And nightclubs come in as many flavors as their patrons: dance halls, live-music venues, comedy showcases, salsa bars, specialty bars, sports bars, billiard bars, espresso bars, gay bars, strip bars, singles scenes … you could look it up.
Just in the last couple of years, a kind of nightclub renaissance has revitalized whole neighborhoods, a shift that has been particularly visible in areas that once were nearly deserted after rush hour, or at least after cocktail hour. The H Street NE neighborhood between 12th and 15th Streets, famously hard-hit by riots after the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and left desolate for nearly 30 years thereafter, has become one of the most idiosyncratic and entertaining nightlife areas in town, nicknamed the Atlas District after the restored cinema–turned–performing arts center. The U Street/Mid City corridor centered on 14th and U Streets NW has become a lively restaurant and socializing center. Because Penn Quarter is the hottest dining/drinking neighborhood in the area, and because the Verizon Center sports and concert arena is smack dab in the middle of it, it’s also a late-night celeb-spotting scene. Adams Morgan may be less exuberant than the intentionally show-stopping Atlas District, but it still has a major after-dark vibe. And even though Georgetown isn’t much of a live-venue center anymore, it still has a few draws for night owls. See more information on all these areas on the following pages.
WASHINGTON BOASTS MORE THAN A DOZEN major theatrical venues—not even counting the Kennedy Center’s eight venues separately—and a wealth of smaller residential and repertory companies, university theaters, and small special-interest venues for itinerant troupes. The “big six” are where national touring companies, classical musicians, and celebrity productions are most apt to show up, with the most complete handicapped accessibility (and arguably the most accessible websites as well).
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If you are considering taking a (free) tour of the Kennedy Center, wait until later in the afternoon and stick around for the (also free) Millennium Stage show.
On any given night at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, you might see the resident National Symphony Orchestra in the 2,500-seat Concert Hall; a straight drama or classic farce in the 1,100-seat Eisenhower Theater; and a Broadway musical, Kabuki spectacular, or big-name ballet company in the 2,300-seat Opera House—that is, when the Washington Opera is not in residence. Philip Johnson’s steeply canted and gracious Terrace Theater, a gift from the nation of Japan, houses experimental or cult-interest productions, specialty concerts, and showcases; in the Theater Lab, designed to accommodate the avant and cabaret, the semi-improvised murder farce Shear Madness is well into its third decade (and well past its 11,000th performance). KC Jazz Club (actually just the Terrace level gallery, tricked out cabaret style) is open only on weekends but hosts such first-rate groups as the Roy Hargrove Quintet, Chick Corea Trio, and one-chance double-bills such as Branford Marsalis Quartet with the Terrance Blanchard Quintet. And the Family Theater in the lobby level is one of the most up-to-date venues in the complex.
Most remarkable, however, is the Kennedy Center’s gift to music lovers: the free Millennium Stage, which provides national and top local acts in an indoor venue at 6 p.m. every day of the year. The Kennedy Center is at Virginia and New Hampshire Avenues NW, next to the Watergate; the closest subway station is Foggy Bottom, and the center operates a free shuttle from the station. For tickets and information, call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
The other major downtown venues are in or near Penn Quarter and accessible by several Metro stations.
The critically acclaimed Shakespeare Theatre Company moved first from its beloved but cramped home at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill into the 450-seat Lansburgh Theatre on Seventh Street NW, which it still operates, and then migrated to the new multivenue complex, the Sidney Harman Center for the Arts, around the corner on F Street. The new building houses jazz, dance, film, and chamber music, as well as theatrical productions; the Lansburgh houses smaller touring shows or quirkier Shakespeare Company productions. Each season, STC produces four classic plays (three by Shakespeare) and regularly corrals major stage and screen stars to headline. It also puts on another of Washington’s best freebies: the annual Shakespeare “Free for All” series in late August and early September. The Harman Center is across from the Verizon Center and the Gallery Place–Chinatown Metro; the Lansburgh Theatre is just a minute closer to the Archives–Navy Memorial–Penn Quarter stops; for information call 202-547-1122 or 202-638-3863 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.
The National Theatre is a not-for-profit venue but managed by the Shubert Organization, which books its touring Broadway productions there and often uses it for pre-Broadway tryouts. It also offers assorted free programs—Monday night films, Saturday morning family shows, and so on. The National is at 13th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, near the Federal Triangle or Metro Center stations ( 202-628-6161; nationaltheatre.org).
The Warner Theatre, which survived a two-year restoration marathon, is now a rococo delight. Although it is emphasizing more legitimate theatrical bookings and musicals, and is booked by the national powerhouse Live Nation, it still occasionally harkens back to the days when it was one of the best small-concert venues for popular music (the Rolling Stones played a surprise show here in the late 1970s, and the reclusive Brian Wilson chose the Warner for his Smile and final Pet Sounds tours) or big-name comedians. The Warner is at 13th and E Streets NW, near Federal Triangle or Metro Center ( 202-783-4000; warnertheatredc.com).
And Ford’s Theatre, where the balcony box in which Abraham Lincoln was shot remains draped in black (and spectrally inhabited, according to rumor), has emerged from a $9-million renovation with state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment and a museum in the basement. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol, which ranges from very traditional to extremely spectral, is a local tradition; on 10th Street NW between E and F Streets; Ford’s is near several subway stops on various lines ( 202-347-4833; fordstheatre.org).
(Double your fun: See profiles of the Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, and the Folger Shakespeare Library—which also still mounts Shakespeare plays in its Globe-inspired stage—in Part Five: Sightseeing Tips, Tours, and Attractions.)
It’s not of the same size or profile, but the long-itinerant but undiminished “new theater” Woolly Mammoth, which has won more than two dozen Helen Hayes Awards, many for premiering new works, now has a 265-seat courtyard-style venue near the Lansburgh at Seventh and D Streets NW ( 202-393-3939; woollymammoth.net). And the restored Historic Sixth and I Street (NW) Synagogue has begun offering a wide array of music—Clannad, Béla Fleck, Kathy Mattea, Suzanne Vega, etc. ( 202-408-3100; sixthandi.org).
Several of Washington’s smaller, special-interest theaters are clustered around the revitalized Mid City/Logan Circle neighborhood, not a long walk from the Dupont Circle Metro. The most important is Studio Theatre (14th and P Streets NW; studiotheatre.org), which a few years ago unveiled a three-stage expansion (when we say the theater scene in Washington is expanding, we’re not joking; see Arena Stage, on the next page). What was the home of Source Theatre at 14th and R is now home base to several small troupes, including Washington Improv Theater and the Constellation Theatre Company (sourcefestival.org).
The Keegan Theatre, which specializes in American and Irish plays, has grown from a basement ensemble to having a permanent home at the 115-seat Church Street Theatre (1743 Church Street NW; keegantheatre.com). Among other niche-specific troupes are Theater J, a few blocks away at 16th and Q Streets NW (washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/theater-j); and the 35-year-old Spanish-language (with subtitles) GALA Hispanic Theater, in the beautifully restored 270-seat Tivoli Theater at 14th Street NW and Park Road, two blocks north of the Columbia Heights Metro (galatheatre.org).
A little farther north in Mid City along the U Street corridor is the revitalized Lincoln Theatre (thelincolndc.com), across the street from the U Street-African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo Metro. This 1922 beauty, once the heart of the “Black Broadway” neighborhood, now hosts a range of theatrical productions (including some pre-Broadway tryouts) and concerts; it’s also a major venue for the annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in June. A short walk east at 620 T Street is the even more recently restored, and equally venerable, Howard Theatre (thehowardtheatre.com), which adds a restaurant to its concert attractions (Lalah Hathaway, Gato Barbieri, Kelly Rowland, Bettye LaVette, and more) along with a Sunday gospel brunch.
Though not directly accessible by Metro, the multistage Atlas Performing Arts Center, a restored Deco movie theater, is an easy free trolley ride away (from Gallery Place–Chinatown or Union Station). The Atlas acts as home base for the Washington Savoyards (a Gilbert & Sullivan troupe), the African Continuum Theatre, the Capital City Symphony, Joy of Motion Dance Theatre, Scena Theatre, and several other community arts groups (14th and H Streets NE; atlasarts.org).
The biggest excitement in recent Washington theater circles was the late-2010 opening of the soaring and state-of-the-art Arena Stage, formally known as the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for the American Theater. Already one of the country’s most influential theaters, founded 60 years ago as a haven for the preservation and encouragement of American theater, Arena has emerged from the 2½-year, $135-million reconstruction—renovation is too small a word—as a towering, 200,000-square-foot glass-and-concrete vessel, the largest performing arts center in the region since the Kennedy Center. In fact, it’s expected to revitalize not only the theater scene but also the entire Southwest sector.
The new Arena, which is more than twice the size of the old, has three venues: the 500-seat Kreeger Theater; the 680-seat Fichandler Stage, which was the original Arena Stage and which has been embedded in the new design; and the completely new, 200-seat Kogod Cradle, which is like a chambered nautilus, with a semicircular entrance ramp on the outside and a slat-sided “basket” of a stage within. Designed by Bing Thom, the complex includes bars and an upscale café, catered by local star José Andrés; glass walls, wood columns, sloping floors, and long steel elbow bars; a rock garden, lots of overhung walkways, and mysterious vistas. The inaugural schedule included Oklahoma, the world premiere of every tongue confess with Phylicia Rashad, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (part of an Edward Albee festival), The Arabian Nights, visiting productions by Anna Deavere Smith and others, and a version of John Grisham’s A Time to Kill.
Arena Stage is only a couple of blocks from the Waterfront-SEU Metro stop. The entire stretch of the waterfront in that area, with Arena as the catalyst, is being redeveloped with hotels and apartment buildings, a marina, and more transportation options. Visit arenastage.org for more information.
As dominant as the downtown theatrical scene may seem, the suburbs on all sides of the District have more opportunities than we can list here. Check the “Guide to the Lively Arts” in The Washington Post Friday “Weekend” section or the free City Paper, but here are some of the most important.
In the past few years, a number of impressive performance venues have been developed in the Maryland suburbs, several accessible by subway. One of the most popular is the Music Center at Strathmore Hall in North Bethesda, which, happily for tourists, has a dedicated pedestrian overpass from the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro station. A beautiful blond-wood space with comfortable chairs and first-rate acoustics, it seats 2,000, books national classical and pop singers, visiting symphony orchestras, and folk and blues society shows. The original Strathmore Hall Mansion hosts tea-time concerts (harp, Japanese koto, violin) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as summertime concerts and family films on the lawn; it also has art galleries and crafts shows. For information on programming, visit strathmore.org.
In addition, Maryland now boasts one of the area’s most impressive performance arts complexes. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland, offers almost as many venues as the Kennedy Center (and in several cases, even more cutting-edge acoustical and recording technology): the 1,100-seat Dekelboum Concert Hall, with its modern-Gothic arches and choral loft; the 180-seat Dance Theatre; the 650-seat proscenium Kay Theatre; the 300-seat Gildenhorn Recital Hall; the intimate 100-seat Cafritz Foundation Theatre; and the 200-seat “black box”–style Kogod Theatre, named for the same amazing arts patrons as the Kogod Cradle at Arena Stage and the courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery–smithsonian American Art Museum. Smith Center offerings have ranged from Chinese opera and the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra to Phillip Glass and Laurie Anderson, Liz Lerman Dance Company and Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Kronos Quartet, and the Abbey Theatre—plus productions featuring the university’s dance, music, theater, and voice departments. It also plays host to several national and international competitions every year. The Clarice Smith Center is at University Boulevard and Stadium Drive in College Park; you can take the Green Line Metro to the College Park station and take one of two free shuttles to the Stamp Student Union or the campus “Circuit” shuttle directly to the complex (claricesmithcenter.umd.edu).
Closer in, and also Metro accessible, is the Round House Theatre on East-West Highway across from the Bethesda Metro station (roundhousetheatre.org). Round House mounts a mix of family, experimental, classic, and premiere productions. Just a bit farther from the Bethesda Metro, a 10-minute walk at most, is one of the area’s most important children’s and family theaters, Imagination Stage, which began as a school for the performing arts and moved into its two-stage complex, with rehearsal and classroom space, in 2003 (imaginationstage.org).
And although they require cars (or friends), there are two other prominent venues in Montgomery County. The historic Olney Theatre, on Route 108 in Olney, Maryland, started out in 1938 producing high-quality summer stock (over the years, its marquee has listed Tallulah Bankhead, Lillian Gish, Helen Hayes, Gloria Swanson, Jose Ferrer, Ian McKellan, John Carradine, Carol Channing, Hume Cronyn, and Jessica Tandy); now open year-round, it offers a variety of children’s, classic, touring company, and musical productions, as well as free Shakespeare in the summer (olneytheatre.org). The increasingly popular BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown Town Center (blackrockcenter.org) also has three venues: a 210-seat main stage, a 130-seat dance theater, and an outdoor performance stage for theatrical productions, festivals, concerts, and outdoor family films. Among recent artists booked there are the Marcus Roberts Trio; Alvin Ailey II; the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players; Richie Havens; Janis Ian; top local acts the Nighthawks, Seldom Scene, and Mary Ann Redmond; and indie filmmakers and storytellers.
The Virginia suburbs are equally star-studded. The fascinating Synetic Theater (synetictheater.org), which calls itself “D.C.’s premier physical theater,” rethinks fantastic and often supernatural stories—Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Don Quixote, King Arthur, even Dracula and Frankenstein—as intensely visual dream works mixing ballet, modern dance, artscapes, multimedia, and mime. Its home stage is about a block from the Crystal City Metro; however, it presents some shows at the Lansburgh Theatre downtown.
The newest multispace venue in Virginia is also in Arlington, just over the Potomac in Rosslyn, one block from the Rosslyn Metro station (and in nice weather, not an unpleasant stroll across the Key Bridge from Georgetown). The four-stage Artisphere campus (artisphere.com), in what was the original Newseum, serves as home base to the WSC Avant Bard, an alternative Shakespeare company.
Though not Metro accessible, one of Washington’s most successful companies is Signature Theatre, whose crystalline two-story center launched the redevelopment of the Shirlington Village of Arlington. Signature has sent several of its theatrical productions to Broadway and frequently brings in national names for locally mounted productions of both established and avant-garde theater and cabaret (sig-online.org).
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The bottom line is, always ask if there’s a way to boost your bottom line. What’s to lose?
The Center for the Arts at George Mason University in Fairfax is not Metro accessible, but if you have access to a car, it also hosts opera, jazz, popular music, symphony performances, and so on (cfa.gmu.edu).
THOUGH MANY OF THESE PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTIONS can be pricey and often sell out, there are ways to trim the ticket tab for less popular or longer-running shows. Ticket Place, operated by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, sells half-price tickets (plus a service charge) for some same-day shows and concerts (culturecapital.tix.com).
In addition, several venues, including the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, and Signature Theatre, offer discounts to special groups, typically students (and sometimes teachers), seniors, patrons with disabilities, military, Metro subway patrons, or those willing to stand or stand by. Call the venue’s box office and just say you’re from out of town and don’t really know all the ins and outs of ticket pricing; operators will do the best they can for you. Or check the website for opportunities.
In the meantime, don’t overlook the myriad freebies available, particularly during good weather. In addition to the several mentioned above—the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Free For All” series, the nightly Millennium Stage performances at the Kennedy Center, the National Theater’s Saturday mornings, and so on—several public sites frequently hold concerts of classical, jazz, pop, and folk music, and even some medieval consorts, among them the Washington National Cathedral, National Gallery of Art, and the Library of Congress. For information on these, plus the handful of smaller theaters and itinerant companies, check their websites, or read The Washington Post on Friday or online.
If you are visiting in midsummer, be sure to investigate the Smithsonian’s answer to the Millennium Stage (in terms of gifts to the public): the Folklife Festival, which for two weeks every year, around the last week of June and the first week of July (culminating around the Fourth of July fireworks celebration), celebrates a region of the United States and at least one international culture, complete with all-day live concerts and performances and food demonstrations.
There are several other warm-weather outdoor music venues downtown, including the Woodrow Wilson Plaza at 13th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW; Freedom Plaza at 14th and Penn; and, of course, the Mall, which is the site of many festivals during the year in addition to the Folklife Festival, notably on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day, when the National Symphony Orchestra headlines family concerts.
Not far from the Tenleytown Metro is Fort Reno Park, the highest point in the city and a lookout involved in the only Civil War battle in the District itself. For more than 40 years, it has hosted free summer concerts featuring local indie-rock, punk, and avant-garde bands—inspired in great part by D.C.’s famous Dischord Records (fortreno.com). Also in summertime, Fort Dupont in Anacostia hosts very popular free shows, primarily jazz and R&B and sometimes big-name (Herbie Mann, Wynton Marsalis), that draw up to 20,000 people; it’s not completely Metro-accessible (about a mile from Benning Road), but there are buses.
Washington is also home to another type of free concerts: the armed-services bands. From about Memorial Day to Labor Day, ensembles from the four branches perform Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8 p.m. at the east or west side of the Capitol; Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday at 8 p.m. at various locations, including DAR Constitution Hall; and Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Navy Memorial at 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Programs include patriotic and martial, country, jazz, pop, and some classical music (usarmyband.com). You’re welcome to bring picnic bags, but as with all National Park Service concerts, including the NSO concerts on the Mall, alcohol is not permitted.
WASHINGTON IS A DRAW FOR MUSIC LOVERS of all types, from classical to college-radio rock, indie to outrageous, retro to roots, and from hole-in-the-wall to the Washington Mall. Venues range from a few hundred to a few thousand to super-size sports arenas. D.C. has boasting rights to a number of musical trends of the last few decades, notably go-go and indie/post-hardcore punk (it’s the home of Dischord Records). And while there are obviously commercial interests involved in booking the midsize and larger sites in particular, a lot of the credit for the vital live music scene in the area belongs to the stubborn musicians and underground entrepreneurs who have established venues and support networks for themselves and one another.
As in many big cities, the downtown sports arenas do double duty as mega–rock concert venues, especially the 20,000-plus-seat Verizon Center downtown, home to the Washington Wizards and Mystics NBA and the Capitals NHL teams. As it’s an all-season indoor venue, and has more hookups for lights and tech, that’s where the off-season and theatrically elaborate tours tend to stop: Lady Gaga, Paul Simon, the Police, James Taylor, Carole King, and those orchestral music/light show spectaculars (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Star Wars in concert, Dinosaurs, etc). Verizon Center has its own entrance from the Gallery Place–Chinatown Metro.
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If you intend to book tickets for big shows, don’t be confused by the name of the website; make sure you are dealing directly with the venue whenever possible, not being shuffled onto a secondhand or resale site that will cost more.
Though only partially covered, the 42,000-seat Washington Nationals ballpark, at the Navy Yard Metro, has hosted Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Elton John, and Dave Matthews. (Nats Park is also used for live simulcasts of the Washington Opera.) The old RFK Stadium, at the Stadium-Armory stop, is still used as an occasional entertainment venue: Stone Temple Pilots, the Roots, and various all-day hip-hop and even Irish music festivals play RFK.
More progressive rock acts, which draw strong college and postgrad audiences, tend to be booked into college sports spaces, such as George Washington University’s Smith Center or Georgetown’s Gaston Hall. National acts with midsize audiences—revived rockers (including John Mellencamp and the Allman Brothers), R&B, gospel, soul, and folk—are often booked into the DAR Constitution Hall alongside the Ellipse. And the woods-lined, 3,700-seat Carter-Barron Amphitheatre in Rock Creek Park hosts occasional (and frequently free) gospel, soul, jazz, ska, and R&B concerts in summer, along with some family film nights.
Outside the city are several of the area’s largest venues, which are not so easily accessible but are regular summer commutes for Washingtonians. Perhaps the most sentimentally popular outdoor commercial venue, and the only one with any sort of Metro connection, is the most sophisticated of them: Wolf Trap Farm Park off Route 7 in Vienna, Virginia, which offers almost nightly entertainment—pop, country, jazz and R&B, MOR (middle-of-the-road) rock, and even ballet and Broadway musical tours—and picnicking under the stars during the summer at its Filene Center amphitheater. (It also operates a full-service restaurant.) During the winter season, Wolf Trap shifts to its small (220 seats) but acoustically great Barns—literally two rebuilt vintage barns—which book everything from small opera to the Flying Karamazov Brothers to Chris Smither and American pop songbook historian John Eaton, as well as some of the best local acts. On summer nights, the Metro operates a $3 round-trip shuttle service from the West Falls Church station to the Filene Center, but watch your watch: the return shuttle leaves either 20 minutes after the final curtain or at 11 p.m., whichever is earlier, in order to ensure that riders don’t miss the Metro.
The gorilla in the Beltway backyard is Jiffy Lube Live just off Interstate 66 outside Manassas, Virginia. It’s a surprisingly attractive amphitheater with 10,000 covered seats and lawn seating for another 15,000 people (and parking lots and hillsides for tailgates and picnicking). Operated by Live Nation, the largest promoter in the country, it books the full range of big-ticket acts: Pearl Jam, Tom Petty, Iron Maiden, Rush, Kiss, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Kanye West, and Mary J. Blige. And since Live Nation and Ticketmaster are now one, it’s all booked through Ticketmaster ( 202-397-SEAT; livenation.com).
Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, which also mixes under-cover and lawn seating, has the busiest pop-rock outdoor arena and mixes old-favorite rock and pop tours with younger-draw and cult acts (Virgin Fest, Lilith Fair, Phish, Tom Petty, Snoop Dogg, Norah Jones, Kid Rock, Incubus, Béla Fleck). Keep in mind it is some distance from Washington and can only be reached by car. It’s more likely to have some of the multi-act, all-day festivals, and partly for that reason, perhaps, has upgraded its concessions. MPP, which is booked by locally based IMP Productions, which also owns the prestigious 9:30 club, sells tickets through Ticketfly ( 877-4FLYTIX; ticketfly.com).
The 10,000-seat Patriot Center college arena at George Mason University in Fairfax tends to carry the big-name country concerts, as well as college-draw rock and pop. The adjoining GMU Center for the Arts, described, is a lovely midsize venue for classical and jazz music and drama.
Here we mean the smaller theaters and largest clubs, between, say, 300 and 2,000 seats. As mentioned before, the 1,800-seat Warner Theater still occasionally books musical acts. The Music Center at Strathmore Hall holds nearly 2,000; George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium seats 1,500. Wolf Trap’s cold-weather facility, the Barns, holds nearly 400, but occasionally pulls up the main-floor seats for “dance parties.”
The 9:30 club holds 1,200 (“seats” not being exactly the word); the Birchmere in Alexandria holds about 500; the State Theatre, a renovated movie house in Falls Church, holds about 215 upstairs but has cocktail tables and standing room on the ground floor; and the Hard Rock Café downtown, though primarily a restaurant, can hold 600 for its occasional live-music shows. The Black Cat in Mid City has two stages, the larger holding about 700 and the smaller 200; the Rock & Roll Hotel in the Atlas District holds 400. The largest recent additions to the scene are the recently restored historic Lincoln and Howard Theatres, the Hamilton restaurant–with–musical benefits near Metro Center, and the 2,000-seat Fillmore near the Silver Spring Metro. And the best smaller clubs for seeing national rock, indie, alternative, retro, and almost anything else are Iota in Arlington (capacity about 160) and Jammin’ Java (just under 200) in Vienna, Virginia. (Most of these clubs are profiled on the following pages.) The Old Naval Hospital on Capitol Hill near the Eastern Market Metro has been renovated as a home for art, cultural nonprofits, and special events and is called Hill Center. The newest addition to the music scene is Gypsy Sally’s in Georgetown; see “Nightlife Neighborhoods”.
Jazz has a long history in Washington, and the old “Black Broadway” is a very good place to start. Just along U Street, near the U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo station and the Lincoln Theatre, are several clubs offering jazz nearly every night: Bohemian Caverns, an old revitalized jazz club at 11th and U Streets NW, which also spins occasional funk and go-go dance music; Twins Jazz Lounge at 1344 U Street, which has live jazz every night; and the Howard Theatre, a few blocks away at 620 T Street NW.
While most of the Atlas District along H Street NE is into rock, the nonprofit HR-57 at 14th and Q hosts live jazz jam sessions every Wednesday and Thursday, and on Sunday nights they bring in established and hopeful local musicians as well as established combos. Among other nice and accessible places to hear live jazz and blues are Blues Alley in Georgetown (profiled); Columbia Station and the rootier Madam’s Organ in Adams Morgan (get it?); the Zoo Bar on Connecticut Avenue, a couple of blocks south of the Cleveland Park Metro stop just across from the main gate of the National Zoo; and the New Orleans–vibe Bayou on Pennsylvania Avenue just east of Georgetown.
For R&B and blues, check out the venerable (and authentically worn) Vegas Lounge just off the 14th and P Street strip near Logan Circle.
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Though Washington once claimed to be the bluegrass capital of the country, the bluegrass scene is sadly down to the occasional booking at small or midsize venues.
Irish bars, real or otherwise, do a flourishing business in Washington, with the help of a resident community of performers. Among the Metro-accessible pubs with live music at least a couple of times a week—and preferably at least one fireplace—are the Dubliner on Capitol Hill (see profile) and its near neighbor Kelly’s Irish Times; the two-fisted (we’re talking about the building, not the patrons) Murphy’s Irish Pub near the Woodley Park Metro; Nanny O’Brien’s by the Cleveland Park Metro; and the theatrically “authentic” Fado Irish Pub near the old Chinatown/Gallery Place entrance. Despite its name, and a sophisticated take on Irish fare, Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle in Bethesda has a lineup that includes not just Irish and folk but a wide range of blues, jazz, pop, and rock acts, including Eve’s fave Mary Ann Redmond. In Old Town Alexandria, Murphy’s on King Street has nightly entertainment and a famous fireplace; and among its now less frequent entertainments, Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own, just off King on North Pitt Street, spotlights the city’s famed pipe and drum corps on the first Thursday of the month.
Washington is full of jokes—and that’s the first one. Despite being an unending source of humor for TV talk show hosts and commentators, the nation’s capital itself seems to have a fairly limited tolerance for hearing its own favorite sons (of whichever party) skewered. These days, though several venues have the weekly or monthly stand-up special, the only full-time comedy spot is DC Improv (profiled).
The most loyal opposition is offered by the Capitol Steps, a group of former and current Hill staffers who roast their own hosts by rewriting familiar songs with pun-ishing, though not too pointed, lyrics. The Steps are a popular tourist attraction and perform every Friday and Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW (Federal Triangle).
WASHINGTON IS NOT THE SINGLES CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, but it does have many of the ingredients for a busy meet-market scene: frequent turnovers in power, a dozen colleges and universities, a continual influx of immigrants and corporate hires, conventions, and what is still a strong credit card economy. It’s also one of the country’s most hospitable areas for the LGBT community: According to a 2013 Gallup Poll, fully 10% of D.C. residents identified themselves as among those groups.
As far as single-sex singles are concerned, even the “ordinary” bars around Washington are relatively benign, and since the District has been home to a strong gay community for decades, most nightclubs and bars attract at least a slightly mixed crowd. However, there are many well-established and easily Metro-accessible gay nightspots, especially around Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill. Some of the most popular Dupont Circle spots are Cobalt, JR’s (which has long been known as the “gay Cheers”), the long-burning Fireplace, and the ladies’ choice Phase 1 of Dupont. Around Capitol Hill, check out the original Phase 1 lesbian music and billiards bar, founded in 1970 and now the area’s gay grande dame, so to speak; the primarily black, multilevel dance pad Bachelor’s Mill; and the all-welcome but gay-friendly Mr. Henry’s (where Roberta Flack was discovered) and Banana Café, both with very popular piano bars, all near the Eastern Market and/or Navy Yard Metro.
Even the Convention Center has a handy hangout: the soft-core leather-and-Levi’s DC Eagle, open 365 days a year. See also the description of the Mid City neighborhood at right.
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As many of these dance clubs and bars are open late, make sure you check the Metro schedule if you are using public transportation. Some also have cash-only bars, though likely an ATM as well.
If you can’t dance but hate to eat alone, try Perry’s on Columbia Road off 18th Street in Adams Morgan, home of what must be the most straight-friendly drag brunch ever. Take the in-laws.
Although Washington’s once-famous red light district long since succumbed to redevelopment, there are still a few of the old-fashioned, and Metro-accessible, gentlemen’s clubs downtown, including Archibald’s on K Street just off MacPherson Square; Camelot Show Bar near Farragut North; and the Royal Palace at the north end of Dupont Circle.
And while several nightclubs in the area have weekly or monthly burlesque nights, the only remaining dedicated venue for local B-girls (and boys) is Sax near the Metro Center station. It’s an incredibly rococo Big Easy gilded palace of theatrical temptations. Make sure your credit card is gilded as well.
AS SUGGESTED EARLIER, NIGHTCLUBS AND RESTAURANTS have a tendency to form clusters, which makes cruising or cocktailing relatively easy for visitors. This also means that in general you’ll have plenty of company, and if you’re not in easy reach of the Metro you won’t have much trouble hailing a cab. However, in some cases, it may also mean that the price is tight: The more celebrity-conscious clubs and VIP-wannabe lounges will definitely put a dent in your platinum card. Just make sure you know which bubbly you’re ordering.
In terms of live entertainment, the two brightest strips in Washington are along H Street, in the sometimes rowdy but sweet-tempered Atlas District, and the slightly more sedate U Street/Mid City neighborhood.
As mentioned earlier, the edgy-cum-trendy area around 14th Street and U Street NW, which locals are trying to brand the Mid City neighborhood, has been for the last several years evolving from fly-by-fortnight bars to boutiques that suggest more stability (home decor and accessories, import furniture, etc.) and lots of nightclubs and restaurants. It has one of the greatest concentrations of rooftop bars in the area, and it’s accessible via the U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo Metro, which has entrances at 13th and 10th Streets.
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Although U Street Music Hall’s bars accept credit cards, and you can order tickets online in advance, the on-site box office is cash only—just a reminder that you should check club websites in advance in case of policy issues.
Among the more important musical addresses in Washington are two Mid City attractions, which actually helped launch the neighborhood revival: the 9:30 club (which is actually on V Street) and the Black Cat, both profiled in depth later in the chapter. And, as pointed out above, U Street is the old Black Broadway, and home to a number of everything-old-is-new-again jazz clubs.
At the corner of 11th and U next to Bohemian Caverns is the four-level dance club LIV, which is rarely live but spins a mix of old school, reggae, R&B, and ’80s and ’90s dance pop. Across 11th Street you’ll hit the cavern club-ish U Street Music Hall, a “DJ owned and operated” basement with a 1,200-square-foot, 500-capacity cork dance floor, dueling bars, dark charcoal walls, and two prohibitions: no bottle service and (at least in the blind-your-neighbor sense) no photos.
Other clubs with strong music calendars are the Velvet Lounge near Ninth on U, which is drink-spilling tight downstairs (stand-up bar and DJ) and up (prog-metal, dream-state rock, and indie-lounge rockers squeezed into a living room–size space), and DC9, around the corner on Ninth just below U, a much more upscale and larger space for indie rock and late-night DJs, with a rooftop deck.
But Mid City also has several nightspots with quite different characters.
At the corner of Eighth and U Streets NW is Town Danceboutique, a lighthearted but technically serious two-level, 20,000-square-foot gay club that offers both upscale drag shows and DJs. At the corner of Ninth and U, you’ll find Nellie’s Sports Bar, which may not have been the first gay sports bar in the area, but it’s the most fun, with Tuesday drag bingo, Wednesday “smart-ass trivia,” and weekend back-slapping football on the flat-panel TVs—and a rooftop bar to boot. Black Jack, the mussels and muffuletta bar above Pearl Dive Oyster Bar, manages to squeeze in two bocce courts, complete with “stadium seating.”
At 14th and U is the Jamaica-me-crazy, rum punch, and reggae Patty Boom Boom, with mostly DJs but occasionally live music. And at the far end of the strip past 16th Street is Chi-Cha Lounge, which also deserves some founding-father praise; here the shtick is hookah and South American snacks.
We’ve already pointed out that the cocktails at the Gibson are prime (and pricey), but there are a couple of other just bars worth checking out. Lost Society on 14th is an HGTV addict’s dream of Victorian revival—part steak house, part singles stakeout. The Saloon at 12th and U is famous for its rules: no standing, no TVs, no stool-hogging—in other words, you’re there to enjoy a drink and conversation with your neighbor. Really. You’ll have to climb four stories to get to the roof of Tabaq Bistro between 13th and 14th, but the glassed-in terrace (with retractable roof) has views of the Washington Monument and offers a baker’s dozen martinis to get you back on your feet. (And no, that’s not the only bar in the building.)
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Whether it’s just a way of adding capacity or of encouraging mixing, more and more bars are eliminating seats, and in some cases even tables, so if your shoes are not meant for dancing, you might want to consult with Dr. Scholl’s.
The Atlas District, a three-block stretch of H Street NE centered around the Atlas Performing Arts Center, is without question the quirkiest entertainment district in the Washington area. Bars, dance halls, and restaurants all juggle DJs and games: mini-golf, tabletop shuffleboard, bocce, Skee-Ball, karaoke, dress-up, even the irregular burlesque.
Some of the more irresistible attractions are clustered between 11th and 15th Streets NW (just to get you going). Starting at the 11th Street end, there’s Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar, which looks like a bit of fine New Orleans decadence (if Annie Oakley had run the bar), complete with wrought iron benches, a courtyard fountain, DJs ranging from yacht rock to ’80s alternative—and “Kostume Karaoke” on alternate Wednesdays. In the next block is Vendetta, which has two 25-foot bocce courts and a seasonal Italian menu.
Between 13th and 14th is the H Street Playgroundus maximus, the H Street Country Club, which boasts a two-level, nine-hole adults-only mini-golf course—with miniature D.C. landmarks, including the Lincoln Theatre, a gauntlet of lobbyists, and a graveyard full of zombie presidents among the traps—plus Skee-Ball, shuffleboard, and, logically for H Street, Mexican food. The nearby Star and Shamrock, as the name suggests, is sort of a retirement home joke setup: a combination Jewish deli and Guinness-Harp pub with bingo and trivia nights.
Up from that is the Rock & Roll Hotel, a onetime funeral home renovated not as an overnighter but as a midsize (capacity 400) rock venue with VIP suites and pool tables upstairs. This is another gamesters’ hangout: to stay in the Friday night spelling bee, you have to down a brew or a shot between rounds. And then there’s the Biergarten Haus, which can make space for 300 mug-huggers and pig-roast pickers in the (obviously) beer garden at long wooden tables amid the odd strolling accordion players and tuba bands. And trivia. The rest of it looks like an Alpine lodge, more or less.
Cross 14th Street and you can play pool, Foosball, or “booze clues” trivia at the pub Argonaut. (If you’re afraid of dogs, duck Saturday afternoons: It’s mutts happy hour on the patio.) It’s also one of the area’s last havens of bluegrass, on Thursday nights.
It’s reasonably calm by day—when you can easily see the building-side murals that are one of its hallmarks—but by night, Adams Morgan is a combination carnival midway and meet-market madhouse, and there’s no way tourists, or even locals, can hit more than a few of its popular lounges in one visit. (Weekends after midnight, you’d be lucky to find room to move, even down the middle of the street.) And the fact that it’s one of the city’s older row house neighborhoods makes it charming to look at, but many of its establishments have accessibility issues. (And some of those that are “officially” accessible have some pretty minimal bathroom facilities.)
Most of the hot spots lie along 18th Street NW between Kalorama and Columbia Roads and on Columbia Road itself. Just stick your head into a few of them—the trendier, lounge-life nightclubs with white sofas, pastel drinks, and DJs; the truculently retro beer bars and dives; and the live-music and dance venues—and, well, pick your spot.
The grandmother of all Adams Morgan music clubs is Madam’s Organ, which has live music (blues, jazz, R&B, bluegrass) every night and a famously, um, robust eponymous mural, in whose honor all redheads pay half price for Rolling Rock. Chief Ike’s Mambo Room on Columbia Road NW is probably the oldest compatriot-rival of Madam’s Organ: the quintessential beer hall–basement-rec-room goof, it attracts one of the most mixed crowds (age, sex, and race) in town. The jazz staples are Tryst, which has live music, and Columbia Station, back on a nightly schedule.
Among the best bets for cocktails and couture wars are Town Tavern, a branch of a Greenwich Village singles mixer that requires men to be 23 and women 21; and around the corner on Columbia, the simultaneously intimate and groupish Perry’s and Le Metropolitan, the below-stairs Champagne bar at Napoleon Bistro.
The new dandy on the block is Bourbon, which has more than 150 whiskies (and a nice menu if you can get a table), while the Black Squirrel boasts one of the area’s best and most extensive beer lists (60 taps).
Among the very deliberately baseline bars are the venerable West Virginia–homey Millie and Al’s; the cash-only Dan’s Café (where the jukebox is still a quarter a play); the something-for-everyone Brass Monkey; the three-floor Heaven and Hell (and yes, Purgatory is in the middle); and the hookah/DJ/R&R Rendezvous.
Long a center of Washington’s Central American and South American communities, Adams Morgan also has some of the area’s nicer Latin jazz and samba joints, including Rumba Café, Bossa Bistro, and Habana Village.
Downtown’s new nightlife began with the turn-of-the-millennium revival of downtown Connecticut Avenue south of Dupont Circle, long a strictly commercial-business area, and one that regularly defeated attempts to push the expense-account-restaurant envelope. The five-pointed-star intersection at Connecticut, M, Jefferson, and 18th Streets NW, just above Farragut North, marks the heart of what emerged in the mid-1990s as one of Washington’s first semi-underground-luxe nightlife neighborhoods.
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The invitation list is just about the only way around a hefty cover charge at many clubs these days; if you use Twitter or Facebook, find yourself a friend on the guest list or ask about a password.
The grandfather of the area is the 18th Street Lounge, a baroquely restored turn-of-the-20th-century mansion with languorous couches, working fireplaces, a rooftop deck, and DJs and live entertainment (reggae, Brazilian jazz, eclectic) nightly. Across Connecticut are the 4½-bar Midtown (the private Red Bar is inside the loft level); the swanky subterranean Heist; the nautical-naughty sushi-chic bar–cum–dance hall Current; its much more casual football (meaning soccer) sports pub Lucky Bar; and the intentionally retro frat-boy beer-bar Big Hunt, where you might stumble over some off-the-record pols drinking $2.50 PBR. At the opposite end of the style spectrum are the still young but celeb-heavy Huxley, where even the “library” is SRO, and Ozio, which got on the cigar and martini over-aged boy-bar bandwagon in the mid-90s and is still in the rut. (If you’re networking with a stogie-sucking stockbroker, here’s your spot.)
A short walk away, the area between McPherson Square and Franklin Square, centered roughly at K Street NW around 14th Street—also previously a canyon of office buildings largely empty at night—has come to life, with landlords now looking to lure in after-hours crowds at the street and even basement level. Most of these clubs are using VIP bottle service to promote a high-class dress code—and also to boost the tabs, all of which are likely to be serious.
The Park at 14th is a perfect example, a four-story Deco luxe-look lounge and so-called supper club created by some of Washington’s most experienced club owners for, let us say, slightly more experienced patrons. (During Obama’s Inauguration celebrations, it was packed round the clock.) From the second- and especially the fourth-floor balconies, VIP drinkers can lord it over the mere mortals below. The slightly dotty Downton Abbey–looking Capitale is less formal, but not much less expensive; if you are really on an expense account, the weekends-only Shadow Room allows you to touch-screen your cocktail orders, DJ requests, and valet summons from your table—that is, for a four-figure minimum. The Asian fantasy Lotus Lounge transforms its basement setting with a 14-foot waterfall and a Buddha (who probably wouldn’t approve of or be able to afford the sushi). The three-level Nuevo Latino Lima separates the fine dining at the top from the luxe lounge in the basement via the bar in between and keeps its heated sidewalk patio, furnished more like a rec room, open all year. The chrome and black biker-look Tattoo Bar and its downstairs Ink spins classic ’80s and ’90s dance music, while around the corner on Vermont Avenue is the boho-bordello Josephine named for Napoleon’s beloved and just as expensive.
Because this is mostly a dining mecca, that means primarily cocktail culture, but because the Verizon Center is at the heart of the neighborhood, at least a half dozen of the non–white linen hangouts are sports bars. But, of course, if you’re not a hometowner, or a hockey fan, and you’re in for a convention, there are a few homier options.
At the bi-level Iron Horse Tap Room, the steeds referred to are not locomotives but vintage motorcycles, several of which hang about the place. It’s not a biker bar except in name, however; upstairs it’s lounge-a-lot territory; downstairs are Skee-Ball machines, shuffleboard tables, and a plentiful supply of TVs, 20 beers on tap, and as many bourbons. Iron Horse shares ownership with the even more games-away-from-the-game Rocket Bar at Seventh and G, which sports a subterranean vibe with 17 flat-panel TVs. As mentioned previously, Fado looks Irish antique, if you don’t mind the cost. And although downtown and Dupont Circle are DJ-centric, UltraBar is one of the few dance complexes in the hustling hood. Dress to regress.
There was a time when Georgetown was the music capital of the capital, but its most famous clubs—the Cellar Door, the Bayou, Desperado’s, and Emergency—are long gone (though if you read the “recorded live” credits on some of your favorite rock, R&B, pop, and even alternative country and punk bands, you may see the venues memorialized there). Although Georgetown has lost most of its live-music venues to chain stores catering to its college and post-grad population, it still has a handful of hangouts left, notably Blues Alley (profiled) and the old standby Mr. Smith’s, with its piano bar (where Tori Amos once worked).
There is certainly no dearth of locally owned (our preference) bars here: Bierria Paradiso, which had one of the first serious beer menus in Washington; the Red Sox stalwart Rhino Bar; Georgetown University’s unofficial home the Tombs; and the Clyde’s saloon, first of that regional restaurant family, to name a few. And the restaurants along the waterfront and the nicer hotels also have large cocktail clienteles; Mate, just across K Street from Harborplace, is one of the few no-membership, no-BS dance clubs once the sushi bar thins out. But musically speaking, the most promising newcomers on the scene are the Big Easy jazzy Bayou on Penn (no relation to the original Bayou), just east of Georgetown; and the up-and-coming Gypsy Sally’s, not far from the older Bayou site and promising a similarly eclectic lineup.
AS IS OBVIOUS FROM THE BRIEF OUTLINE on the preceding pages, Washington has enough clubs to keep even the most dedicated nightlifer looking for intravenous caffeine. We have added more detailed information about the following clubs because they are either important in terms of touring groups, offer specific types of entertainment, or have live entertainment frequently, that is, more than once or twice a week. But remember, if you are fans of big-name performers, or just want to see a major production, check the venue descriptions in the table on the next page.
NIGHTCLUB | DESCRIPTION | NEIGHBORHOOD | TYPICAL COVER
BAR AND GRILLS/BUFFETS
Dave & Buster’s | Adult entertainment for the video-game generation | Maryland Suburbs | None
Hard Rock Cafe | Souvenir shop disguised as barbecue bar | National Mall | None
COMEDY CLUB
DC Improv | National-circuit comedy club | Downtown | Varies
LIVE JAZZ/BLUES
Bethesda Jazz and Blues Supper Club | Local/national jazz, soul, and R&B venue | Bethesda | Varies
Blues Alley | National-circuit jazz dinner club | Georgetown | Varies
LIVE POP/ROCK
Birchmere | Live folk, newgrass, hip rockabilly/outlaw, light jazz, and occasional off-peak pop music | Virginia Suburbs | Varies
Black Cat | Major live rock-pop venue with DJs for backup | Mid City | Varies
Fillmore Silver Spring | Eclectic national-circuit music club | Maryland Suburbs | Varies
Hamilton | National-circuit music club without harsh edges | Downtown | Varies
IOTA | Neighborhood joint with live new-pop/roots rock | Virginia Suburbs | Varies
Jammin’ Java | All-ages alt-rock coffeehouse to the max | Virginia Suburbs | Varies
9:30 | Eclectic and influential national-circuit music club | Downtown | Varies
State Theatre | Not quite top level but endearing music venue | Virginia Suburbs | Varies
PUBS/BILLIARDS BAR
Dubliner | Classic and classy Irish pub | Capitol Hill | None
BURGEONING LOCAL/NATIONAL JAZZ, SOUL, AND R&B VENUE
7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda; # 240-330-4500; bethesdabluesjazz.com
Cover Varies with entertainment. Minimum $10 in the dining room. Bar Full service. Dress Grunge to hip to after-hours, depending on the act. Food available Hearty American tavern fare, from veggie napoleon to duck breast. Wheelchair access Good Nearest Metro station Bethesda.
WHAT TO EXPECT This classic Art Deco cinema, now outfitted with a kitchen and dinner tables right up to the apron (except when the front area is cleared for dancing), offers live entertainment nightly. The management takes “jazz and blues” in the broadest terms: zydeco, lounge, Latin, tango, swing, jazz orchestra, piano trios, New Orleans beat, occasionally classic country and bluegrass (Ralph Stanley!), doo-wop, horns, harmonic, a little funk, and top-flight tributes to soul, pop, rock, and big band artists. There is even the occasional burlesque troupe. The club has also been supportive of top-tier local bands.
WHAT TO KNOW It has been a while since there was a jazz venue outside of downtown, so this club is especially welcome. One of the nicest things about this club is the “listening club” policy, which nudges patrons to remember to lower their voices and ditch the cell phone. There is the table seating, and the old-fashioned theater seats a little farther back, though they are slightly elevated and have a clear view. However, having a “table” seat doesn’t mean a particular table, so if you want to pick something out, come early. On the other hand, the theater seats are assigned, but you have to order food at the bar.
LIVE FOLK, NEWGRASS, HIP ROCKABILLY/OUTLAW, LIGHT JAZZ, AND OCCASIONAL OFF-PEAK POP MUSIC
3701 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Alexandria; 
703-549-7500; birchmere.com Virginia suburbs
Cover Varies with entertainment. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress A few suits, jeans (beat and pre-beat), neo-farm country wear and boots of all sorts. Food available Tavern/pub fare. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Not accessible.
WHAT TO EXPECT This is one of the major minor-label clubs in town, a serious eclectic venue and easily the biggest for new acoustic, alternative, and country acts, such as Rosanne Cash, Shelby Lynn and sister Allison Moorer, hometown heroine Mary Chapin Carpenter, Indigo Girls, Los Lonely Boys, and Steeleye Span; cult faves Lyle Lovett, Delbert McClinton, and Jerry Jeff Walker; femme fronters Linda Ronstadt, Kristin Hersh, Christine Lavin, k.d. lang, Maria Muldaur, and Shawn Colvin; jazz alters Keiko Matsui and John McLaughlin; quirk rockers Fountains of Wayne and Nick Lowe; Irish heartbreaker Mary Black and chanteuse Barbara Cook; bluegrass patriarchs David Grisman and Doc Watson (for 20 years, the Birchmere was the Seldom Scene’s weekly home stand); singer-songwriters Patty Loveless, Suzanne Vega, and Don McLean; and a few old rockers such as Robin Tower, Jon Anderson, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, and Ian Anderson. Not to mention the odd comedian and trio of tenors. If you can’t find something here, you can’t find it.
WHAT TO KNOW Once a sort of glorified roadhouse, and still not the most impressive-looking building from the outside, the Birchmere is now an all-ages, multiroom venue with a 500-seat main stage with communal dining tables, a bandstand room for dance shows, a 150-seat New Orleans roadhouse–style side stage/café (SRO), a nostalgic wood tap room with pub food (slightly Cajun-inflected), plus a combination souvenir shop and record store. All seating is first-come, closest-in. In kindness to other patrons, and the neighbors, the club enforces a quiet zone inside and a 12:30 a.m. curfew at the latest outside.
MAJOR LIVE ROCK-POP VENUE WITH DJS FOR BACKUP
1811 14th Street NW; 202-667-4490; blackcatdc.com Mid City
Cover Varies with entertainment. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Grunge to hip to after-hours, depending on the act. Food available Vegan and vegetarian fare (a salute to the original Food for Thought, a revered acoustic music hangout in Dupont Circle founded by the club owner’s father). Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo.
WHAT TO EXPECT A mix of hot regional and early-national alternative rock, funky-punk, post-punk, Brit-pop, etc. Some of the most fun dance nights are sort of like pop heavyweight bouts: Outkast vs. Prince or Madonna vs. Michael Jackson. The main stage can hold about a thousand fans; the smaller back room only about 150, so that goes to up-and-coming bars and (mostly) DJs. In keeping with the neighborhood playground style, the main floor bar has pinball and pool tables. This is not a swank joint, but it’s not scuzzy, either.
WHAT TO KNOW A who’s-who of indie rock and revivals has passed through the Black Cat, from Arcade Fire, White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Death Cab for Cutie, and Hank Williams III to the Damned, Zombies, Foo Fighters, Fleshtones, et al. Buy advance tickets for major concerts and expect some sweating crowds at the louder acts. (If you can make it to the box office, you’ll save the ticket fee.) Second, it’s all cash-only with an ATM on site. And third, get there early for a concert; the check-in system is fairly slow because Black Cat is an all-ages club, so IDs are closely scrutinized and 21-and-over hands have to be stamped for alcohol consumption. Oh, and fourth: Wear comfortable shoes. There are a handful of tables and chairs in the Food for Thought café and around the bar, but most of the club is standing room only except for wheelchair spaces.
NATIONAL-CIRCUIT JAZZ DINNER CLUB
1073 Wisconsin Avenue NW (in the alley); 202-337-4141; bluesalley.com Georgetown
Cover Varies with entertainment. Minimum Two drinks or $10 food bill. Bar Full service. Dress Business casual, musician chic. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Limited. Nearest Metro station Foggy Bottom–GWU.
WHAT TO EXPECT For 40 years, whenever the big-name jazz performers have come to town—and despite the name, it’s a rare blues or R&B show that makes the marquee—this is where they’ve played. Look back through the clips, and you’ll see the names Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Ramsey Lewis, Ahmad Jamal, Gil Scott-Heron, Jerry Butler, Stanley Jordan, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Mose Allison, Charlie Byrd, Sarah Vaughn, Arturo Saldoval, Diane Schuur, Marcus Johnson, and every member of the Marsalis family, sometimes in combination. Depending on the artists, the audience might be younger, serious musicians, longtime fans, or even international patrons. In general, however, it draws a somewhat older crowd than the NoLa-style Bayou on Penn a few blocks away.
WHAT TO KNOW This is a fairly simple lounge, with exposed brick walls, a platform at one end and the bar at the other, and smallish dinner tables scattered between. It’s not the most comfortable venue (there’s not much room to expand), and the old and cramped restrooms that are barely accessible upstairs are a drawback for many, but the acoustics are fine. The food is Creole-inflected but familiar, with entrees named for jazz stars (Sarah Vaughn’s filet mignon, Maynard Ferguson’s shrimp and pepper pasta), but the best reason to eat dinner here is to get a reservation and arrive early: seating is first come, first served, and tight; the waiting line often goes around the block. There is a somewhat lighter menu for the later shows.
ADULT ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE VIDEO-GAME GENERATION
White Flint Mall, Bethesda; 301-230-5151; daveandbusters.com Maryland suburbs
Cover None. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Casual but covered (no tanks, cutoffs, etc.). Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station White Flint.
WHAT TO EXPECT This is a carnival of the business animals—the Atlas District for suburbanites: a half dozen pocket billiard tables, Skee-Ball, hockey, pinball and video games, a couple of simulated “19th hole” golf games, shuffleboard, and four full-size virtual-reality pods, interlinked for games and sports simulation. There are also casino games, with fully trained blackjack dealers and tables—but the poker chips are “on loan” only. No actual gambling is allowed. Everything is played with a prepaid swipe card.
WHAT TO KNOW This is unabashedly a bar as well as a playroom, with a double-sided, 40-foot bar that partners the “midway” (a stretch of interactive video and carny attractions) and the elevated, square “Viewpoint” bar (not to mention the private “showroom” with its own stage, bar, dining tables, etc.). But loud as it gets, it’s not rowdy: Dave & Buster’s has more than 60 such complexes around the country, and they’ve got it down smooth: polished service, fairly strict rules about drinking and dressing, and even stricter rules about under-21-year-olds being with an adult. The menu covers the full range of upscale franchise fare: from fried calamari and nachos to pastas, grilled salmon, and ribs and rib eyes.
NATIONAL-CIRCUIT COMEDY CLUB
1140 Connecticut Avenue NW; 202-296-7008; dcimprov.com Downtown
Cover Varies according to performer. Minimum Any two items. Bar Full service. Dress After work, casual. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Farragut North or Dupont Circle.
WHAT TO EXPECT For more than 20 years, this has been the mainstay for rising and established comedians. It generally follows the standard Improv franchise program, with a short opening act, often local; a semi-established feature act; and a headliner from the national club/cable showcase circuit. Most headliners are in for two to five nights; occasionally, it brings in a more theatrical act, such as Rob Becker’s Defending the Caveman, for an extended booking. This location also goes with the franchise decor: “brick wall” stage sentimentally recalling the original no-frills Improvisation and the black-and-white checkerboard floor and trim that is practically a logo design. TV screens hang overhead for those with obscured views, but they’re not big enough to be terribly useful. Elbow room is minimal.
WHAT TO KNOW Don’t bother to come early, at least on weeknights, when being seated in order of arrival isn’t apt to be a problem. Because latecomers are usually seated amongst the diners, you have no real reason to seek early reservations. Besides, nibbling through the appetizers list is a more satisfying experience than sitting down to dinner (Tex-Mex) and then sitting through the show. On the other hand, on Friday and Saturday nights, when there is a second show, that seating is first reserved, best seated. Note: The menu for the late shows is appetizers only. The Improv, though below sidewalk level, is wheelchair accessible via the elevator in the building lobby.
CLASSIC AND CLASSY IRISH PUB
520 North Capitol Street NW; 202-737-3773; dublinerdc.com Capitol Hill
Cover None. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Business/intern, no cutoffs or tank tops. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro Station Union Station.
WHAT TO EXPECT This is not the oldest Irish bar in town (though it is nearly 40 years old), but it has become the clan leader: centrally located, pol-connected, and providing the training ground for founders of a half dozen other bars, including the semi-sibling-rival Kelly’s Irish Times next door. It’s also one of the few places in Washington to find live music seven nights a week. Fittingly, the Dubliner also has one of the most colorful histories, filled with romantic intrigue, boom-and-bust bank troubles, and riotous St. Patrick’s week parties.
Owner Danny Coleman comes by the publican’s role naturally; his father had a pub in Syracuse, New York, which his brother still runs. Now part of the pricey and hunt-country gracious Phoenix Hotel complex, the Dubliner is filled with antiques, such as the 1810 hand-carved walnut bar in the back room. The front bar is louder and livelier, often populated by the surviving members of the Dubliner’s Irish football and soccer teams; the snug is a discreet heads-together, take-no-names hideaway in the finest tradition; and the parlor is where the tweeds gather. In warm weather, there’s patio seating; and if you like a hearty brunch, this is a pretty good one. In fact, the entire menu of Irish-pub classics, from stew to hot sandwiches, is better than you might expect.
WHAT TO KNOW Be sure to have at least one Guinness on draft: The Dubliner pours an estimated quarter-million pints a year, making it the largest purveyor of Guinness in the country. Plus, it offers a couple of other brews made only for the bar. If that’s not your choice, there’s a baker’s dozen others on tap and an equal number in the bottle—and the 10 or so various vintage Irish whiskies. Drop by Kelly’s Irish Times next door for a breather and the Finnegans Wake crazy-quilt of literary pretense, political conversation, and interns’ raves downstairs. Then call a cab. Please.
ECLECTIC NATIONAL-CIRCUIT MUSIC CLUB
8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; 301-960-9999; fillmoresilverspring.com Maryland suburbs
Cover Varies with performer. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Casual. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Silver Spring.
WHAT TO EXPECT The Fillmore, one of a trio of clubs inspired by the legendary San Francisco venue, is operated by Live Nation, so it gets acts on national tour as well as pop-ups. It covers R&B, classic rock, hip-hop, electronica, and even cover bands. It opened its doors with a sold-out Mary J. Blige concert, and has followed up with classic rock/reruns (Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Cheap Trick, Steve Winwood, Blondie), dance hall pop (Kelly Rowland), alt-folk (Levon Helm), semi-indie songwriters (Sarah Bareilles and Gavin DeGraw, Young the Giant), new breed country hunks and punks (Chris Young, Kid Rock), tribute bands (Dave Matthews), and even heavy metal cult icons Megadeth and comic Andrew Dice Clay. The sound system is vast, showy, and bass-heavy. In terms of decor, the club also seems to want to cover all bases, mixing bordello red drapes, oversize pop art and cartoon graphics, vintage concert posters, chandeliers, and a few lighting effects.
WHAT TO KNOW Capacity is 2,000, which is—surprise, surprise—general admission standing room only. The Fillmore does have a few places to rest glasses near the main bars, but most of the seating you see around the balcony is reserved for those who buy “premium seats,” which is a sort of season pass. However, the club does offer “fast lane” tickets if you put in a little extra money at checkout and seat upgrades that will get you into the reserved section if there is space. For those trying to eat standing up, the Fillmore serves its food (sliders, sandwiches, etc.) in carryout containers.
NATIONAL-CIRCUIT MUSIC CLUB WITHOUT HARSH EDGES
600 14th Street NW; 202-787-1000; thehamiltondc.com/live Downtown
Cover Varies with performer; some shows free. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Business casual, after work. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Metro Center.
WHAT TO EXPECT The Hamilton is actually a very nice restaurant with benefits (i.e., a nice concert hall on the lower level). It belongs to the local stalwart Clyde’s chain, and the upstairs menu includes sushi (a first for the group), plus a full sweep of upscale apps and sandwiches, steaks, seafood, and pasta—all available fairly late. The Hamilton Live, as the downstairs music room is called, has a much shorter version of the menu but an unusually pleasant variety, including some of the sushi. It seats 300, with another 200 standing room spaces. Bookings range from classic rock to up-and-coming iTunes, jazz, R&B, folk, blues, and country: For example, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Leon Russell, the Tubes, Spyro Gyra, Bucky Pizzarelli, Booker T., Bobby Blue Bland, the Spirit Family Reunion, NRBQ, and Los Lonely Boys, plus the very occasional bluegrass act or comedian—oh, and Chubby Checker. The club has ties to the local music scene, which means even the free nights are pretty entertaining; it has also picked up on the tribute band craze, replaying Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, and even Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
WHAT TO KNOW You could eat upstairs and then go down for the music, but the Hamilton adheres to the new standard operating procedure: general admission/first come, first seated, and otherwise SRO, so if you really want to see Emmylou up close, line up early. It’s also all-ages, so depending on which paleontological rock band you’re seeing, the line may be even longer. If you’re a fan of Sunday gospel brunches, this is one of the most expansive spreads, laid out in all four corners of the venue.
SOUVENIR SHOP DISGUISED AS BARBECUE BAR
999 E Street NW; 202-737-7625; hardrock.com National Mall
Cover None. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Everything from show biz show-off rock-and-roll tour jackets to Bermuda shorts (on tourists). Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Metro Center or Archives–Navy Memorial–Penn Quarter.
WHAT TO EXPECT Despite the name, this is more of a restaurant than a club—nor does it rock on anything like a regular basis, though there is more live music than there used to be. However, it’s big with kids, being well located for families doing the museum thing, and with a whole generation of semi-serious radio-heads who collect Hard Rock T-shirts from every city they can find. You can download a brochure about Top 10 items currently on display from the website. Like the other 100 Hard Rocks around the world, this one takes its tone from the location; so this is the “Embassy” and sometimes the “Smithsonian of Rock ’n’ Roll,” taking its turn rotating the nearly 7,000 pieces of music history in the HRC collection, currently including a hat worn by John Lennon, Elvis’s DEA jogging suit (no irony there), and a shirt worn by Mick Jagger during the “Steel Wheels” tour. The rest of the wall space is taken up with photos, posters, playbills, etc. The souvenir shop, with its signature T-shirts, is as busy as the bar, which is often stand-in-line packed—a doorman passes judgment on the hopeful. The menu is extensive and fairly well executed but predictable: steaks, burgers, barbecue, etc.
WHAT TO KNOW This is ersatz nostalgia for the second Rolling Stone generation, with a guitar-shaped bar, a trio of stained glass rock god windows (Elvis on his, um, throne in between Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis), and a lot of fed suits from nearby buildings trying to look cool. Hard Rock also makes a point of being PC, supporting good deeds and nuclear freezes and hosting radio-chic benefits and post-concert VIP receptions, usually without the star. Although the Hard Rock motto is still “Love all, serve all,” you can make reservations in advance for “priority seating” and pass the line.
NEIGHBORHOOD JOINT WITH SMART CONVERSATION AND LIVE NEW-POP ROOTS ROCK
2832 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington; 703-522-8340; iotaclubandcafe.com Virginia suburbs
Cover Varies with performer; a few shows free. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Casual, post-grad, bike messenger clips, music souvenir T-shirts. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Clarendon.
WHAT TO EXPECT On a regular basis, this has the best lineup of acoustic rock, neo-roots, soft psychedelic, progressive, and eclectic melodic rock in town, and that’s not just a couple of nights but every night of the week. (Its slogan is “Live Music Forever.”) Off the beaten track in Clarendon, it began as a sort of anti-establishment local musicians’ showcase and has hosted any number of stars at the start of their careers (Norah Jones, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson), as well as indie and alt-rock faves such as Drive-by Truckers, John Doe, Alejandro Escovedo, Bottle Rockets, and so on. A number of now-established regional acts are loyal regulars, including Emmet Swimming and Eric Brace & Last Train Home. It frequently arranges Bluebird Café–style songwriter series, and also occasionally offers poetry, comedy, and bluegrass. (It will show Redskins football games, but on “large sheets”—who can resist that?)
The room used to be only half this size (hence the name), but there’s still no “green room” or backstage (and not a lot of seats, either), so the musicians are even more up close and personal. The menu is casual barista/bistro: panini, really substantial sandwiches, soups, fried chicken, and plenty of veggie options. (It also does a really nice breakfast/brunch.) It has a long history of supporting artisan beer, with a dozen taps and more.
WHAT TO KNOW You can plan to go in advance, but you can’t do anything more than that: there are no advance ticket sales, and admission is first come, first served—which, because it only holds about 160 people, means you’d best be prepared to make friends. Actually, this is a good place to strike up a conversation at the bar before the music gets loud: you run into crossword-puzzle freaks, novelists, doctoral candidates, musicians, roadies, and ponytails of the friendly sort. If you’re taking the Metro, be sure you know what time the last train home leaves, no pun intended.
ALL-AGES ALT-ROCK COFFEEHOUSE TO THE MAX
227 Maple Avenue, East Vienna; 703-255-1566; jamminjava.com Virginia suburbs
Cover Varies according to performer. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Easy listening, jeans therapy. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station Not accessible.
WHAT TO KNOW Like IOTA, this is the real deal—locally owned, seriously music-driven, and open seven days a week. It books rock, country, folk, and blues, daytime kids’ shows, and even the odd jug band, heavy metal, R&B, and punk. There are two or three sets of music per night, mostly local but with some good regional and college-circuit acts; cult favorites such as Marshall Crenshaw, former Squeeze front man Glenn Tilbrook, Peter Himmelman, Enter the Haggis, and the Kennedys; and open-mike Mondays. Heavy interest in alt-rock, alt-country, and singer-songwriters such as Eric Brace, Dan Navarro, Daniel Lanois. Not long ago, Paul Kelly spent two nights working his way through his songbook alphabetically.
WHAT TO EXPECT This is one of the area’s most relaxed venues, a comfortably snug L-shaped room with bar and food counter in front with a handful of tables (first come, first seated) and the music room (also a recording studio) around the side. In terms of atmosphere, you have to remember that this really is a coffeehouse during the day, so no rock-frills here. This is an all-ages, no-smoking, family-friendly version of a music club, and in fact it’s owned by three brothers, including popular local musicians Luke and Owen Brindley. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near a Metro station. Also, although it is accessible, the folding-chair seating (and the occasional dancer) can make getting around and down the hall to the restrooms a little difficult. The menu is also family friendly, with children’s lunch specials during the kids’ shows.
ECLECTIC AND INFLUENTIAL NATIONAL-CIRCUIT MUSIC CLUB
815 V Street NW; 202-265-0930; 930.com Downtown
Cover Varies with performer. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Concert, casual, comfortable. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Limited. Nearest Metro station U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo.
WHAT TO EXPECT “9:30” is the name, it used to be the address (around the corner on F Street), and it used to be the showtime, but thanks to workday hangovers, midweek music now starts at 8:30. More than 30 years on, this is arguably Washington’s—perhaps the region’s—most important music club, the loss-leader indulgence of major concert promoter Seth Hurwitz (he also owns IMP, which books the Lincoln Theatre, U Street Music Hall, and Merriweather Post Pavilion, among others). With daring and eclectic booking of breaking acts (and that spectrum of available venues), 9:30 has fostered a huge range of future stars from alt, prog, semi-punk, hip-hop, hardcore jam, country/top 40, retro, and reggae. Consider a scrapbook that includes Liz Phair, Five for Fighting, Joan Jett, Richard Thompson, Sergio Mendes, the BoDeans, funk patriarch George Clinton, Justin Timberlake, James Brown, Suzanne Vega, Smashing Pumpkins, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Radio-head, Squeeze, Dwight Yoakam, Fugazi, Blondie, and the Damned. So before you go, be sure you know who’s playing: The crowd that pays up for Ice-T isn’t the same as the one for Marshall Crenshaw, Happy Mondays, They Might Be Giants, or even Anthrax. Never accuse Hurwitz of lacking a sense of humor.
The dress code is pretty tolerant but generally fits the beat bill: grunge, imitation grunge, after-business, customized athletic wear, black jersey, black spandex, black denim, and black baggies. The club has four bars, boasting about three dozen beers on tap; the Backbar is decorated with fliers from 9:30’s early, grungy, great days. Club shows are all-ages unless otherwise marked, and alcohol consumption is pretty carefully monitored. The extensive additive-free menu is mostly sandwiches and salads, a substantial number of which are veggie/vegan.
WHAT TO KNOW This is another club that believes in seating democracy—that is, general admission SRO—so it’s first come, first standing (with very few exceptions); you might find an odd ledge to lean on, and there are a few stools around the mezzanine. Capacity is 1,200, so expect a few fans who think it’s musical anarchy instead. Also note that this is one of the places that prints the door-opening time on the ticket, not the showtime. The best views are from the three-sided balcony, but don’t mistake the tiers for seats or you won’t be seeing anything but, um, pants legs. The club is literally accessible, but the SRO rules make mobility and vision difficult.
NOT QUITE TOP LEVEL BUT ENDEARING MUSIC VENUE
220 North Washington Street, Falls Church; 703-237-0300; statetheatre.com Virginia suburbs
Cover Varies according to performer. Minimum None. Bar Full service. Dress Casual, concert appropriate. Food available Full menu. Wheelchair access Good. Nearest Metro station East Falls Church (10–15 minute walk).
WHAT TO EXPECT This old, neighborly joint books rock, blues, reggae, Cajun R&B, jam, alt-country, folk, and indie bands, not to mention cult heroes, been-there-done-that-and-hope-to-again dinosaurs, and one-hit-wonders: Smithereens, Leon Russell, Johnny Winter, Asleep at the Wheel, Hanson, Toots and the Maytals, Wu-Tang Clan, Radiators, and the odd burlesque show. Depending on the show, the audience may be festooned in anything from Texas-jack boots to tie-less suits to flannels (or fishnet stockings). It’s also a mecca for the increasing flood of tribute bands reprising Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Journey, Queen, Bee Gees, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin (including the all-girl Lez Zeppelin). The semi-regular house party is a retro-jokey tribute to ’80s music; then it becomes Legwarmers territory. Seriously. That’s the name of the band.
WHAT TO KNOW The bones of this 1930s Art Deco movie house are clearly visible and lovingly restored; there are about 200 old-style plush seats upstairs in the balcony (first come, first seated) and a handful of tables downstairs, some of which can be reserved for dinner. The number of seats varies depending on the type of act; if all the seats are pulled up for dancing, capacity is 900. The balcony is not wheelchair-accessible, but the dining area and a section near the stage are. The menu is burger/sandwich/salad heavy, with a few veggie options. There are four full bars. Although the state of Virginia allows concealed weapons even in bars, the State Theatre exercises its option to forbid all guns. Cheers!