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18th Amendment
Still in its infancy when we visited, this place embraces a speakeasy theme - hence the name. Gangsters and bootleggers should head directly to the basement, where the furniture is made from beer barrels and whiskey crates and pool tables on which to fight your duel. Upstairs there's a late 1920s art deco air, reminiscent of prohibition-era Chicago. It has ample seating and eight beers on tap.
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18th Street Lounge
The lack of a sign on the door proclaims the exclusivity of this swanky yet cozy club. In a beautiful mansion that once housed Teddy Roosevelt are sleek dance floors ruled by hip-hop and dub. The decor ranges from gold upholstered couches and candelabras to blue walls, gilded mirrors, marble tables and flickering candles. Its bouncers are notorious for leaving lesser patrons standing in the cold.
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9:30 Club
In 1996 DC's premier live rock venue moved from its small downtown digs to this spanking new warehouse, which holds 1200 patrons and has two levels and four bars. The calendar is packed with the most random assortment of big names - Justin Timberlake, The Violent Femmes, George Clinton and The Black Crowes. Concerts usually include three acts, with the headlining band taking the stage between and .
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Amc 9 Theatres
This giant theatre shows the latest and greatest from Hollywood from romantic comedies to action-adventures. You can enter the cinema from inside Union Station.
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Apex
Crown jewel of the gay P-St dance-club scene, Apex brings out the college kids and buff boys in droves, especially on Fridays. Don't come here to cruise, though; everyone's far too busy getting their groove on to be bothered. This is a popular spot for after-hours dancing on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Aroma Company
There's a pronounced fascination with the 1950s at this sleek retro bar, filled with those kidney-shaped coffee tables and old sofas. The tiled bar serves up the Scotch and ciggies and live jazz plays here on Friday nights.
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Basin Street Lounge
Wire-rimmed glasses and black turtlenecks may be the uniform at this sophisticated jazz venue. The downstairs lounge boasts quaint French Quarter Victorian decor, appropriate for the swinging piano, saxophone and bluesy jazz performances.
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Beacon Martini Sky-Bar
This patio on the roof of the swank new Beacon Hotel offers ample sky-high city views and an opportunity to mingle with new friends over signature martinis. If you're hungry, order from the light fare menu.
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Bethesda Row & Woodmont Triangle
The intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Aves is happening. Bethesda Row (as Bethesda Ave is affectionately dubbed) is filled with unique boutiques and galleries selling everything from handcrafted knobby wood tables to designer children's apparel. Woodmont Ave has the wonderful art-house Bethesda Row Cinema and hundreds of restaurants. A free trolley circles through the area until on weekends, making barhopping easy year-round.
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Bethesda Row Cinema
This first-rate art house theater in the heart of bustling downtown Bethesda is the best in DC. With eight screens and stadium seats, it's slick and modern and serves gourmet treats like espresso and locally baked pastries while showcasing a wide variety of independent films, from the obscure to Cannes and Sundance winners.
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Big Hunt
Yes, the name is played for every pun it's worth: The bar advertises itself as the 'happy hunting ground for humans in pursuit of a mate, food and drink.' But it's not actually that cruisey. Most patrons focus on the 27 on-tap beers and bar-eats deals amid cheesy Hemingway decor: animal-print upholstery and mosquito nets. Coin-operated pool tables are on the 2nd floor.
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Black Cat
Co-owned by Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, the Black Cat is head kitty of DC's indie-rock clubs. Set in a beat-up old warehouse, it draws fans of grunge and industrial rock. The cover charge varies with the band, but there's no cover in the Red Room bar, which has a good selection of Belgian beer, pool tables and a jukebox.
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Blue Gin
When it opened a few years back it attracted the likes of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn (in town to shoot the popular movie The Wedding Crashers ), instantly putting this trendy cocktail lounge at the top of Washington's hot list. Its residential location, however, means pretty strict conditions liquor-wise and no one under 25 is allowed. As a result the crowd here is more mellow, less worried about the scene than at some of DC's other hip spots.
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Blues Alley
The city's pre-eminent jazz and blues club is tucked into a dark alley off Wisconsin Ave in the heart of Georgetown. Inside, this elegant candlelit supper club has attracted such artists as Ahmad Jamal and the late Dizzy Gillespie. Current performers include Mose Allison Trio, Ann Hampton Callaway and the Marcus Johnson Project. The Creole specialties are delicious. The crowd is largely professional.
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Bohemian Caverns
This legendary jazz club - where Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington once played - reopened in 2000, after 32 years of decline and decay since the 1968 riots. The new club maintains the mysterious cave-like decor in the basement lounge and features weekly open-mic nights, poetry readings, and live jazz and blues Wednesday to Saturday.
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Bossa
Latin jazz, flamenco and bossa nova are on the music menu upstairs in the dark, candle-lit lounge at this Adams-Morgan watering hole. The 1st-floor dining room - with high ceilings and art-canvassed walls - is also worth a visit. Come drink mojitos and martinis, and taste the delectable tapas during happy hour.
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Bottom Line
This long, dark and friendly basement bar draws prosperous patrons for lunchtime and happy hour. It's more grown-up than most pubs in the area and many folk appear to be conducting business-related tête-à-têtes.
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Bravo Bravo
The mood is flirty, the dancers are polished, and both men and women wear their best clothes to this salsa and Latin dance club popular with the under-30 set. Set in an enormous basement, the place gets going around on Friday and Saturday nights and doesn't slow down until after . Thursday nights feature live go-go music.
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Brickskeller Inn
This underground beer paradise has 900 varieties, listed on a menu heavy enough to cause trouble after the fifth pint or so. Shandies, stouts, darks, lights, lagers and creams - it claims the world's largest selection. Its subterranean red-brick warren is usually choked with college-age folks arrayed around big circular tables. Most bottles cost around US$4 , but true exotics can cost up to around US$15 . It also offers accommodations.
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Buffalo Billiards
The 30 pool and snooker tables pull college kids and yuppies into this bright, below-street-level cave. There's usually a wait for a table - in the meantime, pull up a lounge chair and play Score Four.
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Bukom Café
Adams-Morgan is known for East African establishments, but Bukom taps the other side of the continent. It draws a stylishly dressed crowd of West Africans and African Americans to share its excellent cuisine and sexy late-night club scene, where bands play African and Caribbean music: reggae, highlife, funky jazz. There's hardly any room to dance, so everyone kind of stands in place, bounces to the music and rubs against their neighbors.
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Bullfeathers
Clubby and cozy, this is one of Capitol Hill's long-time favorites and political paparazzi may just get lucky and catch your senator walking out the door. Named after Teddy Roosevelt's euphemism of choice for BS, it serves affordable beers in graceful old environs.
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Caddies On Cordell
You'll find a giant rooftop deck here, where people gather for sunset shots then linger over beers late into the night. Caddies is a down-to-earth place where the crowd is a mix of graduate students and restaurant servers, the vibe as low-key and refreshing as the breeze sweeping the patio. Inside, there's a golf theme, TVs broadcasting sports and a golden-tee video game that's ridiculously popular. The place also offers a full menu.
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Café Saint-Ex
Reminiscent of the Parisian Latin Quarter, Saint-Ex attracts a mix of ages, ethnicities and orientations. A bar salvaged from a 1930s Philadelphia pub, seats from an old movie theater and classic movies running on the TVs lend a nostalgic air. The downstairs lounge, Gate 54, plays up the aeronautic theme with a wooden propeller from the owner's grandfather's WWI fighter plane (author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was also a pilot).
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Café Salsa-Bar
Old Town's best happy hour is offered from to , when all drinks and appetizers are half price at the 2nd-floor bar, which of course packs out during these hours. The drink selection is varied - Latin American beers to match the Nuevo Latin menu served in its downstairs restaurant, delicious mojitos and a fabulous Caribbean rum cooler, which blends four different rums with pineapple and orange juices.
