NY Times on DC's Burgeoning Night Life

Last week's New York Times has a fun look at DC's night life revival. It includes a good geographical overview of the more interesting growth spots:

Washington night life, it seems, has come of age. ... Indeed, the city, once called, even by its own citizens, “Hollywood for ugly people” is in the midst of a night life renaissance. To whit: 53 restaurants, bars and boutiques have opened in the last two years in the area known as Mid-City (roughly from Thomas Circle up 14th Street through U Street, and along U down to Ninth). That doesn’t include the new celebrity chef haunts in Penn Quarter, nor the sleek new hotel bars at the Jefferson and the W, nor the monthly or weekly alternative parties like Maison that are held in warehouses, bars and nightclubs.

The nexus of the new energy is at 14th and U Streets, but the geography of D.C.’s burgeoning night life stretches up to Columbia Heights, down 14th through Logan Circle, past the Convention Center into Chinatown and out to the revived H Street corridor. At the upstairs/downstairs duo of new restaurants on 14th Street called Churchkey (a gastro pub with an extensive bar menu) and Birch and Barley (the upscale sister restaurant downstairs), the wait for beer begins at 6 p.m. By midnight the line stretches down the block, and the crowd upstairs is shoulder to shoulder until closing. Up the street at Patty Boom Boom, a new Jamaican reggae dance hall, the ballroom is packed, sweat-filled and writhing by 11 p.m.

There will, of course, always be ex-NYC snobs and others (you know the type) who constantly complain about DC's inferior nightlife scene, but it's great to see some thoughtful coverage and positive recognition in this area.