Thursday, March 4, 2010

14th and U: The Nexus of DC Nightlife?

So sayeth the New York Times. Seems the Times has trotted out their annual hey-DC-is-cool-now article which focuses, not surprisingly, on the "Mid City corridor" (roughly Logan Circle, eastern Dupont and western Shaw). The article takes a look at what the Times calls DC's burgeoning nightlife scene, and gets itself all worked up over the fact that we have themed parties here now. (Something I'm certain our Williamsburg brethren would scoff at, such things having been moved on from in 2008.)



Overall, the NY Times seems to like our hood, which is nice. They published a similar article last January, as a tie-in with Obama's inauguration. Way back then, they had this to say:

Long the cultural center for many in the city’s African-American community, U Street went into economic free fall in the 1970s and ’80s. By the late 1990s, business started to re-emerge in fits and starts. Now, dozens of clubs and restaurants stay open late, pulling crowds from all over town and even the suburbs.

And today?

The nexus of the new energy is at 14th and U Streets...recently, local, national and political events — not the least of which was the election of Barack Obama — have met and married, helping to rejuvenate a night life culture that’s uniquely D.C.

Hey, it's nice to have our hood recognized up in big 'ol New York, but maybe they could take a different angle next time? Like, how we're rivaling the Lower East Side in terms of GPB (graffiti per building). Now that would be special.

If you have a few minutes, it's worth a read.

3 comments:

Simon Landau said...

Thanks for the heads up! I missed it, but will definitely check it out. Great to see U Street getting major love from the NYT!

A-lo said...

Amen to this post. I berated one of my friends for posting this article on his Facebook page because it seems like every year, the NYTimes has an article about how only recently (and only just really really recently) these transformations have occurred in DC. Lazy, unimaginative reporting.

NS said...

I liked the recognition NYT gave D.C.'s nightlife, but I wasnt pleased with the liberties they took in designating DC's 'Midtown'/'Mid-city' area.