Washington, DC

If one of your favorite musical artists does not come to the 9:30 club at some point in a given year, then you don’t listen to music.

The 9:30 Club is well known for having artists and musicians from absolutely every musical genre that there is an audience for.

When the 9:30 Club opened, I was in high school. I believe it was located on 9:30 E st. NW at that time. The first show I saw there was an all ages show for G Love and Special Sauce. Remember him?
The 9:30 Club was the first “grown up,” club I’d ever been to in my life. It was an awesome experience for me. The 9:30 Club has moved over to the U st. Cardoza area in NW Washington DC now; and it is a lot bigger. Even though I was allowed in at the ripe old age of 14 or 15 at that time; it is by far not a kiddie club at this point. I think they still have all ages shows sometimes; but even when you attend one; the kids do not act immature if they’re even there.

I’ve been to the 9:30 Club many times in my adult life in the U st. area and have enjoyed myself every time. I have seen everything from Hip Hop, to Metal, to Trip Hop; and every time I look at their show listings for the week in Washington The City Paper, I see Country Bands, Punk Bands, Death Metal Bands, Trance Bands and on and on. When you first get to the Washington DC area, I’m sure you can find some fun at the 9:30 Club.

As far as reasonable living situations, there are nice places to live all over the area. Your budget and job or school location really dictates the best option for you. Overall, the housing in Northern, VA is more expensive and you need a car to travel. If you don’t have much money and must live there, you will probably need a roommate or two. Individual rental housing begins at $1200 or more per month.

District of Columbia housing varies. You can find some individual housing for $650 per month and above near Adams Morgan and 16th st. That’s the only reasonably nice neighborhood that I know of that has some affordable rental options. Aside from that, to find cheap individual housing, you may have to live in a somewhat questionable neighborhood depending on what you’re used to. But, you will often find that if you respect your neighbors, they will respect you.

Maryland has a lot of reasonable housing in good neighborhoods and bad neighborhooks. You can actually reach some key areas of Maryland on the Washington, DC metro. In order to find good housing in MD, it’s best to just view many different places in one day. Takoma is a nice area and Silver Spring is pretty nice as well.

The Washington Metropolitan area consists of Northern Virginia, Maryland and all of the District of Columbia. The city quadrants include Northwest (NW), Southwest (SW), Southeast (SE) and Northeast (NE). There are nice sections of each quadrant in addition to rougher sections of each quadrant.

Northern VA is considered the suburbs of the city. It has a lot of very nice, very pricey homes and even mansions. Maryland has many reasonably priced homes and places to live.

Baltimore is one of the most reasonable areas to live in Maryland, but it is a little far from Washington, DC to commute everyday. Some people do it though.

Many professionals move the Washington Metropolitan area for work within the government or within some of the large office buildings located in this area. There are a lot of job opportunities in this area. Many professionals are relocated to the Northern, VA area in order to work in Washington, DC. The worst thing about this situation is the Beltway traffic. The best way to avoid this traffic is to travel to and from work very early or very late; or to take public transportation if it’s feasible.

TRAFFIC IS AN ENORMOUS PROBLEM IN THIS AREA!

I cannot stress this enough. The traffic here is awful during rush hour and should be avoided at all costs to maintain your sanity.

Washington, DC has always got fun events going on in the city due to its rich cultural traditions and history. The night life is not to shabby either.
One of the best ways to know what is going on in Washington, DC is to read the Washington City Paper. Ever since high school I have always enjoyed this free publication. It has a listing of any activities in the city and their cost and location. It is a wonderful tool for finding fun in the city.

Washington, DC is quite an active and multifaceted metropolis and the Washington City Paper generally has its finger on the pulse of 80% or more of it. The Washington City Paper usually has listings for all of the music events all over the city and in the tri-state area of Maryland and Northern Virginia.

On top of all of this, the Washington City Paper has interesting articles about things going on in DC that affect residents of the District. The article writing style is often interesting and funny. The publication has a thriving and useful classified’s section and even a section for local artisans to promote their work.

For a free publication, the Washington City Paper is a fun and valuable read. Pick it up when you get to town. It comes out every Thursday.

You can find it in the front of many stores and restaurants, in most public libraries and in front of every metro station.

Visit The Washington City Paper Online!

Adams Morgan is located in the the Northwest quadrant of Washington, DC. This is one of the most fun areas of Washington, DC. The nightlife is awesome here.

There is a large hispanic population living in this area. But, it is popular with all ethnicities in the city. There are many different socializing spots that will appeal to many different types of people. Some are expensive with fancy pricey drinks and modern dance music; whereas others are small clubs and bars owned by local families with reasonably priced drinks that never want to close.

There are a few fun shops for buying odds and ends and knick knacks. There are some health food stores and other community essential stores like grocery stores and beauty supply stores. There are many good eateries. There are no fancy restaurants, but the eateries serve food that is usually really good and reflective of the different cultures of people that call Adams Morgan home.

Another fun thing about Adams Morgan is that it is within walking distance to many other fun areas of Washington, DC. You can walk to the U st. area and the 16th st. area from Columbia Road and 18th St. in Adams Morgan. Columbia Road is the main street that runs through Adams Morgan.

Adams Morgan also has a festival once a year called Adams Morgan day. You can enjoy delicious food and great community multicultural entertainment on that day. It is really a lot of fun!

Washington, DC’s Georgetown section is well known for its high end shopping and bars and its trendy atmosphere. Georgetown is located in Northwest Washington, DC. Its closest metro stop on the subway is Foggy Bottom. M st. Washington, DC runs straight through the middle of the shopping district. Georgetown has its own full shopping mall called Georgetown Mall and there is more shopping located on up Wisconsin Ave. Wisconsin Ave. runs parallel to M st. NW.

Prestigious Georgetown University is also located within the Georgetown Historic District. The college presence contributes to the trendiness and liveliness of the area. The wealth of the typical Georgetown student and resident accounts for the high end and affluent feel of the shopping and leisure activities.

Georgetown is a wonderful place to shop and hang out. You can really easily spend an entire day there. The bars and cafe’s are great fun and there is a variety of different scenes. The shopping is a little expensive, but Georgetown has a great selection of clothing, shoes and other shopping to suit any taste.

Interesting Tidbits:

*Georgetown was once the slave quadrant of Washington, DC. The quaint connected houses and buildings that contribute to Georgetown’s unique feel were once the small cramped houses that only recently emancipated slaves and African American people were able to afford. Through gentrification, Caucasian Americans determined the area to be attractive and gradually purchased the property from its inhabitants. Gradually the area was renovated and eventually became what it is today.

*The real life house where the alleged events inspiring the first exorcist movie took place in a Georgetown house that is located toward the end of M st. in Georgetown right before you get to a bridge you can use to cross over into Virginia.

*Georgetown has a huge Halloween party every year where college students and DC residents go bar hopping and parading through the streets in their Halloween costumes.

Washington, DC is one the least expensive cities for a classic romantic first or second date. With all the historical monuments and picturesque well-manicured lawns; there are tons of places to steal a quiet spot with a person you are trying to spend time with. The majority of these places don’t cost more than $10 for a visit and are not visited very often during the middle of the week.

One thing you have to be careful for is that these are family oriented historical sites for the most part, and school aged children do visit often for field trips and on family outings. While visiting these places, it is important that you are respectful of this. You will have to be on your most “G” rated behavior while on your date. But, these are fine places for traditional romance and for lack of a better word, courtship.

Some of the most beautiful, low-cost and cultured place to visit in Washington, DC include:

The Botanical Gardens
The Lincoln Memorial
The Washington Monument
The Jefferson Memorial
The Smithsonian Institute
The National Museum of American History
The National Museum of Natural History
The National Gallery of Art
The National Air and Space Museum
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Arthur M Sackler Gallery
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

All around downtown where these places are located, you can find a hot dog stand on every block. You can pick up a hot dog with all the fixings along with a soda and chips or other snack. All in all, you can spend $15 or less per person for an entire afternoon observing some of the most beautiful places in America.

This photo of the Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC courtesy of http://www.cambridge2000.com.

Growing up in Washington, DC allows me to know so much about it’s hidden treasures. But, when you’re just starting out; the best place to start is with it’s public transportation system. The Washington, DC Metro is a wonderful asset to our community. For the most part, WMATA keeps the train reasonably clean. Even many of the public buses are kept clean. You can travel so many places in the city using just the train and even more by combining the train with the bus.

If you are young, broke, or just want to avoid the Washington Metro Area’s monstrous traffic; public transportation is an excellent option for you.

Since I first started riding the metro, the subway coverage area seems to have increased by 1/3. And, they have increased the train weekend hours to 2am to discourage drinking and driving.

I can now enjoy visiting areas of Maryland by just taking the train alone, when I used to have to combine the train with one or two additional buses. Though the prices have increased and seem to continue to increase, you can still travel all day for less than $10. I believe that you can still get an all day bus pass or all day train pass for $5. This is a great money saver when you’re site-seeing and shopping.

The Washington DC metro can get you to all the most popular and most fun areas in the city including the Mall, the Capital, The Smithsonian, The Monument, U st., Adams Morgan, Capital Hill, Eastern Market, GA Ave., Georgetown etc.

For someone just moving to the city, the train is an excellent tool. It will really teach you the in’s and out’s of your new city and help you understand its geography.

In many ways, it’s hard to get around in the city with a car when you first move here. New residents complain of many one way streets and circles making the city confusing for a driver; and the beltway is just a traffic nightmare. Though a car is indispensable and often preferable to some, I feel that if you want to get the most out of Washington, DC for its spirit and all that it has to offer; I recommend the train or bus.

For a full size map online visit: Metro’s Online Map

The Main Website for Metro is: MetroOpensDoors.Com.