What was DC like in the summer of 2000? I want some nostalgia

[Anonymous]

I had just moved here and hung out at Republic Gardens and the RiRa Lounge and the 18th Street Lounge and on 18th Street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer before my senior year of college and I stayed here to intern. Third Edition, Garrett’s in Georgetown. I can’t remember if Smith Point was open at that time. Obsessed with scrolling Late Night Shots. Oh, Union Station movies too!

We went to smith point one. It was too preppy for us and we never returned!!!

Where was it the Bush twins hung out? I can't remember if it was Smith Point or another preppy place closer into Georgetown.

Yes, I think so! I am about their age. Mainly Rs I think.

[Anonymous]

Big email listservs for parties. Because (trying to remember) cell phones were for talking (flip phones) and texts were like 10 cents each.

[Anonymous]

Bedrock billiards on Columbia Road. Radiohead Kid A. Ethiopian Food, Jumbo slices. Social Safeway in Glover Park had a huge parking lot and was old school. Georgetown mall. The Front Page. Bethesda was half the size it is… Bethesda row didn’t really exist. Working out at the WSC on Wisconsin after doing the horrible commute out to AOL past Dulles. DuPont was similar. Biggest difference was way more no-go zones. 14th St east was sketchy, no waterfront, no Nats Park. MCI Center opened in 1997 so Gallery Place was still somewhat run down. I remember we knew the bar tenders at John Harvards on 4th and E or thereabouts and would drink more or less free. I was 25. Got married that year.

[Anonymous]

I moved to Dupont Circle in May 2000. Met DH in September 2000 a block off the circle. Yes to much of the above. It was such a sweltering summer. i remember Shania Twain Man i Feel Like a Woman playing a lot, and the Mazda Zoom Zoom kid on tv all the time....

I had moved from a larger city to DC, and mostly i remember thinking it was a backwoods armpit. I arrived to a group house and needed to buy towels, and no one could name a single store in the city where you could do this. Eventually, someone thought of sending me to Hechts downtown but I think it was closed on Sunday! And then we wanted to go chill in a coffee shop after work, and literally the only choice was XandO on the circle. Chicha lounge was beyond cool on "edgy" U street, but my friend warned me I might get stabbed going there. One time i went to see a favorite band play at 9:30 club, and literally took the metro from Dupont to U street (connecting down at Union station - it took like 40 minutes) because I couldn't afford a cab, and again, everyone told me i would get stabbed if I walked the 8 minutes from NE dupont to 9:30 club. Another time we walked over to 14th street for the brand new opening of the Studio Theater, and (A) wondered why they were opening this random store "Whole Foods" in the middle of a deserted wasteland and (B) there was a steel barrel with a fire lit in the middle of the day with a guy warming up over it - at what used to be the 7-11, then Caribou Coffee and now i forget what. In hindsight, the neighborhood was obviously gentrifying already, but i was a naive rich kid from another big (safer) city who thought it was nuts. Oh and there was literally no where in town but Trios and Georgia Brown to get brunch. It was seriously small town here.

Mostly I had a lot of fun that summer though. It was pre-internet so i blissfully ignored the news all summer. Even the election! Just throwing out some other places that i haven't heard mentioned that i spent a lot of time at.... the place in Adams Morgan with $2 drinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg I was hanging out at LuLu’s Club Mardi Gras😅

Yes! And also +1 to Front Page, Fifth Column, plus Sign of the Whale, Madhatters, Madam’s Organ, those big slices of pizza late night. I didn’t have enough money to eat at fancy restaurants, but my parents would take me to The Palm, Sam & Harry’s for special occasions.

I remember it being sultry hot as well that summer. I lived in Glover Park, and took the bus back & forth to work. Stopped at Fresh Fields on Wisconsin Avenue for salad. Movies - I think Gladiator came out that year? I remember seeing it at the Uptown theatre.

Jumbo Slice!

[Anonymous]

If someone is doing background for a movie set in DC in the summer of 2000 this thread is gold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Pre-9/11 before all the security at the airports and you could literally arrive at the airport and basically walk straight to your plane and board--my husband (a consultant) used to cut it as close as possible. You can't imagine what a change it was to the country post-9/11. Threat levels and the loss of innocence. And the anthrax scare on the heals of 9/11 in 2001.

We also had just 'partied like it's 1999' and made it through Y2K unscathed.

Everything felt safe. No pandemics and mass shootings/school shootings were rare and not a daily occurrence like now.

Uh. We didn’t have terrorism, but we still had to worry a lot about crime in DC. Anyone who felt totally safe in DC was delusional.

I’m guessing you lived in the suburbs.

I lived in Georgetown. Hung out in Dupont, Adams Morgan. Friend lived near H ST which was sketchy as F and not safe-but would meet for drinks sometimes there. There were far fewer, far far far fewer good restaurants back then. Cafe Atlantic and Jaleo were the big faves.

The post work happy hours at Ha Penny Lion were legendary.

[Anonymous]

San Marco on 18th for good dinners. Venetian food, squid, wild boar, wall of 1000 grappas. Italian national team all over the walls, football always on TV. So good. So missed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Playing softball on the Mall and then going out for drinks at My Brother's Place or Tiber Creek or The Tune Inn. 10 cent wings on Tuesday nights at the Hawk 'n Dove. Margaritas at Tortilla Coast. (Can you tell I worked on the Hill?)

Yes!!!!

I played softball on the mall too!! Do they not do this anymore?

[Anonymous]

I think Polly Esther's was still around then.

[Anonymous]

The Vegas Lounge was amazing music. Cool vibe. Neighborhood totally different then.

[Anonymous]

In Arlington you went to "The Grill" (Clarendon Grill), Mister Days on Thursdays. The first nice day in the Spring you went to the rooftop at the Ballroom. On Saturdays you went to Whitlows and on the Fourth of July you could see the fireworls from Dr. Dremos. You stopped at Marios on the way home for pizza or a cheesesteak.

You could go to RFK for the new Nats games and pay $10 for tickets.

If you ventured to Adams Morgan you went to Spaghetti Garden and ended the night with a jumbo slice. It was a really interesting night if you started at Dans Cafe.

If you went downtown, sometimes you'd end up at Camelot in a really crazy night (guys and girls).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was kind of depressing in many ways honestly.

No it wasn't. It was fantastic and fun. It was the summer I met DH. I do remember it being super hot. Was this the summer of Chandra Levy or was that '01?

Chandra Levy was ‘01, I’m pretty sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Arlington you went to "The Grill" (Clarendon Grill), Mister Days on Thursdays. The first nice day in the Spring you went to the rooftop at the Ballroom. On Saturdays you went to Whitlows and on the Fourth of July you could see the fireworls from Dr. Dremos. You stopped at Marios on the way home for pizza or a cheesesteak.

You could go to RFK for the new Nats games and pay $10 for tickets.

If you ventured to Adams Morgan you went to Spaghetti Garden and ended the night with a jumbo slice. It was a really interesting night if you started at Dans Cafe.

If you went downtown, sometimes you'd end up at Camelot in a really crazy night (guys and girls).

How dare you leave out mug night at Whitlows on Thurs nights?!