I miss DC Circa 2000

[Anonymous]

Hmm, I slept around PLENTY. I'd buy that house I wanted in TKPK and still sleep around a lot but do it with more intention. Like, intending to find a quality life partner.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:"Before it got gentrified" like YOU didn't gentrify it, Trevor.

I was coming her to say the same thing! This post isn’t coming from a POC.

Yep. DC should've stayed black it was called chocolate city. Frankly tired of outsiders.

You are nuts. Imagine if someone said that a city should have stayed white and that they were tired of outsiders.

White people did that for centuries. Sit down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My life was so easy then. I was 22. I lived in a studio apartment on 16th Street near Mount Pleasant, before it got gentrified.
I worked in Tenleytown and would often stop at Guapos to do takeout -- a hefty styro container of chile relleno smothered with shredded lettuce and a heaping plop of sour cream.
I worked out at the gym nearby too and shopped at Fresh Fields.

On weekends, we'd go dancing at Rumors or maybe Chief Ike's Mambo. Late night empanadas from Julie's, was the name?

Life was so simple.

+1
Getting older... well its just not as fun..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My life was so easy then. I was 22. I lived in a studio apartment on 16th Street near Mount Pleasant, before it got gentrified.
I worked in Tenleytown and would often stop at Guapos to do takeout -- a hefty styro container of chile relleno smothered with shredded lettuce and a heaping plop of sour cream.
I worked out at the gym nearby too and shopped at Fresh Fields.

On weekends, we'd go dancing at Rumors or maybe Chief Ike's Mambo. Late night empanadas from Julie's, was the name?

Life was so simple.

Epotome of Gen Xer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My life was so easy then. I was 22. I lived in a studio apartment on 16th Street near Mount Pleasant, before it got gentrified.
I worked in Tenleytown and would often stop at Guapos to do takeout -- a hefty styro container of chile relleno smothered with shredded lettuce and a heaping plop of sour cream.
I worked out at the gym nearby too and shopped at Fresh Fields.

On weekends, we'd go dancing at Rumors or maybe Chief Ike's Mambo. Late night empanadas from Julie's, was the name?

Life was so simple.

Epotome of Gen Xer.

Yep. So what do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me happy that I didn’t have that much fun in my early 20s because I don’t have much to miss. I started enjoying myself after I got married and our DINK lifestyle allowed us to travel. Never been a party person. I am boring. Oh well.

That’s sad.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like y'all don't know how to have fun now, maybe it would have made more sense to stay unmarried and not have kids,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like y'all don't know how to have fun now, maybe it would have made more sense to stay unmarried and not have kids,

What a weird thing to say. I was a cocktail waitress in the aughts and had a TON of fun running around Dupont and Logan Circle. My friends were all single and lived in close proximity. Late nights. Running the streets.

Now I’m married with kids and a normal corporate job and a SFH and I love my life. It’s possible to enjoy the present while appreciating the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My life was so easy then. I was 22. I lived in a studio apartment on 16th Street near Mount Pleasant, before it got gentrified.
I worked in Tenleytown and would often stop at Guapos to do takeout -- a hefty styro container of chile relleno smothered with shredded lettuce and a heaping plop of sour cream.
I worked out at the gym nearby too and shopped at Fresh Fields.

On weekends, we'd go dancing at Rumors or maybe Chief Ike's Mambo. Late night empanadas from Julie's, was the name?

Life was so simple.

Aren't you disgusted by the amount of environmental waste you caused by all those stryo containers? Gross.

This quote makes me think "wow, I wish your mom and dad had been more concerned about the environmental damage of reproducing and chosen not to have you."

The 20 something and all their angst and trauma are definitely not having as much fun as we did.

+1, that's what I'm seeing and hearing too

Apparently there's been a significant decline in dating and sexual activity among youths.

We thought we had our own angst and trauma 20 years ago but it's nothing compared to what today's kids must feel coming from all directions. It does seem like there's a great deal more peer pressure to conform to a new prudery in the name of the righteous side of history rather than the let and live mentality we had back then.

And smart phones definitely impacted everything.

Big time on dating. Throw on COVID and the isolation, young people moving home with their parents and/or losing work (or having trouble finding that first job), etc, it’s a mess.

[Anonymous]

For those of you who want to be taken back to the old days, the closest I've found is a new wave 80's party at the Black Cat every couple months. Looks like the next one is in July:
https://www.blackcatdc.com/shows/right-round.html

I've been before. It's all the best of a "club" without the bad parts. Everyone there is 30+ so no fighting, bumping, and people wait politely in line for a drink. Music is great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me happy that I didn’t have that much fun in my early 20s because I don’t have much to miss. I started enjoying myself after I got married and our DINK lifestyle allowed us to travel. Never been a party person. I am boring. Oh well.

Haha, you are boring. I’m glad I have fun now and had tons of fun then.

[Anonymous]

Exact same time frame for me and the same places too! Loving this thread for the nostalgia. Thanks op!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember being young, right out of college, smoking cigarettes in the bars, flirting with all the other interns and new associates, and having a blast.

I can't fathom ever smoking again but boy was it fun when we were young.

Same! That summed up my circa 2000 DC bar life. But, aside from smoking, you don’t think young 20-something’s do that anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. I was a wild child in the mid-aughts, worked in restaurants, had zero obligations and just had a good time. DC was slower paced and more provincial then.

Things change.

No, DC was not slower paced and more provincial then. You just had fewer responsibilities, etc. YOUR life was slower paced.

DC hasn't been "more provincial" since the early 90s. That was probably the last time traffic didn't suck, too.

I miss those days too. Life was so fun and carefree! Do you think the current 20 something DC crowd is having as much fun as we did?

We’re juggling more responsibilities. When my parents talk about their 20s and how cheap things were compared to their paychecks, I’m kinda jealous. My mom talks about 85 cent drinks and $3 apps. They only made around $40k a year but things evened out more.

I made $26k a year in 2000 (low level job in journalism). My rent in a group house was $550. I had no car. Minimal bills. I was always out of money at the end of the month. But once I got paid, wheehee! Out I went bar-hopping with friends!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me happy that I didn’t have that much fun in my early 20s because I don’t have much to miss. I started enjoying myself after I got married and our DINK lifestyle allowed us to travel. Never been a party person. I am boring. Oh well.

That’s sad.

It is sad. And, lucky for me, I had both. Partied in my 20's and lived the DINK lifestyle and traveled before having kids. Even now, we still travel as a family. So sad this person didn't get to have the free 20s bc it was a good time.