If you're looking for a more interactive, tuneful night on the town, Washington offers hip jazz clubs, lively bars, warehouse ballrooms, places where you sit back and listen, places where you can get up and dance, even a roadhouse or two. If you're looking for comic relief, Washington can take care of that, too (the pickings are few but good).
Many nightspots wear multiple hats. For example, the Black Cat is a bar and a dance club, offering food and sometimes poetry readings. So I've listed each nightspot according to the type of music it features. The details are in the description.
The best nightlife districts are Adams-Morgan; the area around U and 14th streets NW, a still-developing district, where it's best to stay on or close to U Street; the 7th Street NW corridor near Chinatown and the MCI Center; and Georgetown. If you don't mind venturing into the suburbs, you should know about Arlington's hot spots. As a rule, while club-hopping -- even in Georgetown -- stick to the major thoroughfares and steer clear of deserted side streets.
The best source of information about what's doing at bars and clubs is City Paper, available free at bookstores, movie theaters, drugstores, and other locations.
Washington's clubs and bars tend to keep their own hours; best to call ahead to make sure the place you're headed is open.
Comedy--In addition to these two comedy venues, the Warner Theatre also features big-name comedians from time to time.
D.C. Boogie--Dance clubs used to be hard to find in Washington, but now they proliferate. Salsa, swing, rave, rock, disco, freak . . . you name it, it's happening here. Strictly speaking, many dance spots are not "clubs," but restaurants, bars, or concert halls that feature live or recorded music on certain days or at certain times. But so what? The choices are there and varied. So read on, and then put on your dancing shoes and get on out there.
For clubs not already listed, I've provided an address and phone number; otherwise, refer back to full entries within the main text to find out information.
For dinner and romantic dancing in the old-fashioned way, you might want to try the Blue Bar at the Henley Park Hotel, 926 Massachusetts Ave. NW (tel. 202/638-5200), a delightful cocktail lounge with live jazz and dancing Friday and Saturday nights; or the Melrose Bar, at the Park Hyatt Hotel, 1201 24th St. NW (tel. 202/955-3899), for dinner and swing dancing to live jazz Saturday nights (and sometimes Friday nights, too -- call).
Latin jazz continues to be popular in Washington and one of the best places to salsa and merengue is Adams-Morgan's Habana Village, which is open Wednesday through Saturday evenings, with salsa lessons offered Wednesday through Friday and tango lessons on Saturday. Other choices include Latin Jazz Alley, also in Adams-Morgan, Zanzibar on the Waterfront, and Lucky Bar, near Dupont Circle.
Adams-Morgan, in general, is a convenient neighborhood to travel if you're in a dancing mood. Among the top spots are Chief Ike's Mambo Room, 1725 Columbia Rd. NW (tel. 202/332-2211), where dance maniacs of all ages and races rock out to a mix of deejay tunes, hip-hop to R&B; and Madam's Organ, which is technically not a dance club, but becomes one pretty quickly when its excellent live jazz, blues, or R&B musicians take the (tiny, windowfront) stage -- the place gets so packed that you'll probably end up dancing where you stand.
Just south of Adams-Morgan and Dupont Circle lies D.C.'s hottest club, the Eighteenth Street Lounge. Known as "ESL," the club is so hip, it scarcely announces itself. (Look for a tiny bronze plaque.) The two-level club keeps its dance floors dark, and crowded with fashionably dressed men and women moving to the deejay-driven acid jazz, hip-hop, and instrumental reggae tunes.
Dance venues, where the emphasis is on live bands playing current music, include Madam's Organ, Black Cat, IOTA, in Arlington, and State Theatre, in Falls Church. Alas, the live rock-dance scene is a category that remains woefully underrepresented in Washington.
Most places offer deejay-spun dance music. In addition to those mentioned above, you might consider the swank 2:K:9 (a Studio 54 for the millennium); the waterfront Zanzibar, for choices ranging from alternative to hip-hop; Polly Esther's for '70s retro; and Nathans, for a combination of international, Euro, and Top 40.
Jazz & Blues--A calendar of jazz gigs for these and other clubs is posted at www.dcjazz.com, including free performances, such as those at the Four Seasons Garden Terrace lounge, 2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (tel. 202/342-0444), where a pianist plays jazz standards Thursday through Saturday nights.
