Who says D.C. isn’t good for music? Sure, you can’t find a club on every corner, and for the most part you’ll have to venture pretty far outside that damn “bubble” everybody’s always talking about to get there, but the District has plenty of good venues for live music and DJ sets, and here we give you a nice little rundown of where to find it:

U Street Corridor: D.C.’s fabled center for arts and music, this neighborhood, located on and around U Street in the Northwest, is home to some of our city’s best concert halls, dance clubs, and restaurants.

• The biggest and most popular of the concert venues is 9:30 Club, which has upcoming shows from the likes of The Hold Steady, Bright Eyes, and Peter Bjorn and John. Bigger names are known to cost a pretty penny and sell out pretty quickly, so it’s best to get tickets early.
• As for smaller concerts, Black Cat is another favorite among Georgetown students, with smaller shows and more manageable ticket prices. Black Cat is also known for its themed dance parties, which it throws virtually every night there isn’t a musician headlining.
• Even smaller is DC9, which shows a lot of local acts in addition to national ones. One caveat: Someone got killed there last year.
• If DJ’s and dance parties are more your thing, look no further than the still relatively new U Street Music Hall. The foremost of D.C.’s DJ-centric dance party venues, this club is dark, underground, and all about music and dancing. For the most part, shows are 21+ at the door and 18+ if you order tickets online.

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You’ve heard a little bit about D.C. as a whole. Now it’s time to explore her neighborhoods past M and Wisconsin. We don’t pretend this a comprehensive guide, but rather a little taste of what the city has to offer. Hold tight for Friday when we take on the top nightlife venues!

Dupont Circle (Metro: Dupont Circle)

With a combination of embassies, restaurants, shopping, and bars, Dupont Circle has it all, and it’s only a free GUTS bus ride away from Georgetown. Dupont Circle is also the closest Red Line Metro Station to Georgetown.

The main shopping street in this area is Connecticut Avenue northwest of the circle. Here you can pop into one of the largest independent bookstores in the region, Kramerbooks & Afterwords, which also has a café famous for its delicious pie!

Just off the circle on Massachusetts Avenue is Embassy Row, where the SFS Academic Council organizes trick-or-treating every Halloween.

Also check out the Phillips Collection. It’s not free, but there’s an excellent rotating collection of modernist and contemporary art.

Photo by Shubert Ciencia

Foggy Bottom (Metro: Foggy Bottom)

Just a 20-minute walk down M street, Foggy Bottom is home to George Washington University, the Kennedy Center, and the White House.

Adams Morgan (Metro: Woodley Park, 42 bus to 14th St./Columbia Rd.)

It’s hard to talk about Adams Morgan without talking about nightlife. But this area has a slew of great ethnic restaurants, from Ethiopian to Arab fare.

Sober or drunk, the tiny Amsterdam Falafel shop is your best bet for cheap, delicious falafel. This self-service shop let’s you stuff your falafel full of delicious toppings, and best of all it’s open late for the hungry bar hopper. And if you’re still thirsty afterwards, Tryst is a great place to listen to somber jams while sipping a sophisticated beverage.

A few blocks from the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan Metro Station, the National Zoo is free and makes a great daytrip in the fall or spring. The Zoo is one of only a handful of U.S. zoos that have giant pandas.

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