Entertainment And Nightlife - Washington trips,travel vacations,hotel reservations,tourist information

DC's bar and nightlife scene is less developed than in more settled cities. Peak times for drinking tend to be the rush hours, and comparatively few people who work in the District during the week venture back into town at the weekend. However, things are slowly improving, and in the well-worn haunts of collegiate Georgetown , yuppified Dupont Circle and boisterous Adams-Morgan you should be able to pass a pleasant evening or two. For clubs, expect to pay a cover of $5 to $15 (highest at weekends); ticket prices for most gigs run $5 to $20. See the free weekly CityPaper for up-to-date listings of music, theater and other events in the area - as well as good alternative features and reporting. The Washington Blade and Metro Weekly focus on gay and lesbian life, which is at its most outgoing in Dupont Circle.

Badlands 1415 22nd St NW tel 202/296-0505; Dupont Circle Metro. The popular gay dance club, at its best on Friday and Saturday nights, draws a party crowd.

Bedrock Billiards 1841 Columbia Rd NW tel 202/667-7665. A comfortable, lively subterranean setting, top bartenders and loyal clientele set this funky pool hall apart from Adams-Morgan's more frenzied club scene.

The Big Hunt 1345 Connecticut Ave NW tel 202/785-2333; Dupont Circle Metro. More than 25 brews on tap and a good jukebox draw a groovy crowd.

The Black Cat 1811 14th St NW tel 202/667-7960; U St-Cardozo Metro. Showcases new bands and veteran alternative acts. The separate bar has no cover charge.

Blue Room 2321 18th St NW tel 202/332-0800. Classier than the typical Adams-Morgan fare, this swank venue boasts a bar worthy of Bogart's elbows.

Blues Alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave NW (rear) tel 202/337-4141. The small, celebrated Georgetown jazz bar, in business for more than thirty years, attracts top names. Book in advance.

The Brickskeller 1523 22nd St NW tel 202/293-1885; Dupont Circle Metro. Brick-lined basement saloon serves "the world's largest selection of beer" - more than 800 different types.

Capitol City Brewing Company 1100 New York Ave NW tel 202/628-2222; Metro Center Metro. DC's oldest microbrewery serves a changing menu of beers to an excitable crowd; there's a branch at 2 Massachusetts Ave NE, near Union Station.

Chi-Cha Lounge 1624 U St NW tel 202/234-8400; U St-Cardozo Metro. This upscale candlelit lounge oozes atmosphere, with live Latin music and regulars toking on fruit-cured tobacco from Middle Eastern-style hookahs.

The Common Share 2003 18th St NW tel 202/588-7180. The young set loads up on the District's cheapest pints and drinks at this welcoming if gritty dive before pushing on to the Adams-Morgan scene.

The Dubliner 520 N Capitol St NW, at the Phoenix Park tel 202/737-3773; Union Station Metro. At this bare-bones Irish bar, go for the Guinness on draft, live music and boisterous conversation.

Eighteenth Street Lounge 1212 18th St tel 202/466-3922; Dupont Circle Metro. An ultra-hip club is housed discreetly in Teddy Roosevelt's former mansion, where the beats - mostly acid jazz, dub and trip-hop - are always smooth. Dress the part.

ESPN Zone 555 12th St NW tel 202/783-3776; Metro Center Metro. The sports empire's DC branch has hundreds of TVs - even above the urinals - all tuned into the games of the moment.

Fox and Hounds 1537 17th St NW tel 202/232-6307; Dupont Circle Metro. Smack in the middle of the 17th Street scene, this easygoing bar draws a diverse crowd, all there to enjoy the very stiff and very cheap rail drinks. Hit the patio in the summer.

Hawk and Dove 329 Pennsylvania Ave SE tel 202/543-3300; Capitol South Metro. The famous old pub rolls on with a battered bar and a young, loud crowd.

Habana Village 1834 Columbia Rd NW tel 202/462-6310. The intoxicating Latin dance joint is infused with the eclectic spirit of the Adams-Morgan of old.

Irish Times 14 F St NW tel 202/543-5433; Union Station Metro. A crowded but comfortable pub, popular with Hill staffers and college students, offering a good range of beers and above-average bar food.

Lucky Bar 1221 Connecticut Ave NW tel 202/331-3733; Farragut North or Dupont Circle Metro. This everybody-knows-your-name kind of place has plenty of room and booths at the back to hang out in and shoot pool, plus $1 beer nights and English soccer on TV.

Nation 1015 Half St SE tel 202/554-1500; Navy Yard Metro. This mid-sized warehouse concert venue that doubles as a dance club boasts guest DJs from around the globe. The 18-and-over crowd raves at Buzz on Fridays, while Saturday's Velvet Nation is a favorite on the gay scene. Take a cab home as the neighborhood is not the place to linger.

Mr Smith's 3104 M St NW tel 202/333-3104. The brick-walled saloon bar on the Georgetown drag serves up decent burgers and beer and live bands Fri & Sat.

9:30 Club 815 V St NW tel 202/393-0930; U St-Cardozo Metro. An excellent indie, rock and pop venue, which also has a good bar.

Polly Esther's 605 12th St NW tel 202/737-1970; Metro Center Metro. Enthusiastic retro club, with multiple dance floors celebrating the hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Red 1802 Jefferson Place NW tel 202/466-3475; Dupont Circle Metro. Hipsters show up well past midnight at this underground hideout to dance to deep house beats, often until dawn.

Rumba 2443 18th St NW tel 202/588-5501. Great Latin bands tuck into a tight space to set the atmosphere at this funky bar-restaurant.

Republic Gardens 1355 U St NW tel 202/232-2710; U St-Cardozo Metro. Hip-hop, soul and jazz vie for attention in one of U St's hottest clubs.

Sequoia 3000 K St NW tel 202/944-4200. The popular restaurant-bar at the eastern end of Washington Harbor provides outdoor terrace seating overlooking the river.

The Tombs 1226 36th St NW tel 202/337-6668. Basement Georgetown haunt for burgers and beers.

Culture and sports
With five different theater spaces, the Kennedy Center , 2700 F St NW (tel 202/467-4600, ; Foggy Bottom Metro), next to the Watergate complex, hosts most of the capital's highbrow cultural events (including Washington Opera and Washington Ballet Company performances). It also presents nightly film screenings organized by the American Film Institute (tel 202/785-4600). The highly regarded, often pioneering Arena Stage , Sixth Street and Maine Avenue SW (tel 202/488-3300, ; Waterfront Metro), puts on contemporary theater and performance pieces at its three-stage complex, while the historic Ford's Theatre , 511 Tenth St NW (tel 202/426-6924; Metro Center Metro), has a family-friendly program of mainstream musicals and dramas, frequently historical in nature. The celebrated Shakespeare Theatre , 450 Seventh St NW (tel 202/547-1122, ; Archives-Navy Memorial Metro), stages four productions a year, plus a free summer performance in Rock Creek Park. The experimental Woolly Mammoth Theatre , 1401 Church St NW (tel 202/393-3939, ; Dupont Circle Metro), and the Source Theatre Company , 1835 14th St NW (tel 202/462-1073; U St-Cardozo Metro), the anchor of DC's alternative theater scene, are also worth seeking out.

Out of the city, Wolf Trap Farm Park , 1551 Trap Rd, Vienna, VA ( ), is the country's first national park for the performing arts, presenting concerts, opera, ballet and dance at the outdoor Filene Center (tel 703/255-1860) or the indoor Barns (tel 703/938-2404). There's a Metro-shuttle bus service for most performances. For half-price, same-day theater tickets , call 202/TICKETS or visit the TicketPlace booth on the ground floor of the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue NW; otherwise TicketMaster (tel 202/432-7328 or 1-800/551-7328, ) has full-price tickets for all arts, music and sports events.

Tickets to the Washington Redskins football games at FedEx Field, just inside the Capital Beltway in Landover, Maryland (tel 301/276-6050, ), are sold on a season ticket basis only. You'll have better luck catching the DC United soccer team at RFK Stadium, 2400 E Capitol St SE (tel 703/478-6600; Stadium-Armory Metro). The huge downtown MCI Center (tel 202/661-5500, ; next to Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro) hosts home games of the pro basketball Washington Wizards ( ) and Mystics ( ), as well as the pro hockey Washington Capitals ( ). The prospects for the woebegone Wizards rose when Michael Jordan left retirement to take the floor for them in 2001. The Caps added further star power to their line-up that same year by signing Czech superstar Jaromir Jagr, a prolific goal scorer and perennial all-star, to a seven-year $77 million contract.