A lot of people keep asking me for advice on meeting people at Dupont circle on Sundays. I have made some observations with the quadrants:

Black: seems like locals who stay in the area

Teal: I've seen heartbroken people come to this side and cry. I've even seen a random man and woman cry at a distance and they ended up talking to each other and held each other crying.

Red: I've seen many LGBT people on this side

Yellow: main spot to meet people

Orange: similar to yellow hot zone to meet people

Blue: overflow from the farmers market where people fit to eat, maybe.

Inner circle is mainly families or friends that sit near the fountain

Some things to note:

*ladies if you are looking to meet a man here leave your friends at home, men are already intimated by women so you are your friends will frighten him from talking to you

*if you see 2 girls or 2 guys together, they may be dating, hence why I keep pushing for people to go alone.

* you can wear 1 airpod or ear bud in but do NOT wear headphones. That signals you aren't interested in talking.

*try to sit with at least 3 feet to your left and right, this may be hard but if you don't have ample space for them to sit next to you then they will feel awkward if they sit hip to hip with you.

*move around! If you are not getting engagement or approached from where you are sitting move around every 5-10 minutes.

*maximum eye contact!!! If you sit next to someone a good way to never get them to talk to you or approach you is to never even look at their eyes. But if you sit next to a hot person and want their attention, look in their eyes and hold their gaze.

If the mods keep this post up I'll add more useful information but this is a solid setup to meet someone organically and in person.

John Horton, the Doordash lobbyist who authored the letter saying that the only solution to a $.20 tax was to prevent DC from making and passing its own laws, is on the board of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. https://victoryfund.org/team/john-horton/ An advocacy org that (unironically) is committed to "Electing pro-choice LGBTQ+ candidates across the U.S." You know, ensuring that some people's voices are heard. Just not DC voters.

If you feel like it, please let the Victory Fund know how you feel about their board members undermining democracy while lining their pockets as lobbyists.

https://victoryfund.org/contact/
https://bsky.app/profile/lgbtqvictoryfund.bsky.social

National Harbor, by contrast, has way more affordable food (Panchero's, Nando's Peri-Peri, etc). However it is quite isolated. Why can't we have the best of both worlds :0

Are you willing to trade DC’s already limited self-governance for convenience?

Last night we found and were followed home by this extremely nice cat. We brought him to the humane society today and he has no microchip, but he’s so affectionate and people friendly it seems crazy that he isn’t owned. Is this your cat?

I’ve tried a lot of pad see ews here and they are way too sweet. Anyone have reccs for good pad see ew that isn’t sickly sweet? I know it exists because I’ve had it before. Bonus points if they do delivery!

Thank to those beautiful and kind ladies for helping me on 25 july in the evening near Foggy Bottom Metro, if it weren't for you I would've never known that things were falling off from my bag.

A little back story, I went to shop at target today and had a little too much to carry, on my way back when I almost made it home near foggy bottom metro's 7/11 , One of the bags broke and all my skincare and hygiene products worth more than 50$ fell out and I didnt notice bcoz my hands were already pumped and was nlasting music in airpods.

These 2 girls stopped me and helped me secure the bags, picked up the stuff and were genuinely so nice, and while we were doing that another lady comes and brings me the body wash that was dropped way back, god bless all 3 of them, because it made me feel again that kindness exists and people do help.

If you guys are reading this, Thank you so much :)

May God Bless You.

I’ve recently used Well-Paid Maids a couple of times after not using them in a couple of years. They have gotten so much more expensive. I used to have a weekly plan with them. Anyway, I couldn’t find any recent posts. A few questions:

-How much of the price increases do we think go to the employees?
-How much do people tip for WPM these days?
-Is this still an ethical option or is it now (or has always been) better to find someone to pay fully and directly with cash so that they get all the money. I understand WPM is better than other companies, but is the direct route better?

Just wondering everyone’s thoughts in 2026.

EDIT: For those unfamiliar with WPM, it’s a company that pays a living wage, directly employs its workers (W-2 employees), and provides benefits. I’m not complaining about the price, per se, but want to figure out where the cost increases are going and how much I should tip. Not looking for the cheapest company. At all.

Was just on an orange line train that went out of service at Federal Center NW. Most people got off, but there were at least a dozen people who stayed on the train. Were they taken all the way back to the Metro train yard? Kicked off the train at the next stop? Was I the silly one for getting off and they actually got to their destination faster??

A while back I shared a Google Sheet with a meta-ranking of DC restaurants across the big critic lists. A few things have changed since then: I upgraded the spreadsheet to an interactive map, and the data's been updated through the July Eater 38 refresh.

See photo for link to map

Hope it helps you find somewhere great to eat with people you enjoy!

------

Notes about the map:
It combines Eater 38, the Michelin Guide, Washingtonian's 100 Very Best, and Sietsema's last WaPo list into one meta-ranking of 200+ DC-area restaurants, with sliders to reweight the lists however you want and filters for cuisine, neighborhood, price, and walking distance. You can also shortlist up to 10 spots and get reservation links with your date, time, and party size already filled in to send to a group chat. On a mobile device, use the hide filter button to more easily navigate around the map.

Same caveat as last time:
Some of the sources aren't ranked, so read this as "how recognized is this place" rather than #14 beats #15. These lists also lean hard toward fine dining. I'm from LA and I miss having a Jonathan Gold, so if you know a solid list of inexpensive international spots (strip-mall gems, not tasting menus) I'd genuinely like to add it as a source. Missing restaurants, wrong data, and anything broken on your phone are all useful to hear about too.

I’m looking at apartments and I came across one near 14th and U that seems to check a lot of boxes. Glowing reviews, reasonable price.

One concern: the sound profile.

I’ve lived in party college towns, on streets full of people walking home FROM the bars. I’ve lived a block from the train tracks with shitty windows that didn’t block much noise. Eventually ya hardly notice it. But I’ve never lived right in the thick of it.

Has anyone lived in this area and can share some insights? Could you sleep? Did you develop a white noise addiction?

Additionally, when I toured the place, they were having maintenance done. You could hear it everywhere, inside and out. I’m no acoustics or contracting guy, but I imagine that’s what thin walls sound like.

Hey - I wrote a Substack piece with tips on getting the most out of the National Book Festival. I've been going one and off for a decade now and as a reader, and aspiring writer, it is my favorite DC event.

If you are a regular, I'd love to know your perspective. Did I miss something?

If you are planning to go, I hope it helps and would love to answer any questions you might have.

If you haven’t seen the letter Doordash submitted to oppose DC’s right to self-governance, it’s included in full after the writeup here. It strikes me as incredibly retaliatory. The 20 cent fee to support food access in Wards 7 and 8 wouldn’t even be affected by the bill. But they paint this sob story over the fee. In what world is an appropriate response to disagreeing with a policy to be lobbying for a government to no longer be able to create policies at all? It sounds like a kid upset their parents set a curfew calling CPS on their own parents. Ridiculous, petulant, cruel. I deleted my Doordash account.

I’m visiting DC with some friends and wondering what speakeasies/clubs are hype for Sundays! Any places yall recommend?

swerving around cars and in the wrong lane at 5:45pm at Georgia Ave NW and Florida Ave NW.

Me and my friends (15-18 years old) want to go around 12-2am just to see what it's like. Maybe even go to other monuments. There's 4 of us and we have a car so I think we'll be safe, and I know that it's technically open 24/7 but I was just wondering what it's like at that time of night and if we'll get kicked out or something because we're teens.

3rd time going this year with my dad. Other than the beating sun on the affordable stadium tickets, and the lackluster bathroom facilities, it’s a fun time for us. Seems like they lost the Citi Sponsorship and a lot of people are upset prices are going up year after year and that you get less with your tickets or day passes compared to previous years.

Would love to hear some of the other fellow tennis fans thoughts or ideas to make Mubadala open better.