Ten hours in to the 24-hour D.C. taxi strike, it's looking like a large percentage of drivers in fact stayed home. As people make their way out of offices to head home and tend to children anxious to begin trick or treating, what will they find? Based on streets we've seen around town virtually devoid of D.C. cabs, we'd say that if you have your own car, your drive will most likely be a lot......

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Not too long ago this site, along with the D.C. Council and much of the rest of the Washington area, was actively debating the incentive package for the new Washington Nationals stadium. At the time I was well aware of the questions about costs and benefits and was familiar with research on the subject suggesting that new stadia did not boost metropolitan......

>> We tragically forgot to mention in About Tonight that all left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers will gather on the Mall for Screen on the Green's first showing of the summer, Annie Hall. The movie starts just after sunset on the screen between 4th and 7th, NW. Bring an umbrella and/or a Faraday cage, as the thunderstorm watch goes until 9 p.m., but the screening is more or less rain or shine, unless lightning......

Memorial Day is this Monday, meaning a lot of Washingtonians have a three day weekend. With the extra day comes extra opportunity to take a day trip (or two) around the area. We polled our staffer for some good destinations in the area to share, so pump up the bike tires, get out the hiking boots or start the car (Zip, Flex, or your own). And if you have any other good suggestions, let us......

On Friday, Deborah Jeane Palfrey made her much-hyped prime time television debut on 20/20, chatting with Brian Ross about her D.C. escort business but saying her "gals" didn't engage in illegal activities. Ross was a bit incredulous that she actually believed no sex was taking place, but Palfrey quickly confirmed that said face was indeed straight, pointing to a contract her escorts signed saying they would be fired if any criminal activity took place. While......

Food and Wine Names Komi's Monis Best New Chef Food and Wine has released their list of best new chefs for 2007, and Komi's chef Johnny Monis has made the cut. Focusing on "modest, low-key restaurants" and chefs who are "obsessed with ingredients," Food and Wine selected ten chefs from across the country who are steadily climbing the vertical food tower of greatness. Well, ten chefs other than Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee, who they......

Danièle Thompson's Avenue Montaigne (released in France as Fauteuils d'Orchestre, or Orchestra Seats) is a charming, slightly sugary movie. Thompson got her start writing screenplays, most famously a shared credit for the excellent, disturbing history film La Reine Margot, perhaps the truest look ever at the troubled French monarchy. In the last several years, she has been directing her own comic screenplays, beginning with La Bûche in 1999, with the same incisive approach to character......

Well D.C., if you're reading this it means you're not one of the 3000 or so people in our area currently without power. NBC4 reported the outage in Foggy Bottom last night, although they focused on the problems for four ritzy hotels, rather than the 790 other folks left in the dark. D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Court of Appeals are also closed today due to the lack of power. Then, there's the massive......

Good morning to those of you who are working today, on a day that many set aside to honor American Presidents with HUGE SAVINGS! and ONEOFAKIND DEALS! We trust that you made the best of your unjustly short weekend, and managed to stay on your feet on the skating rink sidewalks of our fair city. We applaud our neighbors who did their best to keep their portion of sidewalks clear and dry. Unfortunately, we......

Good morning, Washington. How was your State of the Union viewing experience? We hope that "enjoyable" is the answer — although not so enjoyable that you now have a State of the Union hangover experience (don't you love living in a city where such a thing is a possibility?). Whatever your experience, this morning it seems like some of the week's frantic political energy is draining out of the city, as the shot to the......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

We know you're itching to get your perfect New Year's Eve plans in place, and we'll have a few suggestions for those of you still unsure what to do for the big night later in the day. But first a few of friendly reminders: Just like on Christmas Eve, D.C. liquor stores will in fact be open on Dec. 31 thanks to an amendment put in place by the D.C. Council to make exceptions when......

It feels like it's been a while since anyone truly famous has graced our fair city with their presence, but it looks like that drought comes to an end today. According to an email we received yesterday, Matt Damon and Robert DeNiro are in town (actually in Fairfax, Virginia) today taping a special episode of Chris Matthews' Hardball. Before you berate us for not passing this tip on earlier, tickets were only available to Mason......

If you're anything like this writer, the last big election returns "party" you went to turned into a vast pit of sorrow and despair you'd like not to repeat. Or maybe you joyously tossed balloons and toasted champagne at your party's continuing reign. Either way, the fate of the next two years of our country is being decided and you need a place to go tonight to watch, with trepidation and a beer, as the......

If you work near 16th and L, you might have noticed that going to work this morning was a little worse than usual. And not just because the of the miniature existential crisis that every long weekend brings — in addition to that Labor Day malaise, the traffic situation was and continues to be pretty godawful. Sixteenth Street is blocked off by police cars, and somebody seems to have constructed a tent across two lanes......

In a summer of high-profile restaurant openings, the handlers of Urbana -- the new restaurant inside the new Hotel Palomar just west of Dupont Circle on P Street -- don't want their charge to get lost in the crowd. And so, last night, they hosted a flashy preview of their eatery to get the word out about the restaurant that replaces the old Gabriel restaurant in the former Radisson-Barceló. Hotel Palomar is a link in......

Located in a sort-of no man’s land of office buildings and hotels, the Maine Avenue Fish Market is tucked away in a bizarre little pocket of waterfront activity in Southwest. We were there to grab a few fish steaks before the evening rush hour for a Friday night grillfest. And we were hungry. Newbies to the market, we walked slowly, browsing the wares while vendors coaxed us to stop here or there for a special......

It was around this time last year that we collectively mourned the fact that the District just doesn't have very many good bagel shops. Spare the few options most of us could name off the tops of our heads, we realized that within the confines of the city, there seemed to be a relative paucity of bagel providers. And now, a year later, we add one more bagelry to the list, and it's in an......

The little mustachioed Monopoly guy (Alfonso?) didn't get where he is today by making one little board game and selling it until folks got tired of seedy Atlantic City landmarks and quaint anachronisms (railroads!). No, the little robber baron knows people are suckers for the new, so he's made and sold version after version of the classic pasttime, from the celebrated original to GenericStateUniversityopoly, to the perennial chick magnet Lord of the Rings Trilogy Monopoly,......

The owners of Fran O'Brien's Stadium Steakhouse in the downtown Capital Hilton recently learned what Lorelai and Rory Gilmore have known all along: regularly scheduled Friday night dinners are contentious affairs. As of May 1, Fran O'Brien's weekly Friday night steak dinners for injured war veterans will be no more, as the steakhouse loses its basement lease in the hotel. And Fran O'Brien's owners and the vets themselves are contending that business realities have far......

The National Harbor, a perplexing development scheme rising from the Prince George's County river flats just outside the Capital Beltway, has attracted additional hotel investments, giving the complex a planned total of 3,000 available rooms. The development will be anchored by the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, which will house 2,000 hotel rooms and a massive convention area and is scheduled to open in 2008. Yesterday, officials revealed that five more hotels will be......

Once mainly a dumping ground for hotels in easy striking distance of both Georgetown and downtown, the District's West End neighborhood has lately experienced a building boom that may bring more residents than ever into the quiet area east of Rock Creek Parkway, north of Foggy Bottom, and west of Dupont Circle. For years, the West End had been a veritable eye of the storm -- remaining oddly quiet, while the rest of the......

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams may not be mayor for much longer, but he does have a few wishes for his successor's benefit, writes the Post today. First off, that the title be changed from "mayor" to "governor," a recognition of the fact that the District serves both the functions of a city and a state. Second, a good retirement package. Third and final, a mayoral house. Williams quickly backed off of asking for a mayoral......

The District is often compared to our behemoth neighbor of a city to the north, New York. And as much as we hate the comparison -- and the resulting argument -- we may be moving in New York's direction, figuratively speaking. As it turns out, certain folks see a bit of Manhattan moving down south, resulting in a so-called "Manhattanization" of the District. Bloomberg yesterday expounded on this issue in an article titled, "D.C., Once......

At first, the Ward 6 Democrats had simply organized a forum to discuss the state of the city's schools. Now they may be hosting the first, if most informal debate between mayoral candidates Adrian Fenty and Linda Cropp. Both Fenty and Cropp have announced that they plan on making an appearance at the forum -- set for 7 p.m. tonight at the Eastern Branch Boys & Girls Club, 261 17th St., SE -- which will......

Despite our lack of a W, D.C. sure has its share of fancy-shmancy boutique hotels. And that's predominantly because of the Kimpton Group, who operate six hotels in D.C. -- their second largest metropolitan hub after their headquarters in San Francisco. As Metrocurean says, the Kimpton Group has done a great job taking ugly D.C. buildings and transforming them not only into swank hotels, but also spaces with fun bars/lounges and fine dining. And now......

District officials expressed relief last week when a Supreme Court ruling liberally interpreted the power of eminent domain to include taking private property and re-developing it to promote economic development -- a step seen as necessary for both the re-development of the Skyland strip mall and the construction of a new stadium for the Washington Nationals, both in Southeast. That feeling of relief may have been premature, though. Members of both parties in Congress have......

... Wait, Google already does. Google has now put forth its Google Earth feature. It's in its beta testing period but here's what you'll be able to do: -- Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in. -- Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions. -- Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings. -- Save and share your searches and favorites.......

Perhaps we're all too hard in our criticisms of visitors to our city. They do pump millions of dollars into local food courts, restaurants, hotels and stores, but we're all well aware of the baggage they drag along with them to the nation's capital: themselves and their children, many unversed in standard rules of urban etiquette. There are the simple mistakes which we should not fault them on. Then there are the instances where we......

Various DCist contributors and readers have reported seeing police-escorted convoys of old, empty Greyhound buses noisily making their way through the city since Saturday. Sirens wailing and lights flashing, these convoys have been spotted on Connecticut Avenue just north of Dupont Circle, along U Street, and in the vicinity of Chinatown. Rumors have been quick in coming -- A foreign dignitary? A city-wide test of the civil emergency response system? A couple of cops and......