D.C. Increasingly Feels Like a City

(from the Jan. 14 e-mail forum themail@dcwatch, reprinted with the author's permission)

The new movie theater on E Street is a great addition to downtown life. After work on Tuesday evening, I met a friend and we walked down to the theater, picked up our tickets, stopped in at Chapters (around the corner on 11th Street), a great, locally-owned independent bookstore, walked over to 10th Street for dinner at Bistro D'Oc, a nice, little southern French restaurant, and got back to the movie for the 7 p.m. show.

And when the show was over, we walked back on sidewalks full of pedestrians. Downtown has been bustling for a while, and each new venture provides another reason for sticking around after work and makes D.C. feel a little more like a city. §