Republic Gardens Open Again

Friday marked the re-opening of Republic Gardens on 1355 U Street. According to the shiny flier I was handed as soon as I walked in, it is now called the Republic, or depending on which side of the flier you read, the New Republic (which is also the name of a magazine I'm sure 99 percent of the club's clientèle has never read). Since moving to U, I've only heard about the original Republic Gardens as a historic venue that hosted Jazz heavys like the Duke and Ella Fitzgerald and then later in the 90's having the worst door cover ($20 bucks every night). I'm not gonna go the usual route and pretend to hate the bar. I like that there was a good mix of people (ustreet regulars, hipsters, douchebags, and even the rarely seen on U guido douche bags) and the beers were decently priced at around t 4 bucks. The new Garden still plays pretty much only Hip Hop and Jazz, which is fine by me, and is hard to hate having the most open bar space on all of U. This bar easily has some potential to be one of the best draws on the strip but so far its no St Ex downstairs dance party. Clearly I'm gonna have to spend some more time there to make up my mind but its good to know I have another option Friday night. Let's just keep paying those taxes this time Gardens.

Movin on up

Hi I'm Tony and this is my blog. About 850 of you may remember me as the douche bag counter point from that other (and far superior) U street blog Ustreetmonth but for those who don't let me give you a little background info.

About two months ago my friends and I set out to drink ourselves retarded on the greatest street in Washington, D.C. and live to blog about it. We barely made it out alive that month. Some of us were hit by cars, mauled by pandas, and nearly beat up by bouncers (...wait that all just happened to Kevin) but we still lived to tell our story to the world as our blog grew bigger and bigger. For one glorious month we lived, breathed, ate, drank, and blogged U-Street but in a flash around mid May it was all over and we all went our separate ways.

Since U Street Month, a few of us have moved on, checked into rehab and started new and less U street oriented blogs but still the street held a special place in my heart. Some nights I would wake up in a cold sweat after dreaming about going to Ben's, Local 16, St. Ex, and the Black Cat only to realize I was back at home living my boring Maryland Life. I imagine its something similar to being hooked on heroin and suddenly quitting cold turkey and getting a job as clown who drives around in full costume between odd gigs making balloon animals at children's parties.

So logically I had no choice but to move to the city I love on the Street that I dream about. I recently rented out a row house in lovely Bloomingdale at 2nd and U. I know I could never replace the epic madness that was U Street Month, but I like to consider this a spin off blog like the Jefferson's or Good Times . I'm moving on up and this is my U street life.