We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
Fox 5
Venue: H2O
Style inspiration: Cruise ship
Food lowlight: Gummy crab cakes
Token entertainment: Fake Texas hold ’em in the room dubbed the “Fox Caribbean Casino”
Music: Reggae band DKGB
Defining moment: Listening to members of DKGB play “Just the Two of Us” with steel drums
Party favor: Tote bag and floppy hat emblazoned with TV Guide and DirecTV logos
Sierra Club
Venue: Pizzeria Uno, Union Station
Style inspiration: Enviro booth outside a Dixie Chicks show
Food lowlight: $5 beer, which was $2.19 if you sat at Uno’s regular bar
Token entertainment: Laptop displaying scary video on environmental fallout from nukes
Music: The sound of people discussing light rail and Metro
Defining moment: When, upon the arrival of Ward 8 Councilmember-Elect Marion S. Barry, one greenie whispered into Barry’s ear, “Anyone bothers you, let me know”
Party favor: None, unless you won the raffle for a Sierra Club backpack, trial membership to Results, or Sierra Club T-shirt
ROOT Inc. (Reaching Out to Others Together), a nonprofit organization that aids families of homicide victims
Venue: The Ellington, first-floor party room
Style inspiration: Faux art-deco church
Food lowlight: Soggy veggie quesadillas
Token entertainment: Spoken-word performance concerning the aftermath of homicide and culture of street violence
Music: Early on, piped-in smooth jazz and gospel; a few hours in, piped-in oldies but goodies (James Brown, Marvin Gaye)
Defining moment: Ellington developer Chris Donatelli paying his $5 party donation by check
Party favor: Depression
Jews United for Justice
Venue: Columbia Heights group house
Style inspiration: Columbia Heights group house
Food lowlight: Salted peanuts
Token entertainment: Complimentary Jewish speed dating
Music: A disgruntled klezmer duo; later, Toto’s “Africa”
Defining moment: The guy hitting on his friend’s sister
Party favor: Hangover
Downtown Business Improvement District
Venue: Pearl Restaurant and Lounge
Style inspiration: Eurotrash bar, as designed by the E! network
Food lowlight: Orange goop on top of baked brie
Token entertainment: Paid safety-and-maintenance (SAM) workers dressed up in giant furry outfits resembling a snowman, toy soldier, Christmas tree, and gingerbread woman
Music: Eurotrash disco!
Defining moment: When noncostumed SAM workers explained that they were being paid to guard their furry brethren from any would-be attackers—and to make sure they didn’t topple over
Read more News stories
Party favor: Sticks from the steak-on-a-stick
This isn't a paywall.
We don't have one. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. If you think that it's important to have high quality local reporting we hope you'll support our work with a monthly contribution.