The running joke that is the New York Times‘ coverage of D.C. continues to fall flat. The newspaper unveiled its list of 52 places to go in 2016, and D.C. makes an appearance on the list. Great, right? Unfortunately, the reasons why just underscore the Times’ haphazard attempts to understanding our city. Take a look:
The National Mall, studded with landmarks and museums, will soon have one more jewel in its cultural crown: the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, scheduled to open late this year. Expect exhibits presenting a nuanced perspective of the African-American experience through cultural artifacts, artwork and personal-history stories. Adding to the appeal of downtown is nearby CityCenterDC, an ambitious 10-acre development project filled with apartments, condos, shops and restaurants, including Momofuku CCDC (the first United States location outside of New York of the celebrated restaurant brand), which opened there late last year.
Check out the National Mall and visit a museum that doesn’t have a firm opening date? (Sometime before Nov. 4, is the current ETA). There’s no denying that the National Mall and its surrounding museums are worth your time, but D.C. has many more cultural offerings. The Times also singles out CityCenterDC, the soulless Emerald City of shops you can also visit while in New York. And of all the fantastic, unique restaurants the city has to offer, the paper mentions just one: Momofuku CCDC. That’s a New York transplant. In other words, come to D.C. because it now has a lot of the same shit as New York.
Instead, come to D.C. for any one of these 52 reasons (in no particular order):
The Red Hen
The Renwick Gallery
Little Serow
The National Building Museum
DCity Smokehouse
National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum
The Kreeger Museum
Maketto
National Museum of Women in the Arts
The Phillips Collection
Union Market
Rasika
The 9:30 Club
DC Brau’s brewery and Harper Macaw’s chocolate factory, both offering Saturday tours and tastings
The Howard Theatre
The Kennedy Center
Iron Gate
Politics & Prose
Baan Thai
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Studio Theatre
Folger Theatre
Blues Alley
Rose’s Luxury
Convivial
AFI Silver Theater (It’s in Silver Spring, but c’mon, it’s not that far)
Malcolm X Park
Beefsteak
Ethiopian food
A distillery tour in Ivy City
The National Arboretum
Salt & Sundry
Bad Saint
Bluejacket
Crispus Attucks Park
Farragut Square food trucks
Chez Billy Sud
C&O Canal
The Anacostia Playhouse
Anacostia Community Museum
Hains Point
Horace & Dickie’s
Barmini
The Georgetown waterfront
Ramen at Daikaya
Bohemian Caverns
The Newseum
Eastern Market
Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken
Rock Creek Park
Nats stadium for a game
Redeem
… or really anything other than CityCenterDC
Photograph by Darrow Montgomery