While the District is overall dominated by politics and workaholics, there is a historic and active community. Trying to compare DC to other metropolitan areas is always an apples to oranges tasks, each is widely divergent and each holds fans and naysayers.Check out sites such as DCist and Brightest Young Things ... Washington City Paper ... or Postive Force. Many of the museums and embassies also sponsor events catering to younger audiences (i.e., Hirshhorn After Hours or House of Sweden).
Though most people wouldn t think it, the city of Washington DC is on the smaller end in terms of size for large cities. but the metropolitan area is huge with a lot of people. In terms of city area, Baltimore is actually larger than DC (not to say that Baltimore is better or worse ). So I imagine that, and possibly I am wrong since I am not an expert on DC, that NYC, SF, and Chicago probably have more cultural activity going on within city limits aside from the upfront tourist attractions. To me DC does have to offer some cool places to visit such as the museums. In the past I have taken in rock concerts at the Verizon Center (where the Capitals and Wizards play). But I imagine DC as a place where people go to take in the sites, if they aren t there to rally for political purposes. A lot of people take the metro in to work, then go home. Others live in town. But to me DC comes across as a transient area where most of the people within the metropolitan region live in MD or VA, so if you are looking for a youth culture, unless urban is your thing, I d look outside of District limits, and though I maybe a bit jaded in my view, I d sway towards MD. Or maybe you can dig deeper and find out what s going on below the surface of DC youth culture. Also something to keep in mind here too is that the cities you mentioned aside from DC, they all have their own respective unique vibes about them as well. Such is DC, the nation s capital, hence a place where perhaps politics can overshadow youth culture.
You need to look underneath. Hit a nightclub. Walk around the streets. Make friends. Go on the metro. You ll understand. It s not as amazing as those cities with youth culture and indie music, but it s...growing. It s like the new kid at school, who s not cool at all, but in time, it s going to be amazing, the most popular kid out there. With all of the people coming in from NYC, it s getting better.
Why would you go to the Kennedy Center as your source for indie music ? Are you not even aware of the most obvious of venues for these kind of trendy scenes? (Black Cat, 9:30 Club, DC9, Rock Roll Hotel). Rock your pair of converse over at those places before complaining about the Kennedy not being hipster enough for you.
There s very little of an immediately apparent, superficially marketed music/culture scene, but that doesn t mean that if you live there, there won t be social circles and establishments like bars where such a scene flourishes, unseen by the naked eye. To really get to know how good a place is in that respect, you have to live there, and as I don t live in DC, I couldn t tell you for sure.
I think the trick is to find a more working class area. You really don t have to go too far. Baltimore is only about 50 miles north and has a more vibrant youth culture. Further north from there by another 100 miles and you find Philadelphia. The problem with DC is that it is mostly full of button-down collar types in the city....or the hillbillies that live in parts of Sothern Maryland.
I don t live there anymore, but one of my favorite websites about the DC area is http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/ It has a ton of features, including a calendar of upcoming events. It s very indie/hipster if that s what you re looking for.
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