Valentine's Day Experience: After the Show

After not too long, we arrived at the restaurant where we first met, little place called Annie's Paramount Steak & Seafood House.  I think we agreed this would make for a nice Valentine's Day.

The restaurant was in Dupont Circle, and was occupied by around twenty men.  All men.  Some were in pairs, some were in groups.

All ignored us.  Dupont Circle is known as a gay neighbourhood, but I never think about that when I'm there.  I forget which is the "gay" part of town, or if there are several.  I also forget which is the preppy part, the hipster part, and so on.

It's not really important.

We were seated by the window.  We were both smitten by the aroma of a particular dish at another table and ordered the same. As we sat, we saw some guys hugging outside, some girls and guys holding hands....

I've offered this before:

Q: why do gays publicly show affection in Dupont Circle?
A: because they can.

Because it has a wide reputation as a gay neighbourhood and people who are there (or in

Provincetown, MA or Fire Island, NY or the Castro District of San Francisco or...) know that's normal behaviour and ignore it or partake in it or enjoy the freedom others have.  I'm in the latter group, but I also feel freer to get involved in PDAs in those areas.  I know, it's just for shock value when I do it. :)
While we ate, a few mixed couples came in, and I could see a woman or two at the bar.  But the diners were overwhelmingly male.

We had a male waiter who kept addressing us as individually as "honey".  At one point, after dinner, I walked over to the restroom.  There were, not surprisingly, two.  But one for men and one was unisex/family.  I smiled and understood the reasoning (know your clientèle).  I could hear someone in the unisex so I waited.  Someone came out of the men's and told me there was a ladies' room upstairs.  So I went upstairs and there was another bar and seating area and restrooms for each gender.  I chose the appropriate one.  There was no-one upstairs so I took my time and touched up my powder (my nose was a bit drippy from the cold) and redid my lips before going back down.  The waiter asked if we were getting separate cheques and I told him I would pay.   He made a comment like "good for you" or something but I forget what.

Leaving, the weather was still nice: cold but not too cold and the wind was calm, as opposed to the 40+ mile per hour winds the previous night and earlier today, and we didn't even consider a cab back to the hotel (my plan B) where we left the car.

The drive back was uneventful.  I stayed in my dress for a while and then heard what sounded like heavy rain on the window. The weather had become what I was afraid of from the start: heavy, blinding snow, high winds, with some ice mixed in so we'd know it was out there.

But I was home and relatively warm and I thanked Thalia for getting us home before the nasty stuff began.

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What I Missed

While I was in Arizona late last month, I missed a Halloween party thrown by my state senator.  He met "Meg" once before, and I would have welcomed the chance to introduce her again ~ and this time Get Pictures!

But for the past several years, I've read about the Dupont Circle (a neighrborhood in DC) High Heel race, usually after it's over.  I've wanted to attend for a number of years, but logistics are hard.  I have a choice of the "perfect" shoes ~ platforms I can barely walk in or pumps I can run in.  I just need to figure out my goal.

Read about the 2011 race here.

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Fringe Benefits

Please take this week's poll.  Read the introductory post first, and please take your time!  The post is long, but it may give you some insight and it will explain a couple of the options.

Before I get to the main topic

A week or so ago, a man in a wedding dress ran onto the field during a Nationals game.  Picture to the right.

The main topic

  
Last weekend, we were in DC to see the Fringe Festival.

I did not know, until a friend from New York told me, that there are Fringe Festivals around the world.

For the uninitiated, the Fringe consists of a great many local shows.  Music, comedy, drama, dance, one person, troupe, offbeat stuff, you name it, it's there.  Here, there are shows with names like Tales of Courage and Poultry, Cecily and Gwendolyn's Fantastical Capital Balloon Ride, Who Killed Captain Kirk and Fat Men in Skirts.  You can sort shows by a small handful of categories, including Jewish and LGBT.

I dropped my son off near DC mid-afternoon and we went in, with time to see two or three shows.  Most are in the same area; most are between 60 and 90 minutes.

The first show was a one-man show.  He spoke about odd events in his life, and focussed a bit on agay black friend he had when going to college in the midwest.  Being either gay or black made him an oddity in this town and this school.  His friend invited him to a hidden, unlabelled club, told him if anyone wants to mess with him that he only dates black men, and then disappeared.  Yes, he reappeared in drag as the star of the show.

OK, the show wasn't very good.  But this was an odd coincidence.

The second show was an ensemble play, six or so characters including one tall young black man who showed up about half-way through.  In a dress and heels.  His claim was that he was protesting the treatment of women and would dress like this 24x7 until women were treated as equals in every way.

OK.  I'm two for two.  I'll be going back today or tomorrow.

The second show was a mile or so from the rest so we drove there and walked to a restaurant before the show.  Walking a bit, we saw what seemed to be shops, walked past a steakhouse to an Italian restaurant in Dupont Circle.

There were about a dozen people in the place, staff and guests, and most were watching the world cup final match.  He sat us at a table near the window.  My wife took a seat looking in, so I had a nice view of the street.  The waiter asked if we wanted to sit where we could see the game.  He put his hand on my back as he asked, which I thought was... noticeable.

As soon as the waiter walked away, my wife said "this is a gay place."  I hadn't noticed.  Those of you who know DC might have figured it out when I mentioned Dupont Circle.  I didn't know, but my wife informed me, that it is a very gay area of DC.  She was the only woman in the place until the end of the meal.  I spent the meal people-watching out the window.  Many women walked by.  Many of them were wearing dresses; I saw a fair number of LBDs.  The men mostly travelled in pairs.  After dinner I said "I want to walk," mostly because I like to walk and it wasn't unbearably hot outside.  More men in pairs.

I think this might be a good place for Meg to dine if she goes to DC in a couple of weeks.

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