Bottoms up, D.C. drinkers. It was on this day in 1934 that alcohol again became legal in the District, some 16 years after Congress had decided that alcohol prohibition would be a good idea. more ›

If you own a bar or a restaurant and a fight breaks out, just shooing the troublemakers out the door may not be enough. If things get worse once they get outside, you may see your business shut down by the police. more ›

Bars, restaurants, clubs, and taverns tend to be pioneers when it comes to improving a neighborhood -- throughout the District, it's often bar-owners that have aggressively moved into areas ahead of the broader rush. But when are there too many bars for a neighborhood's own good? That's what residents along the blossoming H Street NE will soon be debating. more ›

Rumor spread wildly last night through the drunkosphere (i.e., Twitter) that the Townhouse Tavern had lost its liquor license. Now, considering that it's the Townhouse Tavs -- the only bar in Dupont Circle to merit the word "scabrous" -- the question seemed likely not "whether" but "for what, finally?" Did Redskins fans in the end rise up against that bartender whose phone ringtone is the theme to ? Maybe the progressive interest groups that call the Tavs home mounted a brazen revolution? Or did notorious and mysteriously disappeared former bartender Jodie return to completely turn out the bar's liquor holdings in the form of free shots, the way he would, oh, any time someone put SWV on the jukebox? more ›

The Going Out Gurus are reporting that two Adams Morgan bars, Bossa Bistro & Lounge and Bobby Lew's Saloon, have had their liquor licenses revoked by the D.C. Alcohol Control Board for low food sales. Both bars had restaurant-class licenses, which require 45 percent of gross receipts to be derived from food sales. Neither establishment has ever been in trouble regarding their liquor licenses before, but it's unclear what will happen now, as the board seems bent on sticking to the letter of the law and making an example out of the two. more ›

Here's a story we missed last night from WJLA: as of January, bars in D.C. that are caught selling alcohol to minors for the first time now get a warning instead of a $1,000 fine and a two-day liquor license suspension. In a surprise twist, the change in the law pits Jim "Shut 'Em Down" Graham against the D.C./Va. chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), with MADD expressing concern over becoming too lenient on liquor sales violations, and Graham insisting the new law is more fair. Repeat offenders are actually penalized more now than they were before, Graham notes. more ›