Moving to a new city can present a daunting challenge to even the most well-worn of urbanites — how to quickly and painlessly learn of the city’s neighborhoods and nightlife without resorting to an embarrassing and attention-grabbing tourist guidebook. Into that void steps the Not For Tourists guidebooks, which describe themselves as such:

Our philosophy is simple: people need to use the cities they live in, commute into, or travel to effectively. They need to use their city’s transportation systems; its governmental infrastructure; its shops, restaurants, and nightspots—and they need all of this information while they’re on the move in a format that’s more accessible than the Yellow Pages, more informative than Zagat’s, and more useful than any tourist’s guide.

The first NFT guidebook was released in 2000 and covered Manhattan; since then guides have been added for Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and, in its second year, the District.

DCist managed to get its grubby little hands on a complimentary copy (we’re not that special; 300 of them were handed out at NFT’s launch party last week at Local 16), and we dove right in, not knowing what to expect but excited to find out. By way of brief conclusion, the District’s NFT guide tries more than it succeeds in breaking the mold of the traditional tourist guide, while suffering from one surprising omission that may well throw into question its status as the more urbane and well-informed alternative.