Photo by andertho

Even as the District comes into its own as a destination for food, drink and the creative economy, there’s one thing it certainly isn’t: a 24-hour sort of town. Our status as a city that likes to sleep only seems to have been verified last week when the Guest of a Guest and the City Paper reported that both The Hamilton and Black & Orange were scaling back their late-night ambitions. (The Post featured the Black & Orange in a recent article and found that not many people were craving burgers at 3 a.m. on weeknights.)

We just can seem to escape the reality that we’re a city of southern efficiency, northern charm and bedtimes befitting of the elderly.

And that’s OK. Both The Hamilton and Black & Orange were being much too ambitious in their expectations of how much D.C. has changed over the last few years, anyhow. Yes, The Diner and a few other places maintain 24/7 schedules, but most bars and restaurants in this town are used to a pretty standard schedule. But how come?

It’s certainly something of a chicken-and-egg debate. If you stay open later, will they come? Or will them wanting to come making you want to stay open later? Regardless of how you look at it, D.C. is still a small town that likes to sleep. It’s probably not big enough just yet, and too few people work in the sorts of industries that would afford them a flexible enough schedule to want or need a meal at a restaurant at 4:30 a.m. on a Wednesday.

It’s also hard to ignore a practical consideration: Metro shuts down at midnight on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends. While there were once isolated demands that Metro run 24/7, it’ll simply never happen. (It was a big enough advancement that it extended its operating hours to 3 a.m. on weekends.)

Of course, it’s not like this won’t ever change. In fact, I’d say it will in the next five to 10 years. As part of his 2013 budget, Mayor Vince Gray has proposed extending bar hours until 3 a.m. on weekdays and 4 a.m. on weekends. While he’s doing it to suck another $5.3 million in sales taxes out of our pockets, it may also contribute to a shift in how and when people go out. Additionally, I’ve noticed an increase in the freelance economy in recent years—the very sorts of people that enjoy late-night options and can afford to shun a 9-5 schedule. Also, should the city keep growing, we may eventually hit the point where a critical mass could exist to sustain late-night initiatives like those The Hamilton and Black & Orange were hoping for now.

Until that happens, there’s no use in mourning an idea that may have been a little too ambitious to begin with. One day we’ll eventually awaken to a 24-hour city, but for now we should just enjoy the sleep.