I’m struggling to remember from point A to point B: I first saw Arcade Fire in a Midwestern college town, right on the heels of the release of Funeral, before their official anointment by every critic in North America. The show had to move from a smaller café to a bigger bar because of ticket demand, but, even still, no more than 70 people showed up. The next time I saw them, in a sold…

If you’re anything like us here at DCist, you’ve really given up the pretense of doing any work, and are merely counting down the days to your holiday vacation. Despite the lack of cold weather, snow, or anything seasonal, actually, the spirit manges to make its way in to our cold, bitter, two-sizes-too-small hearts. Somehow. And one way that happens is via the various displays of awesome Christmas lights that can be found throughout the…

I’ve somehow been assigned the slot of taking over DCist Heather’s POTD duties this week as she leaves for a long trip to India, despite the fact that I know next-to-nothing about photography. But nevertheless, here I am, and this shot by Flickr user calcitrate caught my eye. EXIF data is here. Other notable shots included a classic sunset, and this explosion of Christmas lights….

Annandale may be known unofficially as the D.C. area’s “Little Korea,” but it also happens to boast a number of other noteworthy ethnic eateries—from Afghan to Bolivian to the Pakistani delights at Shiney’s. Shiney’s Sweets & Restaurant somehow persists as an unlikely tenant at the Seoul Plaza strip mall. Shiney’s may seem like a bit of a dive with the halfhearted string of burnt-out Christmas lights dangling from the ceiling and the few scattered tables…

Good morning, Washington. As if the Christmas lights and plastic santas weren’t enough to satiate our holiday decorating needs, now we’re getting word of an abundance of nativity scenes with live animals — camels to be exact. As cute as this sounds, something about your lawn ornaments spitting on you just doesn’t seem like a good idea. And aren’t camels desert-roaming beasts? With the beginning of winter behind us and Christmas and Hanukkah fastly…

Taking advantage of last weekend’s unseasonably warm weather to visit some sites at the National Mall last weekend, we were curious to discover a rather long line at the U.S. Botanic Gardens. It turns out the attraction of note was their annual holiday exhibit, “Home for the Holidays: A Sentimental Journey,” which “recalls the post-World War II holidays when families were reunited, a peaceful future beckoned, and celebrations had developed a distinctly American style.” The…