Doubles

Great coffee and a good place to get some work done if you need a break from the office or house. Staff is friendly and responsive, usually plenty of space and WiFi available.

January 9, 2020
Capital One Cafe --- Chinatown
Washington, District of Columbia

First, I loved the Colony Club on Georgia Boulevard the first moment I saw the two story vintage brick building from across the street. The windows glowed with amber light and the flat white painted brick suggested the age of the building as older than the twentieth century. I walked into the interior, hearing French music and walking through a candlelit interior.

Lamps provided the light and yet the interior felt candlelit. I walked all the way through to the back and out into the garden, lit up with strings of white bulbs. No snow and a clement night made it almost possible to sit outside in the garden, enjoy a drink, gather a circle of friends. Maybe if the house built a fire pit and filled the pit with hot, burning season oak.

The meeting with the Democratic Socialists of America required the room upstairs, a smaller chamber than the long room downstairs. The tall whitewashed bricks walls and the plank floors could have hosted political meetings in the days of Eugene V. Debs.

We numbered thirty people, half well meaning men and half idealistic women. Most looked like young adults I came up with, but I could tell their sense of humor had been raised on Comedy Central and Stephen Colbert. As the film screened, they laughed derisively at the words of management from the day of the railroad. He knew how to make the men of money sound presumptuous. As for the socialists, I took a liking to all of them instantly.

At the time of the film, Bernie lived in a rural Vermont and made a living writing radical scripts and working as a carpenter, something he picked up in Brooklyn. How like Jesus, that fairly Socialist messiah? He started his Vermont life in Stannard, Vermont, a church town that counted less than one hundred residents and a single church when he lived there. After growing up in populous Brooklyn, the Berne fell in love with small town life and learned how to live there.

The documentary followed the radicalization of Eugene V. Debs, who started life as a hard working railroad man who could have lived a happy life as a Democratic politician. He won a seat in the Indiana Assembly, and probably could have moved on up. Instead, he began leading successful strikes and organizing more unions, helping to establish the International Workers of the World, called the Wobblies even to the day. One speech, advocating against involvement in World War I, landed him in prison, found guilty of sedition. Debs had no instinct for playing it safe.

Bernie Sanders read the speeches and quotations of Debs, and I took delight in hearing him speak. His voice has grown more gravely since 1979. He spoke Debs parts with the voice of a much younger man, a man of thirty-nine.

Two years later, he would make a successful run for the mayor's office of Burlington and serve eight years in that post. Soon, he moved up to the House of Representatives and then won a seat in the Senate after sixteen years as a congressman. Bernie, luckily, lived in a time when whole legions of lawyers passionately protect free speech and political organizing. I wanted to ask the audience, “Do you feel safer being a socialist”? The answer has to be yes. I didn’t see a single brown shirted conservative waiting downstairs with a truncheon.

Nice coffee shop/bar. They have an upstairs area where they host a variety of comedy shows.
Decent draft and mixed drinks price

Hip coffee shop, well decorated with a great covered back patio. Wish they were open later!

Wow, great choice. I really love La Colombe, but they may have met their match! Tried the drip and a decaf americano, both delicious. Looking forward to trying the rest of their offerings.

Excellent coffee, a great layout for social time or work, and good events. One of the best coffee shops I’ve visited in the city!

Went to the Colony Club for a movie showing. Got some good beer; too late for coffee. Enjoyed the upstairs Ping Pong.

Pleasant atmosphere, nice staff, great outdoor seating area. Since it's connected to the neighboring bar and pizza shop, there's something for everybody

Simply the best spot in DC for coffee. The coffee is sublime and the staff always friendly an helpful. This place has a great vibe too.

Great espresso and chai latte. Lots of space in the back for work/relaxing.