East End

Understand

The East End, just north of the National Mall, is home to several museums and event venues, and full of restaurants, bars, and large hotels. Pennsylvania Ave, which runs through Penn Quarter from the White House to the Capitol Building, serves as a bridge from the city center to the Mall. As you might expect, this road has nice views.

Neighborhoods

Like the nearby neighborhood of Shaw, the East End was decimated during the 1968 riots. Many buildings were destroyed and it became a haven for drug dealers.

In the early 1990s, when Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Abe Pollin arrived for the first time by limousine at the intersection of 7th and F St NW to scout out possible sites for a new arena, he was told not to get out of the vehicle. The site, then a parking lot, had drug dealers doing business, and the neighborhood was crime-ridden and deserted at night. But, he decided that was the place to build his new arena. The Capital One Arena opened in December 1997, and since then, the neighborhood has experienced a remarkable turnaround with tremendous gentrification.

Penn Quarter is the commercial center of the East End. It includes Gallery Place, the bustling entertainment area between the Capital One Arena and the National Portrait Gallery. The Pennsylvania Ave stretch, whose sidewalks and parks comprise a National Park, is a staging ground for races, large festivals, and parades. Penn Quarter is distinguished from the rest of downtown by its 19th century buildings and facades. After the opening of the Capital One Arena in 1997, and the resulting development boom, many buildings were redeveloped as the ground-floor facades of apartments and office buildings, resulting in the creation of an "arts and entertainment" district. The biggest draw for visitors, however, is theater and museums.

Chinatown is to the north of Penn Quarter. While the neighborhood was majority Asian in the early 20th century, most of the Asian population moved out after the 1968 riots. The neighborhood is lively in the evenings and features many restaurants. Chinatown resembles a miniature Times Square with activity day and night into the wee hours. The city heavily promotes the original ethnic character—businesses in the neighborhood, businesses including Starbucks, and local banks are required to post signage in Chinese. But those expecting something like New York's Chinatown will be sorely disappointed—area residents have taken to calling it Chinablock. While there are several Chinese restaurants, they are mostly tourist traps and the best Chinese food is in the suburbs.

Judiciary Square, to the east of Penn Quarter, includes the United States District Court building, along with the D.C. Superior Court building, and various other government buildings. Just north, straddling into the neighborhood of Shaw, is the massive, 2.3 million square foot (210,000 m2) Convention Center, just north of Mt Vernon Square. The Convention Center was completed in 2003, and has since been the favorite site for presidential inaugural balls.

Get in

By Metrorail

Metrorail stops at Metro Center (on the Red, Orange, Blue, and Silver lines), Federal Triangle (Blue, Orange, and Silver), and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter (Green and Yellow). The Gallery Pl-Chinatown station (Green, Yellow, and Red) is at the Capital One Arena—use the H St exit for Chinatown.

For the Convention Center, get off at Mount Vernon Square on the Green and Yellow lines. For Judiciary Square in the east, take the Red Line to Judiciary Square.

By car

The East End is probably the worst place to drive to in the city. On weekdays and during peak tourist season, street parking is either unavailable, or will take a long time to find. Most parking garages fill up by 9AM. Downtown traffic jams are frequent and awful. Take note of garage hours since you won't be able to get your car after the garages close.

The main north-south routes are 7th St (which turns into Georgia further north), as well as I-395 from Virginia, which terminates east of the Convention Center. Major east-west routes include H St, which runs through Chinatown, and Pennsylvania Ave. Crisscrossing the area on diagonals through Mt Vernon Square are New York Ave and Massachusetts Ave.

By taxi

It is possible to hail taxis from the street at almost any hour of the day or night, and they are a convenient way to travel relatively short distances.

By bus

Metrobus operates in the East End. For more information on riding buses in Washington DC, see Washington DC#Get_around.

By foot

The Penn Quarter area is an easy walk from the National Mall and the museums by walking north through the courtyards of Federal Triangle, past the National Archives. From the White House, walk east on Pennsylvania Avenue to G, F, or E St.

Go next

• The National Mall, is just to the south of the East End and is where you will find many of the city's museums and main attractions.
• The nightlife here is plentiful and very visitor-friendly, but it is very much divorced from real Washingtonian culture. Head up to Shaw, Dupont Circle, and Adams Morgan to see how the locals like to wine, dine, and party.