Camelot?

I happen to be ensconced in temporary office space - as long as "temporary" is defined as two-plus years - because my agency was wildly optimistic several years ago about its prospects for expansion, back when $1.5 trillion deficits were a new thing and senior bureaucrats thought that gravy train could keep going forever. As a result I'm in a much nicer section of town than I was before or ever will be again. I'm surrounded by high-rise offices filled with private sector employees who make a lot more money than I do. This wouldn't be so great, but those high-income workers demand places to eat, drink, and otherwise spend money. It's shopping Camelot!

Well, not every nearby spot has been gentrified. Part of the blocks of M and N Streets between 18th and 19th Streets, for example, retain old row houses, surrounded by newer, tall office buildings. Most of the row houses are now shops, restaurants, and bars.

One holdout is the Camelot Club, a "gentleman's club." (Or so it says. I've never been inside.) A former rival, the 1819 Club, now closed, was only two doors down. (It's the white building to the right in the picture below.) In between is Bell Wine Shop, a building I have been in frequently. One has to be a little careful not to wander into the wrong place. Two doors down from that is now a pizza shop, but for some time it was home to Jasmine Therapy, a massage parlor that was shut down by the police amid allegations that the business was actually a "massage parlor."



Although I'd prefer a slightly different mix of businesses nearby, it's hard to argue with the entertaining view.