Northeast

"The People's Kennedy Center." The Atlas Theatre was an old 1930s movie palace, and reopened several years ago after extensive renovations turning it into an arts center and performance venue on two big stages. Those performances run throughout the whole year, running the gamut from drama to musical to cabaret to dance. The building also houses an art gallery open throughout the week.

This has got to be the most fun, most beloved concert venue in D.C.—a big open air amphitheater off in the woods. What legendary performers haven't performed here? Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Louis Armstrong, Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, the National Symphony Orchestra, Nat King Cole, Peter Paul & Mary, and Kool and the Gang have all been here. Several big local festivals call this place home, notably the great, free annual Blues Festival, but most famously the Shakespeare in the Park festival in late summer—weeks of nightly free Shakespeare performances from the world-class Shakespeare Theatre Company. That's one of those things you must do in order to call yourself a Washingtonian. Watching Hamlet deliver his soliloquy in the dark night under the stars, surrounded by the rich natural sounds of Rock Creek Park, is a one of a kind experience.

The Atlas Theatre's neighbor is smaller and less historic, offering a 100 seat black box theatre for a diverse range of contemporary dramatic productions in an intimate setting.

Given its obscure location, you might assume this would be an uncrowded 18 holes, but you'd be wrong—it may be a local secret, but it's no secret to the locals. Langston's public course offers the most challenging and interesting 18 inside the Beltway, including an infamous shot 200 yards out to an island on the Anacostia River. It opened up in 1939 as an African-American golf club, which has since attracted a good amount of African-American celebrities for a round—Joe Louis was a big fan and booster. If you hear about the other golf course in the area, Rock Creek Golf Course, skip it—the fairways look like a cow's been chewing on them.