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D.C. is worth a visit for more than its cherry blossoms - but the Cherry Blossom Festival is a good reason to put the nation's capital on your spring "To Do" list. This time of year weather is usually great, boys are out in droves, and there are plenty of opportunities to exercise your Naked Attitude. Fly, drive, train or bus your way in and you'll find a most appealing city with pretty lively perks. While you're drinking in the lush blossoms, you can also hike to what may very well be an endangered D.C. institution - the most open and customer friendly strip bars in the country. Their existence is threatened by the Senators. Not the long winded variety on Capitol Hill, no, these Senators wear tight baseball uniforms. Cute and sexy as these ball players might be, they're no match for the players stripping in any of several bars on O and L Streets in D.C.'s southeast. Places like Heat, Follies, Wet/The Edge, and Ziegfeld's/Secrets, all with the most deliciously naked men treading the bar tops and giving generous peeks, are threatened by the fact that the Senators want to occupy the same space. Unfortunately not at the same time or in the same way because that would be a game no connoisseur of Naked sights would want to miss. One of these strip bars is, for Chi Chi LaRue admirers, a place to see. Striptease, one of Chi Chi's best, was filmed here. Of course, what Chi Chi filmed and what actually goes on are just the teensiest bit different. But, you can at least nakedly fantasize. Follies remains as it has for years; it's worth a peek if you want to see dancers up close and personal. Heat is the old La Cage, under new management and renovated. So hurry down and catch a naked glimpse. One hopes these establishments will be relocated and not run out of town altogether. But that's just one gay area. The more fashionable Dupont Circle has a lot to offer in the way of food, drink, and men. Not necessarily in that order. Hungry? For food? Try Annie's Paramount Steakhouse (1609 17th St., NW) which serves up more than slabs of beef. It's a full service place with a lively bar and a restaurant that juts out onto the sidewalk and is delightfully all windows, allowing you to see the passing flesh, or be seen, or - and this is the object, isn't it? - both. FoodBar at 17th and R streets, NW, is another among the many places you can gaily assuage your hunger and thirst. Try the Dupont Italian Kitchen, an unassuming Italian restaurant downstairs, complete with swarthy, gorgeous waiters and upstairs more of the same, plus a connection into the bar next door, the DIK Bar - for Dupont Italian Kitchen (formerly Windows), get it? DIK runs drag shows, cabaret, and serves more than pizza. I was there with a young crowd which so titillated the drag performer she all but pulled them from their tables and put them into her show. Not far off the Dupont Circle area is Hamburger Mary's (1337 14th St., NW), a campy gay chain that provides food and a stylish bar along with weekly theme parties. It's a place to fuel up or dance your socks off. Nearby, should you pack on too many carbs, is the Crew Club. A gym? A sauna? Do I detect a Naked opportunity? You plunks down your money and you gets your naked night. Oh, there's a full gym with lots of new shiny equipment. And who doesn't like to get their hands on a dumbbell now and then? There are also, when you're tired lifting weights, small suites and executive sized suites, and all for less than you'd spend on a meal at some trendy place. P Street, one of the boundaries for the Dupont Circle gay area, is a place you'll find some interesting stops. Unfortunately, one of them, Mr. P's is closed. Every time I'd been there, it was packed. The dancers in the upstairs bar were friendly, hot, and serious. Downstairs was a grab bag of drag and almost anything else you can imagine. A friend was propositioned there by the Leather Daddy of his dreams. Alas, this is one more Naked opportunity waiting for some Prince Charming to come along and wake it up again. Close by is the Fireplace, aptly named for the warm and cozy flames licking the walls of the real fireplace. They serve great food and when I was there proved a hangout for locals and tourists. More than a few guys have met their match by the fireside. If you stand outside the Fireplace and look in a certain direction you can at least see the way to the P Street beach which, when the weather is hot and sticky, is a place guys in thongs provide plenty of Naked opportunities to make this a place to see. And don't even ask what happens when the sun goes down and the things come off. Use your Naked imagination.  Joe DeMarco's latest projects include The Lavender Raven, an online GLBTQ mystery & more journal, at www.lavenderraven.com, as well as Mysterical-E, www.mystericale.com. Joe's website is www.josephdemarco.com Top |
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