Election Day

In every city, it is common knowledge that different areas cater to a different kind of clientèle. Here in Washington DC, the same is very true. H Street corridor, where I live and drink, is a very neighborhood oriented place, populated mostly by the people that live in the geographic area. You see a lot of young people decorated with tattoos and the bars seem to follow suit. U Street, where I work at Tabaq, is next door to Howard University, populated by young professionals. Downtown, where I work at SAX, is very different. There I am frequented by the K Street crowd; I see a lot of tailored suits and Rolex's in SAX, which matches the beautiful gold covered ornaments and live Burlesque shows. One is not better than the other, but they are very different. I was never sure how to explain this difference until election night.

I went to work at SAX and began my shift with the two televisions on CNN, watching political pundits make predictions of the election that was all wrong. Few of my co-workers know that I used to have a career in politics, but I decided to open up a bit. My door man, whom I affectionately call Captain America, or Captain for short, (due to his G.I. Joe like good looks) was wringing his hands over the pundits saying how close the race would be. I began to explain that I enjoy betting on the Presidential election with some political friends, and stood to win 300 dollars if Obama won by 7 points, and that I was very confident that he was going to win this election. They would later be amazed that I was right about the latter, but that isn't what the story was about. 

We had only a handful of bar customers that night. A few Politico's were there even though they thought I didn't know who they were. We closed the bar at around 11 pm, and as I left, the streets in swanky downtown DC were silent. I got a text from the owner of Tabaq asking me to get up there because they were slammed and could use the back up. It took me 20 minutes to get a cab because they all seemed to be full and heading uptown.

I arrived on U Street to find the corridor absolutely electric and buzzing with excitement. I could hear raucus cheers as I walked past packed bars as CNN announced that Obama had taken Ohio and was on pace to take Florida and Iowa. I ran up to Touchdown, one of our sister bars, and prepared to open the second floor because the first was packed. 

As I busily gathered ice and set up my bar, I heard screams downstairs as CNN called the election for Obama. Moments later it was eerily quiet, so I poked my head downstairs. Half of the bar had left. I looked onto the street and this is what I saw:

Three blocks of U Street were filled with young people, celebrating together at their victory. I stared in amazement and remembered the empty streets of downtown that I had left only an hour or two earlier, and the difference was amazing. 

Its funny to see how drastic a difference can be in the same city in the same day. The bars that populate the area understand this or perish, I suppose. In the end, no matter if your a Republican or a Democrat, everyone gets thirsty.