Pool Party...DC Style

So my coworkers and I decided to take in some sunshine yesterday and walk down the street for coffee. Michael turns to Tina and I and gasps about a great pool party he attended on Sunday at the Skyline Hotel. I'm thinking to myself, the Skyline Hotel is pretty dumpy, how could they host a "great" pool party. Crap, I didn't even know they had a pool.

He explains that the hotel is under new ownership and is hosting a pool party every Sunday with Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn. He tells us the crowd is pretty chic and they even have a DJ.

Now you have to understand why I was so suspicious of this. The Capitol Skyline Hotel used to be a Best Western. It's located on the corner of South Capitol and I Streets SW. It was one of those forgotten hotels in a corner of DC that rarely sees any tourist activity. In other words, it was the hotel that comes up at the bottom of a Hotels.com search result because it was super cheap and lacked one star, let alone 4 stars like some of our other DC accommodations.

But then again, that was before the city invested millions of dollars in a new baseball stadium and a posh condo neighborhood. Within the 2-plus years I've lived in the District, this area went from despised haven of drugs and liquor stores to one of the hottest neighborhoods on the DC map. And so I guess this hotbed of activity attracted new owners to the Capitol Skyline Hotel who decided to bring in master architect Morris Lapidus to splash a little Miami flare on the building. After a complete renovation, you now have a high-design boutique hotel right in the heart of a hot new neighborhood full of activity. And with the new design came the renovated pool.

Now the owners could have just sat by with their new look and been happy. But they went a step beyond and decided to host parties. They've seen the success other venues have had with such an idea, such as The Raleigh in Miami, The Standard in LA and the Phoenix Hotel in SF. And so now DC has a new Saturday and Sunday afternoon home to the young and chic looking for some sun.

Brightest Young Things is now hosting a Saturday afternoon party with DJs and live music. Every Sunday, Spike Mendelsohn grills burgers with a DJ spinning lounge and house. Hopefully we'll see some evening events in the near future as well. Regardless, what was once a no-name eye-sore just south of the Capitol is now a hip and happening venue contributing to a thriving social scene in our nations capital.

Labels: DJs, Entertainment, House, Music, Nightlife, Urban

posted by DVS @ 12:05 PM