Adams-Morgan (despite what Metro will tell you, its name is properly written with a hyphen) has definitely changed for the worse. The crowds have gotten bigger and more obnoxious, and overall it's gotten kind of a trashier feel. Not unlike Georgetown. But none of this is anything new -- it really hasn't held much appeal since the mid-90s, when its trendiness grew beyond manageable proportions.
One must hope U Street isn't totally overrun by such problems, either. It's awfully crowded on weekends at that scene's locus, 14th and U, but down below 13th it's still OK. Even that is a far cry from the early 90s, where the only noise accompanying a 3 am walk down the alley to the back steps of XXXXXX after-hours was the sound of your shoes crunching on broken glass, echoing off the walls of abandoned tenement houses.
Then again, neighborhoods are always in flux, and it's always an effort to stay ahead of the trend-following, stampeding herd (some will say, for example, that the Fox and Hounds hasn't been the same since the 1970s, when it was principally the domain of cabdrivers and junkies). Staying ahead isn't merely a matter of élitism; as has been noted, it's also an effort to find comfy places where you don't have to fight to get to the bar and where you can actually hold conversations. The inherent problem is that these same appeals will eventually attract the herd, despite the best efforts of its denizens to remain circumspect, and so one must move on, again.
Anyway, as has been noted weekends really aren't the time to be out and about anyway. Chill at home with a DVD and a bottle, and venture out on the weeknights when the amateurs stay home. Of course, this is made more problematic by the reality that most of us are working stiffs and have to be at work the next day. That's why, in lieu of independent wealth, flextime and an understanding boss are essential assets for the modern drinker of the 21st century.
http://www.alex.to/doomlink
