Black Cat Bouncers

Gridskipper, "The Urban Travel Guide," identifies "Washington's Worst Bouncers." And The Black Cat, not surprisingly, makes the list:

Why, oh why pick on the Black Cat? They're like the best place for music, and they have all these awesome bands. True, but their bouncers all suffer from rock star inferiority complex and bad tattoos. Guitarless… and sober, they take everything out on innocent you (everything = capitalist domination, rising rent, the parents who ignored them, their unfulfilling prom night, zits). Better to slink in and mouth-whisper "thank you" than to look the nightcrawling nerds in the eyes. If you want decent bouncers, go to 9:30 Club.

I think this is largely a symptom of the ridiculous system they've devised for selling tickets and stamping hands. Anybody who hands you a ticket and tells you to walk it two feet to the person with the stamp would seem like an asshole.

Some other great Washington lists worth checking out are DC's Best Jukeboxes, Cheap Drunk Brunch in DC, and The DC Punk Crawl.