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The Best Hey DC Stories From 2023

Posted on December 19, 2023   |   Updated on September 30, 2025
Kaela Cote-Stemmermann

Kaela Cote-Stemmermann

group houses in DC

If you’re lucky, your group house looks like this. (JodiJacobson/Getty Images)

With 2023 rapidly coming to an end, we wanted to look back at our most loved stories of the year. Maybe these will trigger some nostalgia, teach you something new, or compel you to become a City Cast DC member (wink wink). We’re not picky.

If winters in D.C. have taught me anything, it’s how to perfect the art of crying in public. Here are our tried-and-true spots to attain that desolate, heartbroken vibe that everyone needs sometimes.

In D.C. it’s common to live in a row home with 3 - 10 (or more!) people far into your 30s. Here are tips from readers on how to keep a happy group house (and some horror stories too).

Washington Post’s food critic Tom Sietsema has D.C.’s most universally envied job. Being paid to eat out for a living? Sign me up. But there’s more to it than just ordering food and assigning stars. Sietsema spills some tricks of the trade.

Ever since Initiative 82 kicked in this summer, navigating tipping and service fees has gotten more confusing than ever. This is your ultimate guide to tipping in D.C.

Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park in spring.

Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park in spring. (Kaela Cote-Stemmermann/City Cast DC)

This park has long sat as a centerpiece, both literally and figuratively, in the D.C. community. But what to actually call it is a delicate question.

Masako Morishita is the first Japanese woman to helm the kitchen at Perry’s restaurant in Adams Morgan and she’s quickly turned the local spot into a critically-acclaimed destination for Japanese comfort food.

There have been lots of new restaurant openings, but don’t forget about the durable staples that fly under the radar. They might not be all over your Instagram feed, but they punch above their weight.

Is “read more” going to be one of your New Year's resolutions? Luckily, D.C. is obsessed with book clubs (like obsessed). But with clubs on everything from cooking to labor politics to Gilmore Girls, how do you possibly choose?!

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