The Space

I’ve been living in Shaw now for more than 2 years and I’ve always been intrigued by Space because of it’s downstairs garage door-​type glass window. I thought the place must have been a body shop at one point in time because why else would they have it there. Anyways, not until a few months back did I meander over that way to check out «The Space.» It was open, but just barely. We got there around 1030ish and the downstairs bar had NOTHING going on — literally just a bar tender who wasn’t «open yet» and balloons all over. We headed upstairs where we noticed a group of maybe 10 – 20 people, all of whom looked at us as if, «who are THESE dudes?» I thought it might have been because we were the only white dudes in the place, but benefit of the doubt, it probably had to do with the fact that this was a private party and no one recognized us. Still, the bartender didn’t inform us it was a private party, we figured it out by talking to someone out on the patio who said it was his sister’s birthday and that’s why everyone was there. Cool, and awkward.
I will say that the patio is nice, and we got some cigars to smoke. They have nice furniture there and a few heat lamps to keep people warm on a chilly night. A few more groups of people came in who didn’t seem to be with the party, who by now was downstairs celebrating a birthday. The bartender was a chill guy who was relatively attentive, and poured a stiff drink. Prices aren’t ludicrous, but for a place as empty as space, I wouldn’t mind a discount… but then, if a place is only open 4 hours/​day for «private parties,» they can’t very well be giving drinks away for cheap, now can they?
If this place was cool at one time, it is no longer, that’s for sure. Don’t waste your time, especially considering the fact that there aren’t many other options in this area and it’s not really the kind of place you want to chillin’ in after dark sometimes anyhow (says the guy who lives there… lol)

The Space appears to be no longer.
I was planning on doing my birthday there, and had gone to the trouble of emailing friends to let them know this. But when I got there around 9:30, the lights were all off and the door was locked. I rang the doorbell and tried calling — after 10 rings I gave up and moved the party to wonderland.
Granted, they may have become a «private club» like some other reviews suggest, but even private clubs have to keep the lights on…

It’s fine. That’s really all I can muster up for this place —
Sure, there are definite benefits of this place. Casual dress in a somewhat trendy décor, a rooftop bar, an opportunity to dance. Yet, there’s still something that falls short of being… a good night spot. The interior tries too hard, the rooftop is full of gropers and the dancing occurs amidst people who are simply standing around.
I’d say this is a great neighborhood bar, but it’s definitely not the «upscale» lounge it pretends to be — membership? Please! The fact is that there’s no enforced dress code, so the loungy vibe is ruined by kids in sneakers and girls in their mother’s clothes. It’s got potential, but from my visits — it seems that it’s on a steady decline to $ 1.50 beer specials.

Even if I had alternative plans, I wouldn’t choose to spend the night before/​morning of the inauguration anywhere else! The Space is a medium sized joint, and maintains such a down to earth, chill vibe that it’s hard not to like. A bunch of us taxi’ed from my friend’s place in Dupont Circle to N Street to party it up true reggae jah style mahn. With Bob’s beats jammin and people content and calm, I felt like I was in this weird yet very nice meditative state swayin along…
This place was totally diverse and had a very, very hot crowd! It was true, down to earth eye candy galore, and the space didn’t get super crowded. With enough room to shake yo bootay and teach your fellow Haitians and Senegalese peeps some bhangra moves (ha! Leave it to a punjabi to fuse bhangra with reggae beats), you’ll be guaranteed a good time. Plus, the overall positive and excited for cambio vibe just made it all come together for a great pre-​inauguration party.
was also supposedly sighted at this party, as were of course some Thievery Corp members.
The only negative of the place was the absence of a coat check, but who really cares when you’re in the zone just enjoying and taking in the moment for whatever it is at the time. Would definitely check it out again in DC!

Please refer to the article below concerning the kind of business that the Space runs:

I love that this is right around the corner. The lounge area is very comfortable and the patio during the summer is one of the best places to chill in D.C. They charge a $ 5 cover most nights and play reggae or have a live jazz band. I’m a fan.

I know Lauren Cole.
Well, I don’t really know Lauren Cole, but such are the charades one must engage in to enter into the Space on certain nights. The venue seems to have been overtaken by some bipolar demon whipping it back and forth between a «private-member’s-only-club» and a «open-to-the-public-“edgy”-lounge» in the ever-​changing Shaw neighborhood.
I’ll limit my review to a member’s only night, as that is what I attended. Some of the people I spoke with that night report being rebuffed repeatedly on random nights because Space was closed for private events. Like this one. You may want to call before heading over to make sure it’s open the night you go.
Being part of the plebian masses, I was initially denied admittance on a Saturday night until I remember reading in a text message that I was to mention ‘I KNOW LAUREN” to gain admittance. I lied and said the magic words, and just like that the bouncer brushed aside and allowed me to enter his ornate palace of hidden wonders. Actually, it was just a bar. A bar-​cum-​lounge, replete with nice long couches along the walls, fancy crystal chandeliers sprinkled throughout, and a couple of bars. The crowd was pretty nice looking, which sadly still surprises me in DC. Friendly as well. Even Lauren, who I met if just for a minute. If one desires, smoking is permitted upstairs, by the windows. And there’s some sort of roof terrace, though we stayed away due to crap weather.
DJs were good, played fun music to keep the crowd going, and the drinks were strong. I don’t remember leaving, per se, but I do know that when I regained self-​awareness at 10am Sunday morning, I was fully clothed (shoes even!) on my couch, watching the tail end of some infomercial. Not brandishing any wounds nor tattoos, and with only the faintest hint of a hangover, I call the night a success.

I’m really grateful to a friend for introducing me to this place. The Space is kind of obscure and there’s not much else in the area besides the convention center, so know where you’re going before you try. It had great places for lounging and chatting, as well as great music you could dance all night to. Loved the outdoor deck with the skylights, although it might be getting too cold to enjoy this for much longer. The crowd was really diverse and fun. Had a really fun night here and its definitely worth a revisit.

If I were to let the website influence me this place would only get two stars but because I am a laid back person I give it three. It is definitely not the chic lounge it markets itself as but it is a nice chill spot with a diverse crowd and good DJ. Are they planning on making a slightly stricter dress code where tees and flip flops will not be allowed?
The bartenders are not light on the liquor pouring and are able to work a very small space very efficiently.
I have an issue with white couches because they seem to be almost impossible to keep clean. This place is no exception.
The upstairs space by the bar was super crowded leading me to run away from the area the first time. I was pleasantly surprised the second time when someone showed me the outdoor patio. Smokers will be glad to know that they can light out up out there. Non-​smokers that can tolerate smoke in open areas will be glad that they have an unconfined space where they can go with their smoker friends and not have to split up from them while they puff.

My new favorite spot. Like the name says, The Space is just that — open and industrial with little décor. Everything is white — whitewashed brick, white couches for lounging, chandeliers, and candlelight. The dj plays great music, the bartenders give you your money’s worth and more — a Kettle One and Soda was about 95% Kettle One, 5% soda — so beware, as a couple could have you on your ass quicker than you had intended. Upstairs is a second bar, which leads out onto a large deck with more couches, where I’ll be taking advantage of the remaining warm weekend nights this summer. To be honest, I’m hesitant to Unilocal this one, lest it become a crowded mess — at this point, it’s full, but not the least bit crowded, and I’m crossing my fingers it stays that way with the totally random location.

Raw yet Elegant Relaxed yet Glamorous Informal yet Sophisticated
That’s from the Space’s website — not me. It seems like the Australian owners had a great idea and were bringing something new and fresh to DC, and I was so excited to love their place.
Unfortunately, the website is the BEST thing about the Space, far surpassing reality.
On the website, there is a lovely candlelit room that looks like a cozy place to hang. That did not exist on the Saturday in June when I went there with several friends somewhere between 11 and midnight.
Sigh. This venue is great if you want to feel like you’re dancing in the aisle at a Safeway store. Seriously, what was up with the bright, garish lighting in the white room downstairs? The music had a great beat, but the atmosphere made us feel like we were courtesy dancing out of respect for a good DJ.
The second major problem with the Space, after the lighting, was that wherever I went, I felt like I was in a major thoroughfare – people pushing past, coming and going. There were no cozy corners to chill. The great deck people are talking about was cramped, dark and dull.
There were lovely chandeliers, some cool looking sofas, a unique white décor in the main room… lots of individual elements, but I think the thing the owners overlooked was the importance of the feng shui, the flow, the SPACE!!! (oh the irony).
The «vibe» was just one of people traveling from here to there, looking around, trying to see what was so cool and, in my opinion, not finding it.
I hear the place is going to go private. I don’t think this will be a major loss to the club-​going public.

The Space is beautifully designed, decorated with brushed concrete floors, pale exposed-​brick walls, yielding white sofas, mirrors and chandeliers. If it were a shampoo from the 90s, it would be called Sleek n’ Chic, because it is. The upstairs patio is equally lovely, with comfortable sofas and big plexiglass tables that also serve as skylights so that you can spy on the top of people’s heads in the downstairs bar.
One of the bartenders really does look like confusingly like the one from that Disaronno ad (bar full of people inexplicably ordering endless riffs on the same drink, «Disaronno’s warm and sensual taste…,» cue ice cube)
I showed up around midnight – overdressed, as usual, because, at the risk of sounding pretentious (which I am), I expected the lounge to be a little bit more selective, in terms of door policy. As I’ve said before, I’m not a massively high-​maintenance pretty pretty princess. I don’t wear makeup from day-​to-​day, don’t know how to style my hair and eat like a horse. That said, I do like to dress up to go out and it would just be so very nice if other people in DC would too, on occasion – not everywhere, of course, not to bars and pubs, but it would be just lovely if someone (anyone!) else would put in some effort when going to a nice place – i.e. are baseball caps necessary if there is no sun? Do you have to wear cargo shorts and flip-​flops all the time? I mean, apart from the fact that it looks sloppy, aren’t you worried about your feet getting cut up if someone breaks a glass? Not to mention that spilt alcohol and shoes of a variety of origins make for some disgustingly filthy floors.
So, to reclaim the narrative thread, it was pretty packed at the outset, which was nice. Seth S. was spinning some quality tunes but my modus operandi is usually to get a couple of drinks before getting my dance on, so we headed up to the upstairs patio and chatted and watched some girls in plain tank-​tops, muffin tops and flared jeans and brahs in polo shirts and cargo shorts surreptitiously dry-​hump in shadowy corners.
By the time we made it back downstairs (around 1:45am or so), the place had emptied out considerably leaving behind a fascinating microcosm of going-​out in DC Here, a small knot of baby-​faced hipster-​types in unisex haircuts and self-​consciously ironic t-​shirts. There, a little Far-​Near-​East clique in white shoes, fitted jeans and tight shirts. The lost children of Georgetown. Beer and Sox loving dudes in Adidas slides. Wasted summer interns. Overdressed Asian girls (representin’). Skinny girls with stick-​straight hair dancing up on each other while eyeing a certain subset of guys (tans, spiky hair, white blazers).
So we tried to dance but there were too few people dancing so I just couldn’t get into it. Then the night devolved into having intensely surreal exchanges such as the following, which I had with beautiful, but trashed, adolescent who lurched up to me:
Child: «(incomprehensible)»
Me: «I’m sorry?»
[Child stares mazily at me, then lifts his arms over my shoulders and starts shaking his bootay a little.]
Child: «Aymchirish»
Me: «Sorry, still can’t hear you, could you repeat that?»
Child: «I’m Charesh»
Me: «Charesh? Nice to meet you, Charesh.»
Child: «NO! I’m CHIRISH, CHINESE and IRISH»
Me: «Oh…okay. I’m Laura. Pleasure to meet you.»
[Child’s eyes roll back into his head as he sways back and forth a little]
Child: «Weelllll, you guys have fun… even though I don’t think you guys are…»
[Child exits stage right, stumbling over to his friends who are identically dressed in blue, stripy Oxford shirts, flipflops and crisp khaki shorts]
Other similar conversations were had with guys who could barely speak or remember their own names but whose roots in the material world were affirmed by dint of their remembering to tell me that they «are on [my] side» because they «like Chinese people.»
‘Kay.
The bartenders have a good pour and the drinks are reasonable-​ish ($ 7 for a good slug of house spirits and splash of mixer in a highball). They also use Unilocal shotglasses.
So on the whole, nice place but a deeply weird crowd.

this place is great. I’ve dj’d here several times and between the décor, vibe, bar staff, and outside deck, this place is the shit.
and I’m spinning there this saturday (June 28), everybody should come.
here’s a link to a mix —
Message me if you want to come!

i really liked the space — chill environs and crowd, dressed up and down, black yellow white and brown…
and walking distance from where im staying in dc. niiiice.
could use some more tables for the couches. also, usually they charge for water but the bartender was nice and hooked it up… but places that charge for water = shady.

My review will be a bit skewed, because I was there on a night when pretty much the whole place rented out for my friend’s 30^th birthday party. We had some friends spinning all night long downstairs, and Patrick’s face was plastered all over the place, designed by another group of talented friends. The party started at 9 and the place got quickly crowded. The bartenders sure made the drinks strong = worth every $. Upstairs was a bit cramped because it was a rather chilly night and not too many people were willing to brave the deck. It would’ve been much better on a nicer night.
There isn’t too much around The Space (it’s a few blocks from Mt. Vernon metro station). Someone should invest in a decent late night eatery around there. My brother, who was visiting and couldn’t find a place to eat nearby, went to the Safeway around the corner and bought sandwich bread and meat and was eating it in the parking lot — it was actually kind of funny.

I quite liked this place, it was a nice night to hang on the upstairs deck and they had good music downstairs. One really cool thing is that you can see directly downstairs from their Plexiglas table which covers a hole in the ceiling — tres cool.
Then, sadly, all the fun black people left (shout out to Khadija and Chanel!) and creepy frat boys with backward hats from Georgetown and their shrieking girlfriends came rolling in. After that things got louder and more raucous and not in a good way. Once they institute a door policy this place will be a lot more fun. I’d definitely check it out again sometime.

This place will only thrive in the summer time, but what a fabulous summer time place it is! Its 2 stories with an outdoor patio with plus chairs and fabulously good looking people… for DC :) Just kidding!
My friend through an event here for a charity so the venue was ours. Loved it. Cigar bar on the roof with couches, chairs, dark corners, the works. There is a bar upstairs as well and they sell cigars to all the politicos looking to have faux intelligent conversation and puff away.
The fault of this place is the management is REALLY disorganized. Sorry, Shatika that we invaded the venue and ruined your b-​day but The Space double booked and we legit ran out of space. No room for Shatika and her trashy friends. So unfortunate.
Overall, this place will be hopping everyday of DC’s summer. Would totally go back if visiting again in the warmer months.

Alright, so it’s clear that this place is REAL cool. And so are people that hang out here. I’m not hating. I was one of them, but just for one night.
Why only one night? After dance dance dancing amidst their white walls, white furniture and tiny little pots of fake grass, I was appalled to discover that they won’t provide a glass of water – even if you ask nicely! The only option: $ 4 for a bottle of Fiji. Predictable, I guess, but it should be illegal.

The Space is one of the newest and coolest lounges in DC. Located close to the Convention Center, you’ll only find it if you’re in the know. For the ordinary passerby, The Space looks like an ordinary house. But DC hipsters will find a very cool bar on the ground foor, complete with couches for sitting back, sipping your cocktail, listening to old school beats, and chatting up your fellow DC hipsters. Venture up the stairs and you’ll find an outdoor deck for a little fresh air and change of atmosphere. I’ll definitely be back soon because owner Karen Cox may be turning The Space into a private club. Well? What are you waiting for people?

The Space is a soon-​to-​be exclusive club in DC, in an unfortunately shady area of town. At the moment, there is no membership required, so it’s worth checking it out now :).
Owned by an Australian couple, The Space is filled with shabby-​chic white sofas, tables, and lamps. It’s located inside a converted garage, so the area where the roller door once stood, is now glassed in and covered in semi-​transparent black curtains.
Meander upstairs to a second bar, and a really sweet deck with beautiful timber furniture, candles, and gas patio heaters. Not so fun during winter, but an awesome hangout in the warmer months.
I was disappointed that The Space didn’t serve any Australian beers /​other drinks, though they did have a few British ones… hrm…
The Space has a Sushi bar too, which is open after 5pm.
If you plan on going to The Space, make sure you write down the address… you’ll be hard pressed to find a sign outside, and the entrance is just like a normal house door.