A spring weekend with temperatures in the 70s would typically draw crowds around DC. But with a stay at home order in place, Saturday’s blue skies…still brought crowds. Social distancing be damned, Washingtonians were photographed gathering at the National Mall and hanging out on 14th Street.
The latter caught Twitter’s attention after Eater DC editor Gabe Hiatt tweeted a photo of people drinking on Red Light’s patio.
72 degrees and it's patio season on 14th Street no matter what pic.twitter.com/JLrOnPN1WQ
— Gabe Hiatt (@Gabecito) May 2, 2020
The ensuing Twitter frenzy fell into two parties: Blaming businesses or blaming patrons. Public shaming took a break from chastising runners without masks, and turned to those treating 14th Street like a beer garden.
https://twitter.com/beckawall/status/1256686799931551744
https://twitter.com/TonyRomm/status/1257147084416966656
https://twitter.com/zac_hoffman/status/1257079538829361152
@MayorBowser @PoPville so are restaurants and bars open? Because everyone at red light seems to think so? Around 30 people crammed on the patio pic.twitter.com/Gwgrred8vo
— Luna (@BasicWitchofNW) May 2, 2020
I'm so excited to see people being dumbasses in DC!! Trust me, my unemployed friends and I are really looking forward to our place of employment being closed all summer because you couldn't stay away from a goddamn patio for a few more weeks!!!!
— dalí parton (@delaneyyyw) May 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/TonyaJoRiley/status/1256678816665214985
https://twitter.com/marcfs13/status/1256691515570761728
https://twitter.com/CoreyJacobson/status/1256701520713789442
As for Red Light, Saturday was the pizza joint’s busiest day since transitioning to carryout, says owner Aaron Gordon. Working with a smaller staff than usual, employees were inside managing the high volume of orders when people began congregating (Gordon himself was not at the restaurant on Saturday). Customers who ordered jarred cocktails picked up their drinks while they waited—no longer the case at Red Light—while others sipped pouches from a neighboring spot.
After receiving a call from the mayor’s office, staff cleared the patio and stacked the chairs in the back. An investigator visited the bar on Saturday evening and issued a warning, according to an ABRA spokesperson. The tables remain on the patio because they’re affixed to the concrete. But don’t consider it an open invitation. “Don’t come sit on my patio,” says Gordon “I beg of you!”
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Northeast DC.
