hint of cleavage on the Senate floor, the local press gasped. And the Capitol police still give tickets for traffic infractions of the two-legged variety.

Still — the white men in blue suits have suddenly woken up to discover that the gate-crashers have not only broken into their old boys' clubs but are starting to run the show. Nancy Pelosi tore down one wall in January when she became speaker of the House, and Clinton and Barack Obama are fighting over which one of them might get to tear down the next one.

Similarly, after waiting decades for some of its blighted neighborhoods to amount to something other than block after block of boarded-up abandonment, Washington is buzzing with energy. The H Street corridor is starting to hum, with cafes and bars including the Rock and Roll Hotel, a new music club that hosts bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Solillaquists of Sound.

Gentrification along U Street as well as the adjacent areas of Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights means that the neighborhood known to Washingtonians as Adams Morgan — formerly the closest the city really got to trendy — has spread its tentacles almost to New York Avenue, the artery used by residents trying to get out of town. Here you can find popular hangouts like Busboys and Poets, a cafe and bookstore that holds Peace Corps “meet and greet” cocktail hours.

Even the age-old Smithsonian museum quarter on the National Mall has gotten a bit of a transfusion. Sure, all the old standbys, from the National Museum of Natural History to the National Air and Space Museum, are still around — and still free. But who needs to sample freeze-dried ice cream supposedly served to astronauts when you can walk next door to the hulking, limestone-clad National Museum of the American Indian and sample the nouveau indigenous cuisine (chilled hazelnut soup) served at the museum's Mitsitam Café? You can still pay respects to Dorothy's ruby slippers and Abraham Lincoln's top hat, but why not check out the three-hided dresses of Native American women at the current “Identity by Design” show?

“The city has exploded,” says Mary Elizabeth Albaugh, the founder and owner of Betsy Fisher, a well-established boutique on Connecticut Avenue. Albaugh opened her store because, she said, “Washington was a ghost town when it came to shopping. There was Ann Taylor and there was Alcott & Andrews,” a rather staid office-wear chain that was home to floppy bow ties and boxy jackets. Not anymore. At 5 o'clock one recent evening, Albaugh carted in a cocktail bar so that politicos and media types could enjoy raspberry martinis while they tried on Tom K. Nguyen pantsuits and Marika Charles tops. Instead of dress sizes and price tags, the conversation was about whether President Bush might shut down Guantanamo Bay.

Across town, in Capitol Hill, the seafood restaurant Johnny's Half Shell has taken over the space once occupied by the Washington institution La Colline, an upscale French place known for its sole meunière and its formal service. When Congress is in session, Johnny's is packed with staffers plowing through the extensive wine list. Look, there's Susan Collins, the lively junior member of Maine's all-female Republican Senate delegation, sipping pinot noir with her colleague and friend from across the aisle, Jane Harmon, the diminutive Democratic congresswoman from California. Snippets of their conversation reveal extensive breadth, to say the least: military intelligence (why did John Negroponte leave his post as director of national intelligence to become deputy secretary of state?), the Iraq troop surge, the best outlet shopping.

The thing about Washington is, everybody here is here for a reason, which lends a certain edge and purpose to wining and dining in the city. You don't come to D.C. because you want to relax. You only relax after you have exhausted yourself lobbying a senator to get behind your pet cause or protesting for immigration reform on the Mall.

That dichotomy comes with its own benefit, the ability to feel virtuous while sipping a mojito on the roof deck of the presidential yacht, the Sequoia, at the Potomac River's Gangplank Marina. The boat is filled with black-and-white photographs of previous visitors, from Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev to John F. Kennedy.

One Tuesday summer evening, the J.F.K. photos added a touch of irony: the party was in honor of Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrero, Fidel Castro's man in Washington, and someone official-looking was handing out Cohiba cigars. “Washington is full of people who are jaded about politics and experiences, who think they've seen and done everything,” said Steven Clemons, an executive at the New America Foundation (one of the town's ubiquitous research groups) and the host of the Sequoia party. “But lately the city seems fresher somehow. All of a sudden, there seem to be opportunities for more fresh thinking.”

Clemons's foreign-policy “salon dinners” at Restaurant Nora on Florida Avenue are attended by Saudi princes and Israeli peace negotiators alike. But of course, Arab princes need somewhere else to hang out when debating the status of the latest Middle East talks. Thankfully, there's Chi-Cha Lounge, with its fruity drinks, mood music and molasses-tobacco-filled hookahs. It's really too bad they don't have more places like this in the Middle East. But hey — they got 'em in D.C.

ESSENTIALS: WASHINGTON, D.C.

Hotels

The city has many excellent (and expensive) hotels, including the Four Seasons (www.fourseasons.com), the Hay-Adams (www.hayadams.com), Park Hyatt (www.park.hyatt.com), Mandarin Oriental (www.mandarinoriental.com), Sofitel Lafayette Square (www.sofitel.com), Willard InterContinental (www.intercontinental.com) and two Ritz-Carltons (www.ritzcarlton.com). The St. Regis (www.stregis.com) will reopen this fall after a makeover. Kimpton Hotels (www.kimptonhotels.com) runs several more gently priced (and funkier) properties, including the Hotel George on Capitol Hill, the kitschy 1960s-style Hotel Helix and the Hotel Monaco in the trendy Penn Quarter. For a true budget option, look at the Hotel Tabard Inn, a fairly bare-bones (some rooms share a bath) but cool refuge.

Restaurants and Cafes

Bar Pilar. Local tapas joint that attracts a younger crowd. 1833 14th Street NW; (202) 265-1751; dishes $5 to $9. Blue Duck Tavern. Sophisticated comfort fare for the foodie set. 1201 24th Street NW; (202) 419-6755; entrees $18 to $34. Bombay Club. Power dining spot known for its tandoori salmon. 815 Connecticut Avenue NW; (202) 659-3727; entrees $12 to $20. Busboys and Poets. Bookstore and cafe that draws a multi-culti crowd. 2021 14th Street NW; (202) 387-7638; entrees $9 to $19. Café Atlantico. Latin-inspired restaurant of José Andrés, the city's most celebrated chef; reserve at the Mini Bar for the 30-dish tasting menu. 405 Eighth Street NW; (202) 393-0812; entrees $20 to $27; dinner at the Mini Bar is $120 per person. Ceiba. Jet-setting Washingtonians come here for modern Latin cuisine. 701 14th Street NW; (202) 393-3983; entrees $14 to $29. Chi-Cha Lounge. Tapas and sangrias. 1624 U Street NW; (202) 234-8400; tapas start at $8. Grill From Ipanema. Beloved for its dishes from Bahia and the best caipirinhas in town. 1858 Columbia Road NW; (202) 986-0757; entrees $16 to $25. Johnny's Half Shell. Capitol Hill staffers and their bosses come for seafood. 400 North Capitol Street NW; (202) 737-0400; entrees $14 to $30. Mitsitam Café. Cafeteria-style restaurant in the National Museum of the American Indian. Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW; (202) 633-1000; entrees $10 to $22. RussiaHouse. Heavy on the red velvet and vodka cocktails, this cozy spot attracts Eastern Bloc politicos. 1800 Connecticut Avenue NW; (202) 234-9433; entrees $24 to $33. Sea Catch Restaurant and Raw Bar. The diplomatic corps comes here for great oysters. Ask for a table on the C&O Canal. 1054 31st Street NW; (202) 337-8855; entrees $19 to $32. Urbana. A youthful crowd gathers at this Dupont Circle restaurant and wine bar. 2121 P Street NW; (202) 956-6650; entrees $20 to $56.

Bars and Clubs

Five. House and hip-hop music in Dupont Circle. 1214B 18th Street NW; (202) 331-7123. Fly Lounge. This airline-themed club gets going around midnight; be prepared to spend for table service. 1802 Jefferson Place NW; (202) 828-4433. Habana Village. This Adams Morgan town house is where the salsa set shakes. 1834 Columbia Road NW; (202) 462-6310. Halo. Sophisticated gay crowd. Come early to avoid lines. 1435 P Street NW; (202) 797-9730. Love. Four floors of granite for high rollers. 1350 Okie Street NE; (202) 636-9030. Rock and Roll Hotel. Live music in the newly trendy H Street corridor. 1353 H Street NE; (202) 388-7625.

Shops

The city's best shopping is clustered around Eastern Market in Capitol Hill, the U Street corridor, and the streets around M Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. Betsy Fisher. Mary Elizabeth Albaugh (a k a Betsy) offers everything from four-inch Italian heels to wrap dresses. 1224 Connecticut Avenue NW; (202) 785-1975. Forecast. Shoes, bags and everything in between. 218 Seventh Street SE; (202) 547-7337. Hu's Shoes. High-fashion heels. 3005 M Street NW; (202) 342-0202. Muléh. A mix of European fashion and Japanese home furnishings. 1831 14th Street NW; (202) 667-3440. The Remix. Vintage fashion and accessories. 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE; (202) 547-0211. Sassanova. Sporty American designers as well as European labels. 1641 Wisconsin Avenue NW; (202) 471-4400. Urban Chic. Girly fashions and designer denim. 1626 Wisconsin Avenue NW; (202) 338-5398.