Wow. I missed this during my visits to DC.
Yes, D.C. has a Chinatown. Once it was a mostly residential area of run-down row houses owned by people with Chinese heritage and where there were many Chinese restaurants. Now it is the path of gentrification and while it has a beautiful Chinese portal (the Friendship Arch, a gift from Beijing) across H Street NW and and a number of Chinese restaurants, I don’t think very many Chinese live in the area.
It has lots of new apartment buildings, lots of stores, not far from the Lansburgh Theatre (Shakespeare) and the Sidney Harmon Hall. Plus, there’s the massive Verizon Center, home to the Washington Capitals (ice hockey team). Also, the convention center is only two blocks north. The two main north-south streets (6th Street and 7th Street NW) are loaded with stores and restaurants, very few of them Chinese. Most of the Chinese restaurants are on H Street between 6th and 8th Streets NW.
Read more about it here: http://dc.about.com/od/neigborhoodprofiles/p/Chinatown.htm
Wow. I missed this during my visits to DC.