If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Hirshhorn’s smash-hit Yayoi Kusama show, you’re in luck. The contemporary art museum is extending the exhibit, called “One With Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection,” through July 16 (it was originally slated to close in the spring).

The 94 year-old Japanese artist is perhaps best known for her selfie-friendly Infinity Mirror Rooms. This show has two of them—her first, from 1965, and her most recent, completed in 2017. The display also includes a giant pumpkin sculpture, a decorated coat, and an early painting.

Visitors can reserve up to two tickets online a day in advance, starting at noon each day. Children under 12 don’t need a pass, but must be accompanied by an adult.

On Friday, March 24 at noon, the museum is hosting a talk with Japanese photographer Kunié Sugiura, whose photogram of Kusama is on display, and Hirshhorn curator Betsy Johnson. Guests can register for the free event in advance, and attendees will receive a pass to the Kusama show following the lecture.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Ave., SW and Seventh St., SW. 

FESTIVALS

Kennedy Center | March 22 – April 22

This celebration of all things river-related offers a steady flow of programming—art exhibits, musical performances, and buckets of other waterway-themed events. You can watch NASA footage accompanied by live orchestral music, for example, or check out an immersive experience featuring work by illustrator Edwin Fontánez (above).

MUSIC

The Fillmore Silver Spring | April 4 and 6

This world-changing punk band lived in DC for only about a year back in the early ’90s, but their riot grrrl blast remains entwined with the city that nurtured it. The group reunited in 2019, only to see plans for more extensive touring sink amid the pandemic. Here, finally, they roar back into town.

MUSIC

Echostage | April 8 

The British singer’s most recent album, Heart on My Sleeve, is a lovestruck R&B project that invites listeners to her inner world of devotion, infatuation, and heartache. Expect her to switch up the vibe of this lively dance club with a heart-healing chill-out session.

BOOKS

Politics and Prose | April 10

The latest from the hilariously sharp Washington Post columnist offers some wild alternate history: Mark Twain turns into a zombie, John and Abigail Adams engage in sexting, and—for reasons you’ll have to read the book to grasp—Sesame Street Muppets carry out the D-Day invasion.

MUSIC

Strathmore | April 14

This intriguing trio makes up a collaborative project called Love in Exile, whose first album is due soon. Multi-instrumentalist Ismaily, pianist Iyer, and vocalist Aftab (pictured, left to right)—all majorly accomplished on their own—build a sound that’s spacious and haunting.

MUSIC

Kennedy Center | April 21 

A charismatic troupe of bow-toting blonds, this acclaimed ensemble will offer two works by Schubert along with a new quartet commissioned by Washington Performing Arts. The latter piece was written by Icelandic star Anna Thorvaldsdottir, whose music is elusive and immersive.

BOOKS

Politics and Prose | April 22 

Bethesda writer Heiny follows the novel Early Morning Riser with a collection of short stories that tap her signature com­bination of heart and humor. Sample setup: Suffering from a hangover and “laundry crisis,” a character shows up to work in a bridesmaid dress that “looks like something an American Girl doll might wear to a movie premiere.”

THEATER

Signature Theatre | April 25–June 18 

It’s been 15 years since this popular musical opened on Broadway, and its exploration of art and Black identity still resonates—as do the songs, which veer from blues to punk to gospel and other genres. The whole thing springs from the fascinating brain of the eclectic musician Stew.

Museums

National Portrait Gallery | April 28, 2023–February 25, 2024

This collection of historic portraits marks the 125th anniversary of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine War. The art depicts monarchs, military leaders, and political activists from the countries involved (the painting here is of Hawaii’s Queen Lili‘uokalani), and the exhibit is meant to juxtapose American expansion with the viewpoints of those who were affected by it overseas.

Sports

Entertainment & Sports Arena | April 29

For the last half century, the annual event has pitted a team of the area’s best high-school basketball players against a squad of national all-stars (including the likes of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James back before they were superstars). This year’s contest will also serve as a tribute to the Cap­ital Classic’s founder, Robert Geogha, who died last year.

This article appears in the April 2023 issue of Washingtonian.

Briana A. Thomas is a local journalist, historian, and tour guide who specializes in the research of D.C. history and culture. She is the author of the Black history book, Black Broadway in Washington, D.C., a story that was first published in Washingtonian in 2016.

Meet Code Red, Adams Morgan’s glamorous new hideaway that invites drinkers to step back in time and soak up the excess of the Roaring ’20s. The classy, 72-seat ode to the bygone era quietly opened last week in the heart of the Northwest nightlife corridor (2440 18th Street NW).

Code Red comes from Nik Namdar and Paul Brito, with Nik’s dad and AC hotel general manager Mark Namdar consulting on the project (he also co-owns New Heights, an American tavern in Woodley Park that just got a Michelin nod). Head bartenders Haytham Hashem and Greg LaMotte most recently stirred drinks at Dupont’s Bar Charley.

“We saw the need for a more upscale but still approachable bar and restaurant in Adams Morgan,” Code Red’s managing partner Natalia Alexander tells Eater.

Life Expressed Online

Code Red is packed with all sorts of throwback decor sourced from auctions and vintage diving, including pictures and frames, whiskey barrels, an old-timey cash register, movie projector, delicate glassware, and check presenters from the 1920s.

In lieu of bottle service, the team decided to go all in on Instagrammable “crystal” service. Old Fashioneds for four arrive in a Cartier crystal bucket on a glassy tray. The communal cocktail is theatrically flambeed and poured in front of guests, and Negronis also get the tableside treatment. Cocktails for one include classics like a Last Word, Corpse Reviver No. 2, and a frothy Chicago Fizz built with dark rum and ruby port as the base. The blast from the past reportedly got its start in Waldorf Astoria’s NYC hotel bar before making its way to Chicago.

A Hemingway Special comes with Havana Club white rum, pink grapefruit, and a Luxardo cherry at the bottom. A whole nook up front is devoted to the daiquiri-loving literary legend, complete with a desk, typewriter, and his famous quotes on writing with liquid inspiration. Odes to notorious gangster Al Capone are also aplenty, with his arrest and fingerprint card displayed on a wall along with a telegram of someone ratting him out for bootlegging from his jail cell.

Life Expressed Online

Code Red’s most dramatic detail is a custom steel door weighing a whopping 800-plus pounds, which will soon be installed out front and rests near the bar for now. A peephole grate pays homage to Prohibition, when spotters would peek out to see if the cops—known as “bulls”—were coming. “In which case it would be a ‘Code Red’ to hide your drink and start singing hymns,” says Alexander, who spent months researching the era before opening. The name also speaks to secretive speakeasies that require a password (its code is “red”). Red velvet booths, red water glasses, and a red-lit bar also play up the color-coded theme.

Small plate highlights from chef and Pusser’s Annapolis alum Raul Guerra include crispy “blooming” whole artichokes with dollops of truffle aioli; wagyu sliders; honey-glazed beef chunks skewered with sugarcane sticks atop roasted Brussels sprouts; and a meaty jumbo prawn charred over mesquite and placed on a seaweed salad bed.

Art also showcases lesser-known stories from the era like the “Harlem Rennaisance” of the 1930s, which saw the rise of musicians like Cal Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington who played in big band clubs serving booze. Parisian jazz posters and photos iconic French-American performer Josephine Baker honor the music genre’s boom in France, where many went to legally drink at the time.

Life Expressed Online

Life Expressed Online

Incoming Jell-O shots at the bar pay respect to the best-selling order when the lengthy space was longtime dive Millie and Al’s. The old owners’ daughter told Code Red’s team “to dirty the place up” and offered recipe tips to replicate their gelatinous shooters, says Alexander.

Menus will substantially expand next month with more cocktails, a full wine list, and additional plates like seared foie gras, smoked bone marrow, and Maine lobster salad. Leather-bound cocktail books coming from Ukraine will be filled with short-and-sweet “Snapple Facts” of historical nuggets tied to cocktails and wine from vineyards dating back to the 1920s.

Opening hours are 5 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The team is also toying with the idea of weekend brunch.

Life Expressed Online

Life Expressed Online

Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Tierney Plumb/Eater DC