Free movies are screened in the East Building Auditorium of the National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery offerings are wildly eclectic, and have included the Kieslowski Decalogue, L’avventura, and (of course) artists’ documentaries. Seating is general admission, and generally the doors open 30 minutes before screening time, so for a popular film, plan to arrive about 45 minutes ahead.

National Gallery of Art, East Building
4th Street & Constitution Avenue, N.W.
202·737·4215
Red/Green/Yellow Lines: Gallery Place | Green/Yellow Lines: Archives | Orange/Blue Lines: Federal Triangle

Two of my favorite bookstores in the city are Ollsson’s and Reiter’s. Ollsson’s may not be the perfect independent bookstore, but the chain has shown staying power in the very competitive bookselling landscape of D.C. Its secret may be finding geographic niches, in genuine neighborhoods with Metro access, that are too small for the megamarts to fit: an inviting 2-story brick building on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria, a space under a tap dance studio in Bethesda (closed recently, alas), a slot next door to the Shakespeare Theatre in the gallery district.

The book stock is well-balanced between the literary and the ephemeral, though the poetry and drama selection in some of the stores is a bit thin for me. Hand-labelled staff recommendations figure prominently. Most stores have a handful of CD listening stations, and these are good for something offbeat. There is a generous frequent buyer plan and newsletter, and special in-store events.

Ollsson’s Books & Records
6 locations

I go to Reiter’s to find real books on computing, the ones that you refer to for more than six months. I always end up wandering the stacks, down aisles of books in subject areas like my college major (economics)—books that I stand a chance of understanding—and from there into alcoves of medicine and engineering where I’m completely out of my depth. As it is nearby George Washington University and its various professional schools, the store also offers gadgets for medical students. A fascinating place.

Reiter’s Scientific & Professional Books
2021 K Street, N.W.
202·223·3327
Orange/Blue Lines: Foggy Bottom | Orange/Blue Lines: Farragut West | Red Line: Farragut North

A short walk from the Foggy Bottom station brings you to what is perhaps the city’s smallest monument, a plaque and a strip of granite set in the sidewalk at the southeast corner of H and 24th Sts., N.W. The stone strip establishes the American Meridian, recognized as this country’s zero-longitude point from 1848 to 1884, before the meridian at Greenwich was accepted. The eastern and western borders of Colorado and Wyoming were established from this meridian. It turns out that 18th- and 19th-century cartographers established a number of different meridians through the district, including the one along 16th Street N.W. that gave Meridian Hill Park its name.

For a local architecture guide, look for E. J. Applewhite’s wonderfully waspish Washington Itself. Originally published in 1981 by Knopf and reissued by Madison Books in 1993,

This is a personal guide whose aim is to inform the visitor, entertain the resident, and—at times—admonish some of the guardians of the sacred places…. Each architectural description is presented in the context of what goes on inside the building itself…

Applewhite covers what he thinks is interesting, and leaves it at that. The pen-and-ink illustrations by Fred H. Greenberg are meticulous.

See also my Goodreads shelf of D.C. guidebooks.

When I’m preparing for an audition, I track down my scripts at Backstage. The shop has an incredible number of scripts already stocked, and will gladly order anything else that you can’t find on the shelf. There are also sections of books on theatre and film technique, and even a small section of used books and scripts (plays do go out of print quite readily). Backstage has recently moved to new digs on Capitol Hill, into a more accessible street-level facility, across the street from the Shakespeare Theatre’s rehearsal space. But avoid the shop in the run-up to Halloween, as it does a brisk business in costumes.

Backstage, Inc.
545 8th Street, S.E. (at the corner of G Street)
202·544·5744
Orange/Blue Lines: Eastern Market