mystery solved

Many years ago, I was on a visit to D.C. and stumbled across a wondrous, magical place.

Looking for a place to have a drink on a weeknight, we found an ad in the free weekly paper for a drink special. I don't remember what it was, exactly, but it enticed us to walk a few blocks from DuPont Circle (in my memory, it was close to about two blocks. My memory is generally not to be trusted).

When we arrived at our destination, we found our way to a basement bar with a handful of other people. This is, actually, one of my favorite times to be at a bar, if it's the right sort of bar. This was the right sort. A basement, possibly with an unfinished concrete floor, a few decorations, low-level lighting, some obscure music turned down low enough not to hinder conversation, with just a few people - the type of people who are going to hang out in a sparsely populated basement on a Tuesday night and drink cheap beer.

What really set this bar apart from the rest, however, was a special announced by a sign behind the bartender. The night's high Scrabble score won a free bar tab. Abandoned on a nearby table was a Scrabble board. We played a game and gave the high score to the bartender, who promptly told us we were the only players of the night and at least some of our drinks would be on the house.

Years later, I returned to D.C. My fond memories of the Scrabble bar did not include a name or even a reliable relative location, so the mysterious bar was a personal myth until recently.

Then a friend invited us to a little place up near U Street. Walking in, the layout dimly lit a light in a musty corner of my brain. The familiarity was heightened when I realized there was a bar in the basement, and a quick glance confirmed it: I had found the Scrabble Bar.

Unfortunately, I'm sure Saint-Ex hasn't given away free tabs to high Scrabble scorers for some time, and may have only done it once as far as I know. I haven't been back on a poorly attended weeknight, but I might make a pilgrimage soon.