The Coolest Indie Bookstores: Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.

Live in Washington D.C.? Maybe you’re visiting soon? Then I have a great bookstore for you—Politics and Prose. I borrowed the idea to spoliight indie bookstores from Robert Zimmerman’s Aged Pages series, so you should check him out.

 

Address:

5015 Connecticut Avenue Northwest  Washington, DC 20008

Phone: (202) 364-1919

P&P is a two-level, independent bookstore with live events in the back of the top level and a delicious café on the bottom floor. The café can get a little loud, but I still love it.

A friend of mine suggested this place for a meet up, and I’m happy she did. We spent most of our time in the café, which has some of the most delicious green tea (seriously, what do they add? It’s amazing) and some equally munchable hot sandwiches. They even have vegan options. That didn’t matter to me personally—I love me some meat—but I think it’s cool that you have a wide range of hand-assembled food for any time of the day. Not to mention a fresh cake sitting in a display on the counter. Yum.

Just beyond the café is a string of bookshelves filled with cartoons and kids’ books, but most of the shop is up a flight of stairs. There were only best sellers and traditionally published books as far as I could tell, but I couldn’t stay too long so I didn’t look that hard. Hopefully this independent store also stocks independent books. I’ll have to talk to a manager next time I go to see how they feel about it. I’ll keep you posted.

Politics & Prose hosts near-daily events, most of which are authors speaking or doing book signings. You can check out their full calendar here.

There are only two downsides to P&P: D.C. driving and parking. If you can walk, do. But come on, it’s D.C.—driving and parking suck here. The homes surrounding Politics & Prose are beautiful, though, which makes the stop-and-go effect less painful. There are usually spots along the backstreets, too, if you can’t get into the parking lot out back.

Parking Tip: turn into the CVS parking lot and hang a left before you get to the next street over. That’s the parking lot. I got lost the first time I went. Poltiics & Prose shares a parking lot with a strip mall, so parking in the lot can be a beast, especially in the evening.

So if you’re ever in D.C., give this shop a go. Try a biscotti and some iced green tea if you want something light. Pretty much everything on their menu is delicious, so you can’t really go wrong, and the people are incredibly friendly.