O’Neill runs GregsListDC.com, a social events Web site, with the help of three other editors. O’Neill has a full-time job at a D.C. think tank and compiles the list as a hobby. He lives in Takoma Park and moved to the Washington area a decade ago.
What’s on the list?
It’s a list of social events in the city that we feel appeals to young professionals. The site is very basic. It’s really a calendar listing of events day by day in the city, run by four editors. It covers food, arts and culture, fashion and style, and happy hours.
How do you find events for the list?
Things are sent to us, and it also involves mining our personal networks built up over many years in D.C. We were all people who arrived in D.C. and didn’t know where to go out. We kind of created the site for exactly that kind of person. We get a newcomer up the social learning curve pretty quickly.
What are some of the most interesting kinds of events people should know about?
What is unique about D.C. is there are many unique kinds of events. There is an informal network for it, but only if you know where to look. For example, a week from Friday (March 19) there will be an underground discotheque at the National Postal Museum. It’s an amazing event put on by the French Embassy. And the Hirshhorn Museum holds after-hours parties where they open up the museum in the evening to attract young professional types. There is amazing music and dancing. It gets 1,000 or 1,500 people usually. Events like that are sometimes off the radar screen.
Do you go to the events you list?
It’s hard to go to all these events. But most of them are on the weekends or in the evening. I pretty much give up my Saturday for it.
– Susan Ferrechio
