For Inauguration Week, DC Pushes Last Call to 5am

Preparing for a wave of inauguration visitors (and their cash), Washington legislators loosened the capital’s laws yesterday to let restaurants, bars, and nightclubs stay open all night and serve alcohol until 5am in the days leading up to the historic occasion, the Washington Post reports. The move upset civic leaders concerned about safety and crowd control.

“There are very few people I know of out partying at 5 in the morning who aren’t getting drunk. I think there are going to be consequences,” warns a legislator who voted against the restaurant-initiated bill. He said increased crime, violence, and drunken driving could damper the festive mood. DC’s mayor had asked unsuccessfully that nightclubs be excluded from the bill. (More inauguration stories.)