Best Neighborhood and Best People-Watching Spot: Dupont Circle

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AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT, Dupont Circle looks like an Elle photo shoot. Stilettoed gals click across the circle tapping on BlackBerrys. Tight-shirt-wearing, toned men strut the sidewalks with their Shih Tzus in tow. Skinny-jeans-adorned waifs in dark-rimmed spectacles drape themselves across the fountain. Even the old men playing chess seem stylish.

What's causing this congregation of trendy types? Simply put, it's a happening hood — D.C.'s version of SoHo. "Dupont has over 400 shops and restaurants in such a condensed area — it's like four cities in one," says local historian and author Paul Williams.

Name-Check: Dupont Circle's moniker is surprisingly un-hip in origin — it was named in 1882 after Samuel Francis Du Pont, a naval officer who was largely responsible for modernizing the U.S. Navy.

» Explore a full list of the year's winners at the Best of 2009 index.

Written by Express' Cody Snell and Robyn Mincher
Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post