Kramer Books and the attached Afterwords cafe in the back is one of the cornerstones of the Dupont Circle neighborhood. The independent bookstore seems to be most popular among the 20-30-something lobbyist/Hill crowd, but other folks come here too. If you're looking for discount books, go down the street to the discount bookstore right on the circle. Come here for the wide variety of literature and nonfiction, right down to the very obscure. You could spend hours in here reading off the shelves -- there's even a whole shelf of travel essays and diaries. Kramer's was doing the mix of book shopping and eating long before Border's and other big chains. Afterwords is not the kind of place that would draw you for the food alone, but the menu is decent, the enclosed sidewalk cafe has some atmosphere and entrées are inexpensive or moderately priced. Last I checked, they were open all night Fridays and Saturdays (but check ahead on this).
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