K Street's Second Shift

The interior impresses Klein more than the men. "He's going for sophisticated, but he's getting a young crowd," she says of Barnes.

And even in Armani, much of the District's club crowd bears more than a slight resemblance to former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

After one loop through the club, they move on.

A few minutes later, the women pack into Tattoo Bar, where a motorcycle seems to roar out of the wall above the bar and black leather lines the booths. Eighties rock -- think Joan Jett -- blares, and on a busy night the space feels like a packed galley kitchen at a house party.

The upscale biker bar leaves the women feeling claustrophobic, so they cross the street to Lotus Lounge. The Asian-themed club -- waterfall, sushi bar, Buddhas -- shares the same owner as Tattoo: Michael Romeo, another D.C. nightclub veteran. The aesthetics differ, but the IDs shown at the door usually have a birth date from the Reagan administration.

On their way, the women pass Lima, which, with its Latin fusion cuisine and couches that click together to create an al fresco lounge on the sidewalk, draws a crowd likely to be bilingual.

Derya Sepin, a student at Northern Virginia Community College, and her brother, Koray Sepin, said they come to Lima for the "high-quality" international crowd.

"Too international," one of Klein's friends says.

The group then tries Josephine, which just opened on Vermont Avenue. The underground club is catacomb-like, with large chandeliers and two metal stripper-style poles on a central dance floor.

The house music, the elegant but racy atmosphere and the men with business cards impress Klein and Co.

"Very New York," one friend says.

A gray-haired man wearing a flannel shirt wraps his hands around one of the shiny poles as the crowd claps.