P Street Beach — Rock Creek Park
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23rd St NW & P St NW, Washington, DC, District of Columbia, 20037, United States
The grassy riverside area south of the P Street Bridge along Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway — locally "P Street Beach" — is a documented queer landmark in Washington, DC. The National Park Service records it as a sunbathing and concert gathering place from the 1960s, site of DC's first unofficial Pride in 1972 and official Pride from 1975. The adjacent wooded hillside, the "Black Forest," was a nighttime cruising area for decades. Easy to reach from Dupont Circle on foot. US Park Police patrol the park — carry ID and exercise standard urban caution after dark.
Getting there
Walk from Dupont Circle to the south side of the P Street Bridge, where Rock Creek and the parkway meet. The grass is P Street Beach; the wooded slope beside it is the Black Forest.
When it's active
The grass is a daytime sunbathing ground. The woods were the nighttime area for decades and should be treated as a city park after dark, not a venue.
What to know
US Park Police patrol Rock Creek. Carry ID. This hillside is also a Pride landmark — DC’s first unofficial Pride was here in 1972 — which does not make it private.
Location
Coordinates: 38.90890, -77.04990