Darkest Hour hail from our nation's capital in Washington, D.C. And while they aren't there much, being on tour so much, guitarist Mike Schleibaum has lived in the region long enough -- he grew up in Virginia but "was always trying to get the hell out of Virginia" and driving into the city he now calls home -- to know the unofficial, underground hot spots that travelers must visit. Anyone can go to the Smithsonian exhibits. It takes a real adventurous explorer to check out these killer sites.

'The Exorcist' Stairs: "They are in Georgetown, and they are the stairs that the priest in 'The Exorcist' falls down. They are bad ass and they are hard to run up, but they are cool. When I was a bike messenger, I used to use the steps as a short cut. I carried my bike up the stairs."



'The Awakening' Sculpture:
"They moved it out of the city, but 'The Awakening' is a statue, and it's this huge giant's hands and part of a giant's head and it's like the giant is coming out of the ground. It is shown in that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie 'True Lies,' I think. This was a D.C. artistic landmark and they moved it, but I put it on my list because it's awesome." You have to travel a short distance to Maryland to see the sculpture of the giant, which is embedded in the earth and whose mouth is mid-scream.

Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street: "It's the oldest black-owned and operated business in D.C. and it's world famous, and everyone from Bill Cosby to Obama to Ice-T to Dr. Dre has given it props. If you are an African American icon, you visit Ben's. The food is amazing. D.C. is such a transient city and gets swallowed up, but you go to Ben's and you feel what it feels like in African American D.C. It's got a unique distinctive culture that is hidden under the national government."

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