Bizarro DC

Washington DC is one of the strangest cities in the world. There are stranger, notably Delta, Utah. However, DC is indeed strange. In a normal city, even in the sleepiest parts of the United States, the city is open until 10 or 11 pm. In DC however, you have drugstores closing at 6 pm, all restaurants are closed by 10, museums by 5:30. Where else in the US is this the case? I'm used to it in Japan or in Europe, but DC is less than 500 miles from one of the cities that never sleeps, New York. I don't know if it's the diplomats that are the reason, or if it's because all the young singles don't go out or if they do they go to Virginia or Maryland, but it doesn't make sense for our nation's capital. If there's some sort of curfew, I don't know about it. If someone can enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.