Beacon Hill

Catch up on political gossip at The 21st Amendment (150 Bowdoin St., 617/227-7100, www.21stboston.com [1]), a beat-up watering hole across from the State House. Named after the amendment that ended prohibition, it caters mostly to a draft-beer crowd.

Down the hill, The Sevens (77 Charles St., 617/523-9074, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Mon.–Sat.; 12 p.m.–11 p.m. Sun., www.sevensalehouse.com [2]) is the closest thing Beacon Hill [3] has to a neighborhood bar, where well-mannered brahmins and well-coifed business consultants share wooden booths and watch the flow of people on Charles Street.