A glittery night honoring journalists? What better venue for an after-party than a nearly half-billion-dollar museum dedicated to celebrating the press?

The newly opened Newseum, located just off the National Mall on Pennsylvania Avenue, was where some 500 journalists, political types, and even a few celebrities headed after the White House Correspondents Association dinner for Capitol File’s post-party. The event took over the museum’s 90-foot atrium, creating a dramatic setting—think glass and steel beams everywhere—that made it possible for the evening’s planners to go more low-key than usual with decor. Capitol File associate publisher Jayne Sandman, who, like last year, produced the event with André Wells, said the backdrop was plenty dramatic on its own. “Our whole goal was to let the Newseum itself shine,” she says.

The atrium’s giant 40- by 22-foot LED screen broadcast images from the red carpet, while strategic colored lighting from Frost highlighted the soaring hall’s architecture. A second-floor balcony, meanwhile, was an ideal perch for the evening’s best sport: people-watching.

Tall steel bar tables topped with tulips in simple square vases offered a place to rest drinks (from the open bar serving top-shelf liquor) and munch on passed hors d’oeuvres like mini lamb chops.

Guests ran the gamut from Washington’s top media professionals (CNN’s super-couple, Dana Bash and John King, worked the room) to pop-culture faces (Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt from The Hills beelined for the V.I.P. area across from the step-and-repeat). Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz took over the DJ booth for an hour around midnight, though the party didn’t dissipate until 2 a.m.