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Angels Club
Welcome to Guadalajara's megaclub. Sure, it's a gay venue, but chicks dig the mod acrylic tables, cool lounge, throwback beanbag room and the three dance floors blasting electronica, hip- hop and progressive rock so heterosexual men should shed their inhibitions and mingle with the party people. Saturday nights get wild. Clubbers often leave for breakfast at around and return for sun-drenched after hours.
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Bananas
Beers are cheap, the crowd is young and the music gravitates from hip-hop to global rock and back again. On slow midweek nights this mod-dive always attracts a crowd.
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Bar Américas
Mexican and international DJs spin slamming electronic music for the Jaegermeister swilling masses at this crowded old bunker. There's no sign, so it can be tough to find. You'll hear it before you see it.
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Californias
This hotspot attracts a diverse and attractive crowd - from cowboys to stock brokers. They get packed around , and weekend nights are a madhouse, but there's no dancing.
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Candela
Drink with Zapopan's young, sexy, moneyed bohemia in this converted home with a courtyard lounge, specialty cocktails and a jazz soundtrack. It serves wood-fired pizzas. Tuesday is the big night.
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Casa Bariachi
This bright barn-like restaurant-bar has romantic lighting and leather chairs, along with piñatas and colorful papel picado (cutout paper) hanging from the ceiling. This place may fail the hipster test, but the margaritas are bathtub big and mariachis jam from to daily. It's about a 10-minute taxi ride west of the city center.
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Centro Magno
Big shopping centers, like Centro Magno, have up-to-date multiplexes showing Spanish language and first-run popcorn pictures from Hollywood. Hollywood movies come dubbed in Spanish or subtitled, so double check which show you're seeing.
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Circus
Fills up late in the night with hot young hardbodies lounging in heart-shaped chairs and howling at the variety shows. It's also popular with lesbians.
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El Callejón De Los Rumberos
This is the best salsa bar in Guadalajara, where locals dress to the nines and shake their asses on two floors with two bandstands and three bars. Wednesday is the big night.
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El Parián
You can pay your respects to the mariachi tradition in its home city. The Plaza de los Mariachis, just east of the historic center, is an okay place to sit, drink beer and soak in the serenades of passionate Mexican bands. But you'll be happier at El Parián a garden complex in Tlaquepaque made up of dozens of small cantinas that all share one plaza occupied by droves of Mariachi. On the weekends the bands battle and jockey for your ears, applause and cash.
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Green Mug
Outside the historic center are some of the city's trendiest watering holes. This sleek indie coffee house is Starbucks' main competition on Chapultepec. There are leather sofas, flat screen TVs, free wi-fi and a young hip crowd.
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Hard Rock Café
In the Centro Magno shopping center, this is your typical Hard Rock, with guitars on the walls and Tex-Mex burgers on the menu. Hidden inside, however, is a 1000-seat auditorium that hosts international groups (check with Ticket Master for bands and showtimes).
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Hotel Francés
The dark marble courtyard bar at this hotel encourages you to relax back into another era, where waiters in bow ties treat you like old friends, happy hour lasts until and acoustic troubadours strum gorgeous, weepy ballads.
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La Bodeguita del Medio
This pseudo-Cuban joint is right next door to Bar Bariachi. Graffiti decorates the walls. A restaurant is upstairs (balcony tables are best) and a bar downstairs. Live Cuban music and Cuban dance lessons are a regular feature. Check out the cigar display and sign that states 'Life's too short to smoke cheap cigars.'
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La Fuente
For a wonderfully local and slightly raunchy hangout, there's no beating La Fuente. Raucous live music starts in the afternoon - grab a drink and pretend to sing along. The crowd is predominantly older male, though women do frequent it too. Come for the cultural experience and the history - it's been going strong since 1921.
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La Prisciliana
La Prisciliana is a wonderfully relaxed upstairs bar in Guadalajara's 'gay ghetto'. The intimate surrounds, in a fabulous old colonial building, can occasionally get rowdy, but usually you can just sit back and chat (unless there's a drag show on). Try the livelier downstairs pre-dance bar, Club Ye Ye, should you need a warm-up boogie before hitting the clubs.
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Lienzo Charros de Jalisco
Lienzo Charros de Jalisco Charreadas are held at noon most Sundays in this ring behind Parque Agua Azul. Charros (cowboys) come from all over Jalisco and Mexico to wrestle and rope cows. Escaramuzas (cowgirls) perform daring side-saddle displays, often showing more riding skill than the charros !
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Los Caudillos
Diagonally across from La Prisciliana, this is a popular two-story disco, with three dance floors and endless lounges and bars. This is a hook up joint, pure and simple. There's a cover on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Máskaras
Enter through the small yellow door on the left and you'll find an upstairs dance floor with a bar and another, more popular bar downstairs where gay men and lesbians mix. It's especially popular in the afternoon.
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Plaza de Armas
State and municipal bands present free concerts of typical música tapatía in the Plaza de Armas at on most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and on other days as well during holiday seasons (and especially for the Fiestas de Octubre).
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Plaza de Toros Nuevo Progreso
There are two bullfighting seasons, October-November and February-March. Fights are held on Sundays starting at . A couple of fights usually take place during the October fiestas; the rest of the schedule is sporadic. Check its website or the tourist office.
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Plaza del Sol
Big shopping centers, like Plaza del Sol, all have up-to-date multiplexes showing Spanish language and first-run popcorn pictures from Hollywood. Hollywood movies come dubbed in Spanish or subtitled, so double check which show you're seeing.
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Plaza Milenium
Big shopping centers, like Plaza Milenium, have up-to-date multiplexes showing Spanish language and first-run popcorn pictures from Hollywood. Hollywood movies come dubbed in Spanish or subtitled, so double check which show you're seeing.
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Santa
Red carpets and blinking Señora de Guadalupe pictures sum up the eccentric glam interior. It gets crowded on weekends when electronic DJs spin. During the week well-dressed yuppies sip martinis (two for one on Thursday) and listen to lounge music.
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Scratch
This new hipster bar in the Centro Historico has elevated the michelada (beer and Bloody Mary's lovechild) to fine art and celebrates the days when grunge rock ruled. It also has 12 labels of good tequila.
