Bar entertainment in USA
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A
Noc Noc
Who’s there? Nearsighted graffiti artists, anarchist bike messengers moonlighting as electronica DJs, and other characters straight out of an R Crumb comic, that’s who. The sake cocktails will knock you off your stool.
reviewed
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B
Park
The party may have moved elsewhere but the Park, with its multiple rooms and over-the-top design, has lost none of its appeal. The main dining room boasts a stand of 30-ft-tall bamboo and wide glass doors leading into the garden. There’s also a Penthouse and loungey Red Room with fireplace – festive spaces that open only on weekend nights (at 11pm); there’s no cover, but expect lines.
reviewed
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C
Zeitgeist Bar
When temperatures rise, bikers and hipsters converge on Zeitgeist's huge outdoor beer garden for 40 brews on tap and late-night tamales.
reviewed
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D
Vesuvio
Guy walks into a bar, roars and leaves. Without missing a beat, the bartender says to the next customer, ‘Welcome to Vesuvio, honey – what can I get you?’ It takes a lot more than a barbaric yawp to get Vesuvio’s regulars to glance up from their microbrewed beers. Kerouac blew off Henry Miller to go on a bender here, and after knocking back a couple with neighborhood characters, you’ll get why.
reviewed
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E
Sundown Saloon
Only come here if you can stomach outhouse chic bathrooms, throwback tunes, an impossible-to-distinguish odor upon descent into the basement, pick-up shouting (it's straight impossible to hear in late night), vicious competition on the shuffle board or pool tables (free 'til 10pm) and waking up hungover from the cheap Pabst Blue Ribbon ($6 pitchers).
Every town needs an 'end up bar,' and you will end up here.
reviewed
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F
Specs’
Hidden on a tiny pedestrian alley, cavelike Specs’ draws barflies in the afternoon and hipsters, literary radicals and other colorful local characters in the evening. It’s also a sort of museum, packed with weird ephemera culled from ports around the globe – nobody’s sure which species’ desiccated penis hangs behind the bar, but everyone agrees it’s from a marine mammal.
reviewed
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G
Red's Espresso Bar and Gallery
With Ring of Fire on the stereo, a concrete floor underfoot and scruffy barflies at the counter, Red's is just your typical small-town bar. 'Cept this is Santa Barbara, so make that your typical small-town coffee bar with local art hanging on the very red walls. In the heart of the Funk Zone, east of the tracks, the vibe is cool and the java cheap. Live music on the weekends.
reviewed
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H
Gold Dust Lounge
Precarious Victorian brass chandeliers hover over a bar full of visitors and a twangy rockabilly band at this Union Square anachronism, where the gold paint has lost its glitter and pints are no longer cheap. But there’s something of a time-machine effect in the swinging doors, coat stands and nude paintings – you almost expect someone to beckon you to a brothel upstairs.
reviewed
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I
Mango’s Tropical Café
- Miami, USA
- Entertainment › Bar
Cuba meets Coyote Ugly Saloon in this tourist hotspot, where a staff of gorgeous and/or ripped bodies (take your pick) dances, gyrates and puts some serious booty on the floor. Of course, you’re here for anthropological reasons: to study the nuances of Latin dance. Not to watch the bartender do that thing Shakira does with her butt.
reviewed
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J
Hi Ho Lounge
The Hi Ho is a perfect Bywater bar, the sort of place where you’re as likely to compare tattoos with the guy sitting next to you as witness a local second-line after party. Costume parties and punk concerts seem to take place frequently, and the atmosphere is redolent of a barnyard decorated by a farm full of Jimi Hendrix roadies.
reviewed
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K
Beretta
After a busy day shopping on Valencia St, nothing hits the spot like Beretta’s lip-smacking seasonal cocktails, made with fresh everything. But consider avoiding this place during peak dinner hours, when the small storefront restaurant-and-bar gets packed and deafeningly loud. Good cracker-crust pizzas.
reviewed
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L
Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap
Some of the geniuses of our age have killed plenty of brain cells right here in one of Hyde Park’s few worthwhile bars. The place is dark and beery, and a little seedy. But for thousands of University of Chicago students deprived of a thriving bar scene, it’s home. Hungry? The Swissburgers are legendary.
reviewed
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M
Buena Vista Café
Warm your cockles with a prim little goblet of bitter-creamy Irish coffee, introduced to the US at this destination bar that once served sailors and cannery workers. The creaky Victorian floor manages to hold up carousers and families alike, served community-style at round tables overlooking the wharf.
reviewed
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N
Beauty Bar
Swill a cocktail, watch the weekly manicure demonstrations or just chill inside the salvaged innards of a 1950s New Jersey beauty salon. DJs and live bands rotate nightly here, spinning tiki lounge tones, ’80s garage rock, punk, funk and soul. Make sure you wear your coolest vintage threads.
reviewed
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O
EOS Lounge
Ladies love the lighting at this trendy nightclub currently hot with SB's martini-sipping scenesters. The sexy décor - rippling waterfall, glimmering fireplace, twinkling patio - is on par with the hippest of Hollywood lounges. Small dancefloor for those wanting to get their groove on.
reviewed
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P
Tiki Ti
This garage-sized tropical tavern packs in showbiz folks from neighboring KCET TV station, grizzled old-timers and local scenesters for sweet and wickedly strong drinks (try a Rae's Mistake, named for the bar's founder). The under-the-sea decor is surreal. Cash only.
reviewed
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Q
Medjool Sky Terrace
SF’s only open-air rooftop bar has knockout views, a party crowd, Mediterranean small plates and tasty (cash-only) cocktails, but as of this writing, noise-sensitive neighbors were pressing the city to pull its permit. Great on a warm evening, but call ahead.
reviewed
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R
Li Po
A fave of the Beat poets, Li Po’s fake-grotto decor comes with lurid 1960s-era plush red booths, bartenders shouting in Cantonese and an unexpected Chinese-meets-hipster clientele. On slow nights, it may be just you and the barkeep watching TV.
reviewed
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S
Doc’s Clock
Dig the dazzling neon sign at this happy-mellow, green-certified dive that’s always good for a few pints, shuffleboard and conversation. Every second and fourth Tuesday is local-filmmaker night, with screenings of indie shorts and $2 draft PBR.
reviewed
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E 6th St
The frat-boy brawl that is E 6th St gets started evenings when middle-aged tourists fill the bars; as the night goes on, the crowd gets younger and more raucous than a pig in heat. It's not the best Austin has to offer, but it is something to see.
reviewed
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Hungry Brain
The kind bartenders, roving tamale vendors and well-worn, thrift-store charm are inviting at this Roscoe Village staple, which hosts sets of free live jazz from some of the city’s best young players on Sunday nights. Cash only.
reviewed
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V
Dirty Frank's
In the dive-filled Washington Square area, try evergreen-favourite Dirty Frank's, a local institution on Antique Row that's adorned with an outdoor mural of about a dozen famous Franks; it's got cheap booze and boho patrons.
reviewed
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W
Trad’r Sam’s
Snag a rattan island-themed booth at this threadbare faux-tiki gem. Classic-kitsch lovers order the Hurricane, which comes with two straws to share for a reason: drink it by yourself and it’ll blow you away.
reviewed
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X
Last Exit
Sometimes the laid-back bartenders put on a pub quiz; other times a DJ shows up to spin. Most of the time it's locals unwinding over beers, happy to talk to strangers and let the night slip away.
reviewed
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Y
Sportsman Lounge
Tucked on a low-traffic corner just west of tourist-heavy State St, this dark and cozy watering hole is a plain-old dive bar with no higher pretensions. Great jukebox.
reviewed
