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No DC in the Top 25? It's certainly above a lot of those midwestern cities not named Chicago. The U St/Florida Ave. corridor has really boomed over the past decade, while more traditional spots like Dupont, Adams Morgan, and parts of Georgetown still provide lots of after hours options. Buzzards Point/The Navy Yard area have really thrived thanks to the MLB park, and this could even spill over into Anacostia. A lot of its bigger suburbs like Takoma Park, College Park, Silver Spring, the National Harbor area, and Bethesda have decent nightlife for suburban areas as well. Don't forget Wolf Trap, Jiffy Lube Live, and Meriwether Post Pavilion in its more outer suburbs as well. Orlando should be sneaking in as well due to its tourism, even if on the PG side. Perhaps Tampa and Honolulu as well. Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Portland probably are below the Top 25 (in the same 26-40 tier with Baltimore, Raleigh, San Antonio, Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Providence, Milwaukee, and Richmond).
Tier 2:
Ranking in this tier would be subjective, but NOLA, Miami, Chicago. Montreal and Las Vegas are a step above what follows below.
Tier 3:
Los Angeles would be top of this tier, despite the early last call and sprawl, then Toronto, Philadelphia, D.C., Acapulco
Tier 4:
Here it gets muddy, but rounding out a top 20 would be Atlanta, Austin, Nashville, both Boston and San Francisco go to bed early, but are pretty great in the evenings, Guadalajara, Seattle and Dallas.
Smaller cities with good nightlife that surpassed me that could push their way into the top 20: Louisville, Memphis, Key West
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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Miami and Vegas are definitely tier 1; likely NOLA and, if North America, Havana.
Quote:
Originally Posted by homeinatx
If we are counting all of North America:
Tier 1:
a. NYC
b. Mexico City
Tier 2:
Ranking in this tier would be subjective, but NOLA, Miami, Chicago. Montreal and Las Vegas are a step above what follows below.
Tier 3:
Los Angeles would be top of this tier, despite the early last call and sprawl, then Toronto, Philadelphia, D.C., Acapulco
Tier 4:
Here it gets muddy, but rounding out a top 20 would be Atlanta, Austin, Nashville, both Boston and San Francisco go to bed early, but are pretty great in the evenings, Guadalajara, Seattle and Dallas.
Smaller cities with good nightlife that surpassed me that could push their way into the top 20: Louisville, Memphis, Key West
I think we should all wait a while to re-rank top 10s since every city was hit differently with covid restrictions. It would lead to a lot of imbalance for cities/won't be fair.
I think we should all wait a while to re-rank top 10s since every city was hit differently with covid restrictions. It would lead to a lot of imbalance for cities/won't be fair.
The top 10 doesn't change much anyway. The top 5 or so will be the top 5 for quite a while. After those, it's muddy and bias plays a bigger role whether or not you love Portlands strip clubs or Houston’s ethnic diversity in clubs and bars.
In terms of overall nightlife, NYC, NOLA, Vegas, and Miami are the unquestionable top 4 IMO. I would put Chicago in the 5th spot. LA probably would be but everything closes at 2 am in California so it would be 6th to me. Everything in me wants to put Atlanta at number 7, but the exceptional nightlife spots there cater so heavily towards the black community. Same with Austin but for the white community. Either way, I still would put Atlanta at 7, Philadelphia at 8, and San Francisco at 9. Id probably put Boston or Austin to round off the top 10.
As for my beloved Houston, it definitely isnt top 10. Houston excels in diversity in nightlife and black nightlife, but I dont find its really a specialty here. Dallas is an exceptional gay nightlife city, but nothing else really stands out there. I think Detroit is an up and comer for nightlife because its downtown is becoming amazing. Its the city to watch IMO.
In terms of overall nightlife, NYC, NOLA, Vegas, and Miami are the unquestionable top 4 IMO. I would put Chicago in the 5th spot. LA probably would be but everything closes at 2 am in California so it would be 6th to me. Everything in me wants to put Atlanta at number 7, but the exceptional nightlife spots there cater so heavily towards the black community. Same with Austin but for the white community. Either way, I still would put Atlanta at 7, Philadelphia at 8, and San Francisco at 9. Id probably put Boston or Austin to round off the top 10.
As for my beloved Houston, it definitely isnt top 10. Houston excels in diversity in nightlife and black nightlife, but I dont find its really a specialty here. Dallas is an exceptional gay nightlife city, but nothing else really stands out there. I think Detroit is an up and comer for nightlife because its downtown is becoming amazing. Its the city to watch IMO.
This is a puzzling thread because it's impossible to rank nightlife without dividing it along racial lines. This really should be rank the top 25 cities for White nightlife, Black nightlife, Latino nightlife, etc. Most races stick to their own when it comes to nightlife which is mainly along cultural lines versus racial lines. Factors that play a role too
-Type of music (so many forms of music that people enjoy)
-Type of establishment (mega clubs, night clubs, bars)
-Social classes (upper class, lower income, not aligned with income but preference like "dive bars")
-Demographics (Cities without a high population of Black, Latino, or Asian people will struggle in nightlife for those cultures)
Personally, I'm Black and I don't know anyone that would put Chicago, Las Vegas, NOLA, or LA above DC or Atlanta for Black nightlife. They just don't have the population to match DC and Atlanta for upscale nightlife.
In terms of overall nightlife, NYC, NOLA, Vegas, and Miami are the unquestionable top 4 IMO. I would put Chicago in the 5th spot. LA probably would be but everything closes at 2 am in California so it would be 6th to me. Everything in me wants to put Atlanta at number 7, but the exceptional nightlife spots there cater so heavily towards the black community. Same with Austin but for the white community. Either way, I still would put Atlanta at 7, Philadelphia at 8, and San Francisco at 9. Id probably put Boston or Austin to round off the top 10.
As for my beloved Houston, it definitely isnt top 10. Houston excels in diversity in nightlife and black nightlife, but I dont find its really a specialty here. Dallas is an exceptional gay nightlife city, but nothing else really stands out there. I think Detroit is an up and comer for nightlife because its downtown is becoming amazing. Its the city to watch IMO.
Boston? Great city but nightlife is not a strong point. I'd put Nashville, Seattle, Denver, DC and Portland (OR) above Boston for nightlife.
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