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Maximum number of "Nightlife" and "Dance Clubs" spots I could find using Yelp ("Within 4 blocks") for selected cities. Intersection is approximately where the map was centred to get those results. Results sorted by Nightlife.
...and Miami Beach is constantly touted as the nightlife Capitol of the U.S.
Pshaw!
The area of Miami Beach that has its night life district is less than a mile wide and about 2 miles long.
And of course the city of Miami has its own areas also not listed. Quality of Quantity right? And I don't think Miami Beach is the best night life place there is. NYC for example has much more variety but if you are into electronic music or VIP clubs its the place to be. Miami on the mainland IMO has better variety just not as famous.
There are many issues with this list. First and foremost, yelp's classification system is often wrong, especially in cities where a lot of the nightlife establishments (places open until closing time where the bar(s) takes center stage) are also restaurants, they are not actually classified as "nightlife". Just a few minutes exploring on Yelp I found tons of establishments in Louisville, Seattle, Miami Beach and DC (four cities I'm familiar with and which seemed suspiciously low), for example, that were not being classified as nightlife although they clearly are. That did not seem to be the case in some places (like San Diego), where everything seemed to be classified as nightlife.
Also, it didn't take long to find that the OP in many cases did not select the densest intersection to serve as his/her four-block focal point.
Not to mention, the four block radius itself is an arbitrary limiter. A click or two on the "zoom out" buton and suddenly Miami Beach, DC, and Seattle beat Denver or Minneapolis, for example.
I just can't find much value in this analysis - any list of nightlife hotspots that puts Miami Beach and Detroit on the same level can't have much credibility. Also, I've partied in the hotspots in DC and Seattle, as well as Denver and Minneapolis, and the ones in DC and Seattle seemed to offer more choice, be more 3-dimensional, and go on for longer. This list just seems wrong.
Actually, I've just found a number of examples in several cities where places that are straight-up bars are somehow not classified as nightlife by Yelp.
Here's an example: Bimbo's Cantina in Seattle. It is a bar through and through - open until 2 am every night except Sunday, bar dominates the small room, and people go there to drink. They also happen to serve mediocre burritos as a secondary thing. Yelp classifies this place as "Mexican" and that's it - no tag to indicate it is nightlife although it clearly is.
Actually, the more I explore these lists in detail the more I realize just how inaccurate they are. Tons of places missing in some and others have inflated numbers because there are a bunch of DJs or "party company" offices that are included.
Eh - the biggest problem I see with this list is that block length varies dramatically by City. Basically, cities with longer blocks are much more like to do better because a lot more area is covered. Yelp doesn't show scale so it's really tough to do an apples to apples comparison.
Eh - the biggest problem I see with this list is that block length varies dramatically by City. Basically, cities with longer blocks are much more like to do better because a lot more area is covered. Yelp doesn't show scale so it's really tough to do an apples to apples comparison.
Not that I'm placing that much credence to the whole Yelp rating but I will note that San Diego's blocks are notoriously compact; D. R. Horton figured correctly that corner properties always commanded higher rents and thus chopped up the downtown to 200' square blocks to gain more of them. Now they can just barely contain a three car maximum Trolly train. I think Portland, Oregon also has mostly the same compact grid.
And you can barely walk on the sidewalk of 5th Avenue/Gaslamp district any Spring/Summer weekend night; especially a concurrent baseball night- it often resembles an only slightly tamer New Orleans. When our nieces and their boyfriends talk the middle aged g'uncles (myself and husband) to join them occasionally at the various "in" spots of the moment we are blown away about the transformation of formally "DeMoines by the Sea" San Diego haha.
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