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Nice picture of San Francisco on their page. I'm not so sure if these upcoming events would be enough for me to think of San Francisco as a forethought in EDM/electronic, honestly, but I'll let you add on to it. What are some Bay Area electronic/EDM events that you would suggest to someone and that you have a high opinion of? Any local artists and talents that perform frequently in the Bay Area?
Let a Californian shed some light on this situation:
People from San Francisco and Los Angeles pay money to go to Las Vegas for a night-out weekend. As much as you spin it, nightlife can be stronger. In Los Angeles, there is a push to extend late call, we will see if that happens. If it happens, within a decade Los Angeles will be the nightlife spot of the USA.
But one of the reasons I fell in love with Miami and ended up moving here, was coming here when I lived in San Diego, on vacation, and observing all the nightclubs being packed, having lines out the door, at 3am on a Monday night.
That kind of intensity that you can find in Miami Beach (and Las Vegas, New Orleans) you cannot find anywhere out West. Even if you don't go to clubs, you appreciate the intensity.
Well all Las Vegas really has to offer is a night out. So yea, few places in the world can compete with that if you're comparing night life.
Concerning mega music festivals - I'm a little beyond that in terms of age. I'll leave the new scene to the younger Millennial set and those still in college/high school. Music festivals in the Bay Area cater specifically to residents of the Bay Area and aren't meant to be huge tourist draws that festivals in LA, now Atlanta, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, etc are (and to be frank, the Bay Area doesn't *need* those tourists). Just look at what is in or catered to the "Bay Area": Burning Man (started in SF, still mostly Bay Area people), Monterey Bay Reggae Fest, Treasure Island Music Fest (all of 2 stages playing 1 at a time), Outside Lands (which is hardly entirely electronic and is just an event bringing big artists to one location for 3 days in GG Park in the city...where it's cold and foggy and only acclimated SF residents would dare go, lol), all music fests in SF 21+ and strictly enforced...which is a HUGE departure from other music fests.
The scene in the Bay Area, specifically San Francisco, is older (25-45, oriented towards professionals with high paying jobs looking to release - which I find to be similar to NYC's scene with less of an international/celebrity bent). It tends not to be driven by service industry folk and tourists (as in Miami), binge tourist drinkers (as in NOLA), or bachelor/bachelorette/special event party people (as in LV). It's not a celebrity scene or a "see and be seen" scene. It's not a scene advertised at all to tourists or outsiders. It really truly caters to the residents in the Bay Area, and is concentrated in San Francisco (thus the push for late night BART).
That being said, I am genuinely surprised seeing 1015 Folsom on the list of top 100 and frankly, Temple, as well. There are other larger clubs oriented a bit more towards tourists in Union Square (such as Ruby Skye, which has big name acts every weekend) that I would think are higher volume places. I have been to other clubs in other cities that are on this list and frankly, they are small enough or "suck" enough for me to think in my mind based on my experience that there should be at least 10 from San Francisco ahead of them. And my favorite large club in New York, which is 3 levels + a rooftop in Hell's Kitchen and hosts huge events weekly is not even on the list, perhaps because it classifies itself as "event space", at least on its website. I also really don't see "a lot" from New York, either, in general, considering its size and reputation.
I'm not saying that list is wrong, by any means. What I'm saying is there's probably a lot more to it. A lot of those clubs on the list could be reporting and doing what they can to get on that list for publicity. And as I said before, I highly doubt most places in San Francisco are dying for tourist/national/int'l publicity. Sounds counter-intuitive, but such is the general vibe of the whole city across a lot of spectrums, which is what honestly keeps the vibe of San Francisco so unique and so "San Francisco" - it's not crying out for outside attention all the time, but it gets it anyway. I repeat, I live here and I never see anything advertised ever (except for perhaps Ruby Skye) and simply "find out" about places by word of mouth. Many of these places are in old brick buildings with no outside indication that there's a club inside. Several are literally underground. There are quite a few that fill out and are packed, but no huge line of tourists or "bridge and tunnel" folk waiting outside, and lots of Europeans/Asians who *live* in SF or are visiting their fellow countrymen living in SF dressed really well inside.
RE: crowds at 3 am. You'll find long lines at clubs that are open throughout the night in both LA and SF, and several other cities in the country. I had guests in town a couple weekends ago in SF and we left one dance bar at 2 to go out clubbing and cabbed from one club area to the next looking for a line that didn't look 30 minutes long or more. So yes, it exists outside of the bubble that is Miami Beach. The crowd may not be as "sexy" and international or "sophisticated" (though it can really surprise there as well...as mentioned before, SF attracts a certain kind of person both to live and to visit...and it's not a cheap city for either), however, there are still crowds.
That's all I'm going to say on the matter. I'll reiterate LA and SF are pretty on par in my mind, with "more" in LA due to its sheer size and higher concentration with better transportation in SF for obvious reasons. Both are 2 of my favorite cities in the country to party. And you can find just about any scene or anything you want in either.
[color="DarkRed"]A huge force in electronic music but has no major annual event to it's name?
I mean, I know that people in the Bay Area enjoy electronic music, you don't even have to go to a venue to know that much. People in the Bay Area listen to electronic music in their cars, on their iPods, and the like and that is blatantly obvious. This is, however, not different than a lot of other places I've seen though, lots and lots and lots of fanfare for electronic music but the place isn't exactly a destination market for these types from around the country or world on over, frankly.
Sydney, Melbourne, Amsterdam, London, Brussels (Belgium), pretty much all of New Zealand, and of course places like Ibiza and Bali. These are just off of the top of my head. Even in the United States; Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, and New York all cater to prominent annual events. EDC Las Vegas is quite possibly the top annual event in the Western United States, while Ultra remains so for the Eastern United States. EDC New York is not too far behind, rounds out one of the absolute most active electronic music events in the country. Cities like Austin and Toronto take it up a notch too with events like South by Southwest and North by Northeast, while neither are totally EDM/electronic events (not even close), they have a huge amount of that too.
Hollywood, West Hollywood, Echo Park, K-Town, DTLA,
Yeah, I guess I think Echo Park is debatable. Might also be that Sunset Blvd is so disjointed through there, with The Echo, Club Bahia, Los Globos (technically in Silverlake?) all being separated by a decent distance and not-so-drunk-friendly hilly terrain.
Old Town is kind of bro-y, but even though Echo Park has more of what I am interested in, I think Old Town is more concentrated and "happening."
[color="DarkRed"]
None of this is to say that San Francisco's nightlife is bad. It's not. It is a lot of fun and I for one would be the first to defend the place if I saw anyone insinuate that the city is "sleepy" because it's not. However, in my experience, I have had just as much fun, if not more, in places like Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland, along with maybe several other places in the country. I would personally say, from personal experience, that San Francisco's nightlife is closer to these than it is to New Orleans or Las Vegas or Miami, or even New York and Los Angeles. Seattle to me seemed to have a lot of the same things as San Francisco but like my friend from San Francisco said when we were all in Capitol Hill on our first night, "this city is dirt cheap compared to San Francisco" and he's right. Seattle lacks no quantity and no quality in it's nightlife, it has it all. I would say it's nightlife could favorably compare to San Francisco. Seattle feels like a far more late night place, based off my experience in both in the same week, than San Francisco too.
I think you're understating San Francisco's nightlife. I think it's a close second and maybe even tied with LA for the best nightlife on the West Coast. Seattle is third.
San Francisco does have a similar nightlife to Seattle in some ways - like you said, both have a lot of quantity and quality and there are significant overlaps in the types of scenes that exist in the two cities. However, the thing about San Francisco is I believe it has one of the - if not the - highest densities of nightlife establishments in the country. There are so many places concentrated in a relatively small area. So the quantity and variety of bars, lounges, clubs, etc. is even greater and more concentrated in SF than Seattle (which, as I said, is no slouch).
There are a ton of bar dense districts basically right next to each other and SF is a great bar crawl city. There's also a vibrant party vibe to SF's nightlife which is created out of that critical mass and I just think it's a really fun city to go out and drink in. It has the 2nd best craft cocktail scene in the country (after NYC), as well as a ton of old-school grittier places. And there is a pretty good underground dance club scene as well.
Yeah, I guess I think Echo Park is debatable. Might also be that Sunset Blvd is so disjointed through there, with The Echo, Club Bahia, Los Globos (technically in Silverlake?) all being separated by a decent distance and not-so-drunk-friendly hilly terrain.
Old Town is kind of bro-y, but even though Echo Park has more of what I am interested in, I think Old Town is more concentrated and "happening."
Yeah, I've been to great individual bars and a few clubs (getting a little old for the "dancing on a bar with my shirt off" scene lol) all over Los Angeles, buts that's just it, they've been from the beach areas, downtown to Echo Park, so once we've made the decision of the locale that's pretty much where we stay. I've rarely gone out walking and bar hopping except maybe WeHo; L.A. is just too damn spread out. I'm sure the locals know much better than I as we just are generally up there every season or so to explore and take in the city.
I will say that the compactness of San Diego is one of its best attributes here. One can pretty easily transverse one end of downtown to the other in a 1/2 hour or so at a quick pace so even bar hopping it you can take in pretty much the whole city on foot if you are ambitious. Heck, we can (and do) walk from our house with a yard on a quiet canyon to take in downtown. On ballgame weekend nights (we are season ticket holders) we are sometimes talked into meeting our younger nieces and their boyfriends at some hopping club dt and the GasLamp District is almost like Mardi Gras it is such a crowded, crazy scene. Little Italy and East Village extend that scene in a less, tourists knocking you off the sidewalk kind of way.
Also from where we live we are walking (super quick Uber or bus) distance to adjoining North Park, Hillcrest, University/Normal Heights which is our version of the Silver Lake, Echo Park, locals scene.
We might not have those, region famous, premier, gotta go and be seen establishments as the big boy cities do, (I'm not that cool and beautiful (any more haha) anyway) but having all of downtown and then the ring of vibrant neighborhoods with all kinds of bars and clubs encircling it just 2-3 miles away makes for a convenient and more than fun enough city for most folks.
Yeah, I've been to great individual bars and a few clubs (getting a little old for the "dancing on a bar with my shirt off" scene lol) all over Los Angeles, buts that's just it, they've been from the beach areas, downtown to Echo Park, so once we've made the decision of the locale that's pretty much where we stay. I've rarely gone out walking and bar hopping except maybe WeHo; L.A. is just too damn spread out. I'm sure the locals know much better than I as we just are generally up there every season or so to explore and take in the city.
I will say that the compactness of San Diego is one of its best attributes here. One can pretty easily transverse one end of downtown to the other in a 1/2 hour or so at a quick pace so even bar hopping it you can take in pretty much the whole city on foot if you are ambitious. Heck, we can (and do) walk from our house with a yard on a quiet canyon to take in downtown. On ballgame weekend nights (we are season ticket holders) we are sometimes talked into meeting our younger nieces and their boyfriends at some hopping club dt and the GasLamp District is almost like Mardi Gras it is such a crowded, crazy scene. Little Italy and East Village extend that scene in a less, tourists knocking you off the sidewalk kind of way.
Also from where we live we are walking (super quick Uber or bus) distance to adjoining North Park, Hillcrest, University/Normal Heights which is our version of the Silver Lake, Echo Park, locals scene.
We might not have those, region famous, premier, gotta go and be seen establishments as the big boy cities do, (I'm not that cool and beautiful (any more haha) anyway) but having all of downtown and then the ring of vibrant neighborhoods with all kinds of bars and clubs encircling it just 2-3 miles away makes for a convenient and more than fun enough city for most folks.
You can def go bar hoping in SaMo, DTLA, Echo Park, Highland Park, Hollywood, and Pasadena.
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