Club Luna set to open tonight in downtown Wilkes-Barre. (Back Mountain: 2014, school)

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by go phillies

I'm not so sure more bars/clubs add to a "college town" atmospehere....it seems too many people are only thinking of an "Animal House" type of college experience. To be a true college town, there has to be more to do than drink. But we do live in NEPA, where drinking until you're in a stupor is still considered a measure of someone's manhood....

This place will never last. Whether it's in Wilkes-Barre or Scranton, I don't think there are enough "upscale" people in NEPA. No one is going to want to spend outrageous prices on cover charges and booze just for a night on the town.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by blip

Oh, and "upscale" clubs often have cheesy dress-codes to boot.

Around here it usually means that you cannot wear any hats inside......Like everything else that has opened in the area....It will busy when it opens and dead in a year.....6 months is when it will start to slow down. The novelty wears off pretty fast. Upscale....Thats funny.

[W-B proud]

When I think of Wilkes-Barre or anywhere else in NEPA upscale doesn't come to mind, more like teeshirt, jeans, and baseball cap wearing people drinking cheap beer, and inhaling a few dozen chicken wings while watching a football game at the local corner bar, but who knows maybe Club Luna will last. I didn't think Oyster in downtown W-B would last either, but they are still open after three years, but they are an upscale restaraunt not really a club. I do wish them luck though, the more dining and entertainment options that come downtown the better I say. Wilkes-Barre MUST do a better job trying to rid itself of it's bad reputation, if "well to do" people with money are going to travel from the Back Mountain ect. to spend an evening in Wilkes-Barre. This city is plagued by a bad reputation of being dangerous, crime ridden, and dirty (which it has indeed earned over the years), but the downtown itself is now safe and clean due to a massive increase in police patrols, and the formation of a downtown cleaning crew, but they are doing nothing to get the word out. That's W-B's biggest downfall.

[danwxman]

People said the same thing when an upscale club/lounge opened up in Harrisburg last year (Level 2)...it'll never make money, dress codes are stupid (aka why can't I wear my hat inside the club like I'm a third grader), people in Harrisburg won't pay for it, etc) and the place is filled every weekend with a line outside the door. I think it's great someone is taking a chance at going after the upscale niche, far too many places in Central/NE PA just cater toward the white trash or ghetto demographic.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by W-B proud

When I think of Wilkes-Barre or anywhere else in NEPA upscale doesn't come to mind, more like teeshirt, jeans, and baseball cap wearing people drinking cheap beer, and inhaling a few dozen chicken wings while watching a football game at the local corner bar, but who knows maybe Club Luna will last.

There's absolutely nothing inherently "wrong" about being that way, either. Different strokes for different folks. The problem I have with these "Joe Six-Pack" types is that especially in Scranton they try to chase off anything with a cosmopolitan or chic ambiance to it because they fear that it will drive up real estate values with the gentrification and make their favorite haunts fiscally-unsound. Downtown Scranton was recently home to a niche dog supply boutique, and instead of SUPPORTING the business, most in Scranton made fun of it and hoped it would fall flat on its face (which it did). People were being awfully negative also about The Colosseum when it opened simply because the owner(s) is/are from NYC, but that place has been turning a profit for them apparently. The same could be said about Edible Arrangements, GreenBeing, Lavish, and many other niche retailers that are doing just fine downtown, despite what the dopes on Doherty Deceit say about them because "I can't afford to shop/dine/play there, so why should anyone?" I've noticed locally that the blue-collar crowd tends to resent the white-collar crowd---class envy at its worst. Just because I don't want to sit around obese guys with plumbers' cracks smoking uncontrollably while making disparaging jokes about gays/blacks/Arabs at the corner bar while drinking Keystone Light and watching football every other night doesn't make me a "snob." I'd LOVE to see a Barnes & Noble open up in Downtown Scranton, and if that makes me "snobby," then so be it. I've had the most alluring people hit on me at book stores, as a matter of fact. I'm also a fan of Northern Light, Anthology, and other "yuppie" places, even though I'm by no means high-income. There's a disgusting mentality around here amongst the lower classes of "If I can't enjoy nice things, then nobody should be able to." I hear that resentment all the time, and I really get tired of it.

Originally Posted by W-B proud

I didn't think Oyster in downtown W-B would last either, but they are still open after three years, but they are an upscale restaraunt not really a club. I do wish them luck though, the more dining and entertainment options that come downtown the better I say. Wilkes-Barre MUST do a better job trying to rid itself of it's bad reputation, if "well to do" people with money are going to travel from the Back Mountain ect. to spend an evening in Wilkes-Barre. This city is plagued by a bad reputation of being dangerous, crime ridden, and dirty (which it has indeed earned over the years), but the downtown itself is now safe and clean due to a massive increase in police patrols, and the formation of a downtown cleaning crew, but they are doing nothing to get the word out. That's W-B's biggest downfall.

Image IS everything. I know people from the Back Mountain who do make the jaunt all the way up to Cinemark on Montage Mountain to see movies because they are afraid of being mugged en route to Cinema 14 downtown. People in the more affluent areas of Luzerne County have such better overall mental images of the Scranton Area than they do of Wilkes-Barre. Here in the upscale Pittston Area my acquaintances are split between hitting up both cities for nightlife/shopping/dining. I've never felt unsafe in the downtown core of Wilkes-Barre, and my friends from King's and I hang out around there often between Rodano's, Dunkin' Donuts, Barnes & Noble, Starbuck's, the movies, the Kirby, Hardware Bar, Bart & Urby's, Cafe Toscana, and everything else that is also opening soon.

[W-B proud]

Your right about "image is everything". That is why Wilkes-Barre has to attempt to try to erase it's bad reputation, which will not be easy, if it wants to start attracting visitors from beyond the city limits. Especially the rich people from the more affluent suburbs. Wilkes-Barre needs to launch a campaign to show off it's positive's. People that haven't visited center city in the last ten years and haven't seen what has been going on probably still think of it as dirty and dangerous, but it's not. I'm willing to bet that center city is now probably the safest area in the city, because of the new buisnesses and the increased police patrols, and Mayor Leighton and other city leaders need to try to convince people to come downtown and see these improvments for themselves.

[Mr Yuk]

I have to admit I would be afraid walking in downtown Wilkes-Barre at night. I find myself looking over my shoulder if I hear footsteps behind me when I walk in W-B, and that's in broad daylight. The crowd that hangs around the Anthracite News Stand and the bus stops is interesting to say the least....

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by W-B proud

Your right about "image is everything". That is why Wilkes-Barre has to attempt to try to erase it's bad reputation, which will not be easy, if it wants to start attracting visitors from beyond the city limits. Especially the rich people from the more affluent suburbs. Wilkes-Barre needs to launch a campaign to show off it's positive's. People that haven't visited center city in the last ten years and haven't seen what has been going on probably still think of it as dirty and dangerous, but it's not. I'm willing to bet that center city is now probably the safest area in the city, because of the new buisnesses and the increased police patrols, and Mayor Leighton and other city leaders need to try to convince people to come downtown and see these improvments for themselves.

It's funny you should mention the "haven't visited in years" comment as I just experienced this a few weeks ago with a customer at Lowe's. I was assisting this elderly gentleman from Hunlock Township (Hunlock's Creek Area) with a snow blower purchase, and I told him that the nearest place to get his model (Troy-Bilt) serviced was "at Vac-Way over on Market Street." He immediately cringed and said "I ain't been to that hell-hole of a city in years, and I wanna keep it that way" (obviously mistaking Market Street in the inner suburb of Kingston for Market Street in Downtown W-B). It's mind-boggling the number of people who haven't been to Downtown Wilkes-Barre since Mayor Leighton took over in 2004. The city has been surging upwards, and I'd have to gander that Mayor Leighton has a pretty high overall approval rating. 2008 was a great year for the city, and by 2010 it will be a great place to call home. I just wish the neighborhoods were more attractive, as most look like slums.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by go phillies

The crowd that hangs around the Anthracite News Stand and the bus stops is interesting to say the least....

I'll second that. In a way I can't wait until later this year when the inter-modal transportation center over on South Washington Street is completed to get more of the riff-raff of of the square and away from the public eye, but at the same time I sympathize with those who live/work nearer to that site and would be subjected to having those types hanging out THERE now instead. Wilkes-Barre is enduring growing pains in its downtown for the first time in decades. The biggest local headline has been how residents of Provincial Towers (ugly elderly high-rise that looks like it's from The Jetsons), which is just off of Public Square along South Main Street, are petitioning and complaining about the new night clubs that have opened nearby, citing them as a nuisance. It amazes me that FIRST those people want more vibrancy downtown, and then when the sidewalks are replete with revelers they complain again.

[blip]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Although, that's usually to keep the ghetto and gang-banger crowds out, isn't it?

You often hear that "upscale"-reinforcing, cringe-inducing mantra of "dress to impress", but I suppose you're right that a lot do it to avoid having people who appear to come from the (black) ghetto. I find it confusing when hip hop parties preclude anyone who might dress like an old skool mc or dj. Never mind not letting people wear sneakers when they jump around to techno until noon. Whatever floats one's upscale boat, I guess.