Napa nightlife (San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Petaluma: homes, theater, high school)

[nycbra]

For those who live in Napa, how is the nightlife?
Are there bars open until later on weekends? On another website, I saw people mentioning that tourists usually are very tired from wine tasting and therefore don't tend to go out at night.
I wanted to know what locals usually do. What time do bars usually close? Is there a place with music (live or not)? Are there any festivals (dancing, music, theater, etc)?

In general, what people usually do on a weekend night?

[aslowdodge]

I can't say from experience, but my friend who lives in napa says there isn't a lot of nightlife. We drove through downtown and there were some resteraunts and a few bars, but that was it. She said she mostly got together with friends at each others homes.

[new2bay]

The SF bay area in general is lacking in nightlife period. There is maybe 1 hot spot per town if that. It is not the place to move if you like any sort of night life or european type lifestyle. I think people here are big pot smokers and stay home. Even in San Francisco, many restaurants close by 10PM on weekends, and the bar scene is mainly dive bars.

[PeixeGato]

Originally Posted by new2bay

The SF bay area in general is lacking in nightlife period. There is maybe 1 hot spot per town if that. It is not the place to move if you like any sort of night life or european type lifestyle. I think people here are big pot smokers and stay home. Even in San Francisco, many restaurants close by 10PM on weekends, and the bar scene is mainly dive bars.

I don't know about Napa or other parts of the Bay Area, but I've never had any trouble finding a nice place to go out in SF, so I'm not sure why your experience has been so disappointing. While its not NYC, you definitely have more options than "dive bars" for activities after 10pm (in SF, that is).

[DjRey]

A lot of people from Napa go to downtown Petaluma or Santa Rosa to hit the bars. I know Petaluma has quite a few.

[PeixeGato]

From Napa to Petaluma or Santa Rosa...isn't that about a 45 minute drive? That's a lot of driving to do after an evening at the bar.

If I'm gonna drive that far to get to a good bar, I'm headed south to the Easy Bay or SF itself, not Petaluma or Santa Rosa.

[aslowdodge]

yeah, its a pretty far drive through some country roads. At night after a few drinks= car in a ditch

[Stacy From Cali]

Napa is not a young-people friendly town for the most part. The city caters to tourists. I know that this is an example of a younger set but the high school kids I taught there hated living there because there was nothing to do for them at all. Last year the city of Napa even tried to instate an age limit on their weekly downtown Chef's market because they didn't like the "image" the local teens gave to tourists (and all the teens were doing was publically dancing to the live bands that were there every weeek!).

Napa = stodgy tourist town

[nycbra]

From what I saw in Napa it does seem like a town towards an older population, or those who are like to spend more of their time at home. But we went to Uva restaurant and I loved the live music there.
I guess for a more "bar scene" we would have to spend the weekend in SF.
I would be very excited to hear as well if there is a local Napa hiking club, or something like that. Do people get together/make friends on frequent hikings?