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He is right as far as easy to find nightlife in the area around the dome. Sure there are bars and lounges next door in Castleberry Hill but the average person visiting Atlanta isnt going to walk across that bridge because it doesnt feel safe. That area doesn't have an attraction that makes you want to stay out later. Sure they have little bars/etc there but they arent easy to find for the casual visitor in Atlanta
I don't know about the casino part but I agree about downtown lacking options. I was at a conference a few years back at the GWCC. We pretty much just stayed downtown and there wasn't all that much to do. My friends were in disbelief that walking down Broad street almost everything was closed at 10 pm. Yea obviously there's a lot more going on elsewhere but you really have to know where to look. As out of town conventioneers (I mean, I don't even go downtown much) we had no idea where to go. It was fairly similar to Seattle but that bar area was at least a lot closer and much more obvious. Austin has 6th Street. NOLA has Bourbon (And a few others). But there's not really an area that I can point to on a map and say "this is where you wanna go". Someone got told to go down Edgewood but at midnight in a fairly inactive downtown Atlanta, they weren't about to walk down there. Now, this was before Uber got huge and I imagine that would've made getting to say, Midtown or Buckhead a lot easier. But yea, downtown really dies at night and if you're just there for a weekend or a week, you're not gonna have time to hunt down all the spots. You need stuff that's easy to find in a location with a lot of options.
I don't know about the casino part but I agree about downtown lacking options. I was at a conference a few years back at the GWCC. We pretty much just stayed downtown and there wasn't all that much to do. My friends were in disbelief that walking down Broad street almost everything was closed at 10 pm. Yea obviously there's a lot more going on elsewhere but you really have to know where to look. As out of town conventioneers (I mean, I don't even go downtown much) we had no idea where to go. It was fairly similar to Seattle but that bar area was at least a lot closer and much more obvious. Austin has 6th Street. NOLA has Bourbon (And a few others). But there's not really an area that I can point to on a map and say "this is where you wanna go". Someone got told to go down Edgewood but at midnight in a fairly inactive downtown Atlanta, they weren't about to walk down there. Now, this was before Uber got huge and I imagine that would've made getting to say, Midtown or Buckhead a lot easier. But yea, downtown really dies at night and if you're just there for a weekend or a week, you're not gonna have time to hunt down all the spots. You need stuff that's easy to find in a location with a lot of options.
Yes. Atlanta is plenty of party districts in Atlanta but the casual downtown visitor doesnt want to leave downtown. They want entertainment at their fingertips meaning in downtown.
As stated in many of my previous thread related to a casino being built in the city, I still say put it at the Underground and watch that area thrive! Get a 100% grip on APD and the casino police to make that area and safe zone. Because right now if you are caught dead walking around Broad Street you better have your gun already out and loaded.
I've been talking about this very thing for an extremely long time, as some of the older posters know. I was VERY against the destruction of Buckhead Village because even though it wasn't downtown, conventioneers still knew that Buckhead was the place to go. This made it easy...they didn't have to know EXACTLY where to go, they knew they could just go to Buckhead Village and they would find something that would appeal to them. It didn't have to be the very best, but they could listen to live music at the Elbow Room, grab a casual patio drink at Lulus, dance to 70s tunes at Bellbottoms, hear some kind of semi-decent DJs at one of the dance clubs, or score a sleazy one-nighter at Mako's or Bar Atlanta.
This is what is lacking today. Sure, we have a few districts, but pretty much all of them lack diversity in nightlife. Say someone tells you to check out VaHi. Ok, you Uber there....but what if you're not really interested in having a casual drink at an Irish pub or similar place? You're kind of out of luck. We don't have any one place that has a little bit of everything, a place where pretty much anybody can go and find SOMETHING to do without doing a ton of research. If you think about it, that's why the Strip in Las Vegas is so successful. Every casino has its own personality, so no matter what you are into, you're going to be able to find one that has a vibe that you can at least sort of get into.
But we also have a bigger problem. I recently had a friend visit who knows Atlanta well, but he was staying downtown for work. I went to hang out with him and we were like let's just explore downtown a little bit. After a late dinner, we decided to go check out Trader Vic's (I always wanted to go). Well, we got there at 11:45pm and they were already putting the chairs up. This was a SATURDAY NIGHT. The same thing was true of pretty much all of the downtown establishments, rolling up the carpet at midnight.
You can't point to all the concert venues because most visitors aren't going to look at calendars and figure out who is playing where and then figure out how to get there. When you're visiting a new city, you're not going to go to a Bon Jovi concert. Why would you, Bon Jovi was in your town last month, or they'll be there next month. Besides, it's not like you can just go to the door....if you didn't buy your ticket in advance, you have to buy one from a scalper and hope it's not fake. So I reject the notion of concert tours stopping in Atlanta as proof that the city has good nightlife.
Same thing with sporting events. Are you just going to wander to Philips and check out a Hawks game? And do we really expect tourists to Uber to Gwinnett Arena for minor league hockey or lacrosse???? If you look at the list of things to do with a critical eye like this, it's easy to quickly realize that Atlanta totally lacks an easy to navigate nightlife district where tourists can enjoy themselves without planning months in advance.
And this is highly frustrating since WE USED TO HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD ONE! I could go on all day long on this topic, but I firmly agree that if Atlanta wants to make a big splash, this is a problem we must address. Soon. Whether a casino is the answer, I can't say....I fear what it might ultimately end up becoming.
I've been talking about this very thing for an extremely long time, as some of the older posters know. I was VERY against the destruction of Buckhead Village because even though it wasn't downtown, conventioneers still knew that Buckhead was the place to go. This made it easy...they didn't have to know EXACTLY where to go, they knew they could just go to Buckhead Village and they would find something that would appeal to them. It didn't have to be the very best, but they could listen to live music at the Elbow Room, grab a casual patio drink at Lulus, dance to 70s tunes at Bellbottoms, hear some kind of semi-decent DJs at one of the dance clubs, or score a sleazy one-nighter at Mako's or Bar Atlanta.
This is what is lacking today. Sure, we have a few districts, but pretty much all of them lack diversity in nightlife. Say someone tells you to check out VaHi. Ok, you Uber there....but what if you're not really interested in having a casual drink at an Irish pub or similar place? You're kind of out of luck. We don't have any one place that has a little bit of everything, a place where pretty much anybody can go and find SOMETHING to do without doing a ton of research. If you think about it, that's why the Strip in Las Vegas is so successful. Every casino has its own personality, so no matter what you are into, you're going to be able to find one that has a vibe that you can at least sort of get into.
But we also have a bigger problem. I recently had a friend visit who knows Atlanta well, but he was staying downtown for work. I went to hang out with him and we were like let's just explore downtown a little bit. After a late dinner, we decided to go check out Trader Vic's (I always wanted to go). Well, we got there at 11:45pm and they were already putting the chairs up. This was a SATURDAY NIGHT. The same thing was true of pretty much all of the downtown establishments, rolling up the carpet at midnight.
You can't point to all the concert venues because most visitors aren't going to look at calendars and figure out who is playing where and then figure out how to get there. When you're visiting a new city, you're not going to go to a Bon Jovi concert. Why would you, Bon Jovi was in your town last month, or they'll be there next month. Besides, it's not like you can just go to the door....if you didn't buy your ticket in advance, you have to buy one from a scalper and hope it's not fake. So I reject the notion of concert tours stopping in Atlanta as proof that the city has good nightlife.
Same thing with sporting events. Are you just going to wander to Philips and check out a Hawks game? And do we really expect tourists to Uber to Gwinnett Arena for minor league hockey or lacrosse???? If you look at the list of things to do with a critical eye like this, it's easy to quickly realize that Atlanta totally lacks an easy to navigate nightlife district where tourists can enjoy themselves without planning months in advance.
And this is highly frustrating since WE USED TO HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD ONE! I could go on all day long on this topic, but I firmly agree that if Atlanta wants to make a big splash, this is a problem we must address. Soon. Whether a casino is the answer, I can't say....I fear what it might ultimately end up becoming.
Crescent ave and Edgewood would give the average visitor enough options but like we said it isnt near the hotel district. If the casino could bring like 3 mega clubs, a few lounges, a couple of bars with all the restaurants it would be a huge hit. Have strict dress codes and it would work. Bring in nationally known djs and bam!
I've been talking about this very thing for an extremely long time, as some of the older posters know. I was VERY against the destruction of Buckhead Village because even though it wasn't downtown, conventioneers still knew that Buckhead was the place to go. This made it easy...they didn't have to know EXACTLY where to go, they knew they could just go to Buckhead Village and they would find something that would appeal to them. It didn't have to be the very best, but they could listen to live music at the Elbow Room, grab a casual patio drink at Lulus, dance to 70s tunes at Bellbottoms, hear some kind of semi-decent DJs at one of the dance clubs, or score a sleazy one-nighter at Mako's or Bar Atlanta.
This is what is lacking today. Sure, we have a few districts, but pretty much all of them lack diversity in nightlife. Say someone tells you to check out VaHi. Ok, you Uber there....but what if you're not really interested in having a casual drink at an Irish pub or similar place? You're kind of out of luck. We don't have any one place that has a little bit of everything, a place where pretty much anybody can go and find SOMETHING to do without doing a ton of research. If you think about it, that's why the Strip in Las Vegas is so successful. Every casino has its own personality, so no matter what you are into, you're going to be able to find one that has a vibe that you can at least sort of get into.
But we also have a bigger problem. I recently had a friend visit who knows Atlanta well, but he was staying downtown for work. I went to hang out with him and we were like let's just explore downtown a little bit. After a late dinner, we decided to go check out Trader Vic's (I always wanted to go). Well, we got there at 11:45pm and they were already putting the chairs up. This was a SATURDAY NIGHT. The same thing was true of pretty much all of the downtown establishments, rolling up the carpet at midnight.
You can't point to all the concert venues because most visitors aren't going to look at calendars and figure out who is playing where and then figure out how to get there. When you're visiting a new city, you're not going to go to a Bon Jovi concert. Why would you, Bon Jovi was in your town last month, or they'll be there next month. Besides, it's not like you can just go to the door....if you didn't buy your ticket in advance, you have to buy one from a scalper and hope it's not fake. So I reject the notion of concert tours stopping in Atlanta as proof that the city has good nightlife.
Same thing with sporting events. Are you just going to wander to Philips and check out a Hawks game? And do we really expect tourists to Uber to Gwinnett Arena for minor league hockey or lacrosse???? If you look at the list of things to do with a critical eye like this, it's easy to quickly realize that Atlanta totally lacks an easy to navigate nightlife district where tourists can enjoy themselves without planning months in advance.
And this is highly frustrating since WE USED TO HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD ONE! I could go on all day long on this topic, but I firmly agree that if Atlanta wants to make a big splash, this is a problem we must address. Soon. Whether a casino is the answer, I can't say....I fear what it might ultimately end up becoming.
I totally agree with this. Excellent post.
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