Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,552,695 times
Reputation: 5785
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwj119
Chicago would be a close second in your list. More saturated areas of nightlife than most of NYCs burroughs including Manhattan. However, NYC still wins.
DC, Boston, and (especially) Seattle do not belong on this list. I love a lot of things about DC and Boston, and I most certainly wouldn't call them boring. Ever wandered into a party in the neighborhoods of Allston at 3 am? An eclectic mix of basement dwelling Harvard students, BC students, BU students, high school drop outs, heroin addicts, and the homeless listening to grungy a** punk.
But top party cities in the US? No chance.
You have to look into the criteria they are using, not the headline.
Miami and DC do lead in number of nightlife venues per 100,000 by far. Boston is 6th. There is a reason all the cities leading are smaller, densely populated cities. People here are taking the click bait and saying "oh no that can't be" without looking into what was analyzed, and why the list looks the way it does.
The calculation for it doesn't work that way........
As these figures are per 100,000 residents (per capita):
For Miami, that translates to 2,465 nightlife venues (assuming they used 2017 population estimate)
For DC, that translates to 1,666 nightlife venues (assuming they used 2017 population estimate)
For Philadelphia, that translates to 2,103 nightlife venues (assuming they used 2017 population estimate)
I can't tell what their definition of "nightlife venue" really means (nightclub only, tavern, bar, restaurant that turns into a bar or nightclub at night, or combination of those). I am suspicious of any ranking that doesn't show methodology. Methodology is very important.
Also, it is not obvious whether they're using city limits, metro area, or a hybrid.
Crunching these numbers is very interesting when considering the pipeline for retail in the future. It would be interesting to compare where these cities are in 10 years per capita. The cities with the most vacant land are poised to have the greatest gains in retail since it takes converting single use neighborhoods into mixed use zoning neighborhoods to create buildings with first floor retail and residential or office above.
DC is poised to close the gap with Miami in retail per capita in this regard with the new neighborhoods Capital Riverfront, Buzzard Point, NOMA, Union Market, Northwest One, Walter Reed, Armed Forces Retirement Home redevelopment, New City, Ivy City, Brookland Manor, Rhode Island Ave Development, and Poplar Point all being previously vacant land with no development. It will be fun to monitor this over the years.
Chicago would be a close second in your list. More saturated areas of nightlife than most of NYCs burroughs including Manhattan. However, NYC still wins.
DC, Boston, and (especially) Seattle do not belong on this list. I love a lot of things about DC and Boston, and I most certainly wouldn't call them boring. Ever wandered into a party in the neighborhoods of Allston at 3 am? An eclectic mix of basement dwelling Harvard students, BC students, BU students, high school drop outs, heroin addicts, and the homeless listening to grungy a** punk.
But top party cities in the US? No chance.
I'd argue if any city 'especially' shouldn't be on this list it's Boston. Boston's nightlife is notoriously weak with sidewalks rolling up far too early - it punches well below its weight in that category (while punching well above its weight in many others). Seattle has significantly more bars (and bars per capita) than Boston, along with arguably the most highly rated bar in the country outside of NYC Chicago, and San Francisco (Canon - rated 6th best in the world by Drinks International a couple of years ago).
Overall, I agree none of these cities belong on this list, but at least DC and Seattle have decent, if not above average, nightlife for cities their size. Boston's is actually below average and doesn't belong within 100 miles of a list like this.
You have to look into the criteria they are using, not the headline.
Miami and DC do lead in number of nightlife venues per 100,000 by far. Boston is 6th. There is a reason all the cities leading are smaller, densely populated cities. People here are taking the click bait and saying "oh no that can't be" without looking into what was analyzed, and why the list looks the way it does.
Soooo many factors go into this stuff, even just on the "how many bars" point. Do the local regs encourage or discourage neighborhood taverns? Should beer-only bars count anyway (and if so, why should one type of bar-centered "nightlife" count more than others)? What are the rules for what sort of bars can/can't serve hard alcohol? Do they need to offer meals to do that? How prevalent are liquor stores, since those might be expected to reduce how many people go to bars?
Soooo many factors go into this stuff, even just on the "how many bars" point. Do the local regs encourage or discourage neighborhood taverns? Should beer-only bars count anyway (and if so, why should one type of bar-centered "nightlife" count more than others)? What are the rules for what sort of bars can/can't serve hard alcohol? Do they need to offer meals to do that? How prevalent are liquor stores, since those might be expected to reduce how many people go to bars?
It literally has everything to do with the fact that the nightlife centers in Boston or DC are like 10% of the city limits, while places like Nashville which have a very nightlife venue dense downtown has like 300 sq miles of suburbs and like 3 sq miles of a nightlife district in Downtown/Midtown.
If Boston was the size of Nashville you'd have Newton, Brookline, Somerville, Everett and other less bar-dense areas would be counted.
It literally has everything to do with the fact that the nightlife centers in Boston or DC are like 10% of the city limits, while places like Nashville which have a very nightlife venue dense downtown has like 300 sq miles of suburbs and like 3 sq miles of a nightlife district in Downtown/Midtown.
If Boston was the size of Nashville you'd have Newton, Brookline, Somerville, Everett and other less bar-dense areas would be counted.
The more land added, especially in DC’s case, the more restaurants and nightlife. Arlington, Alexandria, Silver Spring, and Bethesda have a lot and are built denser than Nashville.
The more land added, especially in DC’s case, the more restaurants and nightlife. Arlington, Alexandria, Silver Spring, and Bethesda have a lot and are built denser than Nashville.
There venues in all those places Probably fewer per capita because they tend to cater to locals more than a metro wide crowd.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
