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The best answer here is NYC. No city comes close to the overall late night options in general, in New York.
Nowhere in the US can you go out at 9pm and have an absolutely jam-packed night with a multitude of countless options like New York offers: you can have some of the best sushi anywhere for dinner, dessert and coffee at a polish or french bakery, see a broadway singer perform jazz standards in a lounge bar, grab a a cocktail at a rooftop bar, and end the night at a circus themed club in Brooklyn.
Covid has caused a shift in some restaurants being open very late, but I've noticed in the past few months, this has been getting a bit better. There are many more options opening later and later now.
Even if you aren't interested in any of these things the fact that a lot people are out and about who aren't drunk makes it comfortable for you to head out late.
Eh, I think NYC's reputation of being a true 24/7 city is a little overblown. Good luck finding anywhere that will (legally) serve you a Bloody Mary on a Sunday morning before 10am.
Vegas may not have the density/options/variety of NYC, but it does have options that are truly 24/7-- especially since so many casino workers like going out after their shifts end.
Eh, I think NYC's reputation of being a true 24/7 city is a little overblown. Good luck finding anywhere that will (legally) serve you a Bloody Mary on a Sunday morning before 10am.
Vegas may not have the density/options/variety of NYC, but it does have options that are truly 24/7-- especially since so many casino workers like going out after their shifts end.
Yeah, the thing with New York is the massive scale of options the city has. It may seem like things aren't 24/7, but remember, the city of NYC has over 8.5 million people, and an enormous amount of diversity of ethnicities and large and small establishments that are widespread over mulitiple neighborhoods and wide areas.
In other words, midtown may not have a bar or restaurant with that option, but Bushwick in Brooklyn may have 2 or 3, or Jackson Heights in Queens may have a hole in the wall that serves it up at 7am, the lower east side may have many options as well.
A city like Vegas is narrowly focused on casinos, bars and entertainment options on one stretch of the highway primarily. Granted, there are many options if you are a tourist wanting to be entertained, but Vegas is largely narrowly focused.
Remember too, that Vegas is a very small city, compared to one like New York. Vegas has just over 2 million in the metro and 700k-ish in the city. It doesn't have the size, scope or vast diversity in options that a massive city like NYC does.
Vegas is a cool spot and a good time for a night owl, but in my opinion, it excels in mostly just tourist catering for someone visiting there for 2-3 days.
Portland is by far the worst in terms of post-COVID decay, then Seattle, whereas SF is a bit farther ahead with its revival, despite lingering issues with homelessness/addicts/etc.
Oakland has managed to undo close to a decade's worth of progress which is really depressing and basically everywhere in the Bay Area has major issues with property crime. Sacramento has an influx of people who fled the Bay and SoCal, along with Tahoe, but they have noticeable growing pains as a result.
That said, I can't think of any California city/metro that has a 24/7 vibe. LA nightclubs stop serving booze at 2am, just like everywhere else in the state, and I always thought it was ridiculous how the clubs there all had strict dress codes and a-hole bouncers when half the time the clubs are empty until after midnight anyway.
I don't think Portland is that bad. I visited last June and remember seeing a lot of businesses open after 9 on Hawthorne. Didn't check other neighborhoods across the river as they seem a little sketchy.
Yeah, the thing with New York is the massive scale of options the city has. It may seem like things aren't 24/7, but remember, the city of NYC has over 8.5 million people, and an enormous amount of diversity of ethnicities and large and small establishments that are widespread over mulitiple neighborhoods and wide areas.
In other words, midtown may not have a bar or restaurant with that option, but Bushwick in Brooklyn may have 2 or 3, or Jackson Heights in Queens may have a hole in the wall that serves it up at 7am, the lower east side may have many options as well.
A city like Vegas is narrowly focused on casinos, bars and entertainment options on one stretch of the highway primarily. Granted, there are many options if you are a tourist wanting to be entertained, but Vegas is largely narrowly focused.
Remember too, that Vegas is a very small city, compared to one like New York. Vegas has just over 2 million in the metro and 700k-ish in the city. It doesn't have the size, scope or vast diversity in options that a massive city like NYC does.
Vegas is a cool spot and a good time for a night owl, but in my opinion, it excels in mostly just tourist catering for someone visiting there for 2-3 days.
Unfair to really compare NYC to Vegas, but COL is a lot cheaper and plenty of 'industry' folks absolutely love living there because of the bars/clubs/casinos. I'd much rather live in NYC, personally, but if I were in my early 20s and didn't hate the heat so much, Vegas would probably be a ton of fun- especially if I was part of the service industry and knew promoters. It's also not just the strip-- downtown has plenty of options and if you're itching to gamble, you can literally find a place to do it all over the valley. I have friends/family who live there and really enjoy it and don't ever complain about being bored, whereas a lot of my friends in NYC still complain that it hasn't quite bounced back yet, despite it being just as expensive as always.
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Originally Posted by mkwensky
I don't think Portland is that bad. I visited last June and remember seeing a lot of businesses open after 9 on Hawthorne. Didn't check other neighborhoods across the river as they seem a little sketchy.
Downtown is ruined on a whole different scale than any other US city I've visited since the pandemic. You were wise to stick to the east side since that's where people actually hang out.
Unfair to really compare NYC to Vegas, but COL is a lot cheaper and plenty of 'industry' folks absolutely love living there because of the bars/clubs/casinos. I'd much rather live in NYC, personally, but if I were in my early 20s and didn't hate the heat so much, Vegas would probably be a ton of fun- especially if I was part of the service industry and knew promoters. It's also not just the strip-- downtown has plenty of options and if you're itching to gamble, you can literally find a place to do it all over the valley. I have friends/family who live there and really enjoy it and don't ever complain about being bored, whereas a lot of my friends in NYC still complain that it hasn't quite bounced back yet, despite it being just as expensive as always.
Downtown is ruined on a whole different scale than any other US city I've visited since the pandemic. You were wise to stick to the east side since that's where people actually hang out.
No offense, but if your friends are getting bored in NYC but not in Vegas well that's on them. And NYC is basically back to pre-pandemic levels and has been for a while. I just came home from a meeting in midtown east. Took me way longer than it should have. The buzz is back.
No offense, but if your friends are getting bored in NYC but not in Vegas well that's on them. And NYC is basically back to pre-pandemic levels and has been for a while. I just came home from a meeting in midtown east. Took me way longer than it should have. The buzz is back.
I never said they were bored- I just said they were complaining that NYC (which includes WAYYYYY more than midtown east) isn't 100% back yet because parts of it still aren't. Also NYers love to complain about everything, so not sure why this is surprising.
And I was obviously talking about different sets of friends (ones that live in NYC and a different set that live in LAS).
Anecdotally though, I do tend to agree that Manhattan has recovered far more quickly than SF or other west coast cities.
Honolulu especially Waikiki Beach area, and San Juan PR
Downtown Jersey City/Hoboken is pretty good too. Both are pretty much reliant on the yuppy renters.
College towns are usually great for night owls. And many college towns are state capitols, and quite large cities like Austen TX, Columbus OH, Tallahassee FL, Madison WS.
Chicago offers late night (early morning) drinking options.
Booze and some street food are available past 10, but even 20 years ago I had a really tough time finding coffee places that were open into the evenings.
Most cities that have services open late are cities with large late-night workforces - particularly in transportation. Nola and Vegas are the two leisure-focused exceptions.
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