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I also live in an older part of Cary and I can get to DT Raleigh in 15 minutes. It's nice to live in quiet area, but still be so close to whatever is going on in the more metropolitan areas!
I'm thinking bars, especially those with live music or open mic nights (where do the local musicians go jam in a casual manner?). Are there any local coffeeshops with poetry nights or spoken words? Any places to dance? Any lesbian/gay nightlife?
Cary is a "suburb" composed primarily of residential areas (as you easily could deduce). They seem to like it that way, and it's close enough to Raleigh (and Durham) that I don't see any big "nightlife scene" popping up in Cary anytime soon.
The Borders near Crossroads and maybe the Barnes & Noble have author signings every now and then, but I don't think any local bookstore with any presence has been in Cary since Wellington's closed quite some time ago. Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh (which is easily accessible from Cary) is where you'll find that stuff.
The Gay/Lesbian bar scene here is pretty sad in the whole Triangle, but that's not to say the GLBT community is sad--just the bars If this is applicable to you, you can PVT me for more info, but Raleigh has a few bars, mostly male-centered: Legends (which is not on Fayetteville St as someone said, but on W. Hargett St) which is a decent dance club that also has a "quiet" room that's completely separate, as well as an outdoor courtyard; The CC (often erroneously called "CC's") is across the street and is also mostly men, with a dance night on Saturday but also a piano cabaret bar; Thursday is Hip-Hop night and Friday is Latin night there, I believe. The 3rd bar in Raleigh is Flex, definitely a men's bar of more the "Bear" variety, though they have very funny "trailer park drag night" on Thursdays and frequently have karaoke.
Most of the downtown Raleigh restaurants have gay presences, but The Borough, at the Dawson on Morgan, is practically a "gay" restaurant.
For women, Steel Blue is a great dance club on Hwy 70 on the Raleigh side of Durham, and Liaisons, I believe, is more of a women's vibe, near Ninth St (also in Durham). Pick up a copy of Q-Notes (or go online) for the latest bar scene stuff, as it's always changing and some of us are too old to keep up anymore There's also a local e-"newsletter" for GLBT happenings that I can hook you up with if you (or anyone reading this) PVTs me.
Sorry to post so much, but we are in the area getting our first impressions and have many questions.
To my surprise, we like Cary quite a bit. I'm still trying to get a feel for it though, as we've only seen some of it and are now trying to fill in the gaps. We are staying near the Lake Crabtree area and a few minutes from Umstead Park (like 5 minutes) so we're very close to Raleigh as well. We've driven around and seen some decent housing that doesn't come straight out of Edward Scissorhands (though I'm sure those are here somewhere). There's plenty of convenience in terms of shopping for necessities (and other things). I'm excited about the parks and all the trails availble for biking. I still have to get a good look at the town center and it's surrounding housing (because only saw it during Lazy Daze and, well, it was hard to see past the 50k people and stands).
My question is ... where's the nightlife? I'm thinking bars, especially those with live music or open mic nights (where do the local musicians go jam in a casual manner?). Are there any local coffeeshops with poetry nights or spoken words? Any places to dance? Any lesbian/gay nightlife? Any salsa, merengue or other latino music to dance to somewhere?
I had to jump into this one. Well, Cary doesn't have many places as night life. At least not a real funfilled place like I'm accustomed too. CERTAINLY not much for salsa / merengue especially live music. Can't say there isn't any around, it's just that it's not frequent. I was highly disappointed. Every now and then a group will play in Raleigh's Zydeco which is in downtown. Carmen's cuban cafe off of airport blvd. by I40. Food is ok. But just about any salsa/merengue place here will be dj only. Sometimes the Redroom on Glenwood Ave may have salsa but again dj only and they play a bunch of other latin style music that I'm not in favor of.
you should be happy there is no nightlife in cary because where there is nightlife, there is likely crime in the area. Just go to Raleigh for night life. Its only about 15 minutes away. Cary is a safe place to live for that reason.
you should be happy there is no nightlife in cary because where there is nightlife, there is likely crime in the area. Just go to Raleigh for night life. Its only about 15 minutes away. Cary is a safe place to live for that reason.
Cary will develop this aspect - it's a nice town that's clearly growing
Frankly I doubt it. The land use/planning in Cary seems to be designed around suburban housing developments and shopping malls. People like it this way, so it's self-reinforcing. "Nightlife" usually requires a certain amount of density which will just never be possible in Cary. Also, the availability of options a short drive away (15 minutes) will always limit investment in these kinds of businesses.
I'd love to hear someone that disagrees with me a propose a location where a nightlife would develop.
Cary is a nice for things like access to greenways, not so much for nightlife.
because where there is nightlife, there is likely crime in the area
Somebody's been watching too many reruns of Footloose
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Oxymoron
If this is applicable to you, you can PVT me for more info, but Raleigh has a few bars, mostly male-centered: Legends (which is not on Fayetteville St as someone said, but on W. Hargett St) which is a decent dance club that also has a "quiet" room that's completely separate, as well as an outdoor courtyard; The CC (often erroneously called "CC's") is across the street and is also mostly men, with a dance night on Saturday but also a piano cabaret bar; Thursday is Hip-Hop night and Friday is Latin night there, I believe. The 3rd bar in Raleigh is Flex, definitely a men's bar of more the "Bear" variety, though they have very funny "trailer park drag night" on Thursdays and frequently have karaoke.
