I'm getting bored with "chill" bars. (Seattle, Vancouver: high school, club)

[shoegal111]

Originally Posted by lalahartma

Gay bars?

Neighbors.

[spanningtime]

I'm moving to seattle in about a month, and this could be the one thing that disappoints me. I love dive bars with dance floors, or even ones without that end up having dancing crowds regardless. If this is true about Seattle, then I hope you do open up a place like this.

[amark]

Originally Posted by spanningtime

I'm moving to seattle in about a month, and this could be the one thing that disappoints me. I love dive bars with dance floors, or even ones without that end up having dancing crowds regardless. If this is true about Seattle, then I hope you do open up a place like this.

I totally agree!!! Seattle needs more nightlife. I think one of the reasons it doesn't have that much is because its downtown isn't as dense as many other cities. However, due to the vast amount of new buildings coming up I think more bar's/clubs will be built and Seattle will have a more vibrant nightlife like its neighbor to the north.

[tindo80]

Every now and then I love Loud dance bars. Seattle has very few of them compared to other cities of similar size (the one I currently live in, Minneapolis, has a downtown, uptown and midtown which are littered with dance clubs...one on every block almost).

Its fun, but it gets old and expensive very fast. After you start into your late 20s, you start to see them in a different light. The younger people are the larger group, and you start to feel old and out of the loop. Sure there are multi age bracket dance bars, but usually they are filled with a lot of creepy 30-50 year olds hoping to take home a drunk 28 year old girl, or a bunch of 30-40 year old horny singles who do not really want to do anything but dance with their girlfriends, until a younger click of women arrives (at which point they usually want to scuttle off to another bar they wont feel so old at).

Meat markets are fun, but they are like cakes. Nice to have every now and then, but even a few too many and youll really start to feel bad about it, one way or another.

Were I a rich man, I would try to make Seattles downtown a lot more Like minneapolis's (or at even MPLS uptown). The city literally wakes up and is crowded with people bar hopping from 9-3am from Wed-Sunday. The streets are packed, and you can hear music even outside on the sidewalk pretty much everywhere. Oh, Im going to miss this town if and when I do leave!

[natedoggydog]

Originally Posted by irishimm

I know what you mean, there's definitely that x-factor missing from Seattle bars...

Even in San Francisco, not a top-tier city for dance clubs (but with a very good nightlife scene overall), a lot of the chill bars have "back rooms" where people dance and things get a little more crazy and unpredictable. For instance, Delirium in the mission, the front is a pretty laid-back rock n' roll bar, but there's a back room open 4 or 5 nights a week, where great DJs play, people can dance and let loose (I've even seen people smoke joints and random strangers make out in there).

Another example is Amber in SF, a chill bar that doesn't even have a dance floor, but still people end up dancing and getting crazy (in a good way) often. Vertigo is another great example...

Of course, San Francisco also has entire districts (e.g. 11th and Folsom in SOMA) with many cool dance clubs that have fun bars attached...

Why do I bring up San Francisco? Because in many ways it has a nightlife scene with a lot of similar characteristics to Seattle (the foodie, cocktail, chill thing)--only it has that x-factor. The bars are much more vibrant and unpredicable, in the best sense of the word. And a lot of the bars there incorporate the whole lounge/bar/dance area thing really well, it all feels very organic--this is something I've yet to experience in Seattle. The bar districts in SF have much more going on outside on the street as well...

I myself dont even enjoy dancing, but when I would go out with friends in SF we'd usually go to at least 1 or 2 dance-oriented places, and I would always have a blast. Places that straddle the line like Wish or Anu (check out their website: Anu to see the vibe I'm talking about) are able to combine that great underground dance club feel with a cool bar, great for people watching, talking, or dancing--everyone just has a good time.

In Seattle, every dance-oriented place I've been to (several in Pioneer Square, Havana, War-room, Neighbors, Lo-fi) has been very unenjoyable and I wanted to leave immediately.

Now, I love Seattle for it's cool neighborhoody pubs and punk bars, but there's something very sterile overall about the nightlife here.

Yeah, SF's got Seattle beat hands down in terms of nightlife; whatever you want, you can find. Seattle tends to prefer the conversation over a pint of beer bar. It's hard to look or sound sophisticated if you're hammered and cheering on the dance floor, after all.

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by tindo80

Every now and then I love Loud dance bars. Seattle has very few of them compared to other cities of similar size (the one I currently live in, Minneapolis, has a downtown, uptown and midtown which are littered with dance clubs...one on every block almost).

Its fun, but it gets old and expensive very fast. After you start into your late 20s, you start to see them in a different light. The younger people are the larger group, and you start to feel old and out of the loop. Sure there are multi age bracket dance bars, but usually they are filled with a lot of creepy 30-50 year olds hoping to take home a drunk 28 year old girl, or a bunch of 30-40 year old horny singles who do not really want to do anything but dance with their girlfriends, until a younger click of women arrives (at which point they usually want to scuttle off to another bar they wont feel so old at).

Meat markets are fun, but they are like cakes. Nice to have every now and then, but even a few too many and youll really start to feel bad about it, one way or another.

Were I a rich man, I would try to make Seattles downtown a lot more Like minneapolis's (or at even MPLS uptown). The city literally wakes up and is crowded with people bar hopping from 9-3am from Wed-Sunday. The streets are packed, and you can hear music even outside on the sidewalk pretty much everywhere. Oh, Im going to miss this town if and when I do leave!

You've just described Belltown, Fremont, and Pioneer Square to a T...It sounds like you haven't been to these neighborhoods at night.

[pwright1]

Seattle has dance clubs, but I've always noticed dance clubs are always closed up during the day and early evening which to me is wasted space which could be occupied by a restaurant/bar. They're such eyesores. Young people tend to get bored easily with dance clubs after a while and they end up shutting down anyway.

[JesseJB]

The hip crowds here tend to be pretty uptight compared to other cities. My friends and I usually feel uncomfortable in bars when the tables are all filled up. We feel for some reason like we shouldnt be standing and should probably go somewhere else. Standing might cause interaction!

[malarkey]

the problem with creating a "hip" bar is that, after a few years, it won't be "hip" anymore. The in-crowd in this town is very fickle. Toi was once crammed with people night after night. It's now closed. Paragon on Queen Anne was crammed with the in-crowd for the first several months they were open, then suddenly, the crowds are gone, moved on to the next 'new' thing.

[JesseJB]

Thats a great observation. I've noticed this too. Everyone's favorite place always seems to be the place that just opened yesterday. I like going to new places to try them out, letting the hype die down, then become a regular if I liked it enough. The places that become successful usually end up "going yuppie". See: The Can Can.