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If Vancouver was put in the mix it would easily win IMO.
I honestly find Vancouver to be one of the weakest west coast cities in terms of nightlife, only ahead of Portland.
While Granville Street is flashy and large, the actual bars on the street do not live up to the hype. Though a few of the clubs are pretty nice.
Gastown district in Vancouver is a unique and very nice area, yet each time I've been there, it has not been as lively or active as I would have expected.
I also dislike the fact that there are not several neighborhoods in Vancouver that offer solid nightlife. Versus cities like LA, SF, or Seattle which have over 10 neighborhoods with activity.
Hollywood and West Hollywood can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For example, there is the Sunset Strip, which is a sort of past-its-prime music district, the Santa Monica Blvd gay district, Guitar Row along Sunset with several dive bars and more music venues, Hollywood Blvd with its sleazy and decidedly "basic" club scene, Franklin Village's hipster row, Melrose Avenue, and Santa Monica Blvd with its semi-industry club scene and indie theater district.
One nice thing about Los Angeles' "spread out" design is that many neighborhoods have their own nightlife center. The negative is that it is expensive to get from one area to another without a car, but Lyft and Uber have sort of revolutionized that. Now it is inexpensive and quick to get between these nightlife zones.
If you want a true pub-crawl, I think San Francisco would have the best neighborhoods.
Lyft and Uber have definitely help solidify DTLA as a going-out destination for residents of other neighborhoods. Most of the Uber and Lyft drivers I've asked about their routines tell me that a lot of their trips involve ferrying people to and from DTLA, and getting people around within DTLA. I guess a central business district being the prime nightlife destination is par for the course in any other city, but it still feels novel in LA. I just hope that DLTA can retain its cool as it continues to grow in popularity and never gets as gross and corny as Hollywood Blvd tends to get on Friday and Saturday nights.
I love the Gaslamp District (I voted for it) but at the same time I can't help but feel the vibe is somewhat manufactured, as it is one of very few areas to congregate in.
Agreed. Gaslamp does rooftop bars REALLY well, though. Outside of Gaslamp, the gay scene in Hillcrest, and maybe some beach town scenes, SD doesn't seem to offer much. I could be mistaken, though.
Gaslamp is San Diego's "upscale" option. It's all right, they do a great mardi gras. I don't know why PB is not an option for San Diego, that district gets as much, if not more, action as the Gaslamp. North Park? Lol.
I love the Gaslamp District (I voted for it) but at the same time I can't help but feel the vibe is somewhat manufactured, as it is one of very few areas to congregate in.
Maybe compared to SF it doesn't have as many nightlife areas but compared to Portland and Seattle it's fairly equal.
Gaslamp is San Diego's "upscale" option. It's all right, they do a great mardi gras. I don't know why PB is not an option for San Diego, that district gets as much, if not more, action as the Gaslamp. North Park? Lol.
Gaslamp is definitely busier but I don't think PB is as one-dimensional as the OP makes it sound to completely exclude is as it can easily compete with any of these other one's for vibrancy and crowds.
The Mission is probably my favorite of these choices.
I really like Capitol Hill for nightlife too - a lot of fun places and definitely has that big city edge that I found lacking in San Diego and Portland.
The Mission is probably my favorite of these choices.
I really like Capitol Hill for nightlife too - a lot of fun places and definitely has that big city edge that I found lacking in San Diego and Portland.
Cap Hill's nightlife attracts all types of people instead of an eclectic class of people. I don't view that as a bad thing. By the way, Cap Hill's nightlife is STILL packed with the hipsters and the LGBT community that so many silly journalists are trying to cry about. Journalists are just trying to draw attention to their struggling news organizations...
Maybe compared to SF it doesn't have as many nightlife areas but compared to Portland and Seattle it's fairly equal.
Seattle has at least a dozen areas with strong nightlife.
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