16. Vino Libra
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 624-3699
Address: 933 Garrett St.
Description: A sophisticated wine bar with tasting plates, this is the place to go if you want to escape the club scene for a quite place to talk and enjoy good music. Open daily from 7 p.m. to midnight.
17. The Westin Peachtree Plaza
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 659-1400
Description: The Sun Dial Lounge atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza, another of the many John Portman–designed structures in Atlanta, is the ultimate roof room. Dusk is an especially lovely time to visit, when thousands of lights glitter to life. If the air is clear during daylight hours, you can see all the way to Stone Mountain. There is a cover charge to visit the lounge; no charge if you’re having lunch or dinner. Hop on one of the outside glassed-in elevators for a two-minute ride to the top of the hotel. By the time you get there, you’ll need a drink!
18. Burkhart’s
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 872-9060
Address: 1482 Piedmont Ave. NE
Description: A popular Midtown gay men’s bar in the Ansley Square Shopping Center, Burkhart’s has three full bars on two levels, pool tables, an upstairs gallery, and an outdoor patio. Pub-style food is served. Drag shows are a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday feature. Open daily.
19. Churchill Grounds
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 876-3030
Address: 660 Peachtree St. NE
Description: Next to the Fox Theatre, this intimate and classy club attracts some of the city’s best jazz acts.
20. Halo Lounge
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 962-7333
Address: 817 West Peachtree St. NW
Description: A spacious lounge in the basement of the former Biltmore Hotel (which now consists of condos and offices), the Halo shines brightly on the cool metrosexual set. Small plates and DJs playing hot music keep the energy level high. There’s plenty of preening space for those who come dressed to be seen. Covered parking is $3. Open Monday through Saturday.
21. The Independent
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 249-9869
Address: 931 Monroe Dr. NE
Description: A Midtown fixture for nearly two decades, the Independent is all about pool—there are eight tables, and the bar regularly hosts league play. Open daily.
22. Leopard Lounge
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 875-7562
Description: “From the outside, the lounge looks like the kind of jazz joint jet-setters flocked to in old movies. The atmosphere is pure cocktail culture with ‘Cats’ or ‘Dolls’ on the restroom doors,” wrote the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Address: 695 North Ave. NE
24. MJQ Concourse
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 870-0575
Address: 736 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE
Description: This hip, hot, and urban DJ bar features funk, techno, jazz, and experimental music that sometimes defies categorization. The subterranean digs, stage, and sound system make it suitable for live music. But the focus for now is recorded and spun by nationally known DJs. Especially popular are the Brit Pop Wednesdays and the monthly no-static hip-hop parties.
25. Northside Tavern
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 874-8745
Address: 1058 Howell Mill Rd. NW
Description: Truly off the beaten track, you’ll find the Northside Tavern for music and dancing after you’ve had a great meal or seen some swell theater at King Plow. But know that you will definitely be overdressed because this is a casual place. The place offers a very diverse group of folks on any particular night. If you enjoy blues, this is the place to be.
26. opera
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 874-0428
Description: Located in an old Opera House between Peachtree and Crescent, this is one of Atlanta’s most unusual nightclub venues. DJs and live music mix in this multilevel facility. Climb to the balconies or dance near the stage. Bars on either side of the main floor make drinks convenient. To escape the music, enjoy the lounge areas at the back of the theater. Open Thursday through Saturday.
27. Smith’s Olde Bar
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 875-1522
Address: 1578 Piedmont Ave. NE
Description: Smith’s, near Ansley Mall, features local and national rock, jazz, folk, and alternative bands for the postcollege crowd. It opens daily for lunch and stays open until 2:30 a.m. weekdays and 2 a.m. on Saturday. The cover charge in the upstairs showroom varies from small to moderate, depending on who’s playing.
28. Euclid Avenue Yacht Club
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 688-2582
Address: 1136 Euclid Ave. NE
Description: The Yacht Club is a neighborhood bar with a limited menu. Grab a front booth to take in the passing scene on the street in this Little Five Points neighborhood joint where pink hair and pierced bodies are more common than apple pie. The mahogany-paneled bar is decorated in a yacht-club theme with stuffed fish, an actual canoe, and maritime photos from all over the world on the walls.
29. Star Community Bar
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (404) 681-9018
Address: 437 Moreland Ave. NE
Description: Star Community Bar, identified as “Atlanta’s best honky-tonk,” is open nightly with college, garage, and rockabilly bands several nights a week; occasionally there’s a show by a national act on the college circuit. The cover charge is small to moderate, depending on who’s playing. The Star has an all-Elvis jukebox and an Elvis shrine housed in a former bank vault. In the basement is the Little Vinyl Lounge subterranean deco bar with a jukebox featuring 5,000 choices.
City: Atlanta, GA
Category: Nightlife
Address: 794 North Highland Ave. NE