Nightlife

As Portland has grown over the years from a little town to a big town to a little city, the nightlife here on the peninsula has also matured, especially for the over-21 set. This chapter highlights the notable activities for Portlanders looking to see and be seen in the evening hours. Here, you’ll find listings of the area’s best dance clubs, bars, brewpubs, and music venues as well as more subdued offerings at coffeehouses and wine bars. And, as usual, Portland offers up a few activities unique to the area—including disco bowling, a laser show at the planetarium, and, yes, Portland’s one and only strip club. In keeping with this quirkiness, we’ve listed a few “alternative” hot spots for those of you interested in the flipside of the city’s nightlife. Because Portland also has a thriving gay and lesbian community, the listings include Portland’s most popular gay nightclubs and bars. Portland is also home to a handful of teen spots, which are also included here.

Since almost all of the city’s nightlife is centered in Portland’s downtown, the listings are clumped by type of venue, not by location. In recent years the city’s nightlife has expanded beyond its traditional core in the Old Port to hot spots on Munjoy Hill and along Congress Street into the West End. This growth has been a positive one for the diversity and tenor of the nightlife scene here, and it means more alternative and quirky options for the bar-goer and culture-seeker in all of us. If you’re at a loss about where to go any night of the week, a good place to start is the busiest nighttime block on Fore Street, between Market and Union Streets. During the summer, however, be warned that Fore Street can get a little rowdy. Twenty-something partiers crowd the street, especially after 1 a.m., when the bars have to stop serving booze, and cops are now stationed on Fore Street all night to curb some people’s tendency to start drunken fights.

Portland’s nightlife has two incarnations. During the winter, snow and sub-zero temperatures send the nightlife scene underground here, meaning, while there’s still plenty going on, you likely won’t see evidence of the revelry in the streets because, well, it’s just too darn cold for that. But after a grueling Maine winter, residents can’t wait to get out and stroll around, and as soon as spring hits, the city transforms into a lively, visibly vibrant community and anybody who’s anybody seems to be out on the streets mingling.

This chapter includes some of the best late-night spots in town. Some of the brewpubs and taverns (like Rí~Rá and Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Co.) may also be listed in the Restaurant chapter with more details about the food served. If you’re interested in cutting a rug in a more organized fashion, check out the section on ballroom dancing in the Arts chapter.

For more information about specific offerings, the Portland Phoenix, an alternative arts and entertainment weekly, has the most nightlife listings of all of the newspapers in the area and honest reviews of alternative and mainstream theater performances. Pick it up for free in red boxes all around the downtown. On Thursdays also check out the “Go” section in the Portland Press Herald for movie and some event listings for the upcoming weekend.

A few things to remember if you’re planning on a night out in Portland: