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Not at all.
To give a sense of scale, U-Street by itself is roughly Broadway, Nashville or Gaslamp, SD scale. Neither of which are "small' by entertainment districts.
Eh comparing U Street to Broadway is a big stretch. I like the U Street area, it's a very cool urban neighborhood with good nightlife. I would much rather live there than Downtown Nashville. However, purely in terms of nightlife, it really is not very dense; there is like 1-2 bars per city block. A place like Broadway is wall to wall nightlife.
Not a joke, the impression I got from the past decade on City-Data was that most of the scene was uppity folk in suits going to happy hours.
It's nowhere as "fact" as people would like to make it out to be.
DuPont Circle or Georgetown? Yeah, you could make a case for it being a light of people in suites and dressed up (it's a upscale section of the city at the end of the day).
Adams Morgan or U-Street? Vibe wise, you might as well be in Canton or Federal Hill, Baltimore.
DC's nightlife isn't as spread out but you do have to take an uber or hop on the train if you want to go from say U street to Navy Yard. But with DC you can walk from U Street/14th Street to Dupont and Adam's Morgan. You can walk from the Wharf to Navy Yard. DC nightlife isn't bad IMO.
I would replace Houston with DC as well but I think Houston is right at the top from 11-20. The problem with Houston though is that it is spread out and still no as walkable. But at least most of the best nightlife is inside of the loop so it's no like you're going all over the city.
Houston’s nightlife is not walkable as a whole but there’s locations where there’s a walkable bar district. The problem is some of the better ones are coupled with terrible sidewalk infrastructure (I’m looking at you, Washington Ave). But it has got to the point that pedestrians don’t mind walking on the street even when the sidewalk sucks. So I’ll give it points for that. They are finally repaving the sidewalks on the western end near the round about so that’s good. Hopefullu they’ll eventually extend it. Would be a wasted opportunity if not
I personally enjoy Uber between nightlife districts because they’re close enough to not be terribly far (as you mention) but far enough for each to have its own vibe.
That said, I agree that Houston belongs either at the end of the top 10 or at the top of the 11-20. The wildcard for me is Austin. I personally find it to be overrated. Great festival city though.
I also find the drop off to be huge after the top 5ish (after the miamis, Vegas etc)
Eh comparing U Street to Broadway is a big stretch. I like the U Street area, it's a very cool urban neighborhood with good nightlife. I would much rather live there than Downtown Nashville. However, purely in terms of nightlife, it really is not very dense; there is like 1-2 bars per city block. A place like Broadway is wall to wall nightlife.
It's definitely not as consistently built up as the 3 blocks of Broadway, but it's definitely more than 1-2 bars per block and covers a way larger area.
It's definitely not as consistently built up as the 3 blocks of Broadway, but it's definitely more than 1-2 bars per block and covers a way larger area.
Purely as nightlife destinations, these are definitely not in the same category.
I wasn't comparing them as destinations, but more so what they represent relative to the rest of the city in terms of size/scope. I agree they're not in the same category as nightlife destinations.
The closest equivalent to Broadway would be Fremont (Vegas), Bourbon (NoLA) or 5th Ave (SD)
Houston’s nightlife is not walkable as a whole but there’s locations where there’s a walkable bar district. The problem is some of the better ones are coupled with terrible sidewalk infrastructure (I’m looking at you, Washington Ave). But it has got to the point that pedestrians don’t mind walking on the street even when the sidewalk sucks. So I’ll give it points for that. They are finally repaving the sidewalks on the western end near the round about so that’s good. Hopefullu they’ll eventually extend it. Would be a wasted opportunity if not
I personally enjoy Uber between nightlife districts because they’re close enough to not be terribly far (as you mention) but far enough for each to have its own vibe.
That said, I agree that Houston belongs either at the end of the top 10 or at the top of the 11-20. The wildcard for me is Austin. I personally find it to be overrated. Great festival city though.
I also find the drop off to be huge after the top 5ish (after the miamis, Vegas etc)
Yeah I agree with your drop off.
The Uber thing isn't a bad thing actually. But only if you do not need it every time you go out or through the night to go from place to place. For instance in DC, I can be perfectly fine in Navy Yard and Wharf all night. But if we want to go to U Street area, an Uber is definitely needed and that will likely be the last Uber until we go home. If we need to take another Uber to go to another district, then I will just call it a night. I actually made a comparison with Houston and DC nightlife some years ago. They remind me of each other in that there are multiple districts throughout the city. You don't have to leave DC and you don't have to leave the inner loop to experience the best nightlife the areas have to offer. DC just has more options for you to go from place to place without the need of a car.
Yeah that Washington Ave area doesn't look bad but you're right. Need to fix the sidewalk infrastructure and you can see how car centric it is. But it is decently walkable.
Houston’s nightlife is not walkable as a whole but there’s locations where there’s a walkable bar district. The problem is some of the better ones are coupled with terrible sidewalk infrastructure (I’m looking at you, Washington Ave). But it has got to the point that pedestrians don’t mind walking on the street even when the sidewalk sucks. So I’ll give it points for that. They are finally repaving the sidewalks on the western end near the round about so that’s good. Hopefullu they’ll eventually extend it. Would be a wasted opportunity if not
I personally enjoy Uber between nightlife districts because they’re close enough to not be terribly far (as you mention) but far enough for each to have its own vibe.
That said, I agree that Houston belongs either at the end of the top 10 or at the top of the 11-20. The wildcard for me is Austin. I personally find it to be overrated. Great festival city though.
I also find the drop off to be huge after the top 5ish (after the miamis, Vegas etc)
I think Austin destroys Houston as far as nightlife "districts" go... West 6th, East 6th, Dirty 6th, Rainey St, Red River, are all bigger and better than whatever the equivalent is in Houston. Then there is even Rock Rose in North Austin and the Manchaca strip in South Austin that are also quite good these days. It's been a bit since I made it out to Washington but when I did there was no comparison.
Houston does have individual places that are cool and it would definitely win for giant clubs and that sort of thing. Way bigger/better strip clubs if you are into that. It's a bigger and more diverse city with more places that cater to highly specific scenes. Though I would say Austin has the better music scene overall Houston obviously is very strong in some categories and particularly crushes Austin for hip-hop. It has the stuff associated with the pro sports that Austin doesn't. It has better fine dining if you count that as nightlife.
I think Austin destroys Houston as far as nightlife "districts" go... West 6th, East 6th, Dirty 6th, Rainey St, Red River, are all bigger and better than whatever the equivalent is in Houston. Then there is even Rock Rose in North Austin and the Manchaca strip in South Austin that are also quite good these days. It's been a bit since I made it out to Washington but when I did there was no comparison.
Houston does have individual places that are cool and it would definitely win for giant clubs and that sort of thing. Way bigger/better strip clubs if you are into that. It's a bigger and more diverse city with more places that cater to highly specific scenes. Though I would say Austin has the better music scene overall Houston obviously is very strong in some categories and particularly crushes Austin for hip-hop. It has the stuff associated with the pro sports that Austin doesn't. It has better fine dining if you count that as nightlife.
6th st with its various forms (West 6, dirty 6 etc) is on its own tier as a nightlife district. That said, some of the things you mentioned in the second paragraph are important when it comes to a city’s nightlife. In particular, major upscale lounges.
That’s why I say, they’re wild cards from there. Austin is also the better festival city so it get points. I just find Austin’s nightlife overrated personally
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