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City Guide - Vancouver - Nightlife | ||
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Nightlife Vancouver offers nightlife to suit all tastes, including nightclubs, pubs, lounges and karaoke bars. Popular areas for going out include Gastown, Yaletown and around Granville Street. The largest cluster of Vancouver's gay establishments can be found in the Davie Village, on Davie Street west of Granville Street. In Vancouver, there are also a fair number of members-only clubs catering to all sorts of crowds (many of these have fairly lax membership policies but it is best to check ahead) and restaurants often double up as bars. Any of these may offer live music on some nights. Pubs (taverns) can serve alcohol until 0100. Bars and cabarets can serve alcohol until 0200 except on Sunday when they stop serving at midnight. The minimum drinking age is 19 years. Entertainment listings can be found in the free weekly alternative paper, The Georgia Straight (web site: www.straight.com), as well as in the Thursday edition of the daily newspapers. A web site (www.clubvibes.com) has a list of many of the city's clubs, with visitors' comments. Bars: In Gastown, the Picadilly Pub ('the Pic' to the locals), 620 West Pender Street, is a popular spot and sometimes features live bands. The Chameleon Bar, located below the Georgia Street Bar and Grill at 801 West Georgia Street, draws a groovy professional crowd with its jazz and soul sounds. Subeez draws a similar crowd for drinks and dinner in the funky, warehouse-like space at 891 Homer Street. The city has a couple of good brewpubs - Steamworks Brewing Company at 375 Water Street in Gastown and the Yaletown Brewing Company at 1111 Mainland Street. Facing each other across False Creek are The Riley Waterfront Café at 1661 Granville Street (below the bridge) and Bridges on Granville Island - both fun spots in the summer time. Also on Granville Island, the post-theatre crowd congregates at the Backstage Lounge, beside the Arts Club Theatre. East Vancouver has more of an alternative edge. Waazubee, 1622 Commercial Drive, is a favourite watering hole among the locals and it also serves reasonable meals. Bukowski's Bar and Bistro, at number 1447, is a popular spot for beat poetry and also has occasional live bands. Café Deux Soleils, at number 2096, offers some folk and rock in the evenings. The pub-bars at the venerable Royal Hotel, 1025 Granville Street, and the Dufferin Hotel, 900 Seymour Street, offer a kitsch mix of cabaret-style entertainment to a mostly gay crowd. Casinos: The Great Canadian Casino offers slots, card games and roulette at a number of locations, including one in the Renaissance Hotel Downtown, 1133 West Hastings Street (tel: (604) 682 8415; web site: www.gcgaming.com). The Royal City Star Riverboat Casino, based at New Westminster Quay on the Fraser River near the New Westminster SkyTrain station (tel: (604) 878 9999; web site: www.royalcitystar.bc.ca), is a replica paddlewheeler with gaming tables and slots and is open 1000-0400. Would-be gamblers must be 19 years or older. Neither of the above casinos charges an admission fee or has a specific dress code. Clubs: For house, hip-hop and drum'n'bass, one of the hottest spots of late is Sonar at 66 Water Street in Gastown. Richards on Richards, 1036 Richards Street, has been drawing crowds for years, and its two floors see some live acts in addition to the regular dance tunes. The Roxy, 932 Granville, and Stone Temple Cabaret, 1082 Granville, draw weekend clubbers for charty dance hits. For gay visitors, The Odyssey, 1251 Howe Street, offers club hits and theme nights to a mostly male younger crowd, while Numbers, 1042 Davie Street, draws their older and less flighty counterparts. Denman Station, 860 Denman Street, is generally more laid-back, and has a hugely popular lesbian night on Fridays. Live music: The renovated Commodore Ballroom, 868 Granville Street, is a great place to catch established acts, and well-known artists also play the Queen Elizabeth, Orpheum and Vogue theatres. The really big acts take over General Motors Place or even the BC Place stadium. For up-and-coming rock bands, The Brickyard (punk and alternative) at 315 Carral, the Railway Club (more mainstream) at 579 Dunsmuir and the Starfish Room at 1055 Homer are good bets. The Purple Onion Cabaret, 15 Water Street, offers live jazz in one room, in addition to the DJ sessions in the other. Live jazz is also played at the weekend at O'Douls in the Listel Vancouver, 1300 Robson Street. Down the hill at 911 Denman Street, The Marquee Club goes for the Miami deco look and features a range from swing to R&B bands throughout the week. |