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Atlanta  
Nightlife

  Atlanta, Nightlife

Nightlife in Atlanta varies from intimate bars to live music venues and nightclubs. Dress up for intimate dinners, dress showily for the Buckhead scene and dress as way out as you dare for Little Five Points. Some bars stay open until 0400 but tend to close much earlier on Sundays. Although the legal drinking age is 21 years, many bars may admit those who are 18 and above. Drink prices start from US$4 and vary enormously according to the establishment; draught beers are less expensive than bottled imports.

Little Five Points (west of Georgia State University) is the ‘Greenwich Village’ of Atlanta. A small group of live music clubs and performance theatres hosts the city’s cutting‐edge artists and the small plaza area is a hangout for street performers and a younger crowd. There are a few festivals throughout the year, most notably the massive Halloween festival.

Buckhead, where Peachtree and Roswell roads meet, is for the young, smart and unattached, who pack the bars, especially on Friday nights. There are several clubs, a few live music venues, and tons of bars and restaurants to suit every fancy.

Midtown stretches from Downtown to Buckhead, and Piedmont Park hosts everything from the Gay Pride Festival to the Montreux‐Atlanta International Music Festival and the Dogwood Festival. Make sure to spend an evening at The New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree Street NE (tel: (404) 874 5299; ), where for around US$20 you can see a full‐length Shakespeare play in a setting not unlike the original Globe Theatre, accompanied by a hearty pub dinner, which will set you back about US$10. Seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Go early if you don’t want to watch from the rafters.

There is a website with weekly listings on it (www.accessatlanta.com) and events information is also published weekly in Creative Loafing (Thursdays).

Bars: For new visitors to Atlanta, Mumbo Jumbo, at 89 Park Place NE, is the hippest bar in Downtown. The decor is wildly imaginative but intimate at the same time. If you’re missing home, however, sample the brews and the fare at the Prince of Wales Pub, 1144 Piedmont Avenue. Neighbor’s Pub, 752C North Highland Avenue, is altogether a more classy joint in the posh suburb of Virginia Highlands. Karma, 79A Poplar Street, is where the beautiful people go in Downtown, with a blood‐red canopy that will remind you of 1001 Nights.

Casinos: There are no licensed casinos in the state of Georgia.

Comedy: Try Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, 280 Elizabeth Street NE (tel: (404) 523 4141), Thursday to Saturday nights for comedy improvisation from the latest performers.

Live music: Recommended in Buckhead are CJ’s Landing, 270 Buckhead Avenue, for reggae on a deck, and Cafe 290, 290 Hildebrand Drive NE, for jazz. For blues, Fuzzy’s Place, 2015 North Druid Hills Road, is a little venue with a reputation for producing the real thing. Churchill Grounds is a swank little club cuddled up next door to the Fox Theatre in Peachtree Street, which has become the place to hear traditional jazz from solid local ensembles. Major concerts are held at the Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive (tel: (404) 878 3000; ), or the Coca‐Cola Lakewood Arena, 2002 Lakewood Way (tel: (404) 627 5700), just out of town. Up‐and‐coming bands play at The Roxy, 3100 Roswell Boulevard, Buckhead (tel: (404) 233 1062), The Cotton Club, 152 Luckie Street (tel: (404) 688 1193), the Rialto Center For the Arts, 80 Forsyth Street, Downtown (tel: (404) 651 1234), and Earthlink Live, 1374 West Peachtree Street, Midtown (tel: (404) 885 1365).