It’s midnight and I just got home from Comcast — we had a very late show because of the Giants game. Kozimor and Ostler argued with me about Handshake Gate, but I don’t want to get into that. I’m bored by the subject but I’m very interested in Sunday’s game between the 49ers and Lions.
I would like to talk about 10:00 towns. San Francisco is a 10:00 o’clock town. Most restaurants close by 10:00 and it’s hard to get a good meal after that. I know a few good restaurants serve late but they are the exception.
How many American cities are open late? Two come to mind — New York and Vegas. You can get a good meal at midnight or even later at tons of places in those two cities. Are there others? Is Chicago a late town? I don’t know. What about Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans? Please help me here. I am all in favor of cities staying open past midnight, or better yet, never closing.
msclemons67
Los Angeles is a late town but… it’s LA. Not a great place to be.
If you feel like going international then Paris is a fantastic after 10 town.
September 12th, 2012 12:19 am
Johnc
Reno comes to mind. Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side
Achorage Alaska where I lived for 3 years..they stay up late drinking and whatever in the winter and in the summer the nights are so short they stay up drinking and whatever some more.
September 12th, 2012 1:08 am
Johnc
Anchorage..(spelling)
September 12th, 2012 1:09 am
Seth
Can we put a moratorium on using “gate” to describe an alleged controversy. It dumbs down the English language and makes everyone a little more simple minded.
New
September 12th, 2012 1:52 am
Seth
iPhone misfire New Orleans is definitly a late night city.
Also, don’t forget the “slight” Harbaugh gave to the Lions when he said he was planning on playing New Orleans in the playoffs.
September 12th, 2012 1:56 am
MJ
Lowell,
There’s really no point for most deli’s, cafe’s, and restaurants to be open past midnight. Too many negatives.
First off, whats the ROI? How much business will these places do vs electricity, water, waiters, a cook, etc? Even though you may be a part of that market on occasion, it’s not the dinner crowd by a long shot.
Secondly, there are security reasons these days. They always say athletes should stay out of clubs at 3am, well that applies to just about everyone. Nothing really good happens at that time. Too many drunks on the roads, lots of crazies…and if you don’t believe that go walk around any 24 hour store.
And not that SF or any of the other places aren’t huge cultural and iconic cities, but NY is a night city if ever there was one and Las Vegas has the casinos. LA has a nightlife but its clubs and house/beach parties, they have the land and the weather. Chicago I would think has that “Midwestern sensibility” which doesn’t seem associate with late late nights. I can see Miami as an all night town, but again, its with the youth and the clubs.
And lastly, you know its not good to be eating past 8. Sure fire way to pack on the lbs. Grab a banana and hit the sack.
September 12th, 2012 7:12 am
Dennis
I wouldn’t know. I am closed by 10:00 o’clock myself!
September 12th, 2012 7:45 am
Stan
Funny but there is a formula that calculates how a city “lives”.It equated the morning rush hour and the evening’s also as hearbeat like. It can be predicted based on a citys size. Just as a large animals heartbeat is much slower then a mouse..a city’s beat is just twice a day. So,what what used to be poetic is physics too.
Maybe Lowell the 10 pm shutdown of good places to eat is the “body aka city” resting and digesting the days meals.
Myself? I can’t eat late..it will just give me bad indigestion.
September 12th, 2012 8:06 am
Steve
I was born and raised in Chicago and it was definitely a late night town when I lived there. In fact, it just started to percolate at 10:00pm. Many restaurants – really good restaurants – stayed open until 3:00am or later so as to cater to the crowds exiting the bars on Rush and Division streets, New Town, Old Town, and other popular neighborhoods. I’ve haven’t lived in Chicago for 35 years but can’t imagine things have changed; in fact it’s probably expanded, what with the upscale gentrification of many previously borderline lower middle class neighborhoods. I think LA and some of its border cities (Santa Monica, Venice, etc.) have a lot of late night activity, but haven’t been to SoCal in a while. I agree with you about San Francisco; it’s not St. Louis but it ain’t New York either.
September 12th, 2012 8:27 am
Dave T
That’s ok, when I first moved to Santa Rosa 16 years ago, I could swear it was an 8 p.m. town. There was no real nightlife to be found at all and even the weekend nightlife seemed forced and contrived. A stark contrast to Pittsburgh, PA where you can always find Pirmanti Bros. open and some music going on somewhere in the South Side, The Strip District, Oakland (where the University of Pittsburgh is located) or almost any little town or township. I find most East Coast towns have good late night things, where the West Coast does not.
September 12th, 2012 8:28 am
Hank
LA is late town
If you’re in SF and need good food after midnight you can go to Nopa (American, $$$) or Yuet Lee (Chinese, $).
September 12th, 2012 8:32 am
Brady
Hollywood is definitely the closest thing the west coast has to an all-night town. It’s no Vegas or NYC, but it generally stays up
September 12th, 2012 8:56 am
MJ
And I have to agree tenfold with Seth on the idiotic use of the term “gate” to imply “scandal” or what have you. Name of the hotel was Watergate….adding Gate to every event is, for lack of a better word, lazy and uncreative. Bountygate, spygate, PEDgate, blah blah blah.
Take a stand to no longer use this phrase as part of your life.
September 12th, 2012 12:19 pm
S.F.native
Just watched Chronicle Live. What is wrong with you? If someone doesn’t agree with you about Harbaugh you become rude and abusive. A couple of weeks ago you told Barry Tomkins he didnt know what he was talking about. Last night you made the host and Scott Osler very uncomfortable[ not in a very nice way]. You say Harbaugh is rude and abusive. Look in the mirror, As they say ” clean up your side of the street before you start being critical of others”
September 12th, 2012 12:49 pm
CohnZohn
S.F. native, Are you sensitive by nature? Do your feelings get hurt easily? Are you prone to crying? Ostler and Kozimor had no problem with me on Chron Live, nor did the producer. We all laughed afterward and said it was a good show.
September 12th, 2012 1:49 pm
Lo Sbandato
If Lowell’s attitude was truly a problem, he wouldn’t be asked back to the show. These shows are designed for conflict. If everybody agreed, what a dull spectacle that would be.
I do wonder, S.F.native, how you survive more than 10 minutes on the internet with such a low tolerance for “rudeness” and “abuse”.
September 12th, 2012 2:09 pm
lameduck
Like you said, you learned where to go. I am guessing that someone hasn’t gone to the gym since vacation ..
September 12th, 2012 2:15 pm
Marko
Baltimore is a great late night town. Partied till 3am on a Tues night after an Orioles game. Camden Yards is really nice and surrounding bars and restaurants even better!
September 12th, 2012 2:30 pm
lameduck
Paris, London…Great late night towns.
September 12th, 2012 3:53 pm
Tommy CostaRica
I know Vegas, LA, NY and especially SF but when you say late night I say what is the quality of your late night experience? I’m not a big late night eater strictly for health reasons, so that throws out gourmet meal at 1 a.m. Although, I do like Denny’s at 3 a.m. after a 2 a.m. music gig. What can you do late night? Gamble? BOOOOOOOOOOORING! Listening to music? The best! Here in San Jose, Costa Rica we have what I call the happiest place in the world and it runs 24 hrs. You can gamble, they have live music, the food is great and not too expensive and the same with the drinks. What makes it the happiest place in the world is that any time of the day or night there’s rows of girls looking to find just the right North American to turn their lives from third world Central American to first world USA. If you’ve never been there you just can’t imagine!
September 12th, 2012 5:42 pm
Stan
Actually to call it something other then Shakegate or so would be taking it all serious and getting all pretentious as if it was a matter of life and death. “Handshakegate” would be perfect for MAD magazine..and that makes it a valid term in my book if its Madesque.
What? me shake?
September 12th, 2012 5:44 pm
Albert Park
Just about anywhere in N.Y. state is a late night town – even Buffalo, where I came from. San Francisco’s early hours really took some getting used to. But that was 35 years ago; it doesn’t bother me any more. (Although I really appreciate the late-night activity in a town like Chicago when I visit).
September 12th, 2012 10:42 pm
Albert Park
Hey, Lowell, when do we get our annual Ira Miller report?
September 12th, 2012 10:43 pm
CohnZohn
Albert Park, Ira didn’t want to talk football, he feels far removed from the Niners.
September 13th, 2012 7:43 am
Phil Brown
I’m an SF native who lived in LA for 24 years and LA’s not a late night town. While stores are open late most of us on the movie and TV businesses are in bed early. Those 5am calls don’t leave much room for night life
September 13th, 2012 8:04 am
Joe H
The one night city you didn’t mention was Phoenix. In the desert, it’s too hot during the day to go out, so after sunset the natives come out.
I wouldn’t take it so far as to say it’s a 10:00 PM + town, but certainly a nighttime city during the summer.
September 13th, 2012 10:12 am
Gopal
In San Diego, the late night fare is taco shops and greasy spoon diners.
In sf it’s donut shops.
September 13th, 2012 7:44 pm