Saturday Night On Bay Street

stephendare · February 23, 2009, 01:28:43 PM

Was freaking packed.

Does anyone else know about the basic rule of clubbing intown?

Wednesday and Friday Nights are generally dead in the city core, but Thursday and Saturday nights are slammed.

Its the opposite at the beaches and the suburbs.

This has gone on as long as I can remember (back to the 70s with clubbing for me), and Ive been in the business and written about the subject for years and never been able to satisfactorily explain it.

Any ideas?

David · February 23, 2009, 01:43:06 PM

I've noticed that as well..

My only assumption for the intown crowd is it's mostly a working class crowd, so most people are tired from working all week on Fridays which leaves Saturday as one of the main nights.

Thursdays draws a college age crowd, along with a certain breed of workers who can't wait for the weekend to start, thus making them too tired/hungover to go out on Fridays. That's my best guess!

copperfiend · February 23, 2009, 02:43:35 PM

Thursday could also be service industry workers who cannot go out on weekends.

KenFSU · February 23, 2009, 03:36:19 PM

At least part of the phenomena can be attributed to a carry-over from college. Friday is usually a slow day for classes, with many classes being either Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday. Classes that meet once a week are rarely held on Friday. If it wasnâ€™t the literal end of the school week for most students, it was usually the figurative. Thursday nights were for going out and getting hammered. Friday was for sleeping in, recovering, and hanging out. Friday night usually ended up being a movie night or a quieter night with friends for whatever reason. Saturday nights signaled a return to drunken debauchery, either at bars/clubs or house parties. College kind of indoctrinates this schedule into people. Even though most of us have to work on Friday (though donâ€™t discount how many companies have moved to four-day work weeks to cut expenses), letâ€™s face it, many of us tend to be at work more in body than spirit on Fridays.

A related question for you guys who have been here for a long time:

Isolated pockets aside, the night life in Jacksonville is sadly lacking for a city our size. A bit of a chicken/egg question, but is it the citizens or the infrastructure that contributes most to the tepid nature of the Jax party scene.

Dapperdan · February 23, 2009, 04:15:00 PM

I thought all clubs downtown were free to get in on Friday's. IS that not helping the deadness at all?

Steven, any more news on the Supperclub that was in the works for Bay? That would help alot too. It would be an end to the cookie cutter establishments there now.

77danj7 · February 23, 2009, 04:36:38 PM

What is the pricing range for Churchwell Lofts? I've looked at the website and it doesn't seem to mention them.

77danj7 · February 23, 2009, 04:40:30 PM

Wow...they were that high at one point?

David · February 23, 2009, 04:43:44 PM

Quote from: KenFSU on February 23, 2009, 03:36:19 PM
A related question for you guys who have been here for a long time:

Isolated pockets aside, the night life in Jacksonville is sadly lacking for a city our size. A bit of a chicken/egg question, but is it the citizens or the infrastructure that contributes most to the tepid nature of the Jax party scene.

The isolated pockets might be the reason we don't have one main strip or cluster of clubs like some cities do. There's too many neighborhood entertainment epicenters that seem to keep people from leaving their side of town. Plus you don't have people driving into the city from far out for a night out on the town like you do in some regions because they're the only major destination for hundres of miles around.

It only takes an hour or two to get away from Jacksonville's Influence and into another area with major nightlife attractions, Savannah, Daytona, St Augustine, Gainesville, Orlando, even Tallahassee. Also, cities that are known for having great nightlife also attract a great number of tourists, which Jacksonville definitely lacks. So it really leaves it up to the immediate locals to fill the nightclubs/bars/venues etc and maybe there's just not that many of us comparatively.

And then you have the overall conservative nature of the city plus it's a family oriented town. Not a great mix for those craving the big city nightlife.

77danj7 · February 23, 2009, 05:03:53 PM

Are the units as nice as the pictures on the website? A 3BR/3BA in the $300s isn't that bad of the units are that nice.

tufsu1 · February 23, 2009, 07:06:50 PM

Quote from: 77danj7 on February 23, 2009, 04:40:30 PM
Wow...they were that high at one point?

only the penthouses were above $400k....and I doubt that they are less than $400k now

The 1bdr are starting at just uner $200k and the 2bdr are at just under $300k

Karl_Pilkington · February 24, 2009, 02:16:43 PM

Quote from: stephendare on February 24, 2009, 01:31:10 PM

It would be nice to see that kind of multicultural experience back in this city.

then you gotta go to the World of Nations festival this spring!

blizz01 · February 24, 2009, 10:38:46 PM

QuoteThis is still a pretty diverse town. So much Latin and Russian presence, not to mention the arabic and african cultures that are here.

I wonder how many "Russians" are often confused with other Eastern Europeans - more specifically, Bosnian & Albanian. I played in the Beaches Adult Soccer League & did NOT play a single game against anyone other than the aforementioned all season - literally hundreds of transplants. Check out Starbucks at SJTC on any given night - for whatever reason, that's a gathering spot as well. Guess it's time to start a new thread on good ethnic eats around town........