A new entertainment district?

[tedo420]

Birmingham does actually have some good bars. Just don't dare try to compare it to Athens, my favorite party town. First the young college/frat group goes to Innisfree Pub in the Lakeview District, very crowded, tight, lots of in town Alabama students. Also in Lakeview District, Barking Kudu, little nicer, also older crowd 20-30. Southside you have the new piano bar Twist and Shout, which is really popular, good mixed crowd. Then there's Daves, great bar but has a very post college grad frat/yuppy scene going on. Directly behind Daves is Bailey's Pub, very unusual mixed crowd, random free bands, cheap beer. Then theres Cobb Lane which has the Blue monkey lounge- kinda upscale chilled, sofa's, brick walls, martini's but not too fancy. Also a new bar right near it, might be even better, J something I have heard good things about it. Then there's the Garage which is really hidden, can't tell you how to get there, that's part of the draw, don't know how to descibe it but it was written up as top ten bars in America by Esquire Magazine. Hope this helps

[3choBoomer]

+1 On everything tedo said....

GMap from 5pts South to the Garage:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&...p;z=17&om=1

[Turbo]

A bar with a college type atmosphere.

[convulso]

everyone has their preferences, but bailey's gets my vote for the greatest diversity of clientele. if i don't know someone very well and they ask me where to go hang out in bham, i like bailey's, since there's not just one clique of patrons there...and if ya don't like it, well, at least you're in southside. other options are steps away.

i used to love dave's, but the place is just too damn small, deafening and cliquish on busy nights. i still like the patio when it's less crowded on a weeknight.

not very college-oriented, but speakeasy downtown (down the street from the alabama theater) is an interesting place that i hope does well. when you walk in, you assume drinks will be overpriced. they aren't. and it's really, really cool-looking inside. only been once, so i can't address how diverse the clientele is, but my guess is they get a lot of downtown dwellers combined with post-event revelers exiting the alabama on occasion.

and the garage isn't that hard to find, once you've found it that first time - from southside, head south/east on highland avenue and turn left (downhill) just past bottega. the garage is down the first street to your right (it may be a one-way street, but you can figure it out from there).

oh, and if you like late-night craphole atmoshpere with decent music and a relatively friendly (if unchanging) crowd, there's marty's. but you really have to love dive bars, as marty's is either not a very good one or one of the best ever, depending on your view of dives in general. it's the black-painted tornado-shelter-looking place a block west of 5 pts south.

zydeco used to be great fun, but i haven't been there in a couple of years. they don't get the caliber of musical acts they used to, but the bars may still be fun. great multi-level patio and very college-y. from 5 pts, take 20th street up the hill and look left.

i don't like the nick, but ask around and lots of people will recommend it. i have an antipathy for being treated (by bouncers, bartenders, nick cliques) that patronizing the nick is a privilege and not a right. i think it's a place that's 15 years too long in love with its legacy as some great oasis of CBGB-style rock in the desolate south. well, BS to all that. but that's just me. it's just bham; it's just the nick.

[Southron]

The Birmingham News ran a great article today about the emerging entertainment area coming to life around the loft district, with evening eating and entertainment options on Morris Ave, First, Second and Third Avenues; mostly between 20th and 24th streets.

I'm a big fan of these venues that are developing organically in the downtown area, rather than some contrived suburban-style "destination" to be shoe-horned into the downtown area. I hope I'm wrong about the nature of the development in the BJCC area, though.

Link: Downtown hosts hip bars, eateries; more planned