What I Miss About LA: The Presentation

I'll be flying to LA this Thursday night for a little vacation. I'll be arriving around 8:45 at Burbank Airport. I'll be taking off on Tuesday Night around 8pm. So ya, I'll have 5 days/6 Nights in LA. I think I need a bit of LA injected into me.

I was talking with some co-workers who either are from LA or have spent some time there. We were talking about SF vs. LA clubs/bars. We concluded that SF clubs/bars tend to be pretty grungy and aren't presented all that well. I guess you can call that 'charm' or the fact that the buildings are much much older. LA clubs/bars tend to be really polished. If you ain't polished you hardly have a chance of surviving unless you have super cheap drinks. For example, there isn't a place like West Hollywood's The Abbey in SF. That's an example of nice presentation. It's classy and very well presented 'theme.' SF clubs might have a 'name' but there usually isn't a theme/decor to back it up. A few notable exceptions are places like the Tonga Room in Nob Hill or Dragon Bar in North Beach. Don't get me wrong, there are nice lounges and restaurants, but polished clubs and bars are a rarity to find. There is Danny Coyle's in the Haight, which is the nicest Irish pub I've ever seen. Or you can chill at a place like the Supperclub SF in SOMA or the Bar at Lime in the Castro. I mean there are places in SF that are truly unique and I wholeheartedly appreciate. But I really do want a place like the Abbey in LA to make its way to San Francisco.

So ya, It isn't that I particularly miss the people in LA clubs/bars, but I do miss the polished look. You can call it pretentiousness, I call it design. There is something comforting about that. I dunno, but we all sort of concluded that.

SF clubs remind me of DC clubs/bars. It's not that they aren't cool or super fun, it's just they don't have that polished look or wonderful presentation.

I mean, If I were to move back to LA, I probably would complain about how I miss Badlands or Jet in San Francisco. Just as I miss SideTrack in Chicago or the dive bar 'The Big Hunt' in DC. I guess you can never win.

Conclusion: First Stop will be the Abbey in West Hollywood later this week. Who's with me?