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Bars & Clubs

Happy Powers: Mandy appears courtesy of Halvorson Model Management. Our International Man of Mystery is Tommy Stinson, member of the band Perfect and former bass player with the legendary '80s band The Replacements. Hair, makeup and styling by Rose Hill. Wardrobe by Moon Zoom. Metro's 12th Annual Guide For our 12th annual Bars and Clubs survey, we blanketed the valley with the following mission: to capture the essence of each bar, club, cafe or juice bar visited. We soon discovered that the spirit of a place is often a reflection of its niche in time. Some bars express an era with the vividness of a time capsule--not unlike a certain international man of mystery. Others aspire to re-create a bygone time. And so, in making our assessments, we tried to pinpoint the decade in history best represented by each place in terms of decor, clientele or actual date of birth. Of course, all methods must admit exceptions: hence our "Timeless" category, and a few functional groups--Strip and Go-Go Joints, Billiard Parlors, Microbreweries and Cafes. No matter how they are arranged, the news is good: The valley contains a thriving assortment of night spots from every era, catering to every possible crowd, in more ways than our foremothers and forefathers could have imagined. No doubt, we have missed a few spots, which faithful readers will point out. Certainly the writers may have misplaced a few in time and space. Nonetheless, we had a great time exploring the valley's pathways, old, new and reborn. So read up, enjoy and, for the next few pages, let time stand still. Live Rock & Pop Live Jazz & Blues Cocktail Lounges Live Salsa & Latin Country & Western Coffeehouses Comedy & Vaudeville Dance Clubs Hangouts Pubs Sports Bars Microbreweries Billiard Parlors Juice Bars Go-Go & Strip Clubs Wineries Bars & clubs listed by city Coffeehouses & juice bars listed by city Bar- and Cafe-Crawlers: Cristine Alvarez, Corinne Asturias, Cecily Barnes, Trystan L. Bass, Carol Bee, Stephen Bell, Maggie Benson, Ivan Bergman, Broos Campbell, Patty Cordoba, Sean Crary, Clarence Cromwell, Mike de Give, Michael S. Gant, Christopher Gardner, Anne Gelhaus, Will Harper, Traci Hukill, Todd S. Inoue, Eric Johnson, Shari Kaplan, Kristin Kusumoto, Michael Learmonth, Margaret Lukens, Diane McSweeney, Ami Chen Mills, Tom Parker, Andrew Pham, Dan Pulcrano, Karen Reardanz, Ann Elliott Sherman, Julia Smith, Sarah Stanek, Sharan Street, Robert Struckman, Colleen Valles, Christina Waters, John Waters and Heather Zimmerman. Photos: Christopher Gardner [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]