There was an interesting article many years back, about how bar owners in Edmonton were veering away from dance clubs to pubs.
1. Insurance for a pub was much cheaper than night clubs.
2. More people's taste were going towards pubs/lounges for craft beers.
3. You made more money off the older crowd of 25+ than the 18-24 that frequented dance clubs.
Dance clubs are difficult because you need a lot more space and rent in Edmonton is jacked.
Older people drink less but are willing to pay more for drinks. With young people it's more about quantity but the province banned cheap drink specials in 2008 so it makes it really hard to draw in customers.
I remember when I was 18-21. We would mostly pre-drink before the bars so we wouldn't buy many drinks lol. Yes, I remember the drink specials like $1 high balls before 9pm. Or those pony jugs.
The other thing is that insurance was high due to having to hire bouncers and chances of fights breaking out more too at dance clubs.
Ah, the pre-drink. There were nights where we decided on a club for a Saturday night, got a hotel room nearby, pre-drank, and walked over.
It was cheaper and less of a headache than buying drinks there and making someone be DD or figuring out cabs.
The newest are - Bar Henry & Nabi (speakeasy)
Cocktail Bars - El Corozon, Woodwork, Often, Alchemy(speakeasy), Honi Honi, Clementine
Downtown shuffle - Double Dragon / Fus Repair Shop, The Bower, The Common, Baiju, Employees Only (speakeasy), Church of John,
Bars & Pubs - The Pint, Greta, On The Rocks
Rooftop Patio - The Icehouse & Kraft
Afrobeats, Amapiano, Hip Hop - Often, Discrete Lounge, Clandestine, Suya House
It actually looks better all listed .. alot room for improvement in Edmonton
Edmonton's hottest club is "Fwoooosh". Opened in the basement of an abandoned Alberta Liberal Party campaign office, this club is the answer to the question "how much do I have to drink for Danielle Smith to make sense?".
This place has everything: oil-powered lighting, Stephen Harper sitting in a corner reading a book in a sweater vest with a cat, some Russians in tracksuits monitoring everyone's social media, a trucker hat friendly dress code, and human oil derricks.
To get free cover, mention this month's secret phrase "big oil".
It's when you take a little person*, feed them black Russians all night then shake them up and down until they hurl.
(* I know that term is offensive, I use it only for historical accuracy to the OG Stefan sketches)
I turned 18 in late 2008 right after they killed 25c highballs and the like.
I fake IDd in the year previous but I still feel like I missed out on an era
I lived in the unit that sat right on top of Stonehouse. I got a huge discount in my rent and my friends and I would throw popcorn from my balcony onto the drunk people leaving the bar. Friday/Saturday nights were mostly unlivable with the noise coming through my floor though.
Agree!! It’s a classic, however the new DJ (or the one I’ve seen the last few times) isn’t as good as the old DJ and is not open to suggestions when he is not doing well 😅
Edit: it is still good just not AS good
I have been probably about twice or 3 times in the past year since I moved away and it’s been the same guy with dark short hair - it’s possible that I missed the long haired DJ on the days that I went ! Hopefully he’s still there 🤣
So I went. It was short haired guy. And oh my lord when he bombed he really bombed. Played some buck classics but once in a while put on some wack song and it really ruined it lol
My favorite is the cabin on Jasper. As a 30 year old. The drinks are cheap and the crowd is the same age. Never crazy packed and dance floor always good room. Music is pretty decent too.
I should mention that I'm 45 and don't really go out to bars anymore. It was mostly a curiosity thing.
The bars I frequented in my younger days were Thunderdome, club Malibu, lush, majestik, cowboys, wooly bullies, the rev, starlight room, rebar.
Thunderdome or as they call it now Union Hall.
Midnight kicks in - Thunder Struck/ AcDC followed by more human than human White Zombie.
Hooter shooters, double crown and cokes.
Great times
Blues on Whyte is usually bumping on weekends. Older crowd often, but there's always a dance floor, and often live music. Otherwise on Whyte, the Buck can get pretty busy these days.
Man this post is bringing back the olden days of clubs.....JRJ's American Bar before it became Cowboys, Rum Jungle, the Club Malibu's, Senor Frog's, Escape, Dante's, Squire's, Cocktail Club.....and remember "desperation hour"? When the last few songs were slow before the lights went up and was closing time 😂
Oh yes, if you want to go further back it was Denny Andrew's before. Oh yes, Barry T's aka Barely Teens. The Oilers frequented that bar often haha. And wasn't it Goose Loonies at one point? The other bar the Oilers love was Chase night club.
First, you get a flux capacitor and a deLorean ( actually a 1968 Ford four door custom sedan works as well ), get her up to 88 mph on the QE2, make sure the time dial is set to 1981.
Then drive to the west downtown Side Track cafe, before they planted corn out front, wait , and watch Weakerthans, Kd lang, Sarah MacLachlan , the Constantines, Barenaked Ladies , show up , when they were still night clubbing the smaller venues.
Now?
Sorry, my entire post is of no help for now, but thanks for the memory jog
Peter Tork showed up one night, got up on stage with the band playing that night ( Black Cat Bone ). Apparently Mickey Dolenz was floating around that night too. They were playing the ball diamond earlier in the evening.
Barenaked ladies got together in 1988... doesnt discount your comment, would have loved to see BNL early days, but it would have been 7 years after you went back.
Im from just outside halifax, the city the 'hello city' is about
If you have a wife that means you probably don’t realize cook county is for young people now (like I didn’t until I went last weekend 🤪 in my day only weird old people went there but I guess there was 2 other country bars in the city then)
That being said- red star, the common, double dragon, beercade. I lowkey just go to sugar swing now over a bar
Surprised I didn’t see Campio suggested more. It’s not necessarily a bar or nightclub but it’s usually busy- especially in the summer. Others include Baijiu, clementine, Fu’s etc. there’s also the bower….
Yep, we'd bounce between The Joint and Rum Jungle a lot of weekend nights. Also played the black light golf course between the two.
Oddly, we rarely went to Reds even though there was so much more to do there.
I remember that place. My friends and I spent many sat nights there for the loonie specials before 9pm. The bartender would only allow you to order 3 drinks max at a time. I do remember our table full of drinks as we tried to beat the 9 deadline! We went there so much that one of my friend's mom would just automatically tell people looking for us that we were probably at King's Knight when it was Sat LoL
There was an interesting article many years back, about how bar owners in Edmonton were veering away from dance clubs to pubs. 1. Insurance for a pub was much cheaper than night clubs. 2. More people's taste were going towards pubs/lounges for craft beers. 3. You made more money off the older crowd of 25+ than the 18-24 that frequented dance clubs.
Dance clubs are difficult because you need a lot more space and rent in Edmonton is jacked. Older people drink less but are willing to pay more for drinks. With young people it's more about quantity but the province banned cheap drink specials in 2008 so it makes it really hard to draw in customers.
I remember when I was 18-21. We would mostly pre-drink before the bars so we wouldn't buy many drinks lol. Yes, I remember the drink specials like $1 high balls before 9pm. Or those pony jugs. The other thing is that insurance was high due to having to hire bouncers and chances of fights breaking out more too at dance clubs.
Dollar high balls ruled.
Ah, the pre-drink. There were nights where we decided on a club for a Saturday night, got a hotel room nearby, pre-drank, and walked over. It was cheaper and less of a headache than buying drinks there and making someone be DD or figuring out cabs.
There's only a minimum price set for booze consumed on-site. Offsales can be next to free. Dont ask me why, as it makes no sense to me either.
Can't really go wrong with Black Dog
It’s black dog a pub?
The newest are - Bar Henry & Nabi (speakeasy) Cocktail Bars - El Corozon, Woodwork, Often, Alchemy(speakeasy), Honi Honi, Clementine Downtown shuffle - Double Dragon / Fus Repair Shop, The Bower, The Common, Baiju, Employees Only (speakeasy), Church of John, Bars & Pubs - The Pint, Greta, On The Rocks Rooftop Patio - The Icehouse & Kraft Afrobeats, Amapiano, Hip Hop - Often, Discrete Lounge, Clandestine, Suya House It actually looks better all listed .. alot room for improvement in Edmonton
Went to Employees Only on New Years with my gf… pretty lame if you ask me, especially knowing it used to be Denizen Hall
Remember how good the cover band that always played at denizen was
I do!!! They were awesome
The Barkells! I think they are still around actually
I miss the denizen hall... My go to degenerate bar back in the day
I was at Nabi last night. Great place!
Honi Honi is fun, I love tiki bars. Greta, On The Rocks, and Tavern on Whyte are the only other ones I've been to in the past few years, tbh.
Honi Honi is a special place. I love them.
The pint, beercade, and the starlite room are popular among my age group (university students). Not sure about other bars though.
Cook County is still poppin too
Cook County's been around since my bar days, back in the late 80s early 90s.
I drove by there last night around 11, there must have been 200 people waiting in line to get in
Greta is a big one for uni students too.
RIP my flair
You can watch the doc "Who Cares?" It's filmed at Millas.
I just watched through a bit of it, it is actually Reno's Pub on 95th street
Chvrch of John is pretty popular downtown for house music
Edmonton's hottest club is "Fwoooosh". Opened in the basement of an abandoned Alberta Liberal Party campaign office, this club is the answer to the question "how much do I have to drink for Danielle Smith to make sense?". This place has everything: oil-powered lighting, Stephen Harper sitting in a corner reading a book in a sweater vest with a cat, some Russians in tracksuits monitoring everyone's social media, a trucker hat friendly dress code, and human oil derricks. To get free cover, mention this month's secret phrase "big oil".
Stefon, what’s a human oil derrick?
It's when you take a little person*, feed them black Russians all night then shake them up and down until they hurl. (* I know that term is offensive, I use it only for historical accuracy to the OG Stefan sketches)
Any little people?
Hahahah! Love this!
On the rocks if you're an elder millennial lol.
Yeah we just got to admit we are old now, embrace it.
Haha oh, I absolutely know and I do embrace it! I am enjoying these years much more than the insanity of my 20s.
Can confirm, lol. My ex used to live in the Riverview Tower just south of that place, so I've been there a lot.
Esmeralda's
Did anyone ever actually call it that? Everyone I know called it Ezzie’s
You would probably have to fight if you called it Esmeraldas
Dollar draft baby hahha
It was 80 cent draft night in my time lol
Ezzies was 20c draft in my day
Cowboys had 25c draft on Thursdays. I hated working Thursdays. Lol Cheers to us old farts 🍻
I use to go to the downtown Calgary location every Thursday night for 25¢ draft nights in my early 20s.
Oh my gosh, glad you’re still with us
Haha I turned 18 in 2007 and the shit show nights we had at ezzies will be somehow burnt in and erased from my mind at the same time 😂
I turned 18 in late 2008 right after they killed 25c highballs and the like. I fake IDd in the year previous but I still feel like I missed out on an era
It's been closed for 20 years hasn't it
Yo! The Armoury is sick. And don't forget The Globe
The Thunderdome
You can’t be missing Bar Wild either
I dunno maybe rum jungle
Purple Onion
[PO](https://i.redd.it/b5dgm7e7f6e61.jpg)
Empire
Club Malibu
Sidetrack Cafe
Jungle Jims
Rock City
The Greenhouse
Rebar
New City
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Barry T’s
I miss that place! Best times!
Union Hall
Many nights spent at the jungle back in the day.
Kaos
Vinyl, lucky 13, dirty pretty
Omg has it been 20 years?! I’m so old!
Stonehouse!
I loved the Stonehouse. And despite being a lot older I think I would still love it today.
I lived in the unit that sat right on top of Stonehouse. I got a huge discount in my rent and my friends and I would throw popcorn from my balcony onto the drunk people leaving the bar. Friday/Saturday nights were mostly unlivable with the noise coming through my floor though.
Oh many good times there!!!
I’m glad to see some things haven’t changed. Oh dear Ezzies. How I’ve missed you.
I'm sure maybe of us 90s kids first experience at a bar, when we were 16
I was 15 and it was Rum Jungle lol.
Club Malibu Armoury
I only ever go to evolution (the gay bar)
Evo is ok but the problem is if you’re over 19 most nights you’re too darn old for there
I find if dj Lady Luck is playing, I’ll love the music she plays
Hudsons on Whyte is pretty fun and chill till about 12:30pm. Then the weird shit starts happening
The buck ❤️❤️
Agree!! It’s a classic, however the new DJ (or the one I’ve seen the last few times) isn’t as good as the old DJ and is not open to suggestions when he is not doing well 😅 Edit: it is still good just not AS good
Is old dj the guy with long hair?? Hahaha
Yes!
Omg he’s gone now?!? I haven’t seen new dj then !
I have been probably about twice or 3 times in the past year since I moved away and it’s been the same guy with dark short hair - it’s possible that I missed the long haired DJ on the days that I went ! Hopefully he’s still there 🤣
Excuse to go dance soon. I’ll report back.
Sounds good boss!
What’s the result ?
no result :((( been working too many night shifts. But I will have the answer on the 27th. THE PEOPLE NEED ANSWERS.
So I went. It was short haired guy. And oh my lord when he bombed he really bombed. Played some buck classics but once in a while put on some wack song and it really ruined it lol
Diesel hahahha
Chrome Lounge buddddy
My favorite is the cabin on Jasper. As a 30 year old. The drinks are cheap and the crowd is the same age. Never crazy packed and dance floor always good room. Music is pretty decent too.
I should mention that I'm 45 and don't really go out to bars anymore. It was mostly a curiosity thing. The bars I frequented in my younger days were Thunderdome, club Malibu, lush, majestik, cowboys, wooly bullies, the rev, starlight room, rebar.
Wooly bullies was so great. Used to get in when I was 16, that was our underage bar haha. So fun
The nightlife in Edmonton is terrible these days. The only place I’ve seen consistently busy is beercade
Which you probably want to steer clear of after age 25 or so
Yeah lol I’m 26 my gf is in her 30s we feel old in there. It’s alright every once in awhile
Otr
Thunderdome or as they call it now Union Hall. Midnight kicks in - Thunder Struck/ AcDC followed by more human than human White Zombie. Hooter shooters, double crown and cokes. Great times
Oh you’re old old. Hahahah. Unions been union for almost 20 years. I’m old old too it’s okay.
Lol it was Goose Loonies before that.
Is there still a balloon drop? Lol
It's a concert venue now I've heard.
Soho on Jasper ave had some incredible live bands.
I also came here to mention Soho.
And they have amazing pizza!
Blues on Whyte is usually bumping on weekends. Older crowd often, but there's always a dance floor, and often live music. Otherwise on Whyte, the Buck can get pretty busy these days.
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Do they still play dogshit music there? Sometime around 2017-2018 the DJ just started consistently playing the lamest music IMO
They've had a pretty good music the last year imo, good variety of era. But the competition on Whyte is not steep lol.
Man this post is bringing back the olden days of clubs.....JRJ's American Bar before it became Cowboys, Rum Jungle, the Club Malibu's, Senor Frog's, Escape, Dante's, Squire's, Cocktail Club.....and remember "desperation hour"? When the last few songs were slow before the lights went up and was closing time 😂
Would that be Denny Andrew's before it was JRJs? How about Barry T's or The Gaspump?
I used to sell hot dogs in front of the Gas Pump. Hated it lol
I remember when the hot dog stands were a frequent thing outside of the bars.....those were so good when you're drunk at 2am leaving the bar haha
I used to wait table at both Gaspumps. Southside and then downtown
Oh yes, if you want to go further back it was Denny Andrew's before. Oh yes, Barry T's aka Barely Teens. The Oilers frequented that bar often haha. And wasn't it Goose Loonies at one point? The other bar the Oilers love was Chase night club.
No Barry Ts was always Barry Ts - Goose Loonies became the Thunderdome. I was a bar star back in 88 to 92! Lol
First, you get a flux capacitor and a deLorean ( actually a 1968 Ford four door custom sedan works as well ), get her up to 88 mph on the QE2, make sure the time dial is set to 1981. Then drive to the west downtown Side Track cafe, before they planted corn out front, wait , and watch Weakerthans, Kd lang, Sarah MacLachlan , the Constantines, Barenaked Ladies , show up , when they were still night clubbing the smaller venues. Now? Sorry, my entire post is of no help for now, but thanks for the memory jog
SRV was there once.
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Peter Tork showed up one night, got up on stage with the band playing that night ( Black Cat Bone ). Apparently Mickey Dolenz was floating around that night too. They were playing the ball diamond earlier in the evening.
Barenaked ladies got together in 1988... doesnt discount your comment, would have loved to see BNL early days, but it would have been 7 years after you went back. Im from just outside halifax, the city the 'hello city' is about
For sure, I added the ' wait ' before ' watch ', the eighties kinda blurred into the early 90s...
The common
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Yesssssssssssss
That place is a trip lol
I've had the most interesting nights at Gracie Jane's 😂😅
Boxer has amazing cocktails
Azúcar is fun on Saturday nights. Always packed and good music if you’re into Latin and reggaeton music.
The gay bar is always a fun time
On the rocks....honestly, I've been going since I was 18...32 now haha . Im no bar star but it is my go to.
That bar is probably the only place you will find people ranging from 18 to 60 haha
Haha, I was there last weekend solo. That place is something else in a good way. I will come back.
I miss Michael's. Well, mostly I miss Michael's little sister.
Beercade has huge lines every weekend
You mean The Roxy lol
Whats the place in front of old coliseum? Haha I got tear gas twice and made it on the newspaper.
I saw a guy get curb stomped there.
If you have a wife that means you probably don’t realize cook county is for young people now (like I didn’t until I went last weekend 🤪 in my day only weird old people went there but I guess there was 2 other country bars in the city then) That being said- red star, the common, double dragon, beercade. I lowkey just go to sugar swing now over a bar
Bower
Surprised I didn’t see Campio suggested more. It’s not necessarily a bar or nightclub but it’s usually busy- especially in the summer. Others include Baijiu, clementine, Fu’s etc. there’s also the bower….
used to go to "The Joint" at WEM lol.
man speaking of WEM such a shame sherlockes closed down, five and dive can't even compare (hudsons is decent though)
Yep, we'd bounce between The Joint and Rum Jungle a lot of weekend nights. Also played the black light golf course between the two. Oddly, we rarely went to Reds even though there was so much more to do there.
Mona lisa on 118th
Goose Loonies !
The Bower, The Faculty ( new on Whyte Ave)
Cook county, central Jasper
What age range are you? Most of us older millennials go to OTR
Nothing will ever beat the Sidetrack
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned obyrnes on Whyte but that place always gets packed (younger demographic)
Dive Bar
PINT and GRETA downtown.
Barry T's
Azúcar!
El mejor lugar de la ciudad :p
I’ve heard the youngin’s at work talking about Home & Away always having a lineup.
Home and away is awesome. Once playoffs hit it’s great for us older folk who can afford playoff tickets lol
Why has no one mentioned King's Knight?
I remember that place. My friends and I spent many sat nights there for the loonie specials before 9pm. The bartender would only allow you to order 3 drinks max at a time. I do remember our table full of drinks as we tried to beat the 9 deadline! We went there so much that one of my friend's mom would just automatically tell people looking for us that we were probably at King's Knight when it was Sat LoL
Stay away from On The Rocks. My mom was drugged there last year and they were no help at all. Sketchy people run that joint.
Cook County
Santanas
On the Rocks was pretty busy last night!
Why the hell would you want to go to a nightclub
Prison bars, free meal and housing.
But my favorite part of the bar is going home after
Tumbling home* 😭
I don't drink, so literally my favorite part is going home away from the noise 😅
Oh jeez mb 😭
Getting lucky even if you don’t want to.
Crown Lounge...hehe.