The only people I knew who went to bars in college did so only occasionally, as sort of a special occasion thing. Most of the time, you’d hang out in the dorms or a frat house. Particularly because the under-21s could participate.
My daughter is 24 and it’s rare that she (or any of her friends that I can think of) goes to a bar and it’s definitely not going to be more than a few hours. She has a large crowd of friends so most weekends they’ll gather at each other’s house. It’s so much cheaper and they can always crash on the couch if they’ve had too much to drink. I think in her crowd at least the thought of going to a bar and then having to get out and drive home is not worth the trouble.There’s music and at our house a pool table and a pool so there’s little temptation to get out and spend 10 times more on what you can get at the grocery store.
However, the White Horse (Oakland, Ca.) . . .
I went to bars a lot in my early 20’s, even “seedy, dark, smokey dens where dangerous bikers hang out, just waiting to knife you in the back or something.” I got a big-boy job where I had to wake up at dark-thirty AM and I cut back to maybe coming out once a month, then every few months, then only to catch up when someone had a birthday or something. The last time I came to a bar alone to meet friends I intended to leave around 9:00 but the cops set up a DUI task force in the parking lot and I had to hang out and drink Pepsi until the bar closed. (I have stricter DUI limits because I have a CDL.) I haven’t been out “with the guys” at a bar since.
Now I go to a nearby bar with my wife fairly frequently whenever we get a babysitter. It’s like $6 to take a cab home if we don’t feel like walking.
Every few years, one part of town has the most active nightlife. It’s mostly the younger folks who crowd the bars & clubs–often lining up & passing inspection to gain admission. Then the crowd moves to another area. I’ve seen Washington Avenue change from a gritty collection of used car lots & taco joints to a hellhole avoided by any sane person over 30 on weekend evenings. Now it’s got some good restaurants, shops–and a few bars that attract a more diverse group.
There remain classic bars & icehouses, in business for years. Some are dives, others have been updated a bit. Every week or so I’ll drop by one of the better places for a high-tone cocktail or crafty beer–and a tidbit to eat. Patrons come from all age groups but the whippersnappers definitely show up more as the night wears on. Bonus: Some good places are in walking distance or on Metro.
I’m 24, and I’ve never stepped foot inside a bar. It just seems… weird and skeezy, because (in my town) the only young people who go to bars are the kind of people that flunk out of college and end up pregnant with a guy they met two months ago. Obviously, that’s not the case with older crowds, but it’s just my preference not to associate with people my age who frequent bars.
If I drink, I just do it at home or at a friend’s house. But maybe that’s because I’m a huge goody-two-shoes.
A friend of mine is about to open a bar. While he’s well outside of the OP’s target demographic, he’s opening the bar in a college town, and expects to do quite well.
I go to a bar to either have a quiet pint or pick up girls. The latter I don’t do anymore.
Lot’s of young people still go to bars.
Well yeah, it would depend on the type of bar you’re going to. If all you can find are crappy dives with a bunch of burn outs, I wouldn’t go either. Fortunately around here, that’s not the case. Most people go to hang out with friends, have a beer, watch the Steelers/Pens (and yes, even the Pirates) cheer along with other fans. I’m guessing tonight you won’t be able to get near most of them, with the playoffs.
Besides, you do know you don’t have to drink, right?
Where do you live? My own big city has low dives, upscale purveyors of artisanal cocktails & places in between those extremes. We’ve even got bars frequented by college students–most of whom manage not to drop out.
People who *never *go to bars seem to have very lurid ideas about what goes on…
I don’t go to bars. I have in the past, and all that happened was I achieved a certain level of drunkenness. I can do that at home.
I’m married and have a kid, so I don’t really go out to bars that much any more, but the times I do, they are pretty crowded and there are a lot of people under the age of 30. I live in DC within a short walk of an entertainment district (H Street NE) and judging from the crowds I see and the number of cars parked on the street on a weekend night vs a weekday night, I’d say that the bars are doing very well.
I’m not what I consider young anymore (28 soon) and I go to bars all the time! And I’m not even a drinker (didn’t at all for years, almost never get drunk). But I live in downtown Philadelphia, where there are a huge variety of fun places to have a drink, and I work in the restaurant/hospitality industry, and so do a bunch of my friends. When you work all day until midnight on weekends, the bar around the corner who knows everyone who works at your restaurant and gives you a discount, is the logical place to hang out with your coworkers.
Most of my non-coworker friends are over 25 and have real adult jobs, and are migrating to the far suburbs and having kids. So they barely have time to go out to bars. But in Center City, the bars are packed with people in their 20s, everything from college students and burnout career baristas, to extremely successful young professionals.
I go out every weekend pretty much and so do most of my non-married friends. It’s not so much a treat anymore as much as it is a hobby, and I am getting sick of it.
I’m 38, and while I used to go to bars a lot when I was in my 20’s, I haven’t been inside one (except for hotel bars when travelling) for about a decade. I’ve found that coffee shops are cheaper, quieter and more conductive to conversation. If I want to drink I can do it at home.
Yes, but the OP was asking about* young* people…
Yeah, IMHO it’s pretty bizzarre to have never set foot in a bar do to some weird sense of morality. Now in all fairness, I’ve seen some pretty divey bars frequented by mostly dropout types. But most places in the country have peopel who didn’t drop out of school and they frequently find bars to hang out in.
I also find it interesting that a lot of people said they stopped or reduced going to bars once they started working at a big boy job. Most adult jobs I’ve had, going to bars for happy hours, meeting a client or coworker, networking and whatnot was an integral part of the job. In some cases, an excessive part of the job.
Not really. One guy said it, and another person said their friends stopped going to bars once they got “adult jobs and are migrating to the far suburbs and having kids.”
Just as many “a lot of people” (one) said that happy hours are alive and well and important in her town.
Everyone, including younger people, is driving less:
It’s possible, according to that article, that young people aren’t going to bars and such as much anymore because they can hang out with their friends using social media these days. I can’t find any statistics about the popularity of bars though. Can anyone find them? I talking about statistics, not your personal anecdotes.
I wonder how much going to bars has been suplanted by using social media for direct hookups and booty calls. It used to be a big reason for going out was to meet someone to hook up with. But now you can just skip past the whole hanging out in a bar all night getting wasted enough to approach random girls.