Nightlife

There’s something undeniably magnetic about Miami after the sun goes down, when the balmy air and neon lights create an atmosphere removed from reality. Whether it’s the clave pulsating from salsa clubs or the crowds strolling down Ocean Drive, the nighttime energy in Miami is palpable. Come along as we meander through Miami at its quintessential best, from tropical sunset to happy hour sunrise.

After three years of drawing ravers to grind in the gallery spaces of the King Plow Arts Center, Robert Shaw and Alan Sher have set up the permanent venue Terminal West in Studio C of the refurbished farm-equipment foundry. With high-grade sound and light systems built around a twenty-by-thirty-three-foot stage, wide concrete floors, three bars loaded with twenty-nine different canned craft beers, and a back patio facing the railroad tracks, the unce-unce dance party will be beating strong in Westside. But starting this summer, Shaw and Sher say music lovers of all ages and metronomic temperaments will find a reason to stop in. “The first few months have been electronic music; that was our network,” says Shaw. “But we’ve got reggae and bluegrass acts coming to use this amazing performance space. The goal is to diversify the audience.”

As beverage director for Taco Mac’s parent company, Tappan Street Restaurant Group, Fred Crudder is responsible for what goes into the 1,900-plus beer taps at the chain’s twenty-four locations. He’s also the inspiration behind the Fred, an underground bar at the Prado location open to frequent drinkers in the

1. Whiskey Blue The Bookhouse Pub: Benjamin Rhoades Leather c

Former Atlantan RuPaul may 
be our national claim to drag queen fame, but locals give props to his 
compatriot, Charlie Brown—a performer in our gay scene for more than four decades.

Okay, so Atlanta’s not Paris, but you can pretend you’re Owen Wilson and travel back to the Jazz Age, when the likes of Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tallulah Bankhead, and Charles Lindbergh mingled at the Georgian Terrace Hotel.

Take a peek at the 
universe.

Coming of age in the era of Stonewall gave Knoxville native Greg Heagerty a certain vantage point on the notion of gay pride. The sixty-five-year-old part-time doorman at Blake’s has watched the ups and downs of Atlanta’s gay nightlife scene through the seventies’ liberation era and into the present day.   ONLINE EXTRA  

If you’ve got small kids, we don’t need to sell you on the marvels of Zoo Atlanta and the Georgia Aquarium.

Atlanta has a laid-back style; it’s a lot less pretentious than New York or other large cities. One place that really exemplifies that is Morgan Kylee boutique in Buckhead. It’s small, friendly, personal.