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The Gaslamp Quarter's Bars
and Clubs!
It's party time in the Gaslamp with tons of fun bars and people.
In the heart of downtown, along historic
streets built by a visionary man named Horton, is a 16 1/2-block area
with enough nightlife to make even Linsay Lohan drool.
The Marines sometimes love to cut loose in the Gaslamp.
It's called the Gaslamp Quarter and in many ways it resembles a lively
area of a similar name in another city. Each has several bars, restaurants
and shopping spots in an easily-walkable space. It has everything imaginable. There are sports bars, restaurant/bars, Irish pubs, pubs that turn into sort-of clubs, and dance clubs.
 The Gaslamp Quarter
is far more civilized than New
Orleans' French Quarter. It's lively anytime of the year and especially busy in the spring and summer because of it's also where Petco Park is located.
And here's a good pubclubbing tip – make your initial rounds beginning about 8.
The reason for this is many places, even what initially appears to be a pub or casual bar, has a cover charge at night. The price varies from between $5-15 and increases as the night – and the crowd – progresses. So go a bit early, find your favorite places and get a hand stamp.
The Gaslamp is the center of San Diego's dance clubs. It also has so
many Irish pubs one might be led to wonder if they wandered off to Dublin.
There's a touch of London here, too; some of the restaurants turn into lively
bars and mini-clubs after the kitchens close at 11.
Bring on the party – the Gaslamp is always a great time.
The presence of the clubs means it's mainy a dressy area. Not overdressed,
mind you – remember, this is San Diego – but jeans and slacks
are as prominent here as are sandals and shorts in nearby Pacific
Beach.
This guide does not contain all the bars in the Gaslamp; anyone could
do that on their own by walking through the Quarter. Rather, it focuses
on the the popular places that are the most happening or contain the
best singles action.
Gaslamp Quarter Bars & Pubs
Lights, camera and Gaslamp action! .
Did we make a wrong turn and wind up in Dublin? For some reason, the
Gaslamp Quarter is crawling with Irish pubs. There is Dublin Square,
which has the look and feel of an actual Dublin square.
A long-standing
California beach tradition is Hennessey's Tavern. The Blarney
Stone Pub has a small outdoor area and two bars inside. And then
there is The Field, shipped piece by piece from Irleand. Talk
about a commitment! It's small patio is almost aways packed.Among all the pubs, Dublin Square is consistently the most crowded.
The Blarney has the most popular pub patio.
One would have to have a very tilted lilt out of order not to like these servers..
Another bar with an across-the-pond them is The Tilted Kilt. But it's more about presentation – as in the presentation of sexy girls dressed in revealing shirts and short kilts. The Tilted Kilt is fun, friendly and full of eye-popping entertainment. And not just for guys; girls like to come here, as well (as evidenced by the lead photo on this page). Part of that is because they know where to find men!
It's certainly not all guys at the Tilted Kilt; galsl go for it, too!
The girls are real (meaning they have much more than good looks) and they are, in a nod to that famous Seinfeld episode, spec-TAC-u-lar!
This, plus the Kilt's location right at one of the gates by Petco Park makes it highly popular before and after Padres games, and it's also the home of the USC Trojans on fall football Saturdays. For college games it has $5 20-ounced Budweisers and Bud Lights (served ice cold from a tub of ice by a sexy girl and $17 buckets. It's hugely popular for UFC fights, plus any big sporting event.
Henry's is a pub that turns into a min-club after about 10 p.m.
A fun hybrid is Henry's. It's half pub, half dance bar. The
music is modern tunes mixed in with party classics. The crowd is early
to mid-20s, tops. The prevailing mood is definitely pub with a bit of
Daytona Beach Spring Break revelry on the side. The DJ even sounds as
if he has worked a poolside wet t-shirt contest or two. There is no fancy dress
code is in effect and the crowd is mainly in their 20s. For those who want some club elements combined in
a casual setting, this is your place.
Henry's is part of one of the most rocking sections of the Gaslamp's bars/pubs area, 5th Avenue between Market and G Street. The other spots are Whiskey Girl – a beer-and-whiskey type of joint with nice-looking girls working there – and La Fiesta. At the end of the block is Johnny Love's, a nice restaurant with a long Gaslamp tradition of being a sensational place for mingling and cocktails. All these bars feature Happy Hours for early starters, running from about 5-7 p.m. Boards out front have specific hours and specials.
The afternoon beer specials rock at Rockin' Baja.
A little further down 5th toward Petco is Rockin' Baja, a small but fun cantina (Happy Hour here is inside only but the place sells 16-ounce ICE COLD – they are actually packed in ice – Budweiser and Bud Lights for $3.75 two hours before the start of every Padres home game).
Those in search of a dive bar need to look no further than the Star
Bar (E Street). It's a local legend that, despite getting somewhat
popular, still has its cast of shady characters. It's the kind of place
that will make you want to wash your shoes after leaving. Tivoli
(just outside of the well-paved pedestrian paths at 6th and Island)
is another dive with a crowd of 20s-40s basic bar lovers. There is also a small
(and we do mean small) patio.
Maloneys has a cozy pub feel and often gets the overflow from
its neighboring clubs.
San Diego is so close to Mexico it would almost be silly not to dive
into a cantina for a margarita. Fred's Mexican Cafe has the
best atmosphere, sporting a kicked-back tiki-style bar of people who
just stopped in for one or two or who are waiting for a dining table
to clear.
We would probably be repremanded by some readers if we did not mention
there is a Hooter's in the Gaslamp. It's a prime place to watch
sports, some of which are even on the dozens of TVs.
Gaslamp Quarter Restaurant/Bars
Live music
at Johnny Loves make this a very popular restaurant-turned-bar.
One of the neatest aspects of the Gaslamp Quarter is the restaurants
that turn into hot bars. The crowds are late 20s to late 30s, pubbers
looking for a bit of clubbing who don't want
younger crowds of the clubs.
Johnny Loves is known as a haven for 30-somethings who want to party but not feel like they are in collge. There's a band on a stage, an area to dance and a long bar. It's cranking in this place and is a favorite haunt for many lcoals who are fortunate enough to live in the area.
There's dancing at Johnny Love's to go with the live music.
Croce's is the guru of the Gaslamp, an establishment that has
thrived for years. Run by the wife of the singer Jim Croce, it has a
fairly happening bar in the restaurant and an adjacent jazz venue that
is very popular with locals. It's a classy, well-behaved venue.
A dance club downstairs and pub on the main level the Crow has it all.
Another favorite spot is The Tipsy Crow. Formerly called The Bitter End it's the same concept with a different name. It's a multi-level bar with a main level that features a long bar, tables for food service and a foosball table, a cozy lounge upstairs and a busy dance club downstairs. It's quite easy to get tipsy in here, and feel like you're in three different places while doing it. n.
The bar at the Gaslamp Strip Club (easy, it's an upscale steakhouse)
is good on weekends. Most people are waiting on a table so they can
tear into a steak but quite a few singles on bar patrol like to stop
in for a drink.
You don't hear a lot about Dick's Last Resort, but tourists
are attracted to it like moths to a light. With all the other activity
around, it's better to check it out earlier in the night, say before
11.
Gaslamp Quarter Clubs
Bring it on: There's a lively club scene in the Gaslamp.
The trend among nightclubs in the Gaslamp are the roofttop hotel bars. One of the hottest is the bar in the W Hotel (421 West
B Street) which has a rooftop open-air bar and heated sand floor. But
of course we care more about the crowd than the decor and right now,
it's hotter than the firepit.
Another is the Hard Rock. Especially on Sundays when its pool becomes San Diego's version of the wildly popular Rehab in Las Vegas. Here, it's called Intervention.
Some like to give it their best shot – or shots – in the Gaslamp's clubs.
True to its name, Basic is pretty basic. But not really. It's in an old warehouse building with huge ceilings. Side garage-style doors open up to the street, there's a pool table surrounded by what appears to be church pews, and lounge-style seating. The crowd matches the "casual club" vibe. PubClub has not had the pizza here, but it looks and smells sensational, so don't hesitate to order it along with a beer or cocktail. Since it's close to the Petco Park – the address is 410 Tenth Avenue – it's a popular spot to go after night games.
Onyx Room is an upscale lounge and club with hip – but not hip
hop – music. It has a Vegas style to it.
The Blue Tatoo is the hip-hop club with the hip-hop crowd.
The clubs have big-city cover charges ($7-15; most
of them are $10) so club hopping can get pricey after a while. However,
most places compensate for this by offering a multitude of scenes under
one roof – dancing, a standing bar, a lounge area and so forth,
so that a single club is often enough entertainment for one night. Most
wave the cover with dinner.
It would be easy to assume that the prevailing clubby atmosphere comes
with out of control attitudes. But while the doormen are all dressed
in black jackets with earpieces dangling down their sides, again, this
is San Diego. So, the laid-back persona prevails.
 Related Article :Pacific Beach Nightlife
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