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This article explores the most fun spots of these two coastal towns just south of San Francisco..

Fun Bars in Santa Cruz & Capitola Beach
Nightlife Spots in the Bay Area Outside of San Francisco

Behind the bar, the girls pour 'em with a smile in Capitola

Beauty and the beach come together in two of Northern California's coolest spots, Capitola Beach and Santa Cruz. Located about 45 minutes south of San Francisco, these two small spots are large in entertainment value for fun-seeking pubclubbers.

Capitola is a pristine area, a cute little town with shops and bars on the water. The Manhattan Beach of the north. Santa Cruz is a more rustic spot, a small college town that's also Surf City USA, at least according to lcoals (it's in a verybal spat with Huntington Beach about the actual title).

In lovely Capitola, great days in this part of the world start at Zelda's. Its huge wooden deck sits poised over the beach and excellent breakfasts, which served are well past noon. This is best followed by margaritas (which USED to include double shots for an extra buck).

The great days continue a couple doors down at Margaritaville.

This is the kind of place where you go intending to have only one or two drinks to continue the fine buzz from Zelda's but wind up staying for hours. That's because pretty soon, people from all over the area have wandered in and next thing you know, it's dark. The option is either to waste the night away here or head 10 minutes down the road to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is home to the UCSC Banana Slugs (the actual school nickname, as there are these yellow crawly creatures in the Santa Cruz Mountains called banana slugs), where '60s surfers collide with the waves but little else.

The Catalyst is a world-famous bar, attracting top bands from all over the globe. It's a big, live music bar with pool tables.

A very, very local spot is the Red Room.

Palomar is a pretty nice joint to enjoy a few drinks.

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