The Golden State Has Near-Endless Sunshine, Beaches, Good Bars, Tons of Events and Celebrities. But Also Too Many Attorneys
The fantasy is that California is comprised of the utopia lifestyle where every day is a big outdoor barbecue.
A place where nobody works in an office – all business is conducted on cell phones – and that everyone drives down streets lined with palm trees in a convertible with a movie star on their shoulder.
That “carefree” is not just a term but a lifestyle.
And with all that, it must MUST be the World’s Best Place to Party!
Indeed, there are certainly many great things about the Golden State. From a party perspective – and that’s how PubClub.com measures the quality of life in a place – it has more fun events than any other place on the planet. Except perhaps than New Orleans. And New Orleans is in its own party league!
But, and I hate to be the one to break it to you if you don’t already know: California is NOT the Best Party Place on the Planet. And here’s the five main reasons why that’s the case.
This is not just a small-town rule, but also applies in the major cities like Los Angeles (and that includes Hollywood), San Diego and San Francisco. What other major cities in the world have such an early closing time? New York would just laugh – and does – and this ridiculous hour. This is compounded by the fact that last call is always much sooner, as early as 1:30 or even 1:15 because the bar has to be completely empty by 2 a.m.
2,) Too Many Attorneys
That’s not really a joke, but the fact that anyone there are so many lawyers that bars are afraid they will be sued if they allow anyone to do anything a little out of ordinary. As a result, you can’t have any fun.
I’m not talking being out of control, stupid things like banging your head against the wall or, worse yet, picking a fight. Just being silly, like cutting loose a bit. For example, stand on a chair or couch, even for a brief second, and a bouncer will come over and ask you to get back in your seat.
You also can’t walk out of designated areas with a drink and the big problem here is that the designated areas are too restrictive. There’s no drinking on the streets anywhere (the same applies to most of the state’s beaches) and festivals that serve alcohol usually have to put the people in a designated area, as if they are in a cage, rather than let them roam freely about the event.
Oh, and the drinking age is 21. Some people are out of college by that time. It should be 19 (this should be the national drinking age, by the way).
There just too many restrictions on the fun in California.
3.) Getting To The Bars and Events Because There’s No Public Transportation
This is a major issue in Southern California, in particular. Those of us who want to drink and party responsibly must always search for ways to get to bars and festivals, beg one of our friends to be a designated driver or skip the thing entirely.
The distances that must be covered are often immense – it’s an hour from the South Bay to Newport Beach, for instance, and 30-45 minutes from Santa Monica to Hollywood – so drinking and not driving is always a primary concern. And there’s so little useful public transportation that it barely merits mention.
Why isn’t there one that runs along the coastline, from Santa Monica to Newport Beach?
Taxis are almost prohibitively expensive, for it costs about $7 a mile to take a cab. The best advice from PubClub is to stay or live near where you play. Another alternative if there’s enough people in a group, is to take party buses. PubClub.com does it all the time for Jimmy Buffett concerts and the Long Beach Grand Prix.
The Bay Area has things much better with BART and even a somewhat reliable bus system. And San Francisco is so small, cab and Uber fares are in the more reasonable range of $15-20. In L.A., it can cost between $50- 70 to go anyplace – even with Uber and Lyft – because every place is so spread out in that city.
4.) Nerdy City Council Members
There seems to be some sort of anti-bar mentality among city council members throughout the state. Perhaps they are unaware that the substantial tax revenue from these establishments help pay their salaries. At the very least, they should realize that good businesses in their community are good for their community.
Perhaps they are too influenced by (keep reading)…
5.) Pesky Residents With Nothing Better To Do Than Complain About Bars at City Council Meetings
This is really annoying. Each city or town, it seems, has a few people who show up every week at City Council meetings and complain about a bar. Or, frankly, any new business or change to the area.
If these people were really concerned citizens, that would be one thing. But they are there each and every week. And if a new restaurant or bar, or the renewal of a liquor license is on the agenda, then pity the poor proprietor who must put up with this ridiculous show just to try and help put money in the city’s coffers.
Yet, there are also a plethora of positives to partying in California. This blog – and PubClub.com – does not exist to be critical. Upbeat is more of the theme.
But we wish that officials would not mess with our fun events like Surfest/6-man in Manhattan Beach and Bay to Breakers in San Francisco.
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