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Posts Tagged ‘phoenix nightlife’

Fabulous Fridays

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Well kids, we’ve all been to First Friday, but have you checked out Third Friday? Third Fridays have become the evening of choice for artists and art collectors to experience visual art, live music and the best of award-winning local dining in Downtown Phoenix.  Its fun, just a little more low key than first Fridays. 

Every month there are new opening receptions, shopping, dining opportunities and live entertainment in a casual environment. Here are some venues who are open every Third Friday, and the reasons I love them:

Galleries
515 (THE place to get work from Arizona artists, at a great price)
anti_space
eye lounge
Pravus (I know the owners of this place and one of my favorite artists, Roy Wasson Valle, will have work featured there this month!)
The Kitchenette Galleria
The Berlin Gallery at the Heard Museum Shop
Celtica Daughters of the Frozen North
Tilt Gallery

Museums
Heard Museum’s Native+You features contemporary art, music, dance, dining and a cash bar. (Its a one-stop shop with several things to do and see each month.)

Dining and Drinks
ciboAmsterdam
Portland’s (often has artwork too)
Fate
Next Door
Cibo (yum, enough said!)
Carly’s Bistro (great staff and great prices)
The Roosevelt Tavern (nice atmospshere and interesting choices)
The Welcome Diner
The Cafe at the Heard Museum (serving hot totties Dec. 18… enough said!)

Retail
sunjarMADE Art Boutique (great place to shop for holiday gifts!)
Bunky Boutique (stylish and affordable)
Heard Museum Shop (can’t live with out my work by Pat Pruitt, sold here.)

Live Music
Carly’s Bistro
Heard Museum

Special thanks to Roosevelt Row for providing copy ideas and information.

Cool Downtown Cocktails

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

downtown-bars-razorazLooking for a good spot to have an adult beverage? Downtown Phoenix has several cool indie locations to assist with getting your drink on. Thanks to Doug C. for creating this hot list of cool drink spots.

From the Rose and Crown to Bar Smith, check out the rest of the spots on the Cool Downtown Cocktails list.

photo credit: razoraz Razoraz is a member of our Downtown Flickr Group, join too.

Downtown Mishap Turned Adventure!

Friday, September 11th, 2009

The start of this adventure must be prefaced with an explanation of Christie; she is my best friend, the Monica to my Rachel, the Oprah to my Gayle, the Nicole Richie to my Paris Hilton…hmm, maybe not that last one. We met in high school and have grown closer through these past eight years of friendship. When it came to picking colleges, Christie picked the smallest, most far away, coldest temperature school (Bucknell University). Christie does have plans to come back to Phoenix after graduation to work as an accountant. We are the best of friends, and our adventures usually begin with a plan, followed by a calamity, and end with a giggle fest that leaves our abs sore in the morning. It is no surprise that this summer night followed that template.

It all started with my summer internship where I won two VIP tickets to see Lisa Lampanelli at the Dodge Theater (http://tinyurl.com/l5fk4m).  And with the best friend being in town from her East Coast college I asked her to come along for the evening. We had been downtown together for the occasional baseball game or concert, but this would be our first adventure in the city as 21 year olds!

The plan was to start at 1130, a bar in the Arizona Center that advertised $5 cosmos and $3 wines, go to the show and laugh, and then go to whatever bar looked fun. After getting lost with the one way streets of downtown (always take the light rail to avoid mass hysteria and confusion), Christie reading the tickets stated, “Oh, that’s weird. The tickets say the show is on Saturday.” This was especially weird because it was Thursday. After a laugh attack and calling Dodge Theater to confirm our error, we decided to head forth with the plan minus Lisa Lampanelli.

We walked into a very estrogen filled 1130. We ordered drinks and the appetizer special but to our dismay there weren’t many men in the restaurant to buy our drinks (coming into adulthood in the peak of Sex in The City’s success had filled our heads with silly ideas of bar life). Christie, now 2 and three-fourths cosmos deep, recommended we wander over to the AMC at the Arizona Center to see what was playing. Fortunately, Thursday nights are Student Discount Nights! This includes a discounted price on all movie tickets for students. Our “staving student” budgets were getting us pretty far for the swanky downtown lifestyle we were experiencing.

Horse CopsOn our way out of the movie, we saw two horse cops who let us pet their horses for about 15 minutes. We learned that one must always ask and, most importantly, receive permission before touching an animal of the law. You could be arrested if the officer thinks you mean harm to him or the horse. The two officers were so kind and told us that the Phoenix Police Department is looking for volunteers to care for the horses at the stable. If you are interested, you can contact the police department for more details.

On our way back to the parking garage, we met a Downtown Phoenix Ambassador who told us funny “on the job” stories while escorting us back to our car. The escort wasn’t entirely necessary because we didn’t feel one bit frightened.

Another night planned out perfectly, where something went very wrong, but turned into a great time in a beautiful city!