Atlanta Nightlife

Nightlife in Atlanta varies from intimate bars to live music venues and nightclubs. Dress up for intimate dinners, dress ostentatiously for the Buckhead scene and dress as way out as you dare for Little Five Points.

Some bars stay open until 0400 but tend to close much earlier on Sundays. Although the legal drinking age is 21 years, many bars may admit those who are 18 and above. Drink prices start from around US$4 and vary enormously according to the establishment; draught beers are less expensive than bottled imports.

Little Five Points (west of Georgia State University) is the 'Greenwich Village' of Atlanta. A small group of live music clubs and performance theatres hosts the city's cutting-edge artists, and the small plaza area is a hangout for street performers and a younger crowd. There are a few festivals throughout the year, most notably the massive Halloween festival.

Buckhead, where Peachtree and Roswell roads meet, is for the young, smart and unattached, who pack the bars, especially on Friday nights. There are several clubs, a few live music venues, and tons of bars and restaurants to suit every fancy.

Midtown stretches from Downtown to Buckhead, and Piedmont Park hosts everything from the Gay Pride Festival to the Montreux-Atlanta International Music Festival and the Dogwood Festival. Make sure to spend an evening at The New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree Street Northeast (www.shakespearetavern.com), where you can see a full-length Shakespeare play in a setting not unlike the original Globe Theatre, accompanied by a hearty pub dinner. Seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Go early if you don't want to watch from the rafters.

Weekly listings can be found on www.accessatlanta.com, and events information is also published weekly in Creative Loafing (Thursdays). Check City Search (http://atlanta.citysearch.com) for recommendations and reviews.

Bars: For European chic, Bazzaar, located next to the Fox Theatre at 654 Peachtree Street Northeast (www.bazzaaratlanta.com) fits the bill. Beluga Martini Bar, 3115 Piedmont Road (www.belugamartinibar.com), which is said to have the best Martinis in the city, has live jazz and a sophisticated clientele. Halo, 817 West Peachtree Street Northwest (www.halolounge.com), a basement-level lounge, is the place to socialise. If casual and boisterous is more your style, try American Pie, 5840 Roswell Road NE, Sandy Springs. Neighbor's Pub, 752C North Highland Avenue (www.neighborsatlanta.com), is altogether a classier joint in the posh suburb of Virginia Highlands.

Clubs: Atlanta has hotspots for every taste. Indoor waterfalls and interactive plasma, plus disco, funk and dance music make the chic Mark, 79 Poplar Street (www.themarkatlanta.com), the place where well-known entertainers hold their post-concert parties. IQ Lounge, 5299 Old National Highway (http://iqloungeatl.com), is a sultry urban lounge for the chic and mature - great for dancing, cocktails and intimate VIP rooms. Sanctuary, 3209 Paces Ferry Place Northwest (www.sanctuarynightclub.com) is Buckhead's hottest Latin nightclub.

Live Music: Recommended for jazz in Buckhead is Cafe 290, 290 Hildebrand Drive Northeast (www.cafe290atlanta.com). Churchill Grounds (www.churchillgrounds.com) is a swanky little jazz club cuddled up next door to the Fox Theatre at 660 Peachtree Street, which has become the place to hear traditional jazz from solid local ensembles. Major concerts are held at the Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive (www.philipsarena.com), or the HiFi Buys Amphitheatre, just out of town at 2002 Lakewood Way. Up-and-coming bands play at The Cotton Club, which is actually in the basement of the Tabernacle, 152 Luckie Street (www.tabernacleatl.com). Eddie's Attic, 515 North McDonough Street, Decatur, (www.eddiesattic.com), the Rialto Center For the Performing Arts, 80 Forsyth Street, Downtown (www.rialtocenter.org) and Center Stage Theatre, 1374 West Peachtree Street, Midtown (www.centerstage-atlanta.com) are three other popular live music venues.

Culture: In the days of its antebellum greatness, Atlanta was a cultural centre with big aspirations. The major cultural venue is the Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street (tel: (404) 733 4200; website: www.woodruff-arts.org). This glass and stone modern architectural showpiece was erected by the then head of Coca-Cola, Donald Woodruff, as a non-profit-making service to the community. It commemorates a 1962 plane crash at Orly, Paris, which killed 106 Atlanta citizens and one of the buildings is still known as the Memorial Arts Building. The centre, now spread around a campus, hosts a continuing series of cultural events and is home to the High Museum of Art. It also contains three theatres, exhibition galleries and is home to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Alliance Theatre Company, the 14th Street Playhouse, as well as children's and Afro-American groups. The Center For Puppetry Arts is only a few blocks away.

Access Atlanta (website: www.accessatlanta.com) lists the latest events information online, while Ticketmaster (tel: (404) 249 6400; website: www.ticketmaster.com) is the agency for all cultural bookings. AtlanTIX (tel: (404) 588 9890; website: www.atlantaperforms.com) sells same day/half-price tickets for various shows. The ticket booth is located at Visitors Center at Underground Atlanta, 65 Upper Alabama.

Classical Music: The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (website: www.atlantasymphony.com) was founded in the 1940s but only became full time in 1968. Fame struck when they played at President Carter's inaugural concert; they have toured Europe and the Americas extensively. Programmes often feature classical-pop, with at least one distinctly non-classical concert each month. The orchestra performs either at the Atlanta Symphony Hall (tel: (404) 733 4900) in the Woodruff Arts Center or at the Chastain Park Ampitheatre, 135 West Wieuca Road (tel: (404) 733 4955).

Theatre: The Art Deco Islamic extravaganza Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree Street (tel: (404) 881 2100; website: www.foxtheatre.org), known as the 'fabulous fox', is a National Historic Landmark and an attraction in its own right, with a star-studded foyer, fantastic balconies and exotic gilding. The Atlanta Opera (tel: (404) 881 8801; website: www.atlantaopera.org) is at the Atlanta Civic Center at 728 West Peachtree Northwest. It stages four operas each year. The Alliance Theater Company (tel: (404) 733 5000; website: www.alliancetheatre.org) is based at the Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street Northeast (website: http://woodruffcenter.org), and performs modern American drama with an occasional European piece. The 14th Street Playhouse, also part of the Woodruff Arts Center but based at 173 14th Street (tel: (404) 733 4738 (box office) or 733 4750 (recorded information); website: www.woodruffcenter.org/14thstplayhouse), is an umbrella space that showcases the work of many small theatre companies.

The New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree Street Northeast (tel: (404) 874 5299; website: www.shakespearetavern.com), pays homage to the Bard with a Globe-like theatre experience. Lastly, the Theatre in the Square, 11 Whitlock Avenue, in Marietta (tel: (770) 422 8369; website: www.theatreinthesquare.com), is housed in an old cotton warehouse and produces plays that reflect local history and feature local writers. It is only 20 minutes' drive from Atlanta and worth a visit.

Dance: The oldest continually operating company in the US, the Atlanta Ballet, 1400 West Peachtree Street Northwest (tel: (404) 873 5811; website: www.atlantaballet.com), is over 75 years old and performs during autumn, winter and spring. Presentations are held at the Fox Theatre (see Theatre above). The Robert Ferst Center for the Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology, 349 Ferst Drive Northwest (tel: (404) 894 9600; website: www.ferstcenter.gatech.edu) features jazz, dance, theatre and classical music.