Reno and Beyond: Ultra Lounges, Oh My!
- DMD and I have been chatting about how alive WeFi was this weekend. Its probably a combination of the good weather and the opening of two new night spots (The Imperial and Divine Ultra Lounge)–whatever the reason, its a great development for the neighborhood. I absolutely love the Imperial, the frites are fantastic. This place keeps getting busier and busier and the crowds are justified. More on Divine below. I didn’t know Jill Benesch is “queen of young downtown Reno” Surely, I would have heard. And when did Johnathon L. Wright turn into a gossip columnist? Anyway, WeFi has a bar circuit now which makes for a lovely and varied night out.
- I am wary of any place calling itself an “ultra lounge,” but I can get down with Divine. Its city slicker cool inside and they play good dance music for those who want to boogie down. The stylish gays were out in force which is always a good sign for a place’s hip quotient–even in Reno. However, the question I have is whether Reno can get down with the whole VIP thing Divine is pushing? I see this as more than a “Reno isn’t Vegas” kind of issue. In fact, the longer I’m here, the more I am convinced that Reno is not really a VIP kind of place. Its just not in the genes (and jeans). How many people do you know that would pay several hundred dollars for bottle service? I’ll be watching Divine to see if their bottle service takes off, because if it does, well, I will have been wrong and I don’t like that. However, I do like Divine as a place to go for a fancy drink and some dancing. And they have comfortable chairs in the main area if you are lucky enough to snag one. Otherwise, if you want to sit down, you’ll have to spend a few hundred dollars for a bottle of your favorite (or affordable) libation.
- Dennis Hof burns down the remainder of the Mustang Ranch in a cleansing ritual. As Air Force Amy so eloquently put it: “The day of the $20 roll in the hay in a trailer is gone.”
- Okay, but will you make the site load faster? The load speed for the RGJ.com is starting to become a problem. And I still hate the scrolling “breaking news” section. Have they done any usability studies, because I am a pretty good web navigator and I’m finding it much more difficult to find things on RGJ.com.
- Reno Realty Blog’s Guy Johnson notes that, unfortunately, Reno is bucking the uptrend in housing sales experienced by much of the west.
- Erin Myers has got it backwards. Homes are coming closer to coyotes. At some point, we’ve got to take responsibility for displacing animals as a part of development.
- The wonderful Desert Beacon makes grammar fun, and possibly indicative of criminal intent.
- Read these posts for coverage of the health care forum in Las Vegas this weekend. I actually watched some of it on Think Progress’ website which went well after a rough start. I never thought I’d say this, but Obama was boring. Did you see Katie Couric’s interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards? It made me squirm. First of all, there was almost no footage of Elizabeth actually speaking, and Couric kept pressing John Edwards to explain why choosing to stay in the campaign was not a betrayal of his personal life or selfish, no matter how many great answers he gave her.
- Somehow I knew Reno’s biking blogger would love this story from the Washington Post.
- The “social host” ordinance is set to come before the city council soon, sans the red badge for repeated offenders. The comments on this article are more than entertaining. As someone who has experienced a noisy neighbor (the Liquid Lounge), I can tell you that when soundproofing and earplugs don’t work, there isn’t much you can do. My neighborhood doesn’t have any kind of noise ordinance. Its not a lot to ask for people to quiet down after midnight, and I certainly don’t see it as a violation of civil rights as some of the commenter’s do. Its a matter of being a good neighbor, and its a shame that its come to possibly enacting a special ordinance for one neighborhood. I’m not convinced that’s the best thing for the city to do policy-wise, but I definitely sympathize with those just trying to get some sleep. Hopefully, if the ordinance is passed, people won’t abuse it.
- The Holland Project’s outer space themed fundraiser was a smashing success. Check out the photos.
- Bogden is an “altar boy, football and baseball star, God-fearing, every-Sunday- Mass Catholic,” but they still fired his ass, which must be hard to do when they don’t even know his name.
- Kevin Drum provides a handy dandy list of reasons why Purgegate is so fishy.
- Cut the babe some slack indeed. I don’t think Clinton is my choice for the presidential nomination, but I would be more than happy if she was elected president–I think she’d do a great job.
- And my favorite Slovenian psychoanalytic cultural theorist (and film critic), Slavoj Zizek, wrote an excellent op-ed on the moral ramifications of living in a nation that accepts torture:
In a way, those who refuse to advocate torture outright but still accept it as a legitimate topic of debate are more dangerous than those who explicitly endorse it. Morality is never just a matter of individual conscience. It thrives only if it is sustained by what Hegel called “objective spirit,” the set of unwritten rules that form the background of every individual’s activity, telling us what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.
Read the whole thing.
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How’s 210 North doing? I still haven’t visited Divine Ultra-Lounge, as I’m neither “divine” nor “ultra.” On the other hand my “imperial” self has continued to enjoy Imperial Lounge on a few weekday nights.
And, yes, it seems J. L. Wright definitely likes to blah blah blah about nothing in particular (just like yours truly).
I’m wary of any bar that’s not a dive. I think they bus in the “stylish gays” you speak about from the acting school. I’d rather drink on a sidewalk than in any place with bottle service, unless by bottle service they mean that if you crack or chip your bottle they can patch it up for you. If I wanted to live among hipsters, I sure as hell wouldn’t live here. I hate to go Big G on y’all, but Gentrification sucks a large yuppie choad and that’s exactly where we’re headed and out of control, like. All we need is an Anthropologie and a recommissioned hipster diner and I’m outta here. I heard they’re already bussing in gays. Oh, I said that. Gays are the cement that holds a G’fied community together and makes it work. They pay high rents and buy expensive crap. You need either gays or Jews, or better yet, gay Jews. It’s okay. I’m a Jew. What’s next? Maybe some bike jousting? What else was popular in 2002? I can’t live through the past again, man! The pain! The pain! Just please, Izod shirts are fine but that up-collar is so over, it just makes you look like a hick. Drop yr Details subscription and get Paper.
In other smarmy remarks, Dennis Hof…I don’t think setting fire to a place gets rid of crabs. (Alledgedly.) This tells me two things…Airforce Amy must be about 100 now (alledgedly), and Joe Conforte must be (alledgedly) on his last legs in Rio. This burning–take it as his viking funeral, so to speak.
Last: John Edwards is a soul-less POS trial lawyer with less chance than I have of becoming president. what a joke of a man. Maybe Ann was right. Maybe they’ll bus him in to Divine for table service after he loses the election. Oh, Jesus! I just realized…if it’s 2002, does that mean everybody is drinking Rosa wine? I can’t take it anymore.
While I have yet to visit EITHER 210N or Divine, (not such a club kid these days), they both look appealing, and I think they both have their place. I will agree that the ridiculous prices of said “bottle services” can be a little off-putting, but at the same time they assist in creating an environment that can be a nice respite from the *ahem* same old dirty shit.
And what’s wrong with an Anthropologie, anyway? Except that my wife would be tempted too often!
Bring the hipsters on…they make for good entertainment. And keep the haters at home.
I have been to Divine. Strangely enough I think me and my friends showed up moments after Myrna and her posse left, according to our text messages. This valley has 400,000+ people, not 40,000. Believe are not, there are gay and straight people in this town with a crap-load of money just waiting for hip places like Divine and 210 North and Se7en to spend money on a good night out. I am friends with some of them. For example, I could easily get 10 of my friends together and all chip in to rent Divine’s VIP area with the bottle service to celebrate a friend’s birthday. In fact I tried and it was booked for that night. I think what some clubs downtown are realizing is that you cannot survive on selling alcohol alone, and are coming up with innovative ideas to use their venues to create aditional revenue.
I am old enough to remember the first time Izods were cool, but the collar up was never, and never will be.
And you are right about the big G. The city can combat that by making sure that affordable housing remains available in downtown. I think the Riverwalk and Ross Manor existing on the same small block is a good example of how that can work. But the city has to make sure that more affordable housing is built.
I am hoping more for a Crate & Barrel
I am more of a dive person as well, but I can hang in an uptown place once in a while. Right now, my biggest concern is smoke–and both Imperial and Divine are smoke free because they serve food. Yahoo!
Yes, of course I am right. There must be a balance of organic growth with planned. I hate to say it, but Reno is not even ready for an Ikea yet. Maybe in five or six years. Depends on demos.
Myrna–what do you know about Nevada’s new “no-chattel” mortgages? Scary stuff. Check it out.
Allegedly, Laura Bush is living at the Mayflower Hotel about 80% of the time because George is allegedly drinking again. Not making that up.
My chakras are out of whack. Anybody know a good masseuse? Not a HJ, a massage?
Last order of business– the board game CLUE, making its debut in Iraq this month. Serious. The answer to the murder is always “Mohammed did it with a car bomb in the market.” Game over.
Imagine: do these people really want to watch CSI: Sadr City? They’d spend the first fifty minutes just picking up bodies. Ice T pulls up in a car, rolls down the window. “Yo, raghead? Where were you at last night at 9:45?
Hipsters usually drive the minorities from their cheap rents. Luckily, Reno has no minorities. I just think there’s an entire element missing here to work. Is there a tolerable, nay, decent band in the entire northern half of the state?
I think it’s harmless, even swet to hope for a Crate & Barrel. but where are we if we need a Hegel-quoting Slovenian psychoanalytic cultural theorist (and film critic) to weigh in on the moral ramifications of living in a nation that accepts torture? I mean, really. Stop it. the great symphonic master of pataphysics Jean Baudrillard is dead.Don’t let some Slovenian Clay Aiken of the mind sing at his funeral. It’s just tacky.
Oh, Myrna! The collar is up! The collar is up! Oh, pray for us now or at the hour of our death.
Hey, Divine was as its name implied, Ultra was great.
210 is another story though. The $20 cover charge is extortion. Even a short line is a miserable wait. The staff is snotty and rude, and the drinks are watered down and priced out of this world. A very miserable evening. I would avoid the place completely.
It is funny that you mention the Gays at Divine. The club is very gay friendly… I hope it stays around it is nice not to worry about getting beat up in a club for sending out the wrong vibes.
Too much gossip gerald…I deleted part of your comment.
I didn’t mean to gossip minx, well maybe I did but a little dirt keeps the world turning, thanks for leaving the rest of my comment though, Thank God for Divine the only thing we have close to a upscale gay bar here in low scale red-neck heaven