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Popular legend has it that the couple in the famous Robert Doisneau photograph (you know, the one everyone had up in their dorm rooms in college) didn't' even know each other. He's just back from the war and they're really glad the Allies won. That's the story, anyway, but it's not true. (It was actually taken in 1950, when the two were lovers.) But that doesn't mean Paris isn't a really great place for kissing someone you just met. If you don't have a regular snogging partner, that doesn't mean you should go un-snogged! Not when there are plenty of single (and not-so-single) dragueurs out there in the thick Parisian night just waiting to make out with a stranger in a bar. Why shouldn't it be you?
For the fainter of heart, those not quite up for a sexual sauna or a club échangiste, may we suggest the following establishments as surefire spots to score a little PG-13 action.
Continue reading "Snogging in Paris"
A new trend has been taking place at nightspots around NYC: earlier closing times. The mayor and the State Liquor Authority are clamping down on liquor licenses, and the only ones being issued right now are only valid until 2am. Some NYers are predicting that in the future, 4am closing times at bars and clubs may be a thing of the past. [
Whether you are a bi-curious woman who's part of a couple, a hardcore swinger without time for idle chitchat, a bear into the leather scene, someone who thinks 
"Swinging" is as old a sexual tradition as coupledom, but that doesn't mean contemporary clubs that host it are any less secretive about the practice. All across NYC there are members-only lofts and venues holding swingers parties, typically accessed via a pre-approved password, complete with all the amenities a swinging couple or single person needs. Typically they're BYOB (liquor licenses can be difficult to procure), and most charge couples a sizeable fee while letting in single women for free and denying stags entrance unless they're accompanied by a woman. After the jump, some of the city's most prominent swinger soirees.
The DIY ambience that has come to define Berlin's basement club culture has proven too babyish for many of the city's more mature clubbers, assuming that "mature" means showering in cologne, donning a designer-brand encrusted muscle tee, and gelling your faux-hawk until it resembles a dead porcupine. In light of the dollar's steady decline, Europe's privileged classes have a real reason to celebrate, and for Berlin's nouveau riche, it's no longer enough to snort a mountain of speed and run around the labyrinth halls of the city's cavernous clubs. They've done it all, and much like the stretch pinstripe shirt that still dominates their wardrobes, they've outgrown it. Let the nu rave kids sweat it out in the cellar, the nouveau riche kids are moving up to rooftop views, champagne flutes, and VIP rooms. In honor of their graduation, here's a quick list of the most expensive, garishly overdone, and elitist clubs in Berlin -- for whenever you feel like taking out the euro trash. (Please, like you didn't see that one coming.)
Lots of design- and style-oriented blogs are available to praise the cool lilypad-like lines of the recently opened 
This past Friday night, fashion designer Jeremy Scott and a slew of cohorts (the Misshapes and models Agyness Deyn and Sasha Pivovarova included) helped christen the New York's new megaclub in the Meatpacking District, 
Yes, we know it was filmed in Hoboken, but Greenpoint matches the film's gritty neighborhood look and has the same hopeless, new-to-the-country, Eastern European thing going on with its Polish population. It's also a great place to go on a stumbling bar crawl alternating between the old & gritty and the new & pretending to be old and gritty. Bad behavior is still tolerated by most of the bar staff, and the khaki-wearing d-bags are still relatively few and far between. Aside from 
If you're looking for a way to celebrate Mardi Gras this year and can't afford a trip to Venice or Rio, you might consider making a trek up to northeastern Paris, formerly the site of Carnaval festivities in the 19th century. At that time, the areas around Belleville and the rue du Faubourg du Temple were not yet part of the city, but were respectively known as the Haute Courtille and Basse Courtille. These neighborhoods attracted city dwellers seeking entertainment and cheap liquor, which they found in the numerous theaters, dance halls, and guingettes (wine bars) in the area. Mardi Gras was an especially popular time to visit the Courtille, and masked celebrants would carouse all night until it was time to return to their homes on the morning of Ash Wednesday. This exodus came to be known as the "descente de la Courtille," and at one time it involved hundreds of carriages traveling down the rue du Faubourg du Temple on their way into the city.
London is living in the past. Supper clubs, cabarets, and tiny basement bars reminiscent of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and, well -- pick a decade -- are some of the most interesting places to drink at the moment. They provide the perfect backdrop to our carefully chosen wardrobes from the same era. The idea of a speakeasy seems unbelievably glamorous, and we just can't give up our obsession with all things vintage. What the bars mapped here have in common is old fashioned glamour, retro appeal, live music, classic cocktails, possibly a bit of dinner/dance action, and an excuse to dress up to the nines.
There's always that jumpstart at the beginning of the New Year to get healthy -- runs to the gym, veggie-packed meals and lots of thoughtful discretion. Of course as the weeks roll on, the resolution to get healthy becomes somewhat impaired. If you're anything like me, your resolution invariably includes lots of booze, and why not? It's stressful getting healthy, and it's important to indulge. As you're indulging, do your body some good and go organic. With all the deliciously organic offerings at these Chicago spots, once you stumble into the morning after, you can still claim your resolutions are (somewhat) intact.
Last week, we discussed the 
So you were naughty this year and probably aren't going to get jack-shit from Santa. No worries -- you're not alone. If anything, you're in the majority of Berliners and can rest assured that there are plenty of clubs with holiday parties catering to those of us who would rather listen to Booka Shade than jingle bells. In fact, Berlin offers a multitude of events December 24-25, so you don't have to stay home alone, counting your lumps of coal and crying in the corner under your naked tree. Christmas comes but once a year, so why not make the most of it by staying up for two days straight? There will be plenty of time to recover before the New Year's festivities begin, and it's pretty much your last chance to get in some good old-fashioned hedonism before the annual ritual of swearing it off (for good this time) come New Year's Eve.
The successful club or bar in Los Angeles knows that the right kind of buzz is a license to print money, while the wrong kind of buzz means you may be forced to let unattractive people inside in order to stay afloat. In the quest to enhance (or fabricate) the demand to get inside a venue, a club will institute the velvet rope. I admit there's a nice sense of satisfaction after being granted entrance, and if you really must see the inside of bathroom where your favorite starlet was enjoying a usable amount of cocaine, or the booth where your favorite action hero was getting a lap dance, sometimes you must suffer through a wait. Yet there are limits to everything, even in this town, especially when you throw in asshole bouncers and stupid cover charges. I've listed some of the worst door policies in Los Angeles, but feel free to add your own horror stories as well.
