Is the vintage crowd the curmudgeon crowd?

[mike]

That description sounds exactly the same as the Cicada Club really. Promoters everywhere need to work with venue's schedules to run events that aren't heaving by modern club/bar attendance standards. I'm thankful that there actually are venues that are willing to work with promoters looking to run vintage-based nights! No one's making money on this stuff, that's for sure.

People can complain till the cows come home or find exciting ways to live their lives, either way 2012 is quickly approaching! muwhahaha

I would like to add to my own comment regarding living an exciting life; I don't think staying out till dawn equals having an exciting life. But the idea of creating your own enjoyable time (any time of day) rather than expecting it handed to you on a silver platter - that's the crux of the matter. If a vintage club closes down at midnight, who's to say you now have to go home if that's not what you want to do?

Often after the Cicada Club closed there was that great burlesque venue (the name escapes me) not too far away that was a good second option, or the Edison which was also just a few blocks away. Depending on the night or the amount of people you could bring with you from the Cicada, it could very well lead to an interesting, cultured and special night after the official event was over.

Finding exciting stuff to do non-bar related is even better. I took a bunch of friends on a trip up through New England to find strange halloween stuff do to like visiting HP Lovecraft's grave and staying the night at the Lizzie Borden which is now a bed and breakfast. I am hoping at some point to head back to LA and do a trip up the west coast to include Hearst Castle, a hike up to Lon Chaney Sr.'s cabin, the Essanay Film Museum and a lot more. See, no bars in sight!

What's my point? I'm exciting! Somebody date me lol

 

[Matt Deckard]

Bordello was that burlesque venue.

I tend to hit Seven Grand afterwards though that at times is slow since it's a Sunday night. I'm thinking of doing a night of Cocktails at Cole's in a few Fridays, I'd go there on a Sunday as well yet they close early on Sundays.

 

[Paisley]

Pity us poor, dull people who talk to our friends and meet people without the excitement of shouting over noise, paying $6 for drinks, getting along on three hours' sleep or telling rude drunks to shove off. Not that there's anything wrong with that if it floats your boat.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Interestingly, it was the non vintage-wearing curmudgeon swing dancers --the ones who arrived and left early, wore Gap t-shirts and track pants, and brought their own bottled water into the clubs instead of buying the venues' water-- who all but killed the west coast swing dance club scene.


For whatever reason, most of the vintage-wearing swing dancers that I knew were willing to buy their water (or whatever) from the swing dance clubs, and stayed until the clubs closed. They kept those venues alive.


.

 

[jamespowers]

Pity us poor, dull people who talk to our friends and meet people without the excitement of shouting over noise, paying $6 for drinks, getting along on three hours' sleep or telling rude drunks to shove off. Not that there's anything wrong with that if it floats your boat.

You are pardoned for being genteel.
I hear you there. After going out and running up bar tabs totalling over $200, my friends and I decided it was cheaper to do the same as you mention.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

So perhaps the answer to this thread's question is: the Fedora Lounge vintage crowd is an 'early bird' and/or home-entertaining crowd. This might explain why I've seen relatively few L.A. Loungers at the Cicada Club, despite its 1928 Art Deco landmark location, live '30s-'40s band music, a large and not too crowded dance floor, and no cover charge. (And yes, the water is free.)


Or maybe there's no explanation. After all, the Cicada Club begins and ends fairly early and is held on Sundays, when few people have to work. So ...where are the L.A. Loungers? Why do most of them pass up this justly celebrated venue? Is it because it's easier to fantasize about the Golden Era online than to actually experience a taste of it?


I throw up my hands. Don't go ... or do. Whatever. But know this: if you really want to keep the Golden Era flame burning, you'd do well to support the Herculean efforts of those who create (and give their all to prolong) venues like this one: www.clubcicada.com


.

 

[reetpleat]

Interestingly, it was the non vintage-wearing curmudgeon swing dancers --the ones who arrived and left early, wore Gap t-shirts and track pants, and brought their own bottled water into the clubs instead of buying the venues' water-- who all but killed the west coast swing dance club scene.


For whatever reason, most of the vintage-wearing swing dancers that I knew were willing to buy their water (or whatever) from the swing dance clubs, and stayed until the clubs closed. They kept those venues alive.


.

True to a point, but I would say that crowd is what put the venues over the top, then killed them. They allowed for much bigger venues and more of them, and really brought in the crowds. But then, yes, sadly, killed them.

 

[jamespowers]

So perhaps the answer to this thread's question is: the Fedora Lounge vintage crowd is an 'early bird' and/or home-entertaining crowd. This might explain why I've seen relatively few L.A. Loungers at the Cicada Club, despite its 1928 Art Deco landmark location, live '30s-'40s band music, a large and not too crowded dance floor, and no cover charge. (And yes, the water is free.)


Or maybe there's no explanation. After all, the Cicada Club begins and ends fairly early and is held on Sundays, when few people have to work. So ...where are the L.A. Loungers? Why do most of them pass up this justly celebrated venue? Is it because it's easier to fantasize about the Golden Era online than to actually experience a taste of it?


I throw up my hands. Don't go ... or do. Whatever. www.clubcicada.com


.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

You'd get what I mean in an instant if you'd visit the Cicada Club sometime. Even if it is in El Lay. Ask MK and Scotrace.

Consider this an invitation, by the way. I'll pay for the cover.

.

 

[mike]

From my experience (which comes from running monthly rockabilly/psychobilly/garage dj nights with live bands for about ten years) weekly events are hard to keep going anywhere. People always feel like if they miss this one coming up, there's another one in just a few days.

Plus spending money at bars isn't something I do weekly anymore, I try to budget for one or two times a month just to feel like I'm not too much of a hermit.

 

[mike]

Bordello was that burlesque venue.

Right! It was on the tip of my tongue :eusa_doh: thanks!

 

[Paisley]

So perhaps the answer to this thread's question is: the Fedora Lounge vintage crowd is an 'early bird' and/or home-entertaining crowd. This might explain why I've seen relatively few L.A. Loungers at the Cicada Club, despite its 1928 Art Deco landmark location, live '30s-'40s band music, a large and not too crowded dance floor, and no cover charge. (And yes, the water is free.)


Or maybe there's no explanation. After all, the Cicada Club begins and ends fairly early and is held on Sundays, when few people have to work. So ...where are the L.A. Loungers? Why do most of them pass up this justly celebrated venue? Is it because it's easier to fantasize about the Golden Era online than to actually experience a taste of it?


I throw up my hands. Don't go ... or do. Whatever. But know this: if you really want to keep the Golden Era flame burning, you'd do well to support the Herculean efforts of those who create (and give their all to prolong) venues like this one: www.clubcicada.com


.

OK, kidding aside, I go out about once a week, which is a lot more than I entertain at home. I'd try the Cicada Club for the dancing if I lived close to it, assuming it has a nice clientele and good dance partners there. I'm a dancer, not a drinker. I can stay out until 11:00 now and then, but I can't make a habit of it.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'd try the Cicada Club for the dancing if ... it [had] a nice clientele and good dance partners there.

It has both in spades. Wish you were closer to here!

.

 

[jamespowers]

You'd get what I mean in an instant if you'd visit the Cicada Club sometime. Even if it is in El Lay. Ask MK and Scotrace.

Consider this an invitation, by the way. I'll pay for the cover.

.

Throw in free drinks and I am there.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Have we become the early bird dinner crowd that is expected to leave before the real guests that like to party show up?

I'm on the phone with a friend of mine in New York and he's complaining that the retro club he just left closed at midnight. Now midnight in New York to me is usually my second hour into the night.

So what are you like? You go out to dress up? Have fun? Hang out?

Tonight's party guys and gals are tomorrow morning's curmudgeons. I'm a morning person, usually up by 4:00 a.m. for the day, asleep by 10:00 p.m.. I eat dinner around 5:00. But try to keep up with me in the early a.m.!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Throw in free drinks and I am there.

Free water o.k.?

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'm a morning person, usually up by 4:00 a.m. ...

That's perfect! You could get to an after-hours club before it closes.

.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

That's perfect! You could get to an after-hours club before it closes.

.

You mean like a diner?

Seriously, that's where I'd go at 4:00 a.m. in my party days. Now I show up showered and sober.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Question: Why does the late night drinking crowd equate exciting people? I know many who become boorish and boring while intoxicated.

 

[Paisley]

Next time I visit my aunt in California I'll check out the Cicada Club.


My FL friends can PM me if they're ever in Denver to visit a funky little place called the Mercury Cafe. Awesome dancing there.