Next 24 hour American city?

[SIGSEGV]

Not a real city, but McMurdo is a 24-hour operation. I imagine that's true of other similar locales like oil rigs, mining towns, etc.

[edale]

San Francisco is the opposite of a 24 hour city. I find it hard to even find places to eat there past 9 PM. It's shockingly early to bed for being such a big city. Boston is similar for sure.

I actually think Los Angeles might be the second most 24 hour city in the US. While nightlife closes pretty early (2am), there are always plenty of cars on the roads no matter the time of night. Now, I don't know exactly where these people are going, but they're always there. When I visit other cities, I tend to remark about how quiet and empty the streets get at night compared to LA, where there's always at least a background buzz of activity. I've even found this to be the case in Chicago.

[mhays]

One possible contributor: In LA, even the lower-wage off-shift workers typically drive everywhere.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The trend seems to signal that fewer cities will be 24/7. At least, outside of Asia, and maybe NYC.

Funny you should mention Asia...

A number of Asian cultures seem to value staying up late and going out/eating out.

Pre-pandemic, in the SGV, a lot of Chinese restaurants would be packed to the gills at night, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Many of them would be open to at least 1 or 2am, but this has changed after the pandemic. A 24-hour Chinese restaurant I know of that used to exist is now only open until 1am every night.

Los Angeles' Thai Town has a few 24 hour restaurants left, and there are a few I know of that are 24 hours Friday through Saturday, but otherwise are closed from 4am to 6am the rest of the week. I remember years ago when my partner and I would get Thai food at 3am, and we'd be listening to drunk people doing Thai karaoke. It was a hoot.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by mhays

One possible contributor: In LA, even the lower-wage off-shift workers typically drive everywhere.

That could well be, but there are quite a number of night owl bus lines as well:

Source: Metro Owl Service

[iheartthed]

NYC and Los Angeles might be the only two cities where traffic jams after midnight are the norm.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

NYC and Los Angeles might be the only two cities where traffic jams after midnight are the norm.

Makes sense, they're the 2 largest cities in the United States.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

NYC and Los Angeles might be the only two cities where traffic jams after midnight are the norm.

Never tried being on Miami Beach at 3am?

[Crawford]

It's interesting that many people predicted a post-pandemic nightlife explosion, a la Jazz Age Berlin or something. It was supposed to be a new age of hedonism. What happened? I guess people had new routines during pandemic, and decided to keep to those routines post-pandemic?

[dave8721]

The true "24-hour City" areas will be tourist areas. Tourists don't have to worry about getting up in the morning.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

It's interesting that many people predicted a post-pandemic nightlife explosion, a la Jazz Age Berlin or something. It was supposed to be a new age of hedonism. What happened? I guess people had new routines during pandemic, and decided to keep to those routines post-pandemic?

Cheaper to drink at home.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Funny you should mention Asia...

A number of Asian cultures seem to value staying up late and going out/eating out.

Pre-pandemic, in the SGV, a lot of Chinese restaurants would be packed to the gills at night, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Many of them would be open to at least 1 or 2am, but this has changed after the pandemic. A 24-hour Chinese restaurant I know of that used to exist is now only open until 1am every night.

Los Angeles' Thai Town has a few 24 hour restaurants left, and there are a few I know of that are 24 hours Friday through Saturday, but otherwise are closed from 4am to 6am the rest of the week. I remember years ago when my partner and I would get Thai food at 3am, and we'd be listening to drunk people doing Thai karaoke. It was a hoot.

Prior to the pandemic, I spent time in 24-hour restaurants (and of course, corner stores and 7/11s) in numerous big cities in China, Korea, and Japan. Mostly because they would sell us beer, in addition to food, all night long.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Crawford

It's interesting that many people predicted a post-pandemic nightlife explosion, a la Jazz Age Berlin or something. It was supposed to be a new age of hedonism. What happened? I guess people had new routines during pandemic, and decided to keep to those routines post-pandemic?

My guess is the changing youth culture? The latest social trends are started by young people; today's youth are too much into technology (smartphones, streaming, watching things online and on their damn phones) to the point that I feel it's making them homebodies and socially awkward. Anecdotal, but the 3 or 4 young people I work with at the office who were born in the 21st Century (!) totally have no personality; I'm often the one who says hello first when walking towards each other in the hallway; otherwise they'll just look away like I'm a crazy person to be ignored or something. Even my partner, who goes into the office once a week, says that the two youngest guys there (one is 30, the other 25), all they talk about is sports, and then when my partner asks what they did over the weekend, the typical answer is "Oh, just stayed home, watched (whatever) game or show..."

So dull!

I've seen online how people were equating the COVID pandemic to the 1918 Spanish flu, so somehow we were gonna have another "roaring 20s." Uh, no, the roaring 1920s were the result of the end of WWI, rapid changes in technology, and rapid changes in social mores.

[harls]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

In Canada, only Montreal comes close (and it is not 24/7, yet, although they are talking about removing the rule for bars to close at 3am).

About 20 years ago, I'd park my car at my job downtown on weekends (in the director's spot near my building at Phillips Square ) and remember returning to it at sunrise quite a few times.

Those were crazy times.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dave8721

Never tried being on Miami Beach at 3am?

To a lesser extent, I guess Miami Beach too. You can also say the same about Las Vegas Blvd. But the amount of traffic jams after midnight in NYC and Los Angeles are on another level, though. It's not uncommon to be in standstill traffic on an L.A. freeway at 1am. And gridlock is pretty much expected at that time of night for most bridges and tunnels into or out of Manhattan at that time.

[The ATX]

Cities have taken a big step backwards towards 24/7 since the Pandemic. Prior to 2020, Walmarts and a lot if not most, grocery stores were open 24/7. There were also more 24/7 restaurants. I'm speaking about Austin, but I assume it's the same in many other places.

[craigs]

The Market Street Safeway in my old San Francisco neighborhood was open 24 hours for decades. Every now and then I'd pop in to pick something up on my way home from a party or bar or whatever, and there were always plenty of people in there. Now it closes at 9:00 p.m.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by craigs

The Market Street Safeway in my old San Francisco neighborhood was open 24 hours for decades. Every now and then I'd pop in to pick something up on my way home from a party or bar or whatever, and there were always plenty of people in there. Now it closes at 9:00 p.m.

Exactly. I worked night shift for years, and even on my days off I would be up at night and often do my grocery shopping during 12-3AM when the crowds were less. But they were more drunk.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Exactly. I worked night shift for years, and even on my days off I would be up at night and often do my grocery shopping during 12-3AM when the crowds were less. But they were more drunk.

Oh mah gah off topic but has anyone gone drunk shopping at Target? I'll admit sometimes my partner and I will go to Target totally buzzed or buzzed to Bristol Farms (walking distance from our apartment) and we end up totally loading up on salty snacks like gluten-free pretzels and various flavors of PopCorners chips (we usually get white cheddar and kettle corn) and Good Crisp Company crisps, and then we go home and drink a bit more and the salty snacks always go well with alcohol.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Oh mah gah off topic but has anyone gone drunk shopping at Target? I'll admit sometimes my partner and I will go to Target totally buzzed or buzzed to Bristol Farms (walking distance from our apartment) and we end up totally loading up on salty snacks like gluten-free pretzels and various flavors of PopCorners chips (we usually get white cheddar and kettle corn) and Good Crisp Company crisps, and then we go home and drink a bit more and the salty snacks always go well with alcohol.

My sister and bro-in-law do their Christmas shopping for their three kids with a buzz. I tagged along one year and it was hysterical--shopping for toys is so much more fun after a couple of martinis!