University of San Diego
- Nightlife

The Tipsy Crow

The Tipsy Crow features three different floors of action. There is a great view from the third floor lounge out onto the bustling Gasamp. The drinks are stiff and the staff is great. Prices are high, and you’ve got to get here before 8 p.m. to avoid the minimum $10 cover.

Sevilla Nightclub

Flamenco and salsa dancing occurs nightly with professionals and near professionals. Lessons are often offered at around 8 p.m. A night at Sevilla can be fun, but drinks and cover can be brutal. There are is no cover on Wednesday, but it is $15 on Friday and Saturday.

The W

About as hip as it can get, The W is a hotel between Little Italy and the Gaslamp. It’s a great place to take out-of-state guests who like to roll their eyes at all things California. The Living Room, the downstairs lounge, transforms from a bar into a nightclub.

Typhoon Saloon

Typhoon Saloon is packed nearly every night of the week. In addition to having great drink specials and a feverishly loyal student clientele, Typhoon Saloon is attached to Fred’s, a popular Mexican restaurant.

Belo

Thursday are 18-and-up, so it's a popular night. There are two dance floors and a wide range of music.

Avenida Revolucion

Avenida Revolucion is the party boulevard in Tijuana. It’s hard to say what clubs to go to, to check out, because frankly, the names change rather often. Some stalwarts include Mister E’s and Safari. It doesn’t really matter where you end up. Travel in a manageable group and just go where the music, and your instincts, take you. All up and down the street, you can expect to be incited into the club to have a good time. You can negotiate drink prices. Nothing is more uncomfortable than being separated, or losing someone, even for a short period of time. There rarely is reason to panic, but telling that to the drunk freshman who just lost his or her roommate may lead to tears. It’s also a good idea to take a cab back and forth from the border simply because there are so many drunk visitors walking back and forth, and they are often looking for trouble. It is also imperative to have a designated driver, or take a cab back to campus. Highway 5 is full of police who are on the lookout for drunk drivers in the wee hours of the morning.

Pacific Beach Bar & Grill

This is a hybrid club/bar. It gets packed Thursday night through Sunday, but you can dance, play pool, watch sports, ogle locals, and eat great pub grub all in one spot. It's serviced by two square bars and has a massive dance floor known as “Club Tremors.”

On Broadway Event Center

This high-energy club is built inside the old Home Federal Bank building and features multiple levels of dance floors and bars. There’s also a high-end sushi bar and restaurant here. The cover is pretty steep, and once inside, there are VIP rooms that require further buy-ins. However, $5 Fridays has $5 drinks. The dress code is strict—no jeans, tennis shoes, T-shirts, or hats, and parking is the downtown version of impossible.

Princess Pub

This could be the most enjoyable bar in San Diego County. The Princess Pub is an excellent place to grab some real pub grub and down excellent pints of beer. It’s also a spectacular bar for soccer fans to catch international action. On days featuring important matches, the crowd can spill out onto India Street in chic Little Italy. Pub fans looking for a long night of beer, darts, and English atmosphere can’t do better than the Princess, and she’s just a short walk from the Little Italy trolley station, which is only two stops south of USD on the Orange Line.

Plum Crazy Saloon

Foosball and 68 beers on tap keep Plum Crazy at the top of the list. This is a popular target for hyper-attractive representatives of liquor companies offering samples of their product. Bacardi and Jack Daniel’s representatives may actually live in the back.

Open Bar

There always seems to be an enormous crowd spilling onto the deck and out of the windows, and the atmosphere is also always tremendously raucous. On weekends, neighboring Lahaina is its only rival. Anything goes at Open Bar—yelling, dancing, and blatant scamming are constant. Monday has a $2.50 drink special for those who won’t let the weekend die.

Tivoli Bar

Located profitably close to the ballpark and staffed by exactly the kind of people you’d want if you owned a bar, Tivoli is a bar-lover’s bar. Ask about the antique call button used to warn prostitutes about impending police raids many-a-moon ago. Obviously, if there is a Padres’ game, you should take a cab or trolley instead of trying to park.

The Tavern at the Beach

If you want to sound like a local, you can offhandedly refer to the days when The Tavern was known as the Daily Planet. If people look at you suspect, just reminisce about Fetch’s old spot across the street. The Tavern used to be an afterthought, a little to the east of the action, but nowadays, you have to wait in line. The Tavern rarely disappoints and has excellent drink specials.

The Silver Fox Lounge

Spectacularly unassuming, The Fox has only a few TVs, a pool table or two, darts, and a couple video games. Locals, students, and tourists all end up here to relax, and even on the most crowded of nights, the “San Diego Vibe” is in full evidence here. There’s no better place to find this feeling in Pacific Beach. Other highlights include the hot dog vendor right outside and the local flower lady selling roses at 1 a.m.

Nick’s at the Beach

Nick’s is really a two-story restaurant, but USD students tend to spend most of their time upstairs at the bar. Tucked away on Thomas Avenue, Nicks is almost always forgotten until late-arriving partygoers encounter the long lines on Garnet Avenue. In all fairness, Nick’s is a great place in its own right. A pen-air patio and a cool layout make it a hard spot to leave.

The Field

The Field somehow manages to pull off an Irish feel in the middle of downtown San Diego. Fans of all things Irish swear by this place, as well as anyone who appreciates a good pint. It has welcoming atmosphere in an area known to turn you away if you are carrying last spring’s bag.

Coaster Saloon

Coaster Saloon has an outdoor patio and shows a "game of the week" on its large projection screen.

Beachcomber

The Beachcomber is the penultimate USD bar. A large percentage of off-campus USD students live within a mile of this place, and they love to walk over on Friday nights and take advantage of crazy drink specials. The bar is in an old wooden building, and almost feels like you are below board in an old ship, and the staff is great. The “Comber,” as it is normally called, is a great place to go any time of day or night. Friday nights, the pub turns into dance inferno, and drink prices plummet to less than $1 for cosmopolitans and domestic beer.

Moondoggies

A little more upscale, Moondoggies is the best place in PB to watch sports (and the only place in San Diego to watch out-of-market NHL games). Moondoggies has excellent food specials and a solid happy hour. The absence of a large dance floor makes this a bar more than a club, although there is live music all the time. There is a second Moondoggies in La Jolla.

Maloney’s Tavern

Maloney’s is one downtown bar that is near and dear to most students’ hearts because the place is nice and actually reasonable. It’s got a huge lower level complete with bar and dance floor, and it is about as casual as you can get at a large Gaslamp night spot. You can actually hold a conversation if you want, but there’s plenty of loud music and dance space if you are more into body language.

Lahaina Beach House

Lahaina is a converted wooden beach house with a patio right on the boardwalk in PB. The place is always packed during the day. The beer is cheap and it comes in plastic keg cups. Lahaina is a great place to watch people, as well as show off your own wares.

Tijuana is close and the drinking age is 18, but students don't go here as much any more. There are house parties from Encinitas all the way to San Diego State. San Diego is a young city, and you may find yourself partying with people you meet on your way somewhere else. Popular areas for student parties include Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, the Wind-and-Sea area of La Jolla, and Mission Valley. For those who are all partied out, there is also the roller coaster at Belmont Park, a great place to meet people, as well as 40 or 50 bonfires along Mission Bay every Friday night. Torrey Pines Beach is also a great local hangout for younger students. Coors Amphitheater hosts regular concerts, and Petco Park is tremendously popular.