About Hidden Nightlife in Philly

This photo I took of the Philadelphia skyline shows the city never stops shining.

A day in the life of most teenagers consists of…planning the night’s activities. Most of which involve pregaming, grinding in fraternity basements and making out with strangers. But then something happens. Teens become of legal age to drink, and realize there’s more to life than watered down Natty Ice in red SOLO cups.

Okay, maybe you still want to have a drink or two. Or three. Or maybe you’re on a detox and refraining from booze. Sometimes you just want to put down the third season of that Netflix series and listen to some quality live music.

But where do you find it? Like, the really good spots? A bar where everybody knows your name, music artists you may have walked past the other day en route to class, and low key places you would not ordinarily peg as fun spots to spend a Saturday.

That’s where we step in. Beat reporters, Katie and Natalie Weintraub will be giving you new ideas to spend your nights, and keeping you up-to-date on hidden nightlife in the Bucks County, North Jersey, and Philadelphia areas.

Reporting on hidden nightlife currently consists of stories highlighting swanky new spots to grab craft cocktails with muddled mint and berries. People want to experience that classy night out feeling, and reporters are helping them achieve that. There are articles written that zero in on the hottest dive bars in Philly, for those nights when you want to trade in your heels and hair-sprayed curls for converse and a pony tail. There are people in Philadelphia who get paid to find undiscovered talent for us. Doesn’t everyone want to know artists before they’re on the radio? That’s a true fan. Some reporters have even identified unpublicized spots in Philly, and written up about them. Thus, gaining them publicity.

Natalie and I will be on the lookout for a variety of things.

• We will find people who found love in unlikely places. We’ll go directly to the locations in Philly and speak one-on-one with couples and how they met.
• We will look at how hidden nightlife finds hidden talent in musicians who started small. Broad Street Music Group is a Philly-based group that seeks and puts on performances of undiscovered artists in the area. They have featured a total of 1200 musicians.
• We will seek hidden places through their histories, such as dive bars and old restaurants with interesting pasts, and how they have changed over time, if at all. We hope to speak with managers who have been part of several bars in the Philly area.

Sometimes, a simple Google search is just not enough. Real people with real experiences will give you the low down on what’s hot and what’s not. Over the next four months, Natalie and I will be finding those places for you.