Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Air Conditioned Lounge
AC Lounge is redoing its underground, crystal-meth-lab look.
The first thing you’ll notice about Air Conditioned Lounge is the distinct absence of air conditioning. In fact, the iconic “Air Conditioned” sign outside the lounge (their website calls it the “most unassuming building on 30th Street”) is a remnant of the old Your Place Bar and Grill karaoke bar.
“We found the property in 2003,” says owner Gary John. “In those days there was nothing out in Normal Heights for cool entertainment. We designed the bar with what we hoped was a timeless feel — you wouldn’t know if it was ’68, ’78, ’88...”
That means table tops painted in the image of citrus slices, retro post-modern lampshades, leather everywhere, and vintage James Bond posters glowing over the VIP pit.
Bartender Jeff mixes a whiskey sour and a screen behind the bar flips through images of cocktails, women, and Gary hanging out with the Most Interesting Man in the World. Tom Tom Club plays “Genius of Love” from a newly upholstered flat screen while artists study a model in studded leather platform boots, a neon green tutu, black angel wings, and glitter lipstick.
The weekly costumed-figure drawing night, Air Condition Composition, moves to Sundays mid-August to be replaced on Mondays with dubstep/drum-n-bass night Organized Grime. Other nights, the dance floor heats up with Top 40, nu-disco, and ’80s standards. Every third Wednesday is Humpnight, a “dirty, nasty electro night which is always packed” and prone toward impromptu break-dance-offs. Junior the Discopunk brings electro, ’80s, and party jams every Friday.
Something of an oddity for the neighborhood, the AC Lounge enforces a strict dude dress code on Fridays and Saturdays, so don’t even think about trying to get your swagger on in sleeveless shirts, baseball caps, ’do rags, shorts, or “excessively baggy” pants. Accentuating the retro post-modern Gaslamp vibe is the VIP Freon Room, a secluded corner booth complete with door beads and stripper pole.
“Starting this year, a lot has changed,” says John. “We’re totally redoing the underground, crystal-meth-lab look and putting in a large window so our guests can enjoy San Diego weather and a cocktail without being shut inside in the dark.”
Now, get out there and dance your skinny pants off.
Cover: $5+
Hours: Mon–Fri, 4 to 2 (Happy: 4 to 8, $4 everythings); Sat, 8 to 2; Sun, 5 to 12
Prices: drafts, $5–6; bottles, $4–15; cocktails, $5+
Here's something you might be interested in.
Air Conditioned Lounge
Air Conditioned Lounge
AC Lounge is redoing its underground, crystal-meth-lab look.
The first thing you’ll notice about Air Conditioned Lounge is the distinct absence of air conditioning. In fact, the iconic “Air Conditioned” sign outside the lounge (their website calls it the “most unassuming building on 30th Street”) is a remnant of the old Your Place Bar and Grill karaoke bar.
“We found the property in 2003,” says owner Gary John. “In those days there was nothing out in Normal Heights for cool entertainment. We designed the bar with what we hoped was a timeless feel — you wouldn’t know if it was ’68, ’78, ’88...”
That means table tops painted in the image of citrus slices, retro post-modern lampshades, leather everywhere, and vintage James Bond posters glowing over the VIP pit.
Bartender Jeff mixes a whiskey sour and a screen behind the bar flips through images of cocktails, women, and Gary hanging out with the Most Interesting Man in the World. Tom Tom Club plays “Genius of Love” from a newly upholstered flat screen while artists study a model in studded leather platform boots, a neon green tutu, black angel wings, and glitter lipstick.
The weekly costumed-figure drawing night, Air Condition Composition, moves to Sundays mid-August to be replaced on Mondays with dubstep/drum-n-bass night Organized Grime. Other nights, the dance floor heats up with Top 40, nu-disco, and ’80s standards. Every third Wednesday is Humpnight, a “dirty, nasty electro night which is always packed” and prone toward impromptu break-dance-offs. Junior the Discopunk brings electro, ’80s, and party jams every Friday.
Something of an oddity for the neighborhood, the AC Lounge enforces a strict dude dress code on Fridays and Saturdays, so don’t even think about trying to get your swagger on in sleeveless shirts, baseball caps, ’do rags, shorts, or “excessively baggy” pants. Accentuating the retro post-modern Gaslamp vibe is the VIP Freon Room, a secluded corner booth complete with door beads and stripper pole.
“Starting this year, a lot has changed,” says John. “We’re totally redoing the underground, crystal-meth-lab look and putting in a large window so our guests can enjoy San Diego weather and a cocktail without being shut inside in the dark.”
Now, get out there and dance your skinny pants off.
Cover: $5+
Hours: Mon–Fri, 4 to 2 (Happy: 4 to 8, $4 everythings); Sat, 8 to 2; Sun, 5 to 12
Prices: drafts, $5–6; bottles, $4–15; cocktails, $5+