![\"After-Dark-May15\"](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/After-Dark-May15.jpg\")
<\/a>“There are so many bars here, and they\u2019re all so different.\u201d My friend Rachel is visiting from New York, and it\u2019s her first night in Portland. Because it\u2019s Thursday, we\u2019ve decided to take things easy, avoiding the all-too-well-known set-up of \u201cjust one drink.\u201d Instead we walk to Gorgeous Gelato on Fore Street, and because weekends start early in this part of town, Rachel gets to witness the pulse of the Old Port.<\/p>\nA recent graduate, she\u2019s suffering from the restless panic of 22 and has decided to make her way to as many cities as possible in the hopes of finding her start. Her fears, concerns, and anxieties were my own two years ago as a recent transplant to Maine. Now, walking through the town I\u2019ve come to call home, where I have favorite spots and my go-to watering holes, it\u2019s rejuvenating to see this part of the city through a first-timer\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
What I first noticed about the Old Port were all the different facets of nightlife occurring within the same few blocks. Walking along Fore Street on any given Saturday night, you\u2019ll spot a young, flirty couple, arm in arm, headed to Wharf Street to catch a live show at Oasis. Meanwhile, the same couple, only 20 years older, heads into Central Provisions for their long-awaited date night.<\/p>\n
Music floods the streets. Depending on where you\u2019re walking, you\u2019ll hear a local cover band playing Mumford and Sons or Kenny Chesney blaring out of Bonfire. And as campy as it can be, it\u2019s hard not to be swept up by it all. You know what I mean. We\u2019re all guilty of taking on a shot or one more beer after hearing \u201cAmerican Girl\u201d blaring out of Old Port Tavern.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the live music you can find at Brian Boru, where you\u2019ll surprise yourself, dancing the night away to a Maine country band called North of Nashville or kicking back at Sonny\u2019s on a Thursday night with live jazz.<\/p>\n
Because there is something to satisfy just about everyone in the Old Port, you\u2019ll find there\u2019s really no lack of personalities. From the Pabst drinkers at Rosie\u2019s to the cocktail buffs at Portland Hunt + Alpine Club, there\u2019s always a crowd with whatever vibe you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll go into the Old Port alone?\u201d Rachel asks. Of course. And a lot of people do. If you\u2019re not a fan of the obvious spots on the obvious nights, you can always head to a low-key joint like The North Point. Every Monday, The North Point celebrates the start of the week with half-price bottles of wine, and this time of year their outdoor seating is the perfect hideaway. If you\u2019re a true wino, you already know about MJ\u2019s Wine Bar, where you can end your weekend with a glass of red and Lady Zen\u2019s Obbligato midtown jazz sessions.<\/p>\n
Of course summertime brings a whole new level of energy: college students free of classes, the cruise ships, and the vacationers. The hot nights downtown also bring out the lovers. The ladies have kicked off the Bean boots, men have finally shaved their beards, and the heat is on. Sexy, low-lit spots like Vignola Cinque Terre; Zapoteca; or Street and Co., where you can keep it casual at the oyster bar, really do the trick.<\/p>\n
Every night of the week there\u2019s something worth doing in the Old Port. Stroll by Pearl on Thursday and you\u2019ll find a sea of salsa dancers tearing up the floor until 1 a.m. Looking for a mid-week pick-me-up? Head to Bull Feeney\u2019s with Portland Comedy Showcase on Wednesdays for some laughs, or play Picasso for the evening at Muse Paint Bar. However you get your kicks, you\u2019ll find somewhere to do it.<\/p>\n
While the Old Port does wear on you and eventually you may find yourself on Congress Street craving a little less action, it\u2019s good to know there\u2019s always something going on right down the road. And no matter how many times you\u2019ve danced at RiRa\u2019s on the crowded floor, stood in line at Bull Feeney\u2019s, or ended a night at the Thirsty Pig, it never gets old experiencing it all over again with someone who never has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
May 2015
\nMultiple personalities, one love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-10568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-may-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10573,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10568\/revisions\/10573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}