Great Nights Out: The After-After-Party
Nicky Blaine’s
The city’s original martini bar is still the most grown-up place in town for winding down the night.
If the Rat Pack were still around, this is where they’d go to close down the joint. The discreetly low lighting, the scarlet bar and carpet, the cushy leather sofas made not for sitting on, but sinking into—mix up all of these and you’ve got a place as sultry as a dirty martini. You are guaranteed two things in this swanky subterranean lair just off Monument Circle: good scotch, and even better cigars, all served up by women in LBDs. But despite the man-cave trappings, Nicky Blaine’s is above all a place where you can actually hear yourself having fun instead of having to shout over the thump-thump of club remixes. Here, jazz music prevails, but at a lower volume—and if you do have to scoot in a little closer to talk to that good-looking guy or doll on the next bar stool, well, so be it. 20 N. Meridian St., 317-638-5588, nickyblaines.com
Tini
Come for the dose of MTV nostalgia. Stay for the grooving going on upstairs.
You’ve made the rounds of your usual haunts, and you’re sufficiently liquored up to contemplate busting a few moves on the dance floor. You want to be at Tini. The chic Mass Ave club with a wall full of TVs screening music videos is typically packed, but customers were always trying to shake it to the beat anyway. Solution: the new upstairs dance floor, where you can order a ’79 Warhol (vodka, lavender tea, lemon, sherry, and egg white) to really capture that Studio-54-in-its-heyday vibe. Now, regular DJ nights lure even more people into the club and out onto the floor, where you’re welcome to try copying the moves from that Beyoncé video you just saw downstairs. Don’t worry—you surely won’t be the only one getting bootylicious before finally calling it a night. 717 Massachusetts Ave., 317-384-1313, tiniontheave.com
Downtown Olly’s
No matter what time you’re reading this, Olly’s is open right now.
When late-night waiters, bartenders, and others in the service industry get off work in the wee hours and want to party, there’s a good chance they’re headed to Downtown Olly’s. That’s because long after all of the other bars shut down, this 24/7 joint keeps going, whether you’re in the mood for $5 Jäger shots or a plate of bacon and eggs with coffee—so much coffee. Sure, you could drop by this relaxed, LGBT-friendly neighborhood spot earlier in the evening for karaoke or the twice-weekly Euchre tournaments (Saturdays and Mondays). But you definitely want to be here when it’s 3 a.m. and you’re still looking for a good time. 822 N. Illinois St., 317-636-5597
