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We are like the three perimenopausal musketeers.
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Barred: Sam Bond’s Garage & Blairally
When: Friday, 5:03pm
I always love drinking in other cities, ideally third-tier, not so much because I blend in more than in NYC but the crowds are often more diverse. At Sam Bond’s Garage, I had never seen so many white ponytails (on men, duh) in a room together. We ran into my sister’s neighbor, a woman who looked like a wizened Patti Smith, I saw a balding man with a hook for a hand, and also a man who was dressed like a senior version of General Zod. In the bathroom line I was talking to a woman who looked late 30s but turned out to have a son who was 28. Maybe she meant stepson? I just don’t know. Of Montreal’s song that was made into that Outback Steakhouse jingle was playing and it didn’t quite seem to jibe with the clientele.
Age appropriate? Hell, yes.
When: Friday, 9:20pm
Weirdly, Eugene has a dearth of drinking venues that stay open past 11pm. And so I settled on this arcade bar, Blairally, that I didn’t realize hosted ‘80s nights on Fridays and charged a $3 cover after 9pm. I can barely articulate the scene inside. There were very few people actually dancing, though there was an air of grown-up drama kids, trucker hats, and dreadlocks because it’s Eugene.
I had to hand it to the DJ because he wasn’t just playing greatest hits even though I’m blanking on all of them now except for Translator’s “Everywhere That I’m Not.” After I shot a quick video that Facebook wouldn’t let me upload due to copyright infringement, we took off. Thirty minutes, one dollar per ten minutes of entertainment, was enough.
Age appropriate? There were some gray-beards. Not any overtly middle-aged women. Ostensibly, ‘80s nights would capitalize on the nostalgia of people who were young in the ‘80s, but in my experience it always draws types who are at least a decade younger.
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Barred: Beauty Bar
When: Wednesday, 8:37pm
Beauty Bar was a thing in my 20s, so maybe it perpetually appeals to 20somethings. As soon as I walked in and sat at the empty bar stool closest to the door, I realized I had made a mistake. It appeared as if I had walked into a sorority party, lots of white wine and shrieks, but maybe that’s a normal Wednesday night.
Two nerdy men I had pegged for around 28 came after I did and were hovering for a seat. One said, “I haven’t been here since 2008″ as if that may as well have been 1908.
Was I carded? No.The bartender was diligent about asking everyone else for ID, though.
Age appropriate? Not even close. I drank my beer as fast as possible and high-tailed it out of there.
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Barred: The Sackett
When: Wednesday, 6:28pm
I’m 99% certain that I have never heard Gene Loves Jezebel played in a bar in all my life. The bartender, who was mid-30s at most, was playing a distinctly Gen X soundtrack: Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down Again,” Talking Heads, “Road to Nowhere,” Beastie Boys, “Sabotage,” then skipped Green Day and eventually played “Jane Says,” which people at the bar complained about, so the bartender said she was going to play it again. Maybe two of the roughly 15 patrons, males, were in high school when that song came out.
Age appropriate? Eh, sort of. Eventually one of the regulars’ wives showed up and I’m fairly certain she qualified as middle-aged–or maybe it was the Ann Taylor style.
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Barred: Banshee Pub & Finnegan’s Wake
When: Tuesday, 6:20pmBanshee Pub I used a visit to Tanoshi Sushi for an excuse to finally ride on the Second Avenue subway (no one told me the station had one of those never-ending anxiety-provoking escalators). I then had an hour to kill before my reservation, so chose one of the two Irish bars on the same block, one block from Tanoshi. Nothing was remarkable about this place, except that apparently there had been a gas explosion earlier so (under-40) temporarily displaced neighbors trickled in.
Age appropriate? Not while I was there, though no Irish bar is age-inappropriate even in bro-centric Murray Hill.
When: Tuesday, I’m guessing around 9pm
Finnegan’s Wake I’m the type that the more I drink, the more I want to drink so even though I told myself that I would have a few beers before dinner and then to go straight home after sushi, especially since I nearly polished off a large BYOB bottle of sake, I did not. Instead I book-ended my evening by going to the other Irish bar. But it was the right thing because I’ve always thought running into people you know in all corners of NYC was a trope (though based on social media, I have “friends” who run into “friends” all the time) and yet I walked in and saw a “friend” (I’m not sure what you call someone you’ve only met once or twice in person and only have a Facebook relationship with) who lives in far out Brooklyn sitting at the bar. She is only 35, however, so did not qualify for my middle-ages quota. She also mentioned on Facebook shortly thereafter that she wasn’t drinking anymore, a strangely common declaration with women in their mid-30s. Maybe that’s called wisdom.
Age appropriate? Yes. Clearly, the ladies come out later.
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Barred: Probably All Bars in Vegas
As is the case with the other, maybe the only, US city where you can consume alcohol 24 hours a day and up until recently could smoke indoors, New Orleans (duh), Las Vegas provides one of the more democratic drinking experiences you’ll probably find in this country. I guess vice is a middle-age magnet. Or maybe it’s that you could spend all day and night drinking for free-to-$3 a beverage and that’s a boon to those on fixed incomes.
You’ll notice, though, that while I stayed two nights on the strip and two nights downtown, I did not hang out at any bars on the main drag so I’m really only speaking to off-strip characteristics.
Age appropriate?
Fireside Lounge: Yes, girl’s nights and 40something dates.
Hennessey’s Tavern: Yes, white-haired couples.
All sitting outside (I was the only one indoors during the day) because these Vegas good-timers do not care one lick about sun damage.
Freedom Beat: Yes, more white-haired couples.
The Parlour Bar: Yes. In fact, at the 4pm-7pm and 11pm-to-close happy hours, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone under 40. I was fascinated by a va-va-voom 40-ish Asian woman with a mixed race mildly hip man two decades younger because I assumed it was a mother and son, but why would I assume that? A nice “functioning alcoholic” (his words) with gout decided to chat with me until security threw him out because he’d already been banned from the El Cortez. The guy on my other side threw himself out and started screaming obscenities at the man next to him. I patronized this bar four times.
All casino floors: Not technically bars but free drinks are available from roving waitresses (and they are all waitresses) if you can flag them down, and little matters like walkers, scooters, and oxygen tanks do not prevent any women from planting themselves at slot machines for hours on end.
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LOL
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The Discount Divide: Bringing Value to Millennials and Baby Boomers
While a majority, 76 percent, of baby boomers surveyed said they wouldn’t pay full price for products across every category, millennials are much less affected by discounts
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Now We Have to Contend With Gen Z Too?
Gen Z, by contrast, is somewhat less price-conscious. About 43% of Gen Z-ers are likely to compare prices, for example, compared to 49% of millennials and 51% of baby boomers, according to research from Euclid Analytics.
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Middle-Aged Women Are the Driving Force Behind Current Activism: Report
Middle-Aged Women Are the Driving Force Behind Current Activism: Report
“The poll, which was conducted by Lake Research Partners, revealed that 86 percent of the users that responded are female, and that over 60 percent are 46 or older — that includes 16 percent of women who are over 65 and still taking action.”