Posted by Matiz on October 11, 2000 at 11:31:01:
In Reply to: Newbies Rushing to Play posted by strikeeagle on October 10, 2000 at 23:51:25:
| SE's post touches on an interesting point. It seems that every few months, with the incoming "freshman class", we get a wave of new readers who get their collective feet wet at AB and CC, and then want to boldly go where (so they think) no man has gone before, i.e., to check out other bars in the ZN and elsewhere in TJ. BOT's FAQ really only talks about CC and AB, with passing mention to New York and Manhattan. IMO, the major drawback of this approach, especially for newbies, is that emphasizing CC and AB at the outset is a little like having your dessert before you eat your peas and carrots. You've already seen the very best TJ has to offer. But it's human nature to think that, if AB is that good, then man, there must be other places I can discover that are even better: smaller clubs, Revolucion dance bars, La Mesa, etc. Of course, the reason BOT put AB and CC in his guidebook is that they ARE the best TJ has to offer for the vast majority of guys, newby or veteran. TJ's a big city, and I'm sure you can find some place that no gringo has yet discovered. But, for all practical purposes, most all of the obvious substitutes for CC and AB have been explored pretty thoroughly in the past, especially in the last two or three years, and they haven't compared that favorably with the CC/AB benchmark. These places really only appeal to guys with certain very specific interests, i.e., guys who speak good Spanish, guys looking for local semi-pros, guys who like a little bit of uncertainty and danger, guys who like to practice karate, guys who're satisfied to dance and drink, etc. This isn't to say you can't get laid or have a good time in one of these haunts. It's more a cost-benefit analysis: Weighing the dangers, the uncertainty, the ripoffs, the lack of chica variety, the small percentages of true hookers in some of these bars, against the thrill of something new and different. But, of course, BOT already did that for you. Things can change rapidly in TJ, but the bottom line is that if these smaller places were really that great for the majority of guys, we'd all be going there, just like we do to AB and CC.
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