Tour Guidance 2: Tel Aviv Nightlife
During my college years, I was a bit too involved with nightlife. Though I’m not involved these days, I maintained a strange interest in understanding the ‘party ecosystems’ of fashion capitals. Today, I live in Tel Aviv. So I’ll be discussing Tel Aviv nightlife.
Finding Events
First, let’s keep it simple. Nobody is consulting a spreadsheet to know where to go out each night. There’s only a few ways people get out:
Word of Mouth
Flyers and message based Advertisements
2a. In Israel, once you go to a party, you’re usually on their WhatsApp, Text or Email list, even if you never subscribed.
Websites. Especially Facebook.
3a. In Israel, there is Secret Tel Aviv, but they skew a sachi direction and don’t regularly update.
3b. Electronic music fans use Resident Advisor (RA). In my time in Israel, promoters have gotten better about using RA, but still half do not. Meaning, I wouldn’t rely on RA over private groups.
3c. Most people use Facebook for events. They see what’s “popular in their area” or use the search functions. One you start showing interest in certain types of events, Facebook should show you more like them. MeetUp and other sites are not as popular in Israel, but can be worth checking out.
Venues and Lines
Venues == clubs (מוֹעֲדוֹן)
Promoters == lines
Clubs /=/ lines
A venue is an establishment. People may know venues by names, like Space, Pascha, Amnesia, MOS, Fabric etc. Some people pledge loyalty to their clubs, get friendly with the bouncers and bartenders, go regardless of who’s playing.
A promoter is a show organizer. Some promoters work exclusively with one club/venue. In Israel, most do not. Promoters hop between venues in and out of Tel Aviv. Promoters are called “lines” in Israel.
If you’re deeply into one type of music, you’re better off following promoters than clubs. For example, a popular club in Tel Aviv called Shalvata will have one line on Tuesday (Spoons) play house music, while another line plays mainstream on weekends. Very different.
Why am I explaining this? Because when I go out I talk in terms of venues and promoters. I personally like clubs like Sputnik and Hive (same management), and promoters like Fusion Culture and Mycophobia. I have both liked on Facebook. I am in their Facebook groups. That’s the only way to hear about an event early, to avoid paying the 2nd/3rd/4th round costs of admission.
Graphical Representation of Nightlife
Above is a visualization I made for going out. If you want to dance, look at 5+ on the X axis. If you want to hook up with someone, get wasted and/or take drugs, look at 5+ on the Y axis.
As a reminder, these venues do not have events every night. Some are bars, some are clubs.
Even More Info
Not enough? Fine. I’ll provide my whole spreadsheet: https://bit.ly/tlv_nightlife
If you want to hop around, sort asc by the “schuna.”
If you’re looking for a concert, sort desc by the music ranking.
I would love for someone to update my spreadsheet and blog! Please reach out if you’re interested.
My spreadsheet is not regularly updated. I left it open for comments. Please, please, please comment things like “I loved this place!” or “This place closed” or “You’re missing {{cool venue I never went to}}” if you want to help others out.
That’s all! Feel free to leave a comment if you have an update or need some sort of advice. And if you like this page, I’ll do similar ones for NYC and Miami next.
