Nightlife

The Hot List

Weekday Partying

A commandment that has been passed down for generations: don't go out on the weekends. We've heard this rule almost as often as we've broken it. Yet we respect the sentiment. Like surfers feel about their beach, so do we feel about the nocturnal playground that is the city. Thus we present the best parties for the best party nights of the week. Otherwise known as Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

SUNDAY NIGHT

GoldBar

Whether you're looking to ease your way out of a lost weekend or just setting the tone for the rest of the week, GoldBar's Funday is the kind of party that magically absorbs wave after wave of revelers without bursting into chaos. Whatever their motivation, most of the crowd is committed to denying the existence of Monday morning. All that means for you is that their inhibitions have been incinerated.

Relevant key words: buckets of beer, girl heavy, flannel, hip-hop

MONDAY NIGHT

Greenhouse

There will come a time when Monday is the new Tuesday. For now, Butter continues its classic, loungey reign over the night, while scrappy upstart Greenhouse makes a play for the crown with its slightly more casual, whiskey-soaked dance party. You'll want to avoid the karaoke demons downstairs and stick to the unexpectedly friendly upstairs mix of Euros, rockers, club kids and totally random, totally fascinating Downtown characters. You know, the kind you might expect to see at a nightclub at 3am on a Monday.

Relevant key words: Norwegians, hipster hip-hop, mohawks, Red Bull

TUESDAY NIGHT

Avenue

The city's first "gastrolounge" has been the Tuesday night of choice since Paul Sevigny established it as a beachhead for his Beatrice refugees. Now that Kenmare is beginning to show signs of life, Avenue's Tuesdays may be numbered. But for now, the party continues hitting it every week. Just show up a little after 1am, when the leggy crowd gives up any pretense of ordering food and gets down to their real business of looking seriously hot and slightly bored. It's a job they handle like true professionals.

Relevant key words: magnums, industry people, Twitterati

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

RdV

Sometimes you just want to dance. But with plenty of party photographers around to capture every joyfully candid moment. So it is at RdV on Wednesdays, where you'll find a gathering of models in Ray-Bans and hipsters in blazers, all dancing in harmony to an endless rotation of MJ favorites. Stiletto damage to the furniture has run into the millions.

Relevant key words: Thriller, cutoffs, sparklers, chandelier swinging

THURSDAY NIGHT

Provocateur

Thursday is as established a party night as Friday, so you'll want to hit a party with a bit more punch than other weeknights. And by punch we mean silky-smooth house music played by imported DJs to a room packed with imported revelers. These Europeans might be accustomed to what happens at 2am, but you'll be taken off guard when a high-pressure fog machine erupts from the ceiling and transforms the dance floor into what you might call, if you've been drinking enough, an ethereal wonderland. Expect difficulties in making out one red spandex dress from another in the lingering mist.

Relevant key words: pleather, Tootsie Pops, 2:32am, Dewar's