There is a dance joint in Minneapolis called "First Avenue." And in all seriousness it is one of the best dance halls I've been to in America. One of the longest running, it's been consistently open as long as I've been here. But the last time I went there I was about 25, maybe even 24. And the reason is that when you go to the clubs you are intending to meet a girl. Ironically, or perhaps even smartly, women are there to get free drinks, not meet a guy. And you realize this by the age of about 24 - 25 and then you just stop going out to the Boomchicaboom Bars.
What's ironic though is that my friends of the female persuasion still want to go to the Boomchicaboom Bars and "party." Whilst my male friends and more refined female friends want to "go to a jazz club" or "sit and smoke a cigar" or something less painful than the Boomchicaboom bars like smashing our toes with a sledgehammer. It was only by accident that I ended up at First Avenue this past year when we all decided to go to their late night salsa dance, where at the old age of 32 I "closed down the joint." That being said there was some culture there, being salsa dancing, not just loud obnoxious music and girls hitting me up for drinks.
Regardless, what ends up happening is that boys and girls become men and women and leave the bar scene and instead just stay home, fall asleep, play video games or go elsewhere. Some roving band of women may go back to whoop it up like they did in their college days and "party" but for the most part you're not going to see any man over 30 at any of these places. The market has cleared and there is no more trading at that 27 + something level.
I was trying to explain this to my female friends that were complaining there aren't just any men their age out partying anymore, until I came across this.
Thank you 'Least I Could Do' for making my job of explaining things a lot easier.
3 comments:
The market has not really cleared. Two things you often write about, a) lack of information, and b) too high transaction costs, causes many men to leave the market, so we are in disequilibrium.
Hopefully, by making this clear to all the women out there we will get nearer to equilibrium.
Har! I wouldn't hold your breath! The problem is there was never really any market to begin with. Men were there for women, women were there for drinks. One couldn't even claim the market to be in disequilibrium as there was no market. About the only thing we can say is that men were fools that would soon part with their money.
Is it the same in Switzerland?
It is the same in Germany, except for bigger cities like Berlin or Hamburg. When me and my friends turned 23, we began to wonder why the guys and girls of our age were staying at home.
A major problem in Germany is that there are often only discos and nothing else. Not a single nice club or bar where you can sit down and have a nice drink without being terrorized by extremely loud trance music. Once the average guy becomes 23-25, he's exhausted of all the heavy drinking, dancing, and girl hunting.
In Switzerland it's a little bit better, as there is more quantity and diversity in clubs and bars. But you still seldom see any people over 30 there.
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