The city's primary nightlife areas are in Osborne Village, along a section of Portage Avenue just west of the city center, and around the busy East Exchange District, where many clubbing hot spots reside in historic old buildings. Some of the names may change frequently, but they remain clubs of one sort or another, and there are plenty of after-hours bars and restaurants to sustain party-hearty sorts into the wee hours of the morning.
For more rough-and-tumble bar-hopping, some watering-hole bars in local hotel chains are not tricked out for tourists and can get rowdy. They can be recognized by the nicknames locals use for them: A bar with an informal moniker like "the Jimmy" or "the Pemby" usually means a neighborhood pub frequented by testosterone-laden young males out to prove their masculinity by picking a fight or two. Be mindful that there have been several occurrences of violence at nightclubs in The Exchange District.
More sedate but equally adrenalin-charged forms of entertainment can be found at the city's two casinos, Club Regent and McPhillips Street, where lounge shows range from Abba or Elvis tribute singers to touring jazz combos.
