See and Be Scene: Thursday Nights Decoded

For the Toronto YP, Thursdays become a favourite night to hit the town as we approach our late twenties and beyond. Weekends mean expectations, lineups, over-crowdedness and, let’s be honest, at a certain point, those two precious days of freedom become more for errand running and relaxation than for the back-to-back partying they once represented. The Thursday night scene can be as innocent as a couple of casual drinks after work, to a blurry cab ride home in the wee hours of the morning from a bustling club. Thursdays provide the opportunity for the ultimate fusion of business and pleasure, with no other evening quite like it.

For the married YP, Thursdays provide the chance to let loose with colleagues and friends without feeling accountable to a significant other. The simple “having drinks with clients” line is understood, rarely argued, and most of the time is actually true…at least for the first few drinks. For some unfortunate souls, Thursdays may provide the only chance to mingle freely with members of the opposite sex. On Thursdays, it is easier for a man to sit at a table with a group of females without the worry of gossip reaching the ears of his wife because her former sorority sister just so happens to be sitting two tables over. On any given Thursday, the women could easily be coworkers or clients. That same scenario wouldn’t fly on a Saturday evening boy’s night.

Earls

Thursdays are even better for the single YP. When young singles venture out on a Friday or Saturday night, there is usually an underlying agenda (or hope) to return home with lips numb from a hot make out – or at very least a phone number. Such expectations are relaxed on Thursdays, as our mindset has not fully transitioned from work-mode to weekend-mode. If a connection is made, it comes as a pleasant surprise. Thursdays offer a relaxed environment that facilitates group interaction and organic conversation. At least in the early hours, nobody is too intoxicated to maintain a meaningful conversation, unlike a typical Saturday night in a loud, over-crowded bar where even if you could hear one another, chances are that he or she won’t seem quite what you remembered the next time your paths cross.

For strategic singles on the prowl, Thursdays provide an unmatched opportunity for a targeted “hunt.” Much like a shopping mall, where you know the exact type of clothing offered in each store, on Thursdays you know the type you’ll find at select establishments. Unlike the often mixed and unpredictable crowd that infiltrates the downtown core on weekends, those out and about on Thursdays are Toronto YPs who frequent industry-specific bars. The finance guys can be found hitting on the waitresses at one of the usual suspects; Bymark, Ki, The Keg or Earls (pictured above). The all-Canadian jocks will be drinking to their team’s win or loss at Real Sports Bar post-Thursday night sporting event. You can find the former frat boys-turned-ad execs at Spoke Club or The Pilot. The genuine guitar-playing hipsters will frequent their local hangouts along Dundas West or Ossington, a distance too ambitious on a Thursday for their weekend wannabe hipster counterparts.  

ONE

Single women are as easy to spot on Thursdays. The future generation trophy wives are found at One (pictured above) in The Hazelton among a sea of businessmen, professional athletes and visiting celebrities – if that’s your thing. Bay Street waitresses often divulge how a certain bred of gold-digging women donned in business attire, whether they work corporately or not, arrive early on Thursdays to obtain prime real estate in hopes that a group of suit-clad Bay Street boys will soon join (and cover the bill). On the other hand, the well-bred, wholesome type you’d marry can be found conversing over civilized drinks at Hemingway’s with a few girlfriends. If you can score guest list, find the city’s stylish set of PR girls at product launches, fashion shows or restaurant openings. As for the more mature group of women, affectionately labeled “cougars,” they’ll be out in full force at Bymark, The Four Seasons and later uptown at Coquine

Just as Thursdays offer a targeted audience for dating potentials, the same principles apply for networking. Although YPs tend to let loose on Thursdays, the workweek is not quite over and a lot of “shop talk” still occurs at industry-specific establishments. This provides the opportunity for the YP to mix work with play, whether to find a new job or recruit new clients. No strategic YP leaves the office on Thursdays without business cards. In the PR and advertising worlds, Thursdays are a favoured night for industry parties, with their accompanying free booze and unapologetic networking. Today’s young, personable job seeker has better luck scoring an interview through an industry-specific bar or party than desperately navigating job search sites.

FSTOP

After 10pm, however, all work-related chat should end as YPs head to the usual late night spots. F-Stop (pictured above) – a post-Earls banker boy favourite – is crowded and features both the sohpisticated and savvy YP female and an assortment of early twenty-something party girls who dance on tables in exchange for the vodka so freely poured down their throats. We prefer sipping on their martinies, but to each their own. Meanwhile midtown, Le Petit Castor is a favorite for Toronto’s influential selection of young entrepreneurial notables, party circuit regulars and cougars alike as they sip signature (and potent) “Pink Panthers” well into the night.

The downside of the Thursday evening YP playground is that it makes for an unproductive morning, but what could set the tone more perfectly for the typical YP’s Friday night in?