Ottawa Craft

If you want to enjoy a martini while listening to a live DJ and doing crafts, the best and coolest place for both is at a spins + needles night. Hosted at various bars, galleries, legions, or your own private party, Melanie Yugo (crafter/designer) and Jason Pelletier (DJ) offer funky DIY crafts while a perfect beat spins for knit one, purl two. A small cover charge includes materials and instructions.

Ottawa Late Night

Once you’ve exhausted yourself from taking in too much loud music and drink, stop in at one of various late-night establishments, whether it be Vietnamese soup at the late-night Pho-Bo-Ga 2 (843 Somerset St. W., 234-7089), open daily until 5 a.m., the 24-hour Zak’s Diner (14 Byward Market, 241-2401), or the 24-hour
Elgin Street Diner (374 Elgin St., 237-9700).

Ottawa Comedy

For some of the best in live comedy, you can’t really go wrong with the old standard, the Ottawa location of Mark Breslin’s national chain of Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Clubs (88 Albert St., 236-5233); but don’t overlook Little Italy, which has its own small club, Absolute Comedy (412 Preston St., 233-8000), with seven shows a week, running Wednesday to Sunday.

Ottawa Blues

If you can’t wait for July to get to Bluesfest, check out the Rainbow Bistro (76 Murray St., 241-5123, therainbow.ca), the original home of Ottawa’s blues, jazz, and swing scene, offering a friendly, cozy atmosphere with live performances throughout the year. Jeff Healey, Powder Blues, Fathead, Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo, and Roxanne Potvin have all graced the stage over the 20 years the club has been in existence, and they recently put out a retrospective CD of some of their favorite performers. A bit farther outside the downtown core is Tuscon’s (244- Bank St., 738-7596) where you’ll find what they claim is “the best in food and blues.”

Sounds Like Ottawa

A fun thing to do late at night (wandering home from a pub, perhaps) is to walk through the sound sculpture called V.I.P. on the grounds of the new Ottawa City hall (110 Laurier Ave. W.), on the walkway from Laurier running between the two buildings. Designed like a kind of walk-in theremin, the piece is activated by
motion, and plays a range of sound depending on where you stand and what you do between them (the city seems only to turn it off as winter approaches). Currently owned by the City of Ottawa, the piece was made by Michael Bussiere in 1994.

Gay Ottawa

Despite its sleepy government veneer, Ottawa is home to a vibrant gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender population. For proof, just look at the number of bars for the LGBT community. The oldest (still existing) hangout is the Centretown Pub (340 Somerset St. W., 594-0233), with its heritage architecture and outdoor patio. Predominantly for men, there’s Swizzles Bar & Grill (246-B Queen St., 232-4200), with special nights that feature karaoke hosted by Swizzles regular Dog & Pony Sound, Sunday to Tuesday nights, as well as the Dusty Owl Reading Series once or twice a month. The Lookout Bar 41 York St., 789-1624 not only has a great second-floor balcony overlooking the Byward Market, but has regular boys nights and girls nights. It also hosts karaoke with Dog & Pony Sound (see p. 133) on Wednesday nights (they sure do get around!). For other gay clubs, there’s the Edge (212 Sparks St.), for the college crowd. Open at around 10 p.m., with events hosted by drag star Robin de Cradle, the place doesn’t get rippin’ until midnight. The rooftop patio, four floors above the basement bar, is open during the summer. For a more conservative feel, there’s Heaven (400A Dalhousie St., 482-9898), a three-storey club with regular events. Helsinki Lounge (15 George St., 241-2868) has drag shows and dancing on Wednesday nights, and, according to sources, the quickest pick-ups in the city. Touché (87 Clarence St., 241-8787) is good for cheap drinks and cheap dates, complete with an illuminated dance floor. If adventure is your thing, checkout Breathless (318 Lisgar St.), a BDSM community space (above Venus Envy), for swingers and public sex types. One In Ten (216 Bank St., 563-0110) is a sex shop and adult video store, with a back room with “glory holes,” open 24 hours. There are bathhouses too, including Club Ottawa Baths (1069 Wellington St., 722-8978), with a steam room, sauna, showers, and videos, or Steamworks for Men (487 Lewis St., 230-8431) with sauna, whirlpool, steam room, and glory holes (both venues open 24 hours). If you have to ask what glory
holes are, then you probably shouldn’t be going in there.
For further information, check out gayottawa.com.

Striptease Ottawa

Maybe it’s got something to do with this town being filled with normally buttoned-down businessmen and government types who need a “ahem” release valve now and again, but Ottawa has a lot to choose from in the way of strip clubs (or exotic dance bars, if you must). Some of Ottawa’s old standards (that I still recommend) include Barbarella’s Diamond Cabaret (340 Queen St., 234-8709), Barefax (27 York St., 562-1313), and Fanny’s Cabaret (128 York St., 241-0445). With 40 dancers daily, pool tables, catering, and full handicap accessibility, the nuDen (1560 Triole St. and 1595 St Laurent Blvd) even offers complimentary cover charge and coat check with any hotel room key from the Ottawa area.

Ottawa, Den of Vice

If gambling is more your style, cross one of our inter-provincial bridges to get to Casino Du lac-leamy (1 Boul. du Casino, 819-772-2100) in Gatineau, whether for the casino itself, which includes 64 gambling tables and 1,8 0 slot machines, or for one of their many shows in le Theatre du Casino (recent performances include Cathy Gauthier, the Led Zeppelin Experience, Marie-Chantal Toupin, and André-Philippe Gagnon). How often do you get to spend an evening drinking in a lounge that has its own heliport? They even have docking facilities for 20 boats and complete banking services, including a foreign exchange office. Come for the sound and light shows, stay for the gambling, but leave all your bankcards at home (to avoid temptation). Dress code in effect. Shuttle buses are available from downtown hotels.

Karaoke Ottawa

To unleash your inner Avril, there are a number of bars and other establishments in Ottawa that offer karaoke. One of the best is Dog & Pony Sound which takes its show to various establishments around town. Currently, you can find them at the Royal Britannia Pub (Mon. and Thu. nights; 1475 Richmond Rd., 820-5050), the Bytown Tavern (Wed. nights; 292 Elgin St., 231-3888), the Cock & Lion (Thu. nights; 202 Sparks St., 233-0080), Puzzles Sports Bar (Fri. nights; 344 Richmond Rd., 728-3024), and O’Brien’s Eatery and Pub (Fri. and Sat. nights; 1146 Heron Rd., 731-8752). As mentioned in “Gay Ottawa,” they also do a show regularly at Swizzles (Sun., Tue., and Fri. nights; 246 Queen St., 232-4200), Go Go’s Bar and Lounge (Sun. nights; 349 Dalhousie St., 789-1624).

Floors of Babylon

Occupying a space once held by a strip club, the Babylon Nightclub has a strangely shaped interior to see live shows (the position of the bar in the centre gives the whole place a horseshoe feel). Nevertheless, there have been some pretty cool acts here over the years, including occasional all-ages shows, offering a variety of music, including hip-hop, disco, and indie. The best thing about this club: for the first year of its existence, it didn’t even have a sign to announce itself. Finally, Ottawa was cool enough to have a nightclub that, if you didn’t know of it, you didn’t belong there.

317 Bank St., 594-0003

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