For an upscale time on a budget, head to Madrone Art Bar on Divisidero for fun drinks, a chill, friendly crowd and lots and lots of dancing. Things really heat up Tuesday nights for Boogaloo $2 Tuesdays with the local band "Steppin" playing live music until closing and $2 Tecate beer and $4 Jameson all night long. Fridays and Saturdays also get going with drink specials and theme nights,  including a Michael Jackson/Prince dance-off. You also can't beat the decor. Madrone highlights different artists and their work - from photographs to paintings and mixed media - every month, making each visit feel like your first. They also have a photo booth in the front of the bar so even if you forget your camera, you can still have memories of a great night. Madrone Art Bar is located at 500 Divisadero Street in San Francisco.

With the ceiling murals and walls lined with framed currency, the Gold Dust Lounge looked like a Wild West saloon. Don’t let the decor fool you, this historic Dixieland bar was famous for the many Jazz artists who have played there over the years. San Francisco's Gold Dust Lounge, in a fight for its life since octogenarian owners Jim and Tasios Bovis were hit with an eviction notice last year, served last call at its beloved Union Square digs and announced an upcoming move to the tourist heavy Fisherman's Wharf. The Gold Dust Lounge has reopened and you're invited! We packed up the pieces in Union Square and moved to Fisherman's Wharf on the Barbary Coast. We brought Bing Crosby's cherub mural on the ceiling, the antique brass lights, the Bovis Family paintings, the tables, the gold filigree mirrors, the old wood bar, the red velvet booths, Herb Caen's stool, his Vitamin V, the band, the bartenders, waitresses, the Miner 49er, the swinging saloon doors, that familiar marquee -all we're missing is you! Come have a drink as we kick off more good times for years to come! Help us make the new Gold Dust a home.

With nightclubs, jazz venues, bars, and its own Vegas-style light show, North Beach is where San Franciscans have always gone to party.  And in the heart of this “Little Italy” lies Bimbo’s 365 Club, as much a favorite today as it was when Rita Hayworth was a high-kicking chorus line girl. Everyone who is anyone has since walked through these doors, including Chris Isaak, Robin Williams and Jill Scott. When you walk into Bimbo’s, expect an evening of classic lounge acts, supper club entertainment and a dramatic art deco theme that is entirely reminiscent of the swankiest big band era nightspots. One of Bimbo’s famously plush events is its corporate and private parties for swanky Silicon Valley guests like Cellular One, Oracle, and Yahoo!.  The venue offers tiered seating, dramatic lighting, fine dine table settings and a dance floor next to the concert stage. Whether you’ve been a regular for years or it’s your first time here, Bimbo’s is the classic nightspot for the upscale traveler.

For the Vivian and Edward in all of us (Pretty Woman fans?), your romantic evening awaits at the San Francisco Symphony.  With eleven Grammy wins, this ensemble features the most talented musicians in the world and is appropriately situated in the magnificent Davies Symphony Hall, which neighbors the Opera House and Capitol Buildings of the Civic Center. Whether an anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or birthday, the San Francisco Symphony continues to excite and lure even the most jaded of guests to fall in love with classical music year-round.  The Symphony's passion for music and award-winning Chorus & Youth Orchestra will inspire you to not just listen to the music, but emotionally become part of the experience. Davies Symphony Hall even offers a free after-hours party for some of its concerts, allowing you to enjoy popular bay area music in a nightclub atmosphere.  The folks at SFS really know music, from classical to contemporary, and hope to inspire the same appreciation in their guests, even if it requires drinks and socializing from the balconies that offer spectacular views of City Hall.

Someone forgot to tell the proprietors of Yoshi’s that sushi and jazz are cultural opposites.  Of course its founder and namesake, Yoshie Akiba, is also a fascinating mix.  Orphaned in Japan during WWII, Yoshie came to Berkeley as a student and opened Yoshi’s with her two best friends. Thirty years later, in its new $10 million setting in the Fillmore District (the “Harlem of the West”), Yoshi’s has earned a reputation as one of the world’s finest jazz venues featuring jazz legends like Dizzy Gillespie, Diana Krall, Max Roach, and Harry Connick Jr. Yoshi’s is also an award-winning restaurant, with Chef Shotaro Kamio presenting modern sushi that he describes as “seasonal, simple, surprise."  You can make dinner reservations in the separate restaurant before the show or enjoy small tapas-style sushi and sake cocktails in the club.  Prices are higher than average, but you’ll appreciate that Yoshi’s serves fresh and thoughtful Japanese cuisine rather than greasy quesadillas and mozzarella sticks. Tickets range from $13 - $100 depending on the performer, and the club seats 420 in its warmly lit acoustic cavern.  The custom sound system, complete with a resident Steinway grand piano, is clear and allows artists to truly be the center of attention.  So feel free to jazz it up with flapper outfits and tailcoats.