The Reno Scene - Exploring entertainment and nightlife in our fair city

Sarah Cook, Reno.com
January 12, 2007

Tonic is undoubtedly a place of drunken mischief, but an enjoyable one, to say the least. With happy hour lasting from 8-10 p.m., you don’t have to race over there the minute you get off work to slam down a cheap drink. Most of you local party people know that happy hour is hard to come across at an hour you’d actually want to be happily knocking back the booze. Tonic is different from most places in that sense, and also, in the way of eerie mood lighting. It’s always red in there, so, if you meet a cute guy/girl, be sure to do a double-take, as your perception might be tainted by the mysterious redness of it all.

Tonic is a jazz-based club with a huge dance floor that doesn’t get terribly crowded until super late in the evening…or shall I say morning. Mostly, people just relax on the couches and comfy chairs with their peers, but when the music does start to get going, the dance floor is a pretty fun place to be. The club opens around 7 p.m., and claims to close around 6 a.m., although I can vouch for the fact that I’ve stumbled out of that place with the sun rising high at close to 8 in the morning. Tonic has a way of sucking people in for an extended period of time. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you.

The crowd is usually younger, with people ranging in their 20s and early 30s coming together to form a scene that always prompts the sentence, “Aren’t you on MySpace?” The cover charge to get into Tonic kind of just depends on when you’re going, who you know, and what’s going down that night. If there is a cover when you get there, it’s not going to be more than five bucks, so, breaking your bank account is the least of your worries.

This place also has a great selection of unique art hanging along the walls, and it’s all local art, to boot. It’s great to see a place that supports the local artistic scene, so if you’re searching for a place to grab a drink that isn’t boring to look at, Tonic easily takes home the cake.

“SUPA FREAKY NAUGHTY!!” screams a guy, half sitting, half falling over a barstool at the end of the bar on a crowded Friday night. “SUPA FREAKY NAUGHTY!!” He just won’t shut up! The men are “mad-doggin’” him, and the girls are rolling their eyes, yet this guy just doesn’t get the point, and keeps screaming. Eventually, a tall girl in a red tube-top approaches him and makes a simple request. “Will you just shut up?” she asks, as he looks her in the boobs and screams, “SUPA FREAKY NAUGHTY!!!” The girl stomps off as the guy begins laughing, completely convinced that he’s the coolest thing since MC Hammer.

Then, the live jazz begins. By this point, everyone is scurrying towards the dance floor, either to rock out or get closer to the band for a better look, and Mr. Supa Freaky Naughty sits in the background by his lonesome, wondering why he’s no longer the center of attention. Eventually, he forgets everything, even his newfound catch phrase, and makes his way to the dance floor to groove the night away with everyone he’d pissed off earlier.

That’s the cool thing about this place – I’ve seen a lot of people hating on each other there, but by the end of the night, your worst enemy is your new best friend. So, dress casually, respect jazz music, love local art, and force your friends to break in the dance floor, even when the music isn’t playing. After all, what’s Reno without a scene?

The Reno Scene is an insider’s look at what’s going on around town after dark. Our intrepid night owl will scour the city each week to find out what’s really happening during the wee hours of the morning in the Biggest Little City. Basically, each week, we'll play “Operation” with the heart of Reno - get in, get out, and don't get zapped.

Next week: Foley's

Last week: The Brews Brothers