Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 9/6/2008

Question
QUESTION: How are you?  As soon as I get back from Iraq my buddy and i are moving to Brazil.  Sao Paulo to be exact.  I have local friends and family their but you know Brazilians.  They tend to be biased to their ways of doing things so I need another opinion.  With the type of business that I do it is necessary for me to live in an area that hands down has the most nitelife.  Preferably the underground type of nitelife that most tourists are not interested in.  The techno etc.  But more over I simply have to be in an area where I can more or less walk to the local nitelife.  I know sounds strange, but its a necessary thing believe it or not.  Any help would be great.

ANSWER: Sao Paulo is massive. There is no such area that has the MOST night life, cuz those areas change all the time. And it depends what kind of nightlife. There is no area that just has rows and rows of nightclubs; but there are areas where there are rows and rows of bars, nice ones too.  Are you a DJ?  Sao Paulo is not  a tourist city, by the way.  And it is huge, so if you want to be near one or two techno clubs, you will be limited.  Love Story is probably one of the hottest clubs around in Sao Paulo, but I dont know if there are any new ones that havent been spoken about yet cuz Im not a DJ or inito the techno scene. My friend is so I can ask him.  From there, I can get neighborhood recommendations.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you.  Nope I am not a tourist or a DJ.  Just moving there so that makes me a foreigner??? hahaha  As far as i can tell Vila Olympia and one other Vila that I for get the name of have the most consolidated nitelife, but every Internet site is biased towards their own city.  What does your friend say?  Love Story huh?  Whats with the english?  i found one called club Lust?  Again English.  Oh and Cheers too.  I don't get it.  Thanks again

Answer
Yea, they love English down here.  Love Story is pretty hot. Gets jumping around 2am. Techno. Its in the old downtown area. Vila Olimpia -- I dont know that area as a hopping night spot. It is a business hub really and out of the way from everything. You might be thinking of Vila Madelena, which has tons of bars, like I said, but the only dance club I know of is a samba dance club. But lots of people in their 20s and early 30s roaming the streets. There are like four two streets that criss cross each other where the "beautiful people" hang out and drink, but it is mostly a bar/ restaurant scene, not a techno scene frm what I can tell.

Are you American?  What are you doing in Iraq? You a soldier or a contractor?

And why the hell arent you coming back to the US (if youre AMerican)...love it or leave it, right? What's up with that, soldier?!

Here s a picture of Love Story for ya..http://www.guiadasemana.com.br/detail.asp?ID=8&cd_place=18976