Santa Cruz · Nightlife

Live music venue on Pacific Avenue downtown booking touring rock, hip-hop and heavier acts in the main room, with karaoke every Friday and Saturday from 21:00 to 01:00. Tickets through its own site; the crowd skews student during term.

Over-21 roadhouse at 1535 Commercial Way, away from the centre, with blues, reggae, roots and touring acts several nights a week and tickets roughly $18 to $45. You will want a car or a rideshare to get out there.

Non-profit jazz room at 320-2 Cedar Street putting on national and international acts, typically starting at 19:00. It is a seated listening room rather than a bar, so treat it as a concert; tickets on its own calendar.

Single-screen cinema converted into a live venue, used for concerts, lectures and touring film festivals such as the Ocean Film Festival and Mountainfilm. Programme and tickets are on its own site.

The downtown strip is where the bars are, a compact few blocks of pubs, taprooms and late food that you can cover on foot. Nothing runs late by city standards: California last call is 2am and most places wind down before it.