Clubs in Santiago

I went to a club called rancho tippico( I think) it was suggested here a month or so ago. When i got there I realized I had been there in july as well. They have a dj playing hits the dancing started off raegatone then it turned to mostly bachatta, and merenge. Theyalso have a band that plays. which after i returned in OCT and saw the same band...think is a house band....even on sunday it was pretty full....Ambi1 is a disco that had Fernando Vililona playing one night when we showed up...not much dancing though while he played....so you never know if a band will play I guess.......bob

well this is what was given to me....my girlfriend navigated while I drove......

http://www.dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43838&highlight=rancho+tipico

bob

Nyeden said:

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows of any good clubs in Santiago . I know they got some good fiestas in December. I would like to see a good Bachatero or merengue band. Any one knows any good live party performances in December

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for bachata or tipico bands,, try Tipico Montebar Las Colinas.
I've been there a few times; good environment if you like bachata, or
tipico.

They open every day except Tuesdays.

http://www.tipicomontebar.com/index2.html#

All above mentioned places are 100% chopo. Does any visiting foreigner ever get to rub shoulders with better class people? Most decent dominicans wouldn't be caught dead in those places. But have fun.
AZB

hey AZB..soley to help me get a grasp of the term CHOPO..what would best describe a chopo?
( this is in american terms hope thats ok...)

1, White trash
2,gangsta-from the hood( rapper wanna-be)
3,punk
4,skin head
5,other

and does this term apply mostly to a man. Or is it a class...because when you say CHOPO hangout...a man comes to mind, because the women dont really hang out like guys do.

also is a chopo hangout a place where there are a lot of fights?, or just tons of pick up artists. And are they VERY young, or span the age bracket???

thanks.....bob

Lookie here!

laurapasinifan said:

hey AZB..soley to help me get a grasp of the term CHOPO..what would best describe a chopo?
( this is in american terms hope thats ok...)

1, White trash
2,gangsta-from the hood( rapper wanna-be)
3,punk
4,skin head
5,other

and does this term apply mostly to a man. Or is it a class...because when you say CHOPO hangout...a man comes to mind, because the women dont really hang out like guys do.

also is a chopo hangout a place where there are a lot of fights?, or just tons of pick up artists. And are they VERY young, or span the age bracket???

thanks.....bob

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In a nutshell, a CHOPO(for male) or CHOPA(for female) is a LOWLIFE.

Nice bar lounges in Santiago are:
Francifol, Tribeca, Ahi Bar, cucumacara??(more of a restaurant) & Ole

Nice clubs:
BiU pub & ????

Hooker/Disco joints:
Pasions, Ilusions & Casa Blanca

Live Music:
BiU pub, Ambi, Tipico, Monte Bar & ????

Gutter Chopo Hangouts:
Patron Burger, Hotel Lima Disco, and some dark bar right off Las Carerras.
All Billard spots

ok in an effort to figure where one fits. I ask for some more fine tuning please. I hope it hasnt been asked a 1000 times yet. because ya know I may just have to be relagated to the gutter folk if thats where I really belong! ha ha....I have been to Ambi 1, to Tipico, Illusion, and Passion that i know for sure in Santiago, as well as Mungu bar, The cowboy joint right at the gran ventanna( cant remember the name), and a club on the main drag in Puerto plata( dont remember the name either) I can tell a big difference in some. The obvious the stripclub-disco has its own place......the mangu bar and the other cowboy joint near the gran ventana both looked seedy to me. A ton of guys all trying to act meaner than the next, and hit on chicas all night...a few willing chicas as well. But good music some times....The ambi 1 club and the tipico bar had plenty of sit down seating, and not a ton of guys milling around single strutting their machoism. I did see plenty of groups of women, I guess hoping for offers to dance...but lots of women never hurt a place at all!!!!!!!!!!They also had more standard dance songs i think. where i was hoping for more reagatone( because i was'nt that good at meregnge or bachata yet). I bet over 60% of the songs at tipico and Ambi1 were merenge. then they had bachata next then it was a toss up for salsa or reagatone.

So the BETTER clubs, do thay have dance floors, and or are they so small they dont get a lot of clientel..I think a draw for me and possibly other visitors is to see lots of people. A small hole in the wall with upper class people and a small dance floor playing only salsa would not attract me I dont think( got to see it to know for sure) My GF loves to dance....not "lounge" and drink.just to drink. I pass a lot of places that "look" like they are playing music, but just driving by I wonder how they could even hold 50 people tops.. and they look like they are part of a cardboard villiage, all makeshift....now that looks low life...but ya know it IS the dominican republic..its not chicago or new york... and who wants it to be....for me going out is seeing people dance as well as dance and have a good time with the people I went with, maybe even meet new people......I have met a bunch of people who obviously seeing me want to talk about america or something that deals with me being american..or try their english out on me....especially students.( each time was in santiago) It may not happen much in the tourist trap cities.

again to each his own....I like courteous, clean respecatble people, but i doubt I dlike to go out with donald trump partying!..... and i dont want to go out with a guy who is gonna drag me into a bunch of fights. those days are over hopefully... just a good time dancing close to my GF.....ha ha ha.....bob

laurapasinifan said:

So the BETTER clubs, do thay have dance floors, and or are they so small they dont get a lot of clientel..I think a draw for me and possibly other visitors is to see lots of people. A small hole in the wall with upper class people and a small dance floor playing only salsa would not attract me I dont think( got to see it to know for sure)

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The dance floor in Francifol is small, mixture of music, TV's, typically an upper class hangout joint to be seen. No dancing in Ahi and the joint across the street??? I think there's dancing in there. BiU is huge tons of dancing, but will get crowded if there's a performance. Monte Bar is huge, but tipicos are more designed to seat people in comparison to discos. Monte Bar as with Tipico (around the corner, litterally in the back) Dance floor will get packed and hot as hell.

i knew this was coming.. i was just waiting for people to degrade DR clubs... and call dominic poor people "chopos."

DR is a poor country with humble people.... if people don't want to be next to "chopos" as they call them then they should go hang out in their own country. Any of the rancho tipicos have bands that play tipical dominican music. Most dominicans like merengue, tipico, bachata. If people want to hear Mozart play in a club then they should stay home (and not their home in DR).

i can be a billionaire and i would still would go to Tipico Montebar.

what's wrong with being with poor "chopo" dominicans?
If you don't like hang out places like these then go hang out with the President or go back to high class country where everyone came from.

if a place is dangerous b/c of the location or b/c of the people that go to
the clubs then that's another situation... but to label all of these clubs
as chopo hangouts that's just dumb. Most tipico & merengue bands play in these ranchos. Does that mean that these groups cater to chopos?

I have been to Tipico Montebar many times and nothing ever happened (even
coming out at 3am).

All,

the Dominican snobs consider any tropical music (Salsa, Merengue and Bachata) for chopos or low-lifers. The snobs are interested in techno, classical and rock music. If you want to go see good dancing and feel the music go to where the normal Dominican hang out. You will be amazed to know that shaking and jumping is not dancing. By the way, I have danced with well to do Dominicans and they look like Chichiguitas en bandas when dancing.

Chichigua= kite
en bandas= when you cut the string, the motion is en bandas.

THE GAME said:

i knew this was coming.. i was just waiting for people to degrade DR clubs... and call dominic poor people "chopos."

DR is a poor country with humble people.... if people don't want to be next to "chopos" as they call them then they should go hang out in their own country. Any of the rancho tipicos have bands that play tipical dominican music. Most dominicans like merengue, tipico, bachata. If people want to hear Mozart play in a club then they should stay home (and not their home in DR).

i can be a billionaire and i would still would go to Tipico Montebar.

what's wrong with being with poor "chopo" dominicans?
If you don't like hang out places like these then go hang out with the President or go back to high class country where everyone came from.

if a place is dangerous b/c of the location or b/c of the people that go to
the clubs then that's another situation... but to label all of these clubs
as chopo hangouts that's just dumb. Most tipico & merengue bands play in these ranchos. Does that mean that these groups cater to chopos?

I have been to Tipico Montebar many times and nothing ever happened (even
coming out at 3am).

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I don't know if you are referring to my post, but Patron Burger is a thug hangout and Hotel Lima's Disco is a skanky whore house, now if you are a tourist and don't know any Dominicans, I would stay far away from those gambling dens they called Billards. In NYC, the Mirage (main floor) is a chopo hangout, AstroMundo is a chopo hangout. Poor does not equate Chopo. A Chopo is equivalent to a Tiguere, thugs and Hoes do not have or need a monetary value.

If you are referring to AZB's post, then by all means disregard my post:classic:

Ricardo900 said:

I don't know if you are referring to my post, but Patron Burger is a thug hangout and Hotel Lima's Disco is a skanky whore house, now if you are a tourist and don't know any Dominicans, I would stay far away from those gambling dens they called Billards. In NYC, the Mirage (main floor) is a chopo hangout, AstroMundo is a chopo hangout. Poor does not equate Chopo. A Chopo is equivalent to a Tiguere, thugs and Hoes do not have or need a monetary value.

If you are referring to AZB's post, then by all means disregard my post:classic:

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not referring to you.... i have been to Patron Burger (just to eat though)..
eat fast or order to take out and then leave (due to being out late at night).

and about Pat Burg yes i have seen women who are not decent or who are
with guys that look like trouble makers.

If chopo is tiguere then that's something else... tigueraje can be bad and/or
can also mean that you're hip.... tigueraje as in acting indecent, doing bad things, etc then yes i would not go to places that promote these things.

i don't think dancing tipico/bachata in a rancho where DR's bachateros & tipicos play make you a chopo. I have seen conceited people in ranchos
and in discoteques... but that's typical everywhere... and i just laugh inside
when i see snobs/conceited people thinking they are better then everyone else.

so if chopo is tigueraje (hip tigueraje) then yes Mirage, Copacabana, Jubilee, Umbrella are all like that since young people go to dance same kind of music
to these places and bachata/tipico are the new spanish hip music.

I think AZB is just a product of his environment, since he hangs out with the upper class he will express their interests which are of course is anti-bachata, anti-merengue, etc. I think AZB has some good insights on many topics but sometimes gets a little carried away with the C word.

I agree Mirage is a chopo hangout, American- Dominicans assimulating ghetto culture.

Just remember the upper class has more skeletons in their closet than the poorer Dominicans that look like skeletons.... anyway Class & money should not be associated but yet they are, money can buy class just ask all the illiterate baseball players and drug dealers... oh so much do they wish they could enter the Santo Domingo Country Club.

capodominicano said:

I think AZB is just a product of his environment, since he hangs out with the upper class he will express their interests which are of course is anti-bachata, anti-merengue, etc. I think AZB has some good insights on many topics but sometimes gets a little carried away with the C word.

I agree Mirage is a chopo hangout, American- Dominicans assimulating ghetto culture.

Just remember the upper class has more skeletons in their closet than the poorer Dominicans that look like skeletons.... anyway Class & money should not be associated but yet they are, money can buy class just ask all the illiterate baseball players and drug dealers... oh so much do they wish they could enter the Santo Domingo Country Club.

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agree but DR music is all about merengue, bachata, tipico so to say that places/people are chopo just b/c they hang out in clubs that are not fancy
don't make sense... but then again like you say,, money does buy class even if a person does not act like they belong in a class. I just think that DR overall is all about these kind of music with poor/middle class people and if people don't see this then they don't know what DR is all about.

of chopos, decent Dominicans, and bars

Well the Ahi Bar has been mentioned in this thread as an example of where decent Dominicans go. I suppose it's true according to one's definition of decent. This is an easygoing country with a live and let live culture. LiKe every other country I know (more than one) this country has insecure people who struggle to feel better about themselves by demeaning others with derogatory terms like "chopo" and by hiding behind false pride.

ok in my best sponge impersonation... what kind of music is tipico

I can nail down the meregne, the bachata, the salsa, and the reagatone( or how ever it is spelled)..I went to the Ranchero Tipco club three times so far and they played merenge , bachata, salsa, and reagatone....if they played something else i thought it was one the four i mentioned....or is tipico what the band plays....( which seemed to be mostly merenge) but mostly faster than the DJ played it seems.

also as i look at the map ( Berndston of the whole DR) in the Santiago blow up the street Avenida febrero 27 runs from the Ensanche bermudez section all the way through the citu to the edge of the blow up heading towards tamboril... and none of the city sections say Las Calinas... so is that section actually east of where the map ends?... thanks...bob

Merengue tipico is like Geovanny Polanco, Krisspy, and so forth. They use the accordion in their merengue and it is generally faster.