It's been on troubled ground for a long time now, so this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise... but it's still a shame to say goodbye to Chinatown, Shanghai's first (and, we think, only) modern burlesque club. more ›

Ah the shame - it looks like Dongping Lu's days as a middle-to-high end food street are nearing an end. According to managers at Azul, the Vargas-backed Spanish tapas turned Peruvian restaurant, the lease is up and the landlords, ICBC (who knew?), want to turn the entire building into a "private club and spa for tired bank managers." more ›

What a shame! The Nut, the art warehouse loft that so generously helped us host our Halloween party this year, will soon be no more. But it's not the only thing on its block to go - apparently the entire 1147 Kangding Lu converted factory space, of which it was a part of, is set to be demolished and turned into... well, something that's not quite as artsy. more ›

We thought that with the end of Expo coming, things would get easier for bars around the city. Not so it seems! Not only is Shanghai Studio having troubles staying open - apparently LOgO is too. SmartShanghai reports that the bar has been given an ultimatum to close down in ten days. Says the owner: "Too many complaints = Can't get the bar license. Sad." Indeed. It was one of my favorite late night venues - playing fooseball at four in the morning anywhere else just won't feel the same. more ›

According to the Sherpa's blog, Taco Loco "has been sold and will be permanently closed and therefore no longer available for Sherpa’s deliveries." We'll miss you, Taco Loco, your 28RMB burritos, your ice cold 15RMB Coronas and all those other awesome taco + beer deals. I haven't been this upset at something closing for a long, long time - not only does that make our only source of cheap Mexican food El Mexicano (which is, btw, more expensive), it also means there's no longer anything non-Chinese and still easy on the wallet around the Fumin/Julu/Donghu area. more ›

Two tidbits of nightlife news from SmartShanghai: Sin Lounge, which City Weekend readers named to be one of their favorite places (go figure!), is in a dispute with their landlord and will be closed indefinitely. On the other hand, Shelter had their first week back from the weekday ban. For the last month or so, they've only been allowed to open up on the weekends - now, they get to usher people in on Wednesday and Thursdays as well. So go to Swap Meet next week and celebrate. more ›

French Concession Moroccan restaurant Marrakech will be shuttering its little blue windows come this Valentines Day, according to SmartShanghai. While that deserves maybe a single solitary tear (there just ain't enough Arabic/North African/Mediterranean joints in this city), we're quite excited that the people behind one of our favorite cocktail places, Tara 57, are taking their place. They'll start renovating after the Spring Festival and it'll resume business in spring. more ›

Roomtwentyeight, the restaurant at URBN Hotel, has suddenly closed up shop... even to the surprise of URBN. Apparently, the Wagas group owned dining location boarded up one day with "no notice, no nothing." Who'll be taking its place? Probably David Laris, maybe. Whatever it is, we hope it turns out to be better than what was there before: an oversalted, overpriced version of Wagas' already middling Bistrow franchise.
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Yeeha used to be a great place to go (at least for drinks, if not food). They had cheap beers, they had friendly service, and they had a frickin' awesome mechanical bull. Then something changed hands and the beers got more expensive, the service more apathetic, and the mechanical bull disappeared. And now so has the rest of the restaurant, to the surprise, it seems, of many of its employees. China Daily has the scoop about how much the restaurant (which incidentally doesn't even belong in any way to Yao, except that his friend started it) owes the many many people it hasn't paid in months. We're just disappointed that whoever owned the place didn't go back to making Yeeha worthy of the Yao name. more ›

When Megafit first moved from its decent third floor of an office building location into the basement, we were bummed about the disappearing view, but hopeful that our gym going days wouldn't be much worse off. Then we went there, found out the new Megafit was pretty terrible, and figured it'd die a quick death. more ›

"I don’t know what La Bella’s space will become afterwards—surely it will still be some kind of French Concession-esque bar/cafe where young urban hipsters and professionals hang out. Whether or not that sense of community will transfer or can be quickly rebuilt is another matter entirely." We wish Isabella all the best. [Source] more ›