Whats happening in Riga??

Heading there tomorrow. Will see if I locate anything.

I was there last week and loved it. I didn't see any indie lairs though.

Pick a copy of the "Riga In Your Pocket" guidebook/magazine from a kiosk or bookstore, it's cheap and should have lots of good information. In my experience the "In Your Pocket" guidebooks are the best way of finding things in Eastern European cities, unless you know some locals. Those guides have info both on mainstream and underground/alternative stuff, and they're updated every few months.

I was in Riga in 2000, but the only joint I can remember was this nice jazz club called "Dizzy's". We also went to a gay club with huge Tom of Finland murals and some techno club that was located in an disused metro station, but I can't remember their names. One could notice that the Latvians had recently found the joys of uninhibited capitalism, because there were casinos, strip bars, "erotic clubs", and 24-hour booze stores everywhere. I don't think Tallinn or Vilnius has quite the same feel of being a capitalist playground. Maybe that's a bit different now, though, since they're economy is down the crapper?

Oh yeah, and if you want to see Soviet architecture at its ugliest/fascinating, you should visit the suburbs to see the local housing projects.

Cheers. I went to Krakow last year and had a very interesting afternoon wandering around the Nowa Huta, especially as I managed to hook up with a couple of architectural students beforehand to show me round, so I'm up for more brutalist Soviet housing projects.

having liked Riga so much last summer, I'm tempted to emabark on a trans-Baltic road trip this summer. Anyone done this? Would a week be reasonable enough to visit all three countruies?

when i went to Riga two summers ago i did couchsurfing, and i was lucky enough that the girl i stayed with was awesome and fun and unemployed so we did loads of stuff. There's like this artist/crack addict squat/hangout down by the docks (you have to go between some railway cars iirc?) and they have like raves/show video art etc and it has a really beautiful view of the water. The best view of the city is apparently from the women's toilets of a bar on the top floor of some hotel (floor to ceiling window, try not to attract too much attention to yourself, also the glass elevator has views all the way up)

I didn't really like Tallinn so much, tho the people I met there were all these hilarious and ironic estonians w/ british accents for some reason. But I ate awesome sushi there and there was a bar called Depeche Mode Bar. The city itself is really beautiful though and there is this church where they let you walk around on this stupid rickety ledge. Saw a LOT of english stag parties here and didn't party or anything so i dunno what that's like

never been to Lithuania

Gonna be in Riga in a few weeks! Anybody know anything current?