I’m not saying everyone at El Bar’s coked to the gills 24/7. But the bar/club’s patrons definitely give off that ultra-cool/ultra-secretive vibe. You get to the spot by knocking on the stainless steel-clad door of a walk-in freezer just beneath a popular Tex-mex restaurant called El Azteca, then either pay 5 bucks, or give the bouncer a secret password (!!!) to get in free. Inside, you’ll find a tiny dance floor and tiny bar where some of the best DJ’s in the city (Treasure Fingers, Black Dominoes, Cole from Black Lips) keep the crowd moving until 3am every night.

If El Bar’s vibe is “coked out dance party,” Beep Beep Gallery is more “treehouse smoke lounge where everyone’s your best friend.” That tortured analogy is my way of saying that the art/music space has a small but dedicated crowd of regulars who are ultra-friendly and ultra-welcoming.

In addition to monthly art shows, the gallery hosts occasional mid-week concerts. The concerts tend to be emergency shows put together to support obscure traveling bands who wouldn’t otherwise be able to play in Atlanta. So you’ll have 2 or 3 popular experimental bands on the list, and then the touring band – for the last few months, that combination has provided an excellent mix of familiar and new sounds.