{"id":299760,"date":"2026-05-04T21:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299760\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T21:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:56:10","slug":"san-diegos-sleep-friendly-nightlife-is-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299760\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego’s Sleep-Friendly Nightlife Is Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201990s pop hit is blasting as I drive up to Solana Beach<\/a> to go dancing. I\u2019m dressed in the millennial nightlife uniform: black tee, cute jeans, heels. It is 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. The dance party starts soon. I\u2019ll be home by 10 p.m. at the latest. I may even catch an episode of Summer House.<\/p>\n

I am acutely aware of my age in this moment. I haven\u2019t willingly chosen the club life since my 20s and early 30s. Yet here I am, transported back to 2014 with a few more wrinkles, a lot more ibuprofen, and a touch of \u201cpandemic stole this from me\u201d in my pocket.<\/p>\n

A few days earlier, a friend texted to suggest we go to a concert the upcoming weekend. \u201cI can\u2019t, I\u2019m already tired on Friday,\u201d I replied. At 42, two glasses of cabernet bend my space-time equilibrium. A hard sneeze risks a sprained neck. Did I mention the perimenopausal night sweats<\/a> yet?<\/p>\n

I arrive at the Belly Up<\/a> at 7 p.m. Wilson Phillips comes on the stereo, and I sing-shout the lyrics before stepping out of the car.<\/p>\n

Someday, somebody\u2019s gonna make you want to turn around and say goodbye | Until then, baby, are you gonna let \u2019em hold you down and make you cry?<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s event is billed as \u201cthe dance party that starts earlier.\u201d Surprisingly, I\u2019m not the oldest person in the room. A 60-something man shoulder bops to the DJ set. A Gen X woman shimmies by and snaps photos of the glow-stick-spinning raver on stage. Few are drinking.<\/p>\n

Started by two North County locals, Amal Chandaria (32) and Max Gold (37), Earlier<\/a> is a dance party for older adults who want a club experience without the sleep-deprived<\/a>, hungover physical toll. Running 6:30 to 10 p.m., attendees get home at a reasonable hour for a full night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy of Earlier<\/p>\n

Seems I\u2019m not alone in my tired. <\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019re in] a time where loneliness is high, people are craving connection<\/a>,\u201d says Chandaria. \u201cOne thing we were really intentional about is that you don\u2019t need to go and have drinks to have fun<\/a>. It\u2019s about the music and getting the wiggles out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early is part of a national trend: the green-juice-ifying of party culture. Americans aren\u2019t going out as much as they used to. They\u2019re drinking less, and 10 p.m. has become the new 2 a.m. Wellness as a lifestyle concept<\/a> is old hat, and each generation manifests itself in different forms (fitness booms in the \u201980s, organic food in the 2000s). <\/p>\n

According to a 2024 survey<\/a> by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the US wellness market now exceeds $500 billion annually, up from roughly $300\u2013$350 billion a decade ago. More striking than the spend: Wellness as a top priority has surged from about 42 percent in 2020 to more than 80 percent today.<\/p>\n

The timing makes sense. Studies<\/a> show Covid led to long-term shifts in lifestyle patterns. We all began to reassess our lives and made some existential changes\u2014like 6 p.m. soberish dance parties. In a recent Gallup poll<\/a>, only 54 percent of US adults reported drinking alcohol, the lowest level in about 30 years. Conversations around longevity turned \u201ctreat yourself\u201d into \u201cinvest in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The downer of any wellness trend, though, has been the \u201ccan\u2019t\u201d philosophy\u2014can\u2019t eat that cake, can\u2019t sip that marg, can\u2019t binge that show. What if we could do health stuff and still dance and not totally suck the joy out of life? That\u2019s what people like Chandaria and Gold are banking on.<\/p>\n

Last year when they attended Atomic Groove\u2014a variety dance band from 5\u20138 p.m. most Fridays at Belly Up<\/a>\u2014it sparked an idea. \u201cPeople want to be healthy and active, and they don\u2019t want to compromise on that by not feeling rested,\u201d says Gold. \u201cI thought, \u2018I bet if we\u2019re feeling this way, other people are looking for something like this, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He was right. Nearly 200 people showed up to the pair\u2019s first dance party last July. Tonight\u2019s crowd is nearing that number again. Among them is Cardiff-by-the-Sea resident and second-time attendee Lauren Marley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do one thing for yourself\u2014and it means that you don\u2019t have to be completely exhausted and wrecked for all the stuff you have to do the next morning\u2014it\u2019s great,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Though EDM isn\u2019t quite my thing (give me some stank-face hip-hop from the 2000s), it\u2019s clear from the number of return attendees that Chandaria and Gold have filled a need, one that isn\u2019t just in famously health-forward cities like San Diego<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In DC, Dancing on the Waterfront occurs every Saturday from 5\u20139 p.m. while Extended Play DC wraps up at 10 p.m. Philly has Matinee Dance Party (5\u201310 p.m.). New York City finally chooses to sleep, with Friday Feeling and Matinee Social Club both ending at 10 p.m. Last year, Day Shift<\/a>, geared toward those over 30, debuted at Bloom Nightclub in San Diego.<\/p>\n

In Chicago, Earlybirds Club<\/a> was founded in 2023 by high school friends Laura Baginski and Susie Lee. About 100 people showed up to the sold-out \u201cdance party for ladies who got shit to do in the morning.\u201d Two years later, Earlybirds Club is now held in nearly 60 cities and regions across the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an outlet that [middle-aged women] don\u2019t get in our everyday life,\u201d says Baginski, who also recently appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show<\/a> to share their story. \u201cIt\u2019s movement and dance. We\u2019ve learned now that it\u2019s really essential to being a happy person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admittedly, it\u2019s a bit harder to be happy when I walk into the Music Box for Earlybirds\u2019 event<\/a> in San Diego. War\u2019s about to start, protests are the new social gathering, and the economy is gaslighting me into believing salads should cost $18.<\/p>\n

But soon the club is a sea of 700 people wanting to dance their asses off. Any negative emotions quickly begin to disappear. Tonight\u2019s music features hits from the \u201980s, \u201990s, and 2000s: Madonna, Britney, Christina, 50 Cent, Ludacris. <\/p>\n

Shuffling past the bar to the already-crowded dance floor, my heartbeat quickens. Pure, unadulterated joy is oozing in this place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole club was women\u2019s bathroom culture,\u201d said returning attendee and San Marcos resident Beth Avant, 50. \u201c[You get to] freely dance, not care about what you\u2019re wearing, you\u2019re not trying to really impress people.\u201d Soon Whitney Houston\u2019s golden pipes set the room on fire, arms raise, smile lines deepen, and for a few hours, nothing else matters.<\/p>\n

Oh, I wanna dance with somebody \/ I wanna feel the heat of somebody<\/p>\n

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While Baginski continues to run the operation, Lee lost her battle with stage IV metastatic breast cancer in August of last year. Honoring her memory at each event are words from Lee herself: \u201cSing f**king loud, dance like nobody gives a shit, and remember who the f**k you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

And who we are are sleepy people. If this new wellness era<\/a> really takes off, imagine the possibilities. Dinner dates at 5 p.m., the Super Bowl at 2 p.m. EST, Justin Bieber headlining Coachella at 7 p.m. Until then, you\u2019ll find me in bed shooting down plans past 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

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