Old Town Scottsdale has a personality disorder. It tries to be one thing during the day and another at night. Merchants are gouged for hellish fees in order to provide the "free" parking so prices reflect this big gouge as some have to make up six figures per year (no joke). During the day Old Town caters to the typical tourists with skin that hasn't seen the sun since Eisenhower was president. The little shops sell a combination of crap and genuine goods. Restaurants cater to the over 60 crowd for lunch and the idea is to keep people milling around until they have spent all of their money. The perimeter of Old Town is alive with baseball, a hospital, banks and other real world establishments. At night the "clubs" open and each one thinks it's the Viper Room or the Abbey. Sorry, this isn't LA. High cover charges for lame, watered drinks and dead ambiance won't cut it. They make up for being dull with loud music. The rooftop bar concept seems to be dying off after locals who can't sleep through the racket take a few shots at the places from time to time. I can't blame them. A mile away the noise from these places is still thumping loud. It must be horrific to be at one of those rooftop bars. 

But to be fair, Arizona is not known for night life. It's a place where the sidewalks are rolled up at dusk and they try to cash in on big events like the occasional Super Bowl. They also try to create a night scene Studio 54 style with a new "hot"place popping up and when it is no longer trendy, they change the name and it becomes something else. Restaurants in Old Town also change names in the summer in hope of fleecing the same crowd the next tourist season. Many are now corporate-owned and the local restaurants have had no choice but to follow the downward spiral. 

On the up-side, look for the local bars and by that I don't mean clubs. The bars such as the Blue Moose are locally owned and serve up good food at decent prices, good drinks and offer friendly service. Stay away from the $30 per entree places and just go cheap and have a good time. 

If you are the sort who likes to drop $15 on a well drink with a bunch of plastic people who are keeping up appearances with the last of their Visa credit line, AZ88 is the place to go. :)