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El Alteño bartender Fidencio Rodriguez. Bars, Clubs & Coffee Houses 2000 NOW THAT THE lineup on local cable has undergone an inscrutable set of permutations (where is the Sci-Fi channel now, anyway?), even couch potatoes are responding to the siren call of real nightlife--real people, real music, real drinks. No sitcom or dotcom website can substitute for the interactive pleasures of rubbing elbows at a neighborhood hangout or dancing the night away to the exotically composed rhythms of a turntable expert. This year's Bars, Clubs & CoffeeHouses issue takes a look at some of the area's top DJs--the new heroes of dance nation--and provides a detailed guide to the county's nightclubs, bars and watering holes. In addition, we've mixed in a handy cheat sheet of coffeehouses and juice bars. Bars & Clubs: An A-Z guide to Santa Cruz County's hangouts. Caffeine Guide: Coffeehouses abound along the coast. Get Juiced: Smoothies, wheatgrass, fruit juices and more can be found at Santa Cruz County's juice bars. Spinning in Control: The DJ has become the new impresario of dance-oriented nightlife--a look at five top Santa Cruz masters of the art. It's wet work, but somebody has to do it. Our Bars, Clubs & CoffeeHouses reviews benefited from the investigative labors of Broos Campbell, Michael S. Gant, Jessica Lyons, Erika Mazzocco, Rob Pratt, Mary Spicuzza, Sharan Street, Kiet Tran, Christina Waters and John Yewell. On the Cover: Server Lauren Marcinkiewicz stands inside the antique telephone booth at Positively Front Street. Photos: George Sakkestad, Grant Wernick and Ivan Kashinsky Design and Layout: Dan Pulcrano, Marty Stevens and Dianna Woods [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]