You Should Be Dancing

At 57, Neil Patch, part owner of Retro Downtown Drinks and Dance (1518 McGee, 816-421-4201), is betting on the idea that people are looking for a drinking spot that offers none of the following: cheap PBR, strippers, loud indie rock, french fries. Instead, his newly opened bar at the edge of the Crossroads has only premium beers on tap and call liquor in the well, plus old-timey phone booths for cell phone users, Elvis-impersonator karaoke, and nothing to soak up the liquor but cocktail olives. “We fit more toward an older, professional crowd,” Patch says. So it’s perfect for City Hall types, lawyers and young women looking for a sugar daddy. Besides all that, Retro has a raised dance floor next to a big digital reconstruction of the Lennon Wall in Prague, a reminder of the days when graffiti and Western music were subversive. Tuesday through Sunday, Retro’s happy hour, from 3 to 7 p.m., offers $2.50 draws and $4 house wine.

Tuesdays-Sundays, 2010