Probably a lot of it is just the fallibility of human memory. I doubt the movie theatre has ever been busy at 10PM on a weekday, even if you remember it that way. You remember the bars being exciting in your early 20s because they were still a relatively new experience, now they're old hat and seem not very exciting. They're likely more or less unchanged.
When you go to a new city, it's just that, new and different, so it seems more exciting.
Calgary is also still in an economic downturn, so I'm sure most entertainment venues are down from what they were 3 or so years ago.
With regards to restaurants, who wants them to be busy anyway? I go to a restaurant to enjoy the food and to talk with the people I go there with. Why would I want it to be extremely busy? So it's too loud to talk, or so I have to wait for a table? One of the few good things about a down economy is reservations are easy to get or not even needed. I want restaurants to be busy enough that people have jobs and the good places stay in business, but wanting them to be packed seems odd as a customer.
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