title: Python - Setting a datetime in a specific timezone (without UTC conversions)
body: <p>Just to be clear, this is python 2.6, I am using pytz. </p>
  
  <p>This is for an application that only deals with US timezones, I need to be able to anchor a date (today), and get a unix timestamp (epoch time) for 8pm and 11pm in PST only.</p>
  
  <p>This is driving me crazy. </p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; pacific = pytz.timezone("US/Pacific")
  
  &gt; datetime(2011,2,11,20,0,0,0,pacific)
  
  datetime.datetime(2011, 2, 11, 20, 0, tzinfo=&lt;DstTzInfo 'US/Pacific' PST-1 day, 16:00:0 STD&gt;)
  
  &gt; datetime(2011,2,11,20,0,0,0,pacific).strftime("%s")
  '1297454400'
  
  zsh&gt; date -d '@1297454400'    
  Fri Feb 11 12:00:00 PST 2011
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, even though I am setting up a timezone, and creating the datetime <em>with</em> that time zone, it is still creating it as UTC and then converting it. This is more of a problem since UTC will be a day ahead when I am trying to do the calculations.</p>
  
  <p>Is there an easy (or at least sensical) way to generate a timestamp for 8pm PST today?</p>
  
  <p>(to be clear, I do understand the value of using UTC in most situations, like database timestamps, or for general storage. This is not one of those situations, I specifically need a timestamp for evening in PST, and UTC should not have to enter into it.)</p>