When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, it was common to see corner butcher shops having sawdust on the floor.
McSorley’s Old Ale House.
Sigh This thread brings to mind the old St. James Infirmary in Mountain View that burned down in 1998. The Infirmary not only had sawdust and peanuts but also a 25-foot Wonder Woman statue inside.
Sawdust floors…what fond memories!
When I was three, my brother and I managed to get my mom’s entire softball team kicked out of a Pizza Hut in Southern California, which had sawdust all over the floor.
Strangely, the sawdust on the floor is one of the most memorable things from that event.
Texas Roadhouse peanut shell floors aren’t quite the same.
In Arizona, the bar I worked at had wood chips scattered across the restaurant floor as recently as last year. Sadly, the place burned to the ground Thanksgiving Day, 11/26/15.
Awww, they really didn’t waste Grilled Cheese by throwing it on the floor, did they? 
(You knew that was coming when you posted.) 
Depends on your supply of sawdust.
Many years ago, I worked at an insurance company, transcribing inspectors’ reports, and one report was for a butcher shop that emphasized that they did not use sawdust. One of my co-workers had owned a butcher shop with her ex-husband, so I asked her, and she said it was to absorb all the blood while they were cutting meat.
The practice was eradicated because of the fire hazard.
Actually ---- down Fayette-nam and some places around us I have seen a couple that are more than decorative. We really need to go dive-hopping some day.
(There was this one place near Acme called the High Chap or something like that. I wonder if their regulars were even housebroken. It always reminded me of the song Uneasy Rider)
Heh, I put Fayette County in its own unique category. At the Fayette County Fair I once saw them crown “The Milk Queen” (unironically).
I love dive bars like Jack’s on the Southside and Joe’s in Ligonier, but I realize there are bars way below their level.
Back when Rolling Rock was still brewed in Latrobe, I was in a dive in the mountains between Latrobe and Ligonier. They had Rolling Rock in cans, bottles, and draft. Nothing else. I didn’t want a RR, and when someone overheard me say that we were chased out. I was hit in the back with a bottle!
51 south of Century Three is a roadhouse tour all its own. My favorites were Deer’s (now the Kickstand I believe) in Elizabeth and White’s down by Uniontown with maybe Molnar’s near the intersection with 48 thrown in. Molnar’s had a fun history; it began as a fruit and market stand until a truck crashed into it totally destroying the joint. Somehow the owner translated the insurance into a liquor license and this cross between a country dive and serious biker bar - you see not just a lot of Colors but a fair bit of flannel and Stetsons as well. Makes for an odd mix when they have bands in. It also makes for some interesting experiences at the ER at Jefferson Hospital.
That or any other liquid that might suddenly present itself, such as blood, urine or spilled drinks.
That may be the original purpose, but sawdust had one added benefit: it made people on the dance floor slide, and country dance halls found that two-steppers liked that.
Yes. Yes, it is.
In Moscow (pronounced Mos Co (long o so as not to be confused with the other one in Russia), Kansas (their motto - “Well, we volunteered to take the Olympics in 1980!”) has the nicest place to eat in Stevens County - “Antlers” Still has sawdust on the floor and it even has a spittoon although I’ve never seen anyone use it.
20 years ago, I was at a ballgame in Arlington. It had been raining so many were wearing panchos including the two women behind me. They were also eating peanuts. Then they did the wave.
As big a nuisance as peanut shells may be dry, they’re worse when they get wet. Shells in my hair, in my beer, down my shirt… As if I needed another reason to loathe the wave.
How common WAS sawdust on the floor and how recently? I’m in my early 30s, and, while I’ve heard it referenced, I’ve never once actually seen it. Was this an “every real bar did” thing, or was sawdust a sign that you were in a proper dive?