# What do you consider a "dive bar"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624 "2016-09-11T04:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/21 "2016-09-11T16:46:36Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > WTF? > > Even Thurston Howell wouldn’t call that a dive bar! I know, right? [Here’s another source calling it a “dive bar.”](http://chicago.eater.com/maps/best-dive-bars-chicago/skylark) And [Time Out’s](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/bars/skylark) category listing has it under “bars, dive bars.” [Foursquare](https://foursquare.com/top-places/chicago/best-places-dive-bars) lists it as the fourth best dive bar in Chicago. I mean, seriously, I really don’t understand under what criteria that is a dive. I mean, I guess it’s dark, but that’s about it. It’s not like the interior is shitty and run-down. It’s not a beer-and-shot place. It’s not particularly expensive, but it’s neither a $1.50 Miller Lites kind of place. It’s full of young folk, artists, hipsters and the sort. In what world are multiple sources classifying this as a “dive”? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/22 "2016-09-11T16:51:42Z")
Maybe it is a dive bar in the same way Micheal Jordon is one the worlds tallest “short” people. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/23 "2016-09-11T16:57:40Z")
Now I am envisioning some real stinker of a dive bar touting itself as the 4th most upscale bar in the Tri City area 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/24 "2016-09-11T18:35:24Z")
There was a neighborhood bar before I was born called “Smitty’s” The owner’s son was our family doctor when I was a child. By that time, Smitty had passed away. The bar had passed to Dr. Smith’s sister and her husband and the bar was called Carville’s. John Carville passed the bar to his daughter and her husband, and the bar was then called Bud Olson’s. I went to grade school with Bud Olsen’s sons, and one of them inherited the bar. A few month’s ago I stopped in there for a beer. I remember this from my youth as pretty much a blue collar bar where the working man would stop for a shot and a beer on the way home from work. It has declined into the perfect example of a dive bar. it seems to be full of pretty hard core day drinkers. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/25 "2016-09-11T19:25:54Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Daytime hours for serious drinkers (not people having brunch). > Food is minimal: either no food, or bagged chips. Pickles and hard boiled eggs. Or _maybe_ fried things from a kitchen, but as soon as it has a kitchen at all (even a dirty kitchen) it’s questionable. Not impossible, but suspect. > Good but random music. > Older crowd. > Regulars have privileges that drop-ins do not. No complaints. > Bartender tracks your tab and cashes you out the old fashioned way. Payment via a kitty is fine. > > Maybe the cocktails thing is regional – all the dive bars on my circuit serve plenty of cocktails, but it is ONE alcohol and ONE mixer for the most part. 7&7s, rum and cokes, vodka cran. There’s usually one older lady regular who drinks black russians. Yeah, this is my definition. Some of the dive bars I know have gotten kitchens, but they’re actively trying to move up from being a dive bar, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/26 "2016-09-11T19:34:14Z")
A dive bar is a place you refer to when stealth bragging about what an edgy guy or gal you are. Its characteristics vary by region, but it’s always among the most seedy in the area. If the area is affluent, the dive bars won’t be especially divey by national standards. But they are still dives. People gotta stealth brag. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/27 "2016-09-11T19:36:11Z")
Egan’s Bar in Tuscaloosa, AL. > **[Egan's Bar](https://www.facebook.com/homeofthehalfshot/)** > > Egan's is home of the halfshot and the coldest beer in town. > The place to be on GameDay. > The... 1229 University Blvd, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 > **[Egan's - Tuscaloosa, AL](https://www.yelp.com/biz/egans-tuscaloosa)** > > 16 reviews of Egan's - CLOSED "The biggest Dive bar on the Strip. A place that collects all the esoterics in Tuscaloosa. > > Great Live Bands, nice and LOUD! > > Too smokey, but they are working hard to pump out the smoke. > > Bathrooms are dirty, don't take... ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/28 "2016-09-11T19:46:59Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > A dive bar is a place you refer to when stealth bragging about what an edgy guy or gal you are. Its characteristics vary by region, but it’s always among the most seedy in the area. If the area is affluent, the dive bars won’t be especially divey by national standards. But they are still dives. People gotta stealth brag. Yeah, to me a real dive is not a place you would brag about or take your mother or anyone on a first date to under normal circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/29 "2016-09-11T19:49:44Z")
If you don’t have a fair chance of getting a chance to catch an STD if you are willing to risk it…it ain’t a dive bar. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/30 "2016-09-11T19:58:10Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Egan’s Bar in Tuscaloosa, AL. > [https://www.facebook.com/homeofthehalfshot/](https://www.facebook.com/homeofthehalfshot/) > [https://www.yelp.com/biz/egans-tuscaloosa](https://www.yelp.com/biz/egans-tuscaloosa) Trivia and live music? Not by a long shot. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/31 "2016-09-11T20:07:15Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Trivia and live music? Not by a long shot. Just the fact it had a Facebook page was enough to disqualify it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/32 "2016-09-11T20:12:42Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Daytime hours for serious drinkers (not people having brunch). > Food is minimal: either no food, or bagged chips. Pickles and hard boiled eggs. Or _maybe_ fried things from a kitchen, but as soon as it has a kitchen at all (even a dirty kitchen) it’s questionable. Not impossible, but suspect. > Good but random music. > Older crowd. > Regulars have privileges that drop-ins do not. No complaints. > Bartender tracks your tab and cashes you out the old fashioned way. Payment via a kitty is fine. > > Maybe the cocktails thing is regional – all the dive bars on my circuit serve plenty of cocktails, but it is ONE alcohol and ONE mixer for the most part. 7&7s, rum and cokes, vodka cran. There’s usually one older lady regular who drinks black russians. This is a pretty good summation. You can add things like: -random decorative crap dating back a generation or three -pickled eggs in a glass barrel. Or huge kosher dills from same. -hand-written signs with various house rules, like “No checks” or “No credit.” -at least one tap of workingman’s beer (not a macro, not trendy. Best if local) -dark. Real dark. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/33 "2016-09-11T20:42:27Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Trivia and live music? Not by a long shot. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Just the fact it had a Facebook page was enough to disqualify it. 🙂 You would have to visit the place. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/34 "2016-09-11T21:00:41Z")
A place you go to drink alone with other people doing the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/35 "2016-09-11T21:33:43Z")
My favorite dive had the following “features” The only way you knew there was a bar from the out side was a tiny sign that said “tap beer” Taped up upholstery on the ancient barstools. High life on tap, served in a mason jar. When the cooler breaks, it takes months to fix. During that time, beer is sold in cans out of a styrofoam ice chest. When Ice/beer ran low/out, the bartender would send one of the barflies across the street to the grocery store to restock. No air conditiong. Vague vomit odor. Filthy carpet. 5 second rule does not apply. If you drop any food, consider it lost. Sink in the mens room was clogged for months. When a plumber was finally called (who was himself a regular), he extracted a burnt heroin spoon from the trap. A guy once passed out under the pool table (that nobody plays, and is used as a table for the occasional crock pot/pizza.) and nobody noticed. Even when closing up for the night. He awoke to a dark bar and was locked in. If it’s still busy at closing time (2am) and the bartender felt like it, he’d close and lock the door and it would become a private party. Often times someone would cut a giant rail of blow on the bar as soon as the door was locked. As a regular, you could be flat broke, stop in just to say hi to the bartender, but be unable to leave for hours because of all the free drinks he and the other regulars would get for you. I miss that place. The owner finally sold it a few years ago to a guy who turned it into a bbq place. It is really good bbq and the owner is a cool guy. But he had to classy up the place and run off all the riffraff. It’s just not the same. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/36 "2016-09-11T22:11:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > -hand-written signs with various house rules, like “No checks” or “No credit.” “No colors.” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/37 "2016-09-11T22:35:57Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > If you don’t have a fair chance of getting a chance to catch an STD if you are willing to risk it…it ain’t a dive bar. Note I meant catching it AT the bar 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/38 "2016-09-11T22:43:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I know, right? [Here’s another source calling it a “dive bar.”](http://chicago.eater.com/maps/best-dive-bars-chicago/skylark) And [Time Out’s](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/bars/skylark) category listing has it under “bars, dive bars.” [Foursquare](https://foursquare.com/top-places/chicago/best-places-dive-bars) lists it as the fourth best dive bar in Chicago. I mean, seriously, I really don’t understand under what criteria that is a dive. I mean, I guess it’s dark, but that’s about it. It’s not like the interior is shitty and run-down. It’s not a beer-and-shot place. It’s not particularly expensive, but it’s neither a $1.50 Miller Lites kind of place. It’s full of young folk, artists, hipsters and the sort. In what world are multiple sources classifying this as a “dive”? Skylark? Motherfucking SKYLARK? Their own website boasts a Centerstage review quote, “You probably won’t have to deal with any sleazeballs here.” A) If there are no sleazeballs, you’re not a dive bar B) If you have a motherfucking website with quotes from shitgargling Centerstage, you’re not a dive bar. C) If you have a website, you’re not a dive bar. Dive bars don’t to Marketing or PR. I share your umbrage. Pass the beer nuts. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/39 "2016-09-11T22:55:59Z")
Beer nuts? You’ll take the bowl of stale pretzel sticks and like it! ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624/40 "2016-09-11T23:05:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > This is a pretty good summation. You can add things like: > > -random decorative crap dating back a generation or three > -pickled eggs in a glass barrel. Or huge kosher dills from same. > -hand-written signs with various house rules, like “No checks” or “No credit.” > -at least one tap of workingman’s beer (not a macro, not trendy. Best if local) > -dark. Real dark. An old (and long-gone) favorite of mine, where I actually tended bar for a while, had a sign that said “pain-in-the-ass drinks $5 extra.” And if you asked for a pain-in-the-ass drink, you got carded, no matter how old you looked. And whatever ID you had probably wasn’t acceptable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-dive-bar/765624.md?page=3)