Born in Chicago in 1960, where there seemed to be a beer sign on just about every corner. The first bars I ever frequented.
My experience was different. I just felt so comfortable in dive bars. Wherever I was, on the road or whatever, if I needed wot kill an hour or 2, I could just find a hole in the wall bar and have a couple of drafts.
Now, sober 20 years…
Bingo. Now that pot is legal, the younger crowds have less interest in drinking. Why go out and risk getting pulled over on the way home when you can sit at home, smoke to your heart’s content, and play your favorite game.
To me a dive bar was some place that was a little, eh, ‘off the grid’. A place where if you were respectful and aware of your surroundings, you could have a drink or two and end up in a random conversation about any topic with a total stranger and nothing bad would happen, but if you were less aware, you could end up in some pretty threatening situations.
Which, as I understand it, is a big reason why cannabis (even medical cannabis) is still illegal in Wisconsin. There’s a lobbying group, the Tavern League of Wisconsin, which is petrified that legal weed will decrease their business, and has been getting Republican legislators to block any legalization efforts. (They fought a smoking ban in bars for many years, for similar reasons.)
After reading some of your replies…
It’s obvious that the younger generations are drinking less, but at the same time, I still notice crowded bars, clubs, restaurants, etc (especially around the area where I live) even though my college town (population around 3,000 people “when college isn’t in session”) only has 3 bars in the area.
However, since 2 of them close around 10-11 pm, the other one is open until 1-2 am, and is more popular with college students. It’s a mixture between a dive bar and a tavern, which means that when college isn’t in session, it turns into a “townie” bar.
Furthermore, since this dive bar/tavern attracts the college crowd, it shows us that it all depends on where bars are located and what type of crowd they attract. This would’ve never happened if my college didn’t exist. It would’ve just been another local neighborhood bar.
On an extra note, I’ve also heard that if I was traveling the country and decided to visit some local bars in random states (during a road-trip) then I may or may not receive a warm welcome or be accepted, depending on the bar and how locals react to outsiders visiting their small town bar.
Having such a small sampling area makes it really hard to make conclusions about populations and habits. Being such a small college town throws off your research even more since people come and go so much.
I don’t hang out in bars much anymore but would love to discuss the differences among dive vs townie bars, tavern vs taproom (I think has pkged goods available?), grill vs grille. Seriously, it’s fascinating.
I guess because it’s boring IMHO. One of the main reasons I go out is to get out of the house.