You know you’re in a dive bar when…

[exsparky]

The Valverde Yacht Club
1101 W Alameda Ave
Closed after 2007
It was an old Long john Silvers and they reused a bunch of ocean decor and carpet samples for wall paper.
I went to a birth day party there and they let us bring in a keg and cups.

I think I might be used to a rougher crowd than most here though.

I remember they had problems with people being stabbed in the parking lot and bodies being found in the dumpster.

Edit I guess you guys go to stabby bars too.

[TBS]

I can’t even remember the name but the bar in Sandpoint on Unga Island in the Aleutians. Snorting rails on the bar waiting for the windowpane to kick in. What a shithole.


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Ok, I’ll bite. What were you doing on Unga Island (besides coke and acid)?

[XXX-er]

The Brick Tavern in Roslyn, WA was a dive bar once, now a gentrified tourist spot faux-dive unfortunately. But I think they still have the running-water spittoon trough below your feet at the base of the bar. I got thrown out of there on Halloween of 1979 (?) for snorting coke off the bar. I mean, everyone was doing it!

well coke was cool back then, a buddy of mine bought coke at a high end restarant in Aspen, apparently if you turned your bread plate upside down the waiter would sell you coke

[Ted Striker]

But all I wanted was a Pepsi

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Ok, I’ll bite. What were you doing on Unga Island (besides coke and acid)?

Working for Trident Seafood and on a Bristol Bay boat. Summer and fall 1987. Sandpoint made Dutch look like the big city. I think we bought the coke and acid from the bartender iirc.


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[JimmyCarter]

The Valverde Yacht Club
1101 W Alameda Ave
Closed after 2007
It was an old Long john Silvers and they reused a bunch of ocean decor and carpet samples for wall paper.
I went to a birth day party there and they let us bring in a keg and cups.

I think I might be used to a rougher crowd than most here though.

I remember they had problems with people being stabbed in the parking lot and bodies being found in the dumpster.

Edit I guess you guys go to stabby bars too.

I love everything about this

[mcski]

But all I wanted was a Pepsi

This triggered a flashback to Chicago, summer of 1997 or there abouts

Out on a work boondoggle, got absolutely wrecked on Michigan w a coworker. I was already way over my limit due partly to Chicagos much later last call than what I was used to in CA.
Of course, my coworker was a much better alcoholic than I was and wanted keep going, much to my terror filled chagrin. After much badgering of bartenders trying to close up, on finally sent us on our way to a bar that felt that closing time was merely a suggestion, not a law. Not sure how we got there or what it was called. Only that there was a left turn and it wasn’t too far. I don’t recall it even having a sign, but somehow we found it. It was a walk down in an old building (kinda like the stairs to Cheers). Inside is where the surreality took over.

The wooden floor was so warped and wrecked it had a definite pitch to it. There was a circular type bar in the middle w an ancient, gray haired Micked tending to one obviously homeless lady, a possible transvestite, and another old man asleep w his head on the bar. The corner was piled w old wooden chairs and there was a catwalk around the upper level that had as many cobwebs as an old Wild Wild Wedt set than hadn’t been used in 30 years

We were greeted with a gruff “what do you want?” and we requested a couple of beers. This was the wrong thing to request. We may have well asked to fuck his mother. We persevered as asked what was available to which we were shots

We ordered a couple of whiskies of indeterminate vintage. Not being much of a whiskey drinker gave me an idea. I asked if I could have a chaser and got a begrudgingly affirmative nod and a what do you want? I said how about a beer? I wasn’t sure if that would get us tossed but surprisingly a beer was poured without any further comment

[mcski]

Dupe

[MakersTeleMark]

Elko? It might have been Goldies where a waitress offered a friend a $5 blowjob in the parking lot after closing.

Some of these bars posted just look like local bars that locals hang out and probably think it's decent. Dive bars have to be more seedy IMO. Some of you get exactly what a dive bar is for sure.

I prefer the tiki hut: https://maps.app.goo.gl/kwgg7GvrVhdQi8PE8

[teleee]

I guess The Mint in Sheridan WY could count.
Been around since the turn of the 20th century
Great selection of stuffed dead animals, cattle brands and other assorted cowboy paraphernalia.
The usual assortment of local drunks.
Great beer selection when I was there - Coors, Budweiser, Miller and their light derivatives.

First time I walked in, at about 4pm on a Monday, there were two white women beating the shit out of each other with pool cues. And it wasn’t rodeo week.

About half my other visits also featured drunken pugilists.

https://www.mintbarwyo.com/take-a-walk/

The Mint (and Sheridan) is a gentrified version of its old self, plus no way in hell it can qualify as a dive bar with a website.


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[BmillsSkier]

The Mint (and Sheridan) is a gentrified version of its old self, plus no way in hell it can qualify as a dive bar with a website.


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Yeah, I was thinking about that earlier. There’s a bar in Chicago that I love, the Lodge, that’s cozy, has Christmas lights up year round, full of fun people getting absolutely loaded, peanut shells on the floor, the whole bit. But it stopped being a dive bar a long time ago and now it’s just a bar. A great bar, but not a dive. The address probably helped change that, but hey, I’ll keep drinking there when I’m in town.

[Core Shot]

But all I wanted was a Pepsi

Definitely a dive restaurant.
Billygoat tavern. They did serve beer.
And the cheeseburgers sucked.

[Core Shot]

Yeah, I was thinking about that earlier. There’s a bar in Chicago that I love, the Lodge, that’s cozy, has Christmas lights up year round, full of fun people getting absolutely loaded, peanut shells on the floor, the whole bit. But it stopped being a dive bar a long time ago and now it’s just a bar. A great bar, but not a dive. The address probably helped change that, but hey, I’ll keep drinking there when I’m in town.

If you’re dive bar drinking in chi town hit Zakopane for zimne piwo

Artful Dodger. RIP. Demolished. Progress. RIP brian Friedler. Great neighborhood bar. Great owner.
https://yochicago.com/even-artful-do...bucktown/3399/

[XXX-er]

I think a dive bar has to be more divey than most of these

pretty much any bar in the Vancover DTES would fit the dive bar label, homeless everywhere, lots of heavy drug users, constant ambulance presence with people coding right in front of you, there are little signs up on street corners or alleys in the DTES to tell you where to direct the ambulance

[RShea]

If the number of windows on the bar is greater than the number of people freezing their assess off outside to smoke then I don't think it qualifies as a dive.

Some true dive bars allow smoking inside still... Doesn't matter that maybe State laws forbid smoking inside now. Popular in private "clubs" also as in you had to join- true dive bar status private clubs had a annual initiation and dues for the year that is cheaper than the cover charge for a band night at regular bars.

[ötzi]

The town I grew up in was dry but you could join the Italo-American Club and they had a bar so I'm an honorary Italian.

[MakersTeleMark]

The town I grew up in was dry but you could join the Italo-American Club and they had a bar so I'm an honorary Italian.

Where is Joey Bag a Donuts these days?

[CHAIR_97]

2 tooth minimum

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[BmillsSkier]

Y’all are just talking about the local Eagles Lodge chapter now.

[Art Shirk]

Was it in the location where Targy's is now?

Bingo. Targy’s.


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[gaijin]

... there's a teenager sitting at the bar dressed like a 70's gangster with gelled back hair and an enormous gold chain around his neck.

Back to Iquique when I lived alone practically on the beach, I would frequent a cheap bar to people watch. As I'm walking there I smell the devil's lettuce coming from a couple hanging out on the sidewalk. I tell them it smells nice and ask for a hit.

Then, I say "Huh... that tastes sweet. Tastes like sugar."
"That's the cocaine." (fuck me.)
"Well, thanks for that. Enjoy your evening. I'm gonna go grab a beer."
"Can we join you?"
"Uh.... sure?"

A couple of hours and several beers later I go to the bar to grab a round for us three. Teen boy is sitting there and as he pulls the glass to his mouth he whispers "They're going to rob you."

Languages always have dialects so I had to ask a couple of follow up questions in my broken text-book Spanish to ensure that I had heard what I thought I had heard. Also, there was no eye contact and he was being quite discreet, so I returned the favor.

"Did you just say they're going to rob me?"
"Sí."
"Am I in danger?"
"Sí. You should just leave."

My three beers came, I took a big gulp then just walked out the door.

Next day I see crack-laced joint provider up the street near the beach. We make eye contact about 70 feet away from each other. He just turned and walked away as if he didn't recognize me.

Some dive bars come with underage kids who look like they're from Harlem but are secretly little guardian angels. /Thanks, homie.

[shroom]

Some true dive bars allow smoking inside still... Doesn't matter that maybe State laws forbid smoking inside now.

proper operational smoking section is up there for me, good mention

i like to leave brunch feeling like a sinner on sunday

[Name Redacted]

Waterfront Tavern in Bellingham would probably qualify as a dive bar I think. I doubt many other dives that can claim as many legitimate serial killers as their clientele. Ted Bundy, Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianchi, and alleged D. C. sniper John Muhammad to name a few.

[skifishbum]

i was highly disappointed in the Edelweiss on my annual trip to Cody this summer no more smoking and no shake of the day and my bloody mary was just tomatoes juices n vodka in a 7 oz cup with just a lime
a real dive bar should also have a video poker or slots machine that pay out cash

[TBS]

The Mint (and Sheridan) is a gentrified version of its old self, plus no way in hell it can qualify as a dive bar with a website.


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Yeah, admittedly I haven’t been back to Sheridan since 1984 so not surprised if it’s gentrified.