Hey, I've been there before, albeit not at 4 am on a Sunday morning.

Low Brow Lounge in Portland, gotta agree with that. Also in Portland:

Shanghai Tunnel
The Alibi

Yes, thats the one. That's a serious dive. I remember one guy puking his guts up in the corner and then he carried on drinking. He just stayed on the same seat and they did not clean up for about 3 hours.

These would probably be my favorites although it's debatable how much either is really a "dive". They're not as nice as some other places I go to, but they don't exactly attract the kind of pathetic clientele that I would associate with the word "dive". Northside does to some extent, but they also get a lot of college kids and yuppie types.

The Clermont used to be an honest-to-God dive, and I when I first set foot in there about 7 years ago, I immediately felt a wave of despair wash over me. That place was fucking sad. Now it's a well-known tourist attraction that everyone "must see". I haven't been in there in the last few years, but the impression I'd gotten was that the vibe had changed. It's possible, though, that's it's been that way for a really long time, but the first time I went in there was on a weeknight when it was pretty dead. So maybe it still is a legit dive if you go at the right (wrong) time.

I'm with Billy G - and agree with Rick Derris' definition #2 of a dive bar. The other kind of "dive bar" is just gonna be full of a bunch of soft-handed college grads slumming it for a night. And fuck them.


And speaking of definition #2, there's no way in hell I'd even step foot in the Balmoral:



You gotta be on your toes and not make eye contact when you're just walking PAST it.

The one time I went to The Spotlight, I wound up in jail.

growing up in Long Island, we use to goto this place called Vanderbuilts Wharf, while on the water, was a dive.

we've got tons, and an entire thread devoted to it on the town rag's forum:

http://www.thedailypage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17307

my favorites:

the 'dise (paradise)
the plaza
the silver dollar
the wisco (willy street pub)

Hell, Pete, if THAT's the criterion, then I've personally pushed Roadhouse over the line

Sweeeeet! I have an outstanding list now. I'm thinking of doing a greyhound tour again. Getting a two month unlimited ticket and just cruising between the dive bars and the stations with the odd hotel in between.

I always felt bad about puking in that corner. Stunk for a week.

I grew up drinking in real dive bars, because that's all there was in the shitty old mining towns where I lived. These were of the Bukowski variety. Real dark inside, painted over windows if there are any at all, red vinyl chairs with tape covering up the rips, always a couple of old rummies smoking home rolled cigs and drinking Black Label, some sleazy old broad sitting by herself at the bar laughing a little too loudly in her cigarette and gin ravaged voice. And no beers on tap. Bottle only.

And Patsy Cline on the juke box every fucking time you walk through the door...

Good man, do tell!

I used to love watching the trannies go about there business. Reminded me of the cafe in Last Exit To Brooklyn. I dread to think what went on in the ladies room.

THere are a good number of these places off county roads and in weird country places all around here, none of which I have the balls to walk into. There's a place called The River Lounge off, about 4 miles from my dad's house that I wouldn't set foot in without a machine gun.

(unless I was lookin to score meth )

Busty and I went to that bar way up at the end of Atlanta Highway once. Cant fucking remember the name but yeah, that was an example like you guys are talking about. You dare not order anything BUT Budweiser or theyll beat you into a coma for being a "feggit"

there are some places like that here up in the little towns in the mountains that i would never walk out of alive. most of them are called "Tavern" or "Eats"

Going slightly off subject, i'm reading a book by Ted Conover called Rolling Nowhere : Riding the rails with america's hoboes. It mentions a few old dive bars that i'm tempted to try and find to see if they are still around.

this place, the Safari Club, in Estacada is perhaps the most awesome bar in America

http://deuceofclubs.com/w/pdx0403/pxd08.htm just keep hitting next for a tour.

Cool, i like how they say "The toilet is for customers, but the dead animals are for The Citizenry".

i'll put in a plug for crunchy's tavern in east lansing, michigan. five words: beer served in mop buckets.

Klassics.

I mentioned it in my original post. Scaregy.

Usually some custom painted U-Haul out back carrying the band BACKWASH's gear. Billed as "Country rock covers and originals".

I think they've changed the name of it since we left.

chief's in Pittsburgh opens at 6 AM. Not only that, but there are usually people WAITING OUTSIDE to get in. I used to live across the street and it was a good spot to get the shot of banker's club/PBR tallboy special for $1.50

Come to think of it, that and the bar in Savannah that didn't have a name ("excuse me, do you serve gin here?" "No, we don't got any of that liquor here, just beer. We got wine, though! do you want wine?") are probably 2 of the scariest places I've ever been outside of the time we scoured the Hill District for 40s of Crazy Horse.

If it weren't for the underage college clientele that frequented it, Sky's Place would be at the top of this list.

This thread has reminded me that I also grew up visiting (not drinking in, as I was a little kid) tons of dive bars in the Cincinnati/Sharonville/Springdale area, as my dad had to take me with him everywhere. I spent so much time in this place called Al's Bar in Sharonville. A dive bar by every definition. My dad would just give me a bunch of quarters and turn me loose on the juke box and few video games. Though I wasn't allowed in the pool room without him. The place looked just like DumpJack described above. There were always a few sad-looking men in there drunk as piss off Hudepohl and/or Little Kings at 10am...

Iowa City: The Deadwood

Austin, TX: G&S, Carousel Lounge

maybe those last two aren't really dive bars.