Credit: Lisa Taylor

Ah, dive bars. Places with lights so dim, you can barely see the dirt on your pint glass. Where the beer-soaked wood creeks under your boot, between skips from the jukebox. Where you can’t tell whether the wall is holding up the dusted rows of decades-deep décor, or vice-versa. Where the hangover comes in smell-form. Where the only good Tinder dates ever happen.

I could go on, but you get the point. Roll up your sleeves, my fellow patrons. We’re about to go diving. But before I list a few of my local favorites, let’s clear something up. If a dive bar says it’s a dive bar, it isn’t a dive bar. Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of quality, local watering holes around town. But not all dives are created equal, and that’s my point. A good bar is like a good guitar. The more history it has, the more authentic it becomes. [Read more…]