National Dive Bar Day Is July 7, A Salute To Classic (Tho Not Classy) Watering Holes

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By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Bar Blogger

Ahhh, the dive bar.

A come-as-you-are watering hole where the beer is cold, the cocktails strong and bartenders are just that and not “mixologists.”

As a salute to these fine establishments, National Dive Bar Day is July 7. This is an annual event that recognizes basic bars and taverns.

One might think that dive bars are a uniquely American institution. After all, nearly every city and town in the USA has at least one dive bar. Yet dive bars can be found around the world. In fact, I frequented one while in Sydney, the Soldier of Fortune, so named because it was the last bar troops would go to before boarding ships to go off to war in World War I and World War II.

Heck, the Beatles began their career by playing gigs in dive bars in Liverpool and Hamburg.

Dive bars were once the territory of old men in tank tops, cruising the gift shops, to borrow a line from a Jimmy Buffett song, but are now a prime drinking domain for the younger 20s and 30s barflies. They are tired of the high prices and dress codes. At dive bars, you can dress comfortably and spend less in an entire evening than you would in a couple of hours at a high-end lounge or nightclub.

Some of the best dive bars are motorsports bars. They are decades-long watering holes located near racetracks in such far-flung places at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and Watkins Glen, N.Y.

There are no rules when it comes to identifying a dive bar but there are a few clues to let you know you are in one.

5 Ways To Know You Are In A Good Dive Bar

• Dive bars are usually dark

• Dive bars are have juke boxes, not DJs

• Drink prices are reasonable

• There are no “speciality cocktails,” tho a dive may be known for some type of shot, like the orange concoction at Shellback Tavern in Manhattan Beach, CA.

• Bartenders are usually men and women who have worked in the place for decades, rather than “hip” bartenders with slick-backed hair.

Link: In Praise Of Dive Bars

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