dive bar

File:Dive bar decor.jpg signs]]

Once considered a pejorative term, "dive bar" has more recently become a badge of distinction from patrons who seek authenticity in such establishments.{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=John |title=Dive Bar Connoisseurs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/542017625/ |access-date=6 July 2020 |agency=Associated Press |issue=41 |publisher=The Herald (Dubois County, Indiana |date=24 November 2009 |volume=115 |page=13}} Devotees may describe a bar as "very divey" or "not divey" and compose rating scales of "divey-ness".{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Wendy |title=New York City's Best Dive Bars:Drinking and Diving in the Five Boroughs |date=2003 |publisher=Ig |location=New York |isbn=0-9703125-3-9 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HrG8nd6NrpYC&q=dive+bar |access-date=5 July 2020}} One such devotee is Steve Vensen, founder of a California group called the DBC (Dive Bar Conoisseurs) who says, "Every dive bar is like a snowflake: diverse and unique. . . you always get local subculture and every time is an adventure."{{rp|13}} Author Todd Dayton offers the following: "Dives [dive bars] are like pornography: hard to define but you know it when you see it".{{cite book |last1=Dayton |first1=Todd |title=San Francisco's Best Dive Bars |date=2004 |publisher=Ig Pub |location=New York |isbn=0-9703125-8-X |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpUSVjBPHRwC&q=dive+bars+in+san+francisco |access-date=4 July 2020}} As to what distinguishes a dive bar from an ordinary bar, Dayton stated in 2004:

{{quote|text=For me, the ideal dive bar is run by a beefy guy named Frank, where the aroma of yesterday's beer still hangs in the air, and your quest for clean bathrooms (or toilet paper, for that matter) will go eternally unanswered. A bottle of Bud costs two bucks, a shot of Jack, $3, and Pabst Blue Ribbon is served in a can. The sign outside says Steaks, Dinners, Cocktails— but there hasn't been any food served since FDR was president. The prevailing decorative elements are red Naugahyde, wood-toned Formica, and cinder blocks.}}

Dive bars adhere to the minimal effort needed to provide guests with drinks; i.e., they typically do not advertise, provide parking, or have fancy signage. Dive bars are not known for their food.{{rp|3}} They often do not serve food beyond pretzels and snacks. For example, in 2018 a visitor to a well-known Nashville dive bar reported seeing a hand-written menu taped to the refrigerator, listing only pork rinds, popcorn, peanuts, and microwaved corn dogs (US $1).{{cite web |last1=Rodgers |first1=D. Patrick |title=Fran's Eastside Is the Best Dive Bar in Nashville |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/frans-eastside-is-the-best-dive-bar-in-nashville/ |website=vice.com |publisher=Vice edai |access-date=27 July 2020 |date=10 December 2018 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727162411/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kzvnby/frans-eastside-is-the-best-dive-bar-in-nashville |url-status=live }} Bathrooms in dive bars are notoriously shabby and may have a shower curtain instead of a door on the toilet stall. Authentic dive bars are usually "cash only" establishments, and would probably not feature computerized registers. The owner or a family member of theirs is often working the bar. Dive bars usually have a clientele from all walks of life, including some locals who have been drinking there for decades.

During the COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s, U.S. cities closed down bars and food service establishments, and many dive bar owners made repairs and cleaned up while they were closed down. Rick Dobbs, author of the 2019 book Local Spirit: Neighborhood Bars of Orleans Parish, said, "A dive can absolutely be cleaned up but still be a dive... it's the character and spirit of the space that counts".{{rp|1}}

• Drinking culture
• Flat-roofed pub
• Honky-tonk
• List of dive bars
• Roadhouse
• Speakeasy
• Types of drinking establishments

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=Pete |last=Hamill|title=A Drinking Life: A Memoir|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=DPUe90H4rD0C}}|date=14 December 2008|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-05453-9}}
• {{cite book|first=J. R. |last=Moehringer|title=The Tender Bar: A Memoir|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=9TqZAAAAQBAJ}}|date=1 September 2005|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-1-4013-8341-1}}
• {{cite book | last1=Stockton | first1=J. | last2=Okun | first2=W. | title=Chicago's Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in the Windy City | publisher=Ig Publishing, Incorporated | series=Best Dive Bars Series | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-9752517-0-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCV41cnj_3wC}} 150 pages.

{{Drinking establishments}}

{{Bartend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dive Bar}}