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When I’m not on the road these days, I’m busy trying to discover some of the best things about my hometown, Boston. First of all, I know I sometimes act all prissy and I DO like to go to the latest HOT SPOTS, that’s no joke. BUT betcha didn’t know I have serious soft spot for dive bars. Always have. It’s just one of those things about me…I like things that are a little rough around the edges and, as I recently found out, there’s a lot I didn’t know and learned during an evening out at a few local dives.
You should come well prepared. By that I mean with cash because apparently the best sketchy dives don’t accept credit cards. Who knew? Many, however, do have ATMs inside.
You can gamble in dives, well play Lotto, but isn’t this really the same thing?! YES, I had never played the game Keno before my evening out and apparently there are betting rules, even in dive bars. You cannot just get a ticket and fill it out and pay up to the barkeep. No, if it’s proper-like, you gotta go to the end of the bar where the betting is legal. The irony!
Not only can you get cheap drinks at dives – hello PBR – another Lola favorite that you didn’t know (It’s not all dirty martinis all the time) đ Dives also have cheap drink specials. For instance, at one dive they had the “Kinkytini”. Of course, the name alone intrigued me. Come to find out Kinky Liqueur is super premium vodka distilled 5 times with succulent mango, blood orange liqueur, and passion fruit. Never knew of it before, oh, and its label is hotpink too…need I say more?
If it’s dive worth its weight, it’ll have a juke box. BUT many juke boxes have gone digital. So if you wanna get in on the action of picking your favorite songs you better get the TouchTunes app. Yep, another thing I discovered during my dive night out. If you are like me and don’t know what TouchTunes is, well it’s the largest in-venue interactive music platform, featured in over 60,000 bars and restaurants across North America. Pretty cool, huh?!
Finally, just because you fit into the “dive bar” category, not all dives are created equal. I sampled 3, my evening out in Boston. The “Classic” Drinking Fountain, which you can really get a taste of all things divey. Pool tables, digital juke box, Keno. You get the picture. The “Institution” Wally’s, a tiny hole-in-the-wall where there’s live music every night! LOVE. And, finally “The Real Cheers” 21st Amendment. This dive establishment located in Beacon Hill is across the street from the Massachusetts State House and has been serving the state’s most colorful characters since 1899.
If you like cheap drinks, interesting people watching and other divey things, you should check these 3 spots out. You can find more dive bar hot spots (90) in “Boston’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in Beantown“. Supposedly a dying culture that is a big part of Boston’s drinking history…go support a local dive near you soon. Tell em Lola sent you!
