Really crazy/scary dive bars?
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10/28/2009
Tracey "I'm cold, and there are wolves after me" G. says:
Okay, so my friends and I are thinking that we'd like to do a bar crawl on Halloween featuring sketchy dives--the basic idea is to combine drinking, which is for weekends, with scariness, which is for Halloween.
I've already thought of Sligo (which, to be fair, isn't that sketchy on weekends), and Hogan's Run--are there any other places that would be good?
Stories to go along with your suggestions are also welcome!
10/28/2009
Linds "is burn'n a monstrous j..." L. says:
Joey Mac's in East Cambridge...but seriously I'm not sure you should go there. You might mean less murderous, and more divey. How about Courtside in Cambridge? Combines MEGA dive with karaoke!
10/28/2009
Roll'n J. says:
The Boyne, right arond the corner from Hogan's. (On Western Ave)
Seriously, most other dives are really "dives". The true gritty ones are gone-zo. Places like The Choppin' Block and Pat Flanagoons in Mission Hill or Triple D's. You'll probably have to go into Hyde Park or Mattapan to find a authentic scary dive.
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
Hogan's Run is sketchy?
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
Just hit up the Pony Room.
10/28/2009
Craig "Cappy" C. says:
Just get off at Revere Beach on the blue line and walk the area. There's tons of them.
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
Cantab in Cambridge? Really?
10/28/2009
Nicole "Mongie" M. says:
Paradise bar in Cambridge.
It's so sketchy but I can't stay away...
10/28/2009
Orly "Hot Mess Express" M. says:
rofl Josh have you been to the Cantab? especially b4 live acts go on and its just a townie haunt
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
I have. I've never felt like I was going to be stabbed there. That eliminates it from the sketchyness running.
10/28/2009
Brian "Methy Hobo" D. says:
Aga's Highland Tap (Dudley Square) & El Mondoguito (Dudley Square)
10/28/2009
Orly "Hot Mess Express" M. says:
It's not scary, just sketchy. You are having definitional issues. Go out in Mattapan, that meets the scary. Anywhere with a metal detector at the door fulfills that criterion
10/28/2009
Craig "Cappy" C. says:
Scary in a lame I would never live there kind of way.
10/28/2009
Jason "exploded view" B. says:
Modelo in Eastie is sketch town.
Master McGrath in Hyde Park was pretty bogus. The bartender had nice hooters though.
Newtowne Grill in Porter is fairly gritty. The bartender there is an ASSHOLE if he doesn't know you.
The real dives are all outside the city these days.
The Pony Room aka Upstairs Downstairs in Quincy is runner up...but
Bill Ashe's Lounge on Revere Beach is the worst.
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
The Banshee. That place is fucking sketch.
10/28/2009
Nivek "rot and assimilate" O. says:
Very few places on this list are actually sketchy.
I'm with Josh when he said, "Cantab in Cambridge? Really?"
Orly: just because townies sit around drinking from about 8am on doesn't make it sketchy.
I like Jason's use of the word "gritty", I think that defines most - if not all - of these places
10/28/2009
Linds "is burn'n a monstrous j..." L. says:
Josh, Nivek - you'd be worried about getting stabbed at J. Mac's...which is why I actually suggested she NOT go there. I think gritty bars would be a better search.
10/28/2009
Roll'n J. says:
Nivek's face = gritty
10/28/2009
Carl "CB" M. says:
Lawrence, Mass:
Southside Bar on South Broadway
and for members of rival biker gangs
Calumet Tavern across the street
10/28/2009
Nivek "rot and assimilate" O. says:
Linds: Hey, I've gone there before and not been stabbed! :) That place definitely does at least border on sketchy if not potentially full on sketchy though :)
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
Linds, Joey Mac's is not on my list of bookmarks. I'll steer clear.
10/28/2009
Josh W. says:
The Sil is great. BTW
10/28/2009
Sarah "On To The Next One" M. says:
There's a SHADY dive bar in Dorchester around the corner from the Strand Theater but I don't remember the name of it. I went there once with a guy I used to hang out with and it was quite the experience. Also, Dublin House in the same area is kinda shady, but nowhere near on this bar's level. One guy was so drunk he just fell over backwards while he was standing, but managed to keep his Heineken upright when he fell. Now that's talent.
10/28/2009
Tracey "I'm cold, and there are wolves after me" G. says:
"One guy was so drunk he just fell over backwards while he was standing, but managed to keep his Heineken upright when he fell. Now that's talent."
That's right up there next to neatly puking into your bottle of beer and continuing right on with your night of boozing!
10/28/2009
Nivek "rot and assimilate" O. says:
Tracey: Neatly puking into a beer bottle is one of those tricks which will end up fantastically slick or go horribly wrong.
10/28/2009
Linds "is burn'n a monstrous j..." L. says:
If I could manage to puke into a beer bottle I'm fairly certain my entire life would be different. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
10/28/2009
Caitlyn L. says:
Yeah, I didn't know sketchy equalled townies.
10/28/2009
Caitlyn L. says:
Oh, man, I just got a bad mental image...
10/28/2009
Jason "exploded view" B. says:
If townies were, on the whole, welcoming and tolerant of outsiders, etc., I think nobody would equate townie with sketchy.
However...
10/28/2009
Orly "Hot Mess Express" M. says:
I think a "townie" bar filled with mulletted men who are missing several teeth, potentially hit on you, and have been drunk since 10am counts as sketchy. But that's just me...
10/28/2009
Caitlyn L. says:
I suppose, that makes sense.
10/28/2009
Roll'n J. says:
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown
10/28/2009
MCslimJ "not worthy to untie Jonathan Gold's sandal strap" B. says:
There's a lot of equating "townie" and "no-frills" (and maybe "dirty") with "dive" here, but I don't think it counts as a proper dive if there's no real threat of violence against your person for not being a regular, someone who's lived nearby for decades, or otherwise seeming slightly unusual or out of place, like, wearing the wrong costume, e.g., a golf shirt instead of a worn Pats jersey. By definition, you don't want to wander into a real dive as a stranger on Halloween.
10/29/2009
Dawn "Delicate Flower" E. says:
Not that you want to come out here, but there's at least 3 in Marlborough. The Prospector East, the Cozy Cafe, and then there's this bar that doesn't even have a name down this side street...
And Speakers is a dive club. More B movie than scary though.
10/29/2009
Jason "exploded view" B. says:
King Arthur's is a STRIP dive. Whole other class.
PS someone was shotgunned to death there as recently as winter of 2008. I advise against patronizing their establishment.
10/29/2009
Orly "Hot Mess Express" M. says:
lol I once was driving through the area (aka lost) and I stopped at the Dunkin Donuts across the street to use the restroom. They didn't have one and sent me to use the one at King Arthur's. I was desparate so I used it, and it was so sketchy walking in there. I also got an STD screening the next day, just in case.
10/29/2009
Caitlyn L. says:
Loads of dives in Brockton, but please don't go to them.
10/29/2009
Craig "Cappy" C. says:
I like the idea of a Revere beach bar crawl because it's scenic, can end at Kelly's and we can all go skinny dipping.
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