House rules

What counts

A dive here is a bar first. Drinks are ordinary. The room is a little worn. Regulars outrank a reservation app. You can show up looking like yourself.

This directory is not for:

• Velvet-rope cocktail palaces
• Hotel bars that charge downtown rent for an old-fashioned
• Sports-betting warehouses with 40 televisions and a dress code
• Brand-new rooms styled to look dirty

Honky-tonks, cash-only strip-club basements, and 24-hour corner bars can all qualify if they still work as neighborhood rooms. We would rather miss a borderline spot than stretch the word.

Closed rooms are not listed as open. When a dive is gone for good, it moves to the Hall of Fame.

How to spot a real dive bar applies these rules, with a dive-washed detector and catalog examples.