I love this so much because I think so much dive bar discourse focuses on what is and isn't a dive bar, but it misses what I love about dive bars: the sense that I can go in there by myself, not knowing a soul, and walk out four hours later with stories I'll be telling for years to come. - ThreadSky

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social • 126 days ago

I love this so much because I think so much dive bar discourse focuses on what is and isn't a dive bar, but it misses what I love about dive bars: the sense that I can go in there by myself, not knowing a soul, and walk out four hours later with stories I'll be telling for years to come.

Reposted from Chris Drosner

🧵Our October cover story – Dive Bars – is finally online! There's a ton of great stuff that I think you'll like, starting with my package-opening love letter to bars. I've been taking notes and thinking about this topic for about 30 years, and I think it shows: www.milwaukeemag.com/love-letter-...

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wibeerbaron.bsky.social•126 days ago

It was really hard to not get lost in the semantics of it, because ultimately we were deciding that some places weren't dive bars. But yeah, that's been argued about already – in our pages, even. So I appreciate this appreciation.

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social•126 days ago

Like the time I was in Manhattan and decided to pass on all the fancy cocktail bars and check out Strangelove instead. I ended up having a very drunk woman whose BF had ditched her accuse me (and everybody else) of stealing her phone, then an eastern European man who claimed to be an unlicensed...

pgagliardi.bsky.social•126 days ago

Three of my regular haunts in Milwaukee have closed in the last four years or so, so RIP to them -- but honestly, I'm 50/50 on the dive bar as an aesthetic. To me, it's the neighborhood bar that can be divey or can be partially upscale that I'm going to sing the praises of

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social•126 days ago

...attorney tried to get me to partner with him so he could get papers filed for his clients, and then I ended up having a fun convo about liqueurs with some guys who had just gotten done with their shift at a nearby fancy restaurant. Plus a can of $6 Genny cream ale and a shot of well whiskey...

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social•126 days ago

...was only $6 (and pretty much any time the bartender poured shots for other patrons he topped off mine for free). Oh, and of course the music was excellent. To me, THAT'S the dive bar experience.

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social•126 days ago

Anyway, I've followed @wibeerbaron.bsky.social‬ on that other site for years so I'm not surprised that he gets it, but I very much appreciate him putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and sharing his thoughts so perfectly.

wibeerbaron.bsky.social•126 days ago

🥹 Thank you!

soitwent.bsky.social•126 days ago

This is great!

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social•126 days ago

Of course you get it ❤️

pnxnotded.bsky.social•126 days ago

Spot on, man. I feel like what you're talking about has gotten lost in recent years. Everyone is so caught up on recreating "vibes" and cashing in on the dive bar aesthetic, that they miss what makes one truly special.

Like when Ryne Sandberg popped into The Shamrock Club while we were drinking.

bvrlytweetmaker.bsky.social•126 days ago

Sandberg at a dive bar sounds like the most hilariously awkward encounter ever 😂😂😂

pnxnotded.bsky.social•126 days ago

Oh, it absolutely was! He was with his son and their respective SOs. They had clearly ducked in because they wanted to get off the street into this 90% empty bar. But we immediately mobbed him for pics, and they ran out the back door. 10/10 dive bar experience.

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