Dive Bars: How the 200 year-old tradition originated

Dive Bar: A once popular tradition

The term “Dive bar” brings to mind various images, depending on what you have seen or heard. Many used to call this type of establishment a “hole in the wall,” or nip joint, where, using the terminology of the day, the riff-raff would hang out to drink, gamble, and find prostitutes.

Older movies often show preachers outside these establishments telling the sinners to repent. “Dive bar” is a colloquial term used in the United States to describe a low-income neighborhood bar where the local folks get together to drink and socialize.

A Dive bar was once a bar or pub in an undesirable part of town. It was considered disreputable, in poor condition, and where the lower classes would go. These establishments were called seedy, sinister, and a detriment, or blight in the community.

A hole in the wall

A dive bar once was considered the type of place that respectable people did not frequent, at least during the light of day. On old 1950s black-and-white television shows such as Peter Gunn, you might see a detective seeking information from a bar in a dangerous part of town where the criminal element might hang out.

According to Wikipedia, a 1961 dictionary defined a "dive “ as a disreputable resort for drinking or entertainment." A dive bar typically was a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style location for cheap drinks. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary indicates a dive bar was once considered a place of ill repute.

This illegal drinking establishment was in a basement where patrons could dive in unnoticed. The term was coined in the 1800s, but today, such an establishment might be called the neighborhood “nip joint, " which might be entered through a side door, basement, or even on the top floor of an old building. There was a time when many of these locations were hidden in plain sight.

Dive in dive out

To the outside world, walking or driving by, all that would be noticed is a dilapidated building that used to be a retail or grocery store. Those who frequented such places would “dive” in and out with little fanfare during the hours of operation.

Some people considered these illegal businesses worse than what was once considered a house of ill repute. There was no liquor license, occupancy certificate, or inspection by the local government, yet for those who enjoyed them, dive bars were the place to be.

Dive bars did not have signs advertising their business, as some were located inside homes in residential neighborhoods. You only knew them because you would see many cars parked nearby or hear some wife complain that her husband was at that dive/nip joint again.

For those who enjoyed themselves at these “holes in the wall “ think of a less classy version of the establishment “Cheers” from the popular television sitcom.

Modern Dive Bar

To the outside world, walking or driving by, all that would be noticed is a dilapidated building that used to be a retail or grocery store. Those who frequented such places would “dive” in and out with little fanfare during the hours of operation.

Some people considered these illegal businesses, than what was once considered a house of ill repute. There was no liquor license, occupancy certificate, or inspection by the local government, yet for those who enjoyed them, dive bars were the place to be.

Dive bars did not have signs advertising their business, as some were located inside homes in residential neighborhoods. You only knew them because you would see many cars parked nearby or hear some wife complain that her husband was at that dive/nip joint again.

For those who enjoyed themselves at these “holes in the wall “ think of a less classy version of the establishment “Cheers” from the popular television show.

A place where everybody knows your name

After a hard day at work or dealing with the pressures of life, those who would frequent the old-school dive bars were perhaps thinking something along the lines of the lyrics of the Cheers theme song. “

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came, you want to be where everybody knows your name’”

Once these men and women had dived through the doors of their bar or pub of choice, they were away from all their troubles; they could let their hair down and be themselves.

There have been reports, on occasion, of fights, knives, guns drawn, angry spouses showing up, and even police raids. There have also been stories of death. I’ve been told that many of these dive bars were shut down by the police, only to reopen in a new location. Some would start back up in the same spot once things settled down.

Legal dive bars

Perhaps, there was a home or old building near you where people quietly dived in and out of with little fanfare. They drank and conducted themselves in a manner where their activity went unnoticed by those around them.

The nip joint, AKA hole in the wall came, and it went without any problems. You didn’t even know it existed with you and your neighbors. Today, worldwide legal establishments with liquor licenses consider themselves dive bars.

They are street-level, and no one has to sneak in or out or fear a raid. This shifts the meaning of the term somewhat, but for many in older generations, a dive bar will always be considered a hole in the wall, without a liquor license, where they and others dive in and out of while building fond memories