best bars in america

Wow, someone that admits to liking the Greenery (RIP). For Court St. can't go wrong at the CI.

Boston, Cask n' Flagon (best in the winter when there's nobody there except my favorite bartenders) but of course it's a blast after a Sox game.

 

Some notes about this thread.
IIRC, the previously mentioned Village Idiot is a chain of sorts. I know of multiple venues.
Billy Bob's in Fort Worth is a nuthouse. I couldn't stand country music for the longest time, but the place was still fun.

Some of my contributions -- and most of these can be attributed to the people who worked or went there:
Dave's Pub -- Birmingham
Gilhouly's -- K.C.
Although it no longer exists in its true form, I have to mention the 'Berg in Columbia, Mo. Before it burned down, it was a cool place.

 

I second Dave's. Great joint, but if you wanted big boobs and blond hair all you had to do was stumble across the street to Bellbottoms.

I still can't believe we've went seven pages without a ref to the Supper Club in Auburn. Total shithole, but you've not lived until you've take a ride on the Shot Bus (a real bus behind the place for mind erasing shots). When you get off the Shot Bus, you feel like you belong on a short bus.

 

Well, neither place is the Arena. During the flooding there in 2002, the Arena stayed open with six inch-deep water (and funk) running through the joint.

 

I guess last year's outing bars, Stoney's Bar and Grill and Bullfeathers of Capitol Hill won't be making the list?

 

MU, I had no idea the Heidelberg burned down. When did that happen?

 

Becky's - 63rd and First - NYC
The GingerMan - Austin
The Blue Tusk - Syracuse

 

Sirs, Madames,

Not near but dear: On our drives from Toronto to Mexico (a rite of college Xmas vacations) we used to stop in Jake's Tavern in Botkins, Ohio, off I-75, to pick up packs of matches to spark joints with (all year). It was just a small-time neighbourhood dump and a couple of times we got hassled about long hair by locals (visions of Easy Rider dancing through our heads) but the bartender/owner was always good to us and I sorta think he figured out why we stopped by twice a year (that being the way back also).

YHS, etc

 

They're all gone now, all 1980s, but the Blue Sands in downtown Boston, mid-80's, dive bar/art school crowd with the world's oldest barmaid who called us "honey" and made the old men move out of the booths when we showed up becasue we tipped - she'd tell 'em "these people have reservations," The Rat in Kenmore Square where I once saw Alex Chilton perfrom for two hours for an audience of about twelve, TC's on Mass Ave opposite Berklee, a cop bar by day and a divebar by night where I used to hoist 'em up with Mr. Butch, and the Pour House on Boylston Street, circa 1986, as it was transitioning from a total dive bar (pink vinyl benches along the wall) to a student bar - for a couple of years they paid off the licensing board to completely ignore the capacity regulations, which meant about 250 people would be crammed into a space licensed for about 75. No one could see anything that took place about five feet away, which meant everything was taking place five feet away, and sometimes closer. When I left Boston and got married the barmaids took up a collection and gave me a the biggest present we received - kind of hard to explain to my wife... I told her they were just glad to see me go.

Now my liver's having a flashback.

 

Mr Exile,

That sounds beyond cool. Alex Chilton.

YHS, etc

 

I also like Manchester Pub, which is owned by the same people as Becky's. My bar of choice is Baker Street, which is on the same block as Becky's. Good atmosphere, great staff, excellent food and a pub quz every Wednesday.