Dive (grungy)
40 bars that New York on Tap listed under “Dive (grungy)” around 2008, with what's licensed at each address in 2026.
Manhattan
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119 BarPick
119 E. 15th St. · Union Square/ Flatiron
Closed; now The High Note
Cheap beers, dim lights, beat up sofas, wood paneling, and a pool table - this could almost be a frat basement, except it's the kind of bar where frat boys get kidney punched.
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7BPick
108 Ave. B · East Village
Still pouring
Horseshoe shaped bar where the beer is cheap and the rock is loud and hard.
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AmbiancePick
68 2nd Ave. · East Village
Closed; now Luscious Market Deli
Smells of must and vomit, but you'll soon forget to care. Cheap beer, friendly bartenders, and even odds of walking in and getting straight on the pool any night of the week.
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1768 2nd Ave. · Upper East Side
Closed
Successfully replicates the frat party feel of Mardi Gras without all of that distracting cajun culture. The magic recipe: $1 well drinks for girls on Thursday nights.
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332 9th Ave · Chelsea
A different business is licensed at this address: The Celly Bar & Grill
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Blarney Stone (Midtown East)Pick
710 3rd Ave. · Midtown East
Closed
Efficient Irish bar keeps, absurdly cheap and tasty food, and $4 for 22oz beers draws everyone from day laborers to traders to this half deli half dive bar.
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79 E. 7th St. · East Village
Still pouring
An enormously popular East Village dive. Comfortable and lively during the week, packed to capacity on the weekend. Always cheap.
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The Boiler RoomPick
86 E. 4th St. · East Village
Moved to 45 Second Ave.
Just your friendly neighborhood gay dive bar with a pool table, young crowd, great jukebox and believe it or not Bass on tap.
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327 Bowery · East Village
Same bar, now Bowery Palace
A minimal, dark, clubby DJ den in the former Remote Lounge space.
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140 1st Ave. · East Village
Closed; now Area 140 First
If you like Yuengling and you like happy hour, how does $2 a pint sound.
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Cherry TavernPick
441 E. 6th St. · East Village
Still pouring
An unpresuming dive, but the Cherry Tavern is that rare Manhattan bar where strangers interact.
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25 3rd Ave. · East Village
Closed; now Sephora
The acts may be hit or miss but they rotate through quick, and it's one of the few joints giving local talent a shot. Add $4 drafts into the mix and you've got a hit.
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The Distinguished Wakamba Lounge
543 8th Ave. · Chelsea
Still pouring
Don't be fooled by the name. This ain't no Tiki bar. As dives go this is a cliff dive, not a swan dive. It's a dive for experts, the kind that keep a bottle next to their bed to stave off the DTs.
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141 Ave. A · East Village
Still pouring
This country and western dive bar is cheap, dirty and smells of piss and vomit, but unlike Coyote Ugly and Hogs & Heifers the bar dancing here is spontaneous not choreographer and there's nary a tourist or collared shirt in the place.
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Don Hill'sPick
511 Greenwich St. · SoHo/Little Italy
Closed
It's dingey. It's dark. The drink are weak and it smells. But it's Don Hill's, so you've got to go just to see what all the fuss is about.
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179 W. 4th St. · West Village
Still pouring
Basement bar with cheap food and even cheaper beer. The name says it all.
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859 Washington St. · MeatPacking District
Closed
Tourists looking to score, drunk women dancing on the bar, batenders who trade flirtation for drinks, shots ordered by the dozen, and an occasional bared breast. Sounds awful right? The strange thing is we've really only ever had a good time here.
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132 Ludlow St. · Lower East Side
Still pouring
An anachronism in the newly self-conciously hip LES, Iggy's is a bar where people go to get trashed and have fun.
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995 Amsterdam Ave. · Morningside Heights
Still pouring
Divey sports bar with incredibly cheap drinks. $2 PBRS, $4 Smithwicks, $9 Pitchers of Yuengling, and a $17 12-5pm all you can drink, all the wings you can eat special.
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93 2nd Ave. · East Village
Closed; now The Cock
A random sample of scenesters at this subterranean lounge, would reveal a mixed bag of Long Island refugees, art school drop outs, and goth high school students who can only pass with their siblings ID if they're in full makeup.
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25 E. 1st St. · East Village
Closed; now TD Bank
The diviest of the E. Village dives, and that's a pretty low bar to slide under.
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15 E. 7th St. · East Village
Still pouring
Tourist trap, New York landmark, or the quintessential drinking man’s saloon, take your pick.
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212 8th Ave. · Chelsea
Closed; now Heavenly Markets & Deli
Landmark NYC leather bar is surprisingly friendly and low key.
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157 Avenue C · East Village
Still pouring
In the ongoing culture wars of the East Village bar scene, Royale is a huge strike for UESification. Between the plasma TVs, baseball caps, rounds of shots and the girls whose most comfortable mode of communication is via a series of high pitched squeels you can easily forget that not too long ago this used to be one of the best Jazz bars in New York.
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627 9th Ave. · Hells Kitchen
Still pouring
With free hot dogs, $3 pints of Rudy's Red (ie Michelob Red), giant banquets upholstered almost entirely from duct tape, and a huge garden is it any wonder Rudy's has been packing them in every night since it opened in the 1930's.
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94 Ave. A · East Village
Closed; now Corner Bistro
Four rooms with remarkably different atmospheres combine to form the Sidewalk Café. There's a clean and comfortable cafe, a dive bar, a downstairs pool table area, and a live music room. Two of the four rooms are all ages, so it's not a bad place to take your little brother when he's in town.
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143 E. 60th St. · Upper East Side
Closed
Make no mistake, this is no self-conciously trendy, hipster dive. This is the real deal.
Brooklyn
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609 Grand St. · East Williamsburg
Closed; now Blinky’s
Grungy low key atmosphere + second furniture + back garden + pool table + live jazz - hipsters = A solid neighborhood bar.
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Duff'sPick
28 N. 3rd St. · Williamsburg North Side
Moved to 168 Marcy Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Not just a bar, but a spiritual home for a long displaced and much maligned demographic, the working class metal head.
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404 5th Ave. · Central Slope
Closed
Squint just right and you'll swear this is Moe's Tavern.
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273 13th St. · South Slope
A different business is licensed at this address: Paddy's Of Park Slope
The stated aim of Lucky 13 is to provide a haven for everyone who feels outside of the mainstream. Thanks to $1 beers before 9pm and $2 beers there after it does this job with gusto.
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73 Atlantic Ave. · Brooklyn Heights
Still pouring
Opened in 1947, steeped in history and resolutely friendly, Montero's is a nautical themed reminder of the Brooklyn waterfront's working past and present.
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39 5th Ave. · North Slope
Same bar, now McMahon's Public House
This dimly lit, heavy drinking bar has been a Park Slope fixture since 1931. It was also once Elliot Smith's favorite hang out when he lived nearby. It now attracts a mix of young and old regulars brought together by a shared love of drinks cheap and hard.
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351 Kent Ave. · Williamsburg South Side
No license found in 2026
Dimly lit dive bar with high ceilings a pool table and a stage for live music.
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477 5th Ave · South Slope
Closed; now Skylark Bar
There are dives and then there are dives where you can smell the history soaked into the stains on the floor. This blue collar bar is one of the latter. Since 1969 Timboo's has been serving beer to neighborhood residents, although it's not exactly the type of place you'd want to hang out soaking in the history.
Queens
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34-07 30th Ave. · Astoria
Closed; now Dominie's
Just keep walking. This is the kind of place where misery finds company, hope is synonymous with the OTB, and the good and the beautiful are viewed with unveiled disdain.
Already closed by 2009
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CrossroadsClosed by 2009
480 Amsterdam Ave · Upper West Side
A different business is licensed at this address: Avenue Bar And Kitchen
A loud and raucous crowd with a mean age somewhere just north of thirty fills this beer and shots joint. Thanks to an internet juke box you can expect to hear Bon Jovi at least a few times each night.
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Hogs & Heifers (Uptown)Closed by 2009
1843 1st Ave. · Upper East Side
No license found in 2026
Tourists looking to score, drunk women dancing on the bar, batenders who trade flirtation for drinks, shots ordered by the dozen, and an occasional bared breast. Sounds awful right? The strange thing is we've really only ever had a good time here.
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Vasmay LoungeClosed by 2009
269 E. Houston St. · Lower East Side
Closed; now The Mayfly
In the corner space of the former notorious lesbian bar Meow Mix this diviest of dives is fast earning a reputation of its own with something seldom seen in these parts recently - a bit of an edge.