September 26, 2023 • 8 mins
Have you ever stepped into a bar that felt like stepping into another era? That's the charm of dive bars! We're all aboard the nostalgia train in this episode of the Bar Ninja Podcast with your favorites - Kayla Louge and Mike Garrison. On our journey, we're joined by Leslie, a dive bar expert who shares her unforgettable experiences from Dinos and Santas, two dive bars in Nashville.
Find out why we believe that the best dive bars are those where folks don't take themselves too seriously and the past is literally etched into the walls. We share amusing anecdotes about regulars like Charles, and delve into the eternal debate - is it safe to drink the tap beer? You don't want to miss out on the hilarious recounting of Charles pulling out his tooth after a few shots of wild turkey! So, hop on and let's pay tribute to the unpretentious spots that serve as community anchors and havens of authentic fun.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, barton and J'nation, Welcome to the Barton
Ninja Podcast, where we talkabout everything from trials and
tribulations, from life behindthe bar to tips and tricks, to
making a better bartender and abetter drinker.
Join your host, bill Forton,kayla Rood and yours truly, mike
Garrison.
Let's go have some fucking fun.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
So we are back with our next episode of our Barton
Ninja podcast and we are goingto talk today about dive bars,
Our favorite.
Everyone loves a good dive bar.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
They're the best.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
They are.
I mean, if I think back to likeany, like even new town I go to
or a hometown, the dive bars,there's always great stories
that come out of it.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, we have a dive bar expert with us today too,
leslie who also dislikes brunch.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But we're still on that train.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We're still trying to change that.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We're still trying to change that.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
We're still on that train.
She still loves a dive bar,yeah there we go.
At least we're on that train,she's still hard past brunch,
but we're working on that.
Yeah, you worked at a dive barin Nashville.
I did.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, but I worked at a dive bar called Dinos.
It was great.
It was probably the most funI've ever had working in her
restaurant before.
It was so much fun.
What?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
makes a good dive bar .
Are there just no rules?
It's lawless.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I think so.
I don't think that there's anexact formula for what makes a
great dive bar.
It can be so many differentthings.
Like it can be really dark with, you know, just like the neon
lights on.
It could be a dive bar wherethey like keep the lights on all
night because they don't wanttoo much like shenanigans going
on.
I think when you walk in andthere's just like decades of
past smoke or grime, just likesort of like embedded into the
(01:30):
walls and you can feel that Ithink that that is like a good
first sign that like you've madeit to the right spot, like it's
clean, like it's clean.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's still dirty, but it's like it's like.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It's just like embedded, it's a part of, like
the structural makeup.
Now, if there is a carpet in abar, all for it.
All for it.
If, like you can tell that thepeople sitting in the corner of
the bar have been there foryears and that is their spot,
and like really they're theofficial unofficial or
unofficial official staff, thebarfly regulars.
(01:59):
Like that makes a good dive bar.
But really it's just likenobody takes themselves too
seriously and everybody's justhaving fun and like you leave
having fun, you leave like beingridiculous and the next day
you're just like that was somuch fun.
We were also done.
We all just talked to everybodyLike it's yeah, it's more like
that feeling of yeah, kind oflike no rules, nobody's taking
(02:19):
themselves too seriously andgood music.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, they definitely have a different good dive bar.
They have a different vibe.
Yeah, if I'm you do kind ofknow it when you walk in.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Oh yeah, for me, like I know, it's definitely a dive
bar If I go in and the onlything I consider drinking is
like a Coors light or Millerlight To me.
If they're, like you know, alittle more fancy, they might
have an Amstel light.
I love a good Amstel light, sobut it's within that row.
There's nothing else I considerdrinking.
I'm not drinking the tap beer.
I'm not, and not that they'renot clean, you just like want to
match.
Yeah, so it's questionable, butyou want to like match the vibe
(02:50):
of what it is and that bottlebeer, just goes right with it.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Sometimes they might have Jell-O shooters.
You've got to drink the Jell-Oshooters in the house specialty.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, there's a dive bar, like right, like literally,
on one of this, the end of thestreet that I live on, also
right next to my gym.
It's one of the most populararound the lake, called Saïd's,
and you do not drink liquorthere.
The only time I drank liquorthere, it was the worst night of
my whole life.
So ever, even since then, I'mlike beer, beer it is.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Bottle beer is always safe.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yes yes, that's it.
The Outer Banks has a few gooddive bars down here too, pops,
pops.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, there's one in on Collington Island.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And another good marker of what makes a good dive
bar is like there's always thatcharacter there where that's
like acting out and everybody'slike, oh, that's just pop.
Like we were.
Years ago I was at Pops sittingoutside.
This man just popped out thedumpster from around the corner
with a plastic chair and hoppedon his bike and rode off with
the plastic chair and I lookedaround and was like anybody else
, just see that.
And then, like this guy wasjust like, oh, that's pop.
(03:47):
I'm like, oh, is that pop pop?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, that's pop, b-pop yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, that's so funny , that's funny.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, santa's was another one in Nashville, wasn't
it?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, santa's is great too.
Santa's is like a couple doublewide trailers put together.
It's a Santa theme bar.
The owner looks like Santa.
It's a karaoke bar too, but,like you know, it's Nashville
and so the people singing arelike very talented.
But also don't take themselvestoo seriously, you know, it's
kind of fun.
I think you can still smoke inSanta's.
What a good brand.
Yeah, they have a walk-upwindow on their porch that you
(04:19):
could order beer from.
And I had a friend who lovedgoing to Santa's and when she
became pregnant she would goearlier in the day just to say
hi to Santa and his wife andthey would make her sit by the
sliding window so she wouldn'tbe too close to everybody
smoking, so she would have totake beer orders from the other
patrons to hang out.
Oh my god, it's like that kindof like no rules, sort of like
(04:39):
fun thing about it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, but that's like also again, even building kind
of and establishing like acommunity, you know people go
back to certain places, whetheryou've talked about building
relationships and rapport, andwe go back to certain bars like
nice cocktail bars or evenrestaurants, because of the
bartenders and the environmentit provides.
Dive bars almost have that likeextra, like family, like hug,
like you just want to go in andeven though it's like it is like
(05:02):
a little community yeah, yeah,that's, yeah, it's like warm and
welcoming, even though you'relike what is this?
Especially if it's like a localspot.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Hold bars can be that , if you like, really build your
clientele up.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, but the dive bar is kind of like with the
almost like don't really give afuck mentality, make it easier,
right, because they're just likewhatever.
Whereas, like almost, whenyou're trying to be too
structured and too much, ittakes the personability out of
it.
Where dive bars it's a freeride, like screw it.
You know, it's just, you can goin, kind of be yourself and
it's fun.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That's why we love them.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That's why we love them.
You walk in, you're like, yep,we have this A type of people.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
We had this year long regular at the bar I worked at
for the longest and his name wasCharles.
Probably smoked four packs aday.
He laid carpet.
I think he like did somethingwith carpet for a living.
So like he was this old man,but just like jacked arms and he
would come in every day and hewould just drink double jack and
coax and he got a biggerdiscount than any of the staff
there.
He has his own button in ourPOS machine, so so you know he
(05:57):
for rides.
You're right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
When your name's on the POS machine Rolling out the
red carpet that he's laying.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And we got a text one morning, a group text from our
boss Saying hey, if Charlesorders anything other than Jack
and Coke, don't give it to him,don't let him drink any other
liquor.
And I was like what happened?
And then I get a following.
I get a text message followingthat of a picture, because I
guess he ordered like wildturkey or something and he had a
toothache, so he took a coupleshots of wild turkey and then
(06:25):
reached his mouth and pulled outhis tooth.
And so there's this picture ofCharles sitting there like with
his tooth at the bar.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Doing tennis tree.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, and so instead of being like Charles's band or
like Charles can't come in for awhile, like you need to cut
Charles off.
It was like don't let Charlesdrink anything other than Jack
and Coke.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Oh my gosh, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Keep it in limited.
We know he can tolerate thatand handle that.
Everything else is off limits.
Yeah Gosh, that's cool.
Yeah Well, with dive bars,obviously we all three vote yay
for dive bars.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We're all.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
team dive bar, we're all team dive bar and we love to
know obviously we havelisteners kind of everywhere if
there's a specific dive bar thatyou're favorite, whether it's
in your hometown, somewhere youvisited, oh yeah, send us your
best dive bars.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah and get podcastabartninjacom, because
we're rolling all over thecountry, yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And we all travel quite a bit.
And also, I'm never We'll stopin.
Yeah, I'm never opposed to aspontaneous trip If you can sell
me on going to a really cooldive bar, yep.
So.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, definitely podcastabartninjacom.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Get on all the platforms, even message us on
Instagram.
We kind of check everything,yep, and you know we have a lot,
of, a lot more fun topics thatwe have rolling out that we're
going to be talking about too.
But again, if there's anythingthat you guys think about that
you want to hear, that you wantus to talk about, let us know.
Till next time, bar Ninja outLater.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Bar Ninja
Podcast.
Please be sure to subscribe tous and your favorite podcast
player and join the Bar NinjaNation that has over 7,000
bartenders in it, by going towwwbarninjacom and you can enter
your email.
Till next time.
See you then.
Bye.
Hey, barton and J'nation, Welcome to the Barton
Ninja Podcast, where we talkabout everything from trials and
tribulations, from life behindthe bar to tips and tricks, to
making a better bartender and abetter drinker.
Join your host, bill Forton,kayla Rood and yours truly, mike
Garrison.
Let's go have some fucking fun.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
So we are back with our next episode of our Barton
Ninja podcast and we are goingto talk today about dive bars,
Our favorite.
Everyone loves a good dive bar.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
They're the best.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
They are.
I mean, if I think back to likeany, like even new town I go to
or a hometown, the dive bars,there's always great stories
that come out of it.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, we have a dive bar expert with us today too,
leslie who also dislikes brunch.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But we're still on that train.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We're still trying to change that.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We're still trying to change that.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
We're still on that train.
She still loves a dive bar,yeah there we go.
At least we're on that train,she's still hard past brunch,
but we're working on that.
Yeah, you worked at a dive barin Nashville.
I did.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, but I worked at a dive bar called Dinos.
It was great.
It was probably the most funI've ever had working in her
restaurant before.
It was so much fun.
What?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
makes a good dive bar .
Are there just no rules?
It's lawless.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I think so.
I don't think that there's anexact formula for what makes a
great dive bar.
It can be so many differentthings.
Like it can be really dark with, you know, just like the neon
lights on.
It could be a dive bar wherethey like keep the lights on all
night because they don't wanttoo much like shenanigans going
on.
I think when you walk in andthere's just like decades of
past smoke or grime, just likesort of like embedded into the
(01:30):
walls and you can feel that Ithink that that is like a good
first sign that like you've madeit to the right spot, like it's
clean, like it's clean.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's still dirty, but it's like it's like.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It's just like embedded, it's a part of, like
the structural makeup.
Now, if there is a carpet in abar, all for it.
All for it.
If, like you can tell that thepeople sitting in the corner of
the bar have been there foryears and that is their spot,
and like really they're theofficial unofficial or
unofficial official staff, thebarfly regulars.
(01:59):
Like that makes a good dive bar.
But really it's just likenobody takes themselves too
seriously and everybody's justhaving fun and like you leave
having fun, you leave like beingridiculous and the next day
you're just like that was somuch fun.
We were also done.
We all just talked to everybodyLike it's yeah, it's more like
that feeling of yeah, kind oflike no rules, nobody's taking
(02:19):
themselves too seriously andgood music.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, they definitely have a different good dive bar.
They have a different vibe.
Yeah, if I'm you do kind ofknow it when you walk in.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Oh yeah, for me, like I know, it's definitely a dive
bar If I go in and the onlything I consider drinking is
like a Coors light or Millerlight To me.
If they're, like you know, alittle more fancy, they might
have an Amstel light.
I love a good Amstel light, sobut it's within that row.
There's nothing else I considerdrinking.
I'm not drinking the tap beer.
I'm not, and not that they'renot clean, you just like want to
match.
Yeah, so it's questionable, butyou want to like match the vibe
(02:50):
of what it is and that bottlebeer, just goes right with it.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Sometimes they might have Jell-O shooters.
You've got to drink the Jell-Oshooters in the house specialty.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, there's a dive bar, like right, like literally,
on one of this, the end of thestreet that I live on, also
right next to my gym.
It's one of the most populararound the lake, called Saïd's,
and you do not drink liquorthere.
The only time I drank liquorthere, it was the worst night of
my whole life.
So ever, even since then, I'mlike beer, beer it is.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Bottle beer is always safe.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yes yes, that's it.
The Outer Banks has a few gooddive bars down here too, pops,
pops.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, there's one in on Collington Island.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And another good marker of what makes a good dive
bar is like there's always thatcharacter there where that's
like acting out and everybody'slike, oh, that's just pop.
Like we were.
Years ago I was at Pops sittingoutside.
This man just popped out thedumpster from around the corner
with a plastic chair and hoppedon his bike and rode off with
the plastic chair and I lookedaround and was like anybody else
, just see that.
And then, like this guy wasjust like, oh, that's pop.
(03:47):
I'm like, oh, is that pop pop?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, that's pop, b-pop yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, that's so funny , that's funny.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, santa's was another one in Nashville, wasn't
it?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, santa's is great too.
Santa's is like a couple doublewide trailers put together.
It's a Santa theme bar.
The owner looks like Santa.
It's a karaoke bar too, but,like you know, it's Nashville
and so the people singing arelike very talented.
But also don't take themselvestoo seriously, you know, it's
kind of fun.
I think you can still smoke inSanta's.
What a good brand.
Yeah, they have a walk-upwindow on their porch that you
(04:19):
could order beer from.
And I had a friend who lovedgoing to Santa's and when she
became pregnant she would goearlier in the day just to say
hi to Santa and his wife andthey would make her sit by the
sliding window so she wouldn'tbe too close to everybody
smoking, so she would have totake beer orders from the other
patrons to hang out.
Oh my god, it's like that kindof like no rules, sort of like
(04:39):
fun thing about it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, but that's like also again, even building kind
of and establishing like acommunity, you know people go
back to certain places, whetheryou've talked about building
relationships and rapport, andwe go back to certain bars like
nice cocktail bars or evenrestaurants, because of the
bartenders and the environmentit provides.
Dive bars almost have that likeextra, like family, like hug,
like you just want to go in andeven though it's like it is like
(05:02):
a little community yeah, yeah,that's, yeah, it's like warm and
welcoming, even though you'relike what is this?
Especially if it's like a localspot.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Hold bars can be that , if you like, really build your
clientele up.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, but the dive bar is kind of like with the
almost like don't really give afuck mentality, make it easier,
right, because they're just likewhatever.
Whereas, like almost, whenyou're trying to be too
structured and too much, ittakes the personability out of
it.
Where dive bars it's a freeride, like screw it.
You know, it's just, you can goin, kind of be yourself and
it's fun.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That's why we love them.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That's why we love them.
You walk in, you're like, yep,we have this A type of people.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
We had this year long regular at the bar I worked at
for the longest and his name wasCharles.
Probably smoked four packs aday.
He laid carpet.
I think he like did somethingwith carpet for a living.
So like he was this old man,but just like jacked arms and he
would come in every day and hewould just drink double jack and
coax and he got a biggerdiscount than any of the staff
there.
He has his own button in ourPOS machine, so so you know he
(05:57):
for rides.
You're right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
When your name's on the POS machine Rolling out the
red carpet that he's laying.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And we got a text one morning, a group text from our
boss Saying hey, if Charlesorders anything other than Jack
and Coke, don't give it to him,don't let him drink any other
liquor.
And I was like what happened?
And then I get a following.
I get a text message followingthat of a picture, because I
guess he ordered like wildturkey or something and he had a
toothache, so he took a coupleshots of wild turkey and then
(06:25):
reached his mouth and pulled outhis tooth.
And so there's this picture ofCharles sitting there like with
his tooth at the bar.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Doing tennis tree.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, and so instead of being like Charles's band or
like Charles can't come in for awhile, like you need to cut
Charles off.
It was like don't let Charlesdrink anything other than Jack
and Coke.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Oh my gosh, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Keep it in limited.
We know he can tolerate thatand handle that.
Everything else is off limits.
Yeah Gosh, that's cool.
Yeah Well, with dive bars,obviously we all three vote yay
for dive bars.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We're all.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
team dive bar, we're all team dive bar and we love to
know obviously we havelisteners kind of everywhere if
there's a specific dive bar thatyou're favorite, whether it's
in your hometown, somewhere youvisited, oh yeah, send us your
best dive bars.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah and get podcastabartninjacom, because
we're rolling all over thecountry, yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And we all travel quite a bit.
And also, I'm never We'll stopin.
Yeah, I'm never opposed to aspontaneous trip If you can sell
me on going to a really cooldive bar, yep.
So.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, definitely podcastabartninjacom.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Get on all the platforms, even message us on
Instagram.
We kind of check everything,yep, and you know we have a lot,
of, a lot more fun topics thatwe have rolling out that we're
going to be talking about too.
But again, if there's anythingthat you guys think about that
you want to hear, that you wantus to talk about, let us know.
Till next time, bar Ninja outLater.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Bar Ninja
Podcast.
Please be sure to subscribe tous and your favorite podcast
player and join the Bar NinjaNation that has over 7,000
bartenders in it, by going towwwbarninjacom and you can enter
your email.
Till next time.
See you then.
Bye.
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