The Handy Slut is well stocked with all the dive bar essentials: weird musty smells, pool tables, greasy food, pinball cabinets and cigarette-smoke-saturated walls from decades of smoldering tobacco.
The facade is the same painted promotions you see on furniture stores stuck in the 70s. Beyond the threshold is an inclusive bar where one can revel in pre-gentrification and the joy of dark panelling
Posited beside Sizzle Pie makes it the perfect place to get sloshy and loose before heading next door to soak up your drinks with a slice of Ol Dirty before heading back and to start all over again.
On the outer rim of the Pearl/Slabtown is The Low Brow Lounge. You guys remember the 90's? So does the Low Brow. Commiserate.
The quintessential hipster bar, Club 21 is a dive for this city and time. Here you can catch local bands, drink away a brunch comedy show (with bottomless mimosas), and belly up to sip boilermakers.
On MLK stands a two story red shack that looks like a stiff wind might blow it over. A Christmas-light strewn back patio and rickety staircase have witnessed many a swan dive down dilapidated steps.
There is a bar so dark, gritty, and lacking in pretense that it exemplifies a true dive. Slim's has cleaned up recently but stayed true to the hard drinking style that's paid rent for so many years.
The log cabin-esque interior presents a surreal environment to see a hardcore metal band and their roster of shows is always uniquely representative of the area.
Though it's not been around long, you can remember the good old days with $2 Pabst and ping pong on the patio. Points for tropical murals which remind us that we do not live in a tropical paradise.
LISTEN UP PORTLAND DEVELOPERS - YOU CAN HAVE THE KNOW WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS. LONG LIVE THE KNOW
