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  • Features

    Time Out Chicago / Issue 125 : Jul 19–25, 2007
    Dive bars

    The great pretenders

    How to tell when a hipster bar is masquerading as a dive bar.

    By Jake Malooley, Heather Shouse and  David Tamarkin

    There’s a photo booth.

    A Tamale Guy shows up at any point in the night.

    It doesn’t start getting crowded until 10pm.

    There’s a cocktail list, a wine list and/or a beer list.

    There’s somebody in sunglasses (the blind don’t count).

    Wilco is on the jukebox.

    Everybody in the room is under 40, bartenders included.

    The bartender doesn’t drink on the job.

    There are sliders on the menu.

    There’s a menu at all.

    It’s “Soul” night.

    Red Bull is a mixer option.

    Photo: Nicole Radja

    There are at least a handful of flavored vodkas.

    There’s free Wi-Fi; or any Wi-Fi, for that matter.

    The bartender is in a band he describes as “post-rock.”

    The guy to your right goes on and on about how a new Pitchfork Media review is “trenchant.”




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