Philadelphia's Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in the City of Brotherly Love

by Brian McManus

Philadelphia's Best Dive Bars reviews the grittiest drinking establishments in the city of brotherly love. If you want to avoid the tourist traps listed in those other bar guides and find out where to get wasted after visiting the Liberty Bell, then this book is required reading. Brian McManus is the music editor and a contributing food writer at Philadelphia Weekly . He's written for Houston Press , San Francisco Weekly , Chicago Reader , Cleveland Scene , and Spin magazine.

168 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[Meredith Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

a good "by the bed" read but some of his snarking towards "real" philadelphians was a bit annoying. i felt like it was an outsider's view of these bars, judging the characters he came across unless it was a desginated cool spot. still, some good bar reccomendations.

[Dmitry Dyatlov · Rating 4 out of 5]

miss u <3

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Developing a comprehensive guide to Philadelphia's dive bars is a pretty daunting task, so anyone who undertakes this gritty, intensive project deserves some recognition.

McManus did a fairly good job of representing a wide variety of neighborhoods and their hole-in-the-wall spots. The anecdotes he told were genuinely interesting, and paint a good picture of Philadelphia's diversity and distinctive neighborhoods.

My primary issues with the book are its depth and its consistency. With several of the bars, it was clear that McManus only stopped by once, heard a patron say something quotable, and left. It felt like there was significantly more history to unearth, stories to tell.

Having patronized several of the spots in his book, it's clear that some descriptions are spot on (i.e., The El Bar, Oscar's), while others (usually the spots that fall more into the "dangerous dive" than "trendy dive" category") lack that familiarity, context, and detail. It's these spots that need more thorough research, so the reader doesn't just feel like a cultural tourist.

The book also would have benefited from more photos of the bars. Also, a thorough proofreading. I don't know how a Philadelphia Weekly editor could get something published with that many egregious spelling errors (there was a loose/lose mix-up). They employ copy editors, right?

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides some good anecdotes about bars around the city, but McManus's research is wide and shallow. Many write ups sound like he stopped by the bar once for a drink or two. It's given me a list of some places to check out, but overall the book is worth a browse at best. His analysis is pretty opinionated but comes without any real credibility.

Seriously, he's willing to go into dive bars all over the city but says walking home from the lost bar at night is dangerous? Way to shoot your credibility.

I wouldn't call this book a good read, but it's a decent reference book.

[c · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish that this book had been all anecdotes about these dive bars, but some of the reviews were short and ended abruptly without giving the reader a feel about the bar he was writing about. I did enjoy some of the lists and the pictures. It was a pretty good read.

[Jillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

E-book version has a ton of typos/spelling errors.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

more a snapshot of the dive than an actual review