Not A Dive Bar

Calling a bar a “Dive Bar” does not automatically make it a genuine Dive Bar.

While preparing for the the Portland Dive Bars project KC ad Steven curated a list of dive bars to study from their own research as well as taking suggestions from others ( yeah, it’s tough work, but somebody has to do it!).

As they began to visit the Portland “Dive Bars” on their list, they discovered that not all of the bars in Portland that are referred to as “Dive Bars” are actually Dive Bars.

For example, a very nice, very clean bar is NOT a dive bar. No matter how quirky or fun. As this project develops this page will begin to list those Portland bars that are as well as those that are NOT Dive Bars.

Bars that turn out to be genuine Dive Bars are be featured in profile articles here on this website. They may also be included in the forthcoming Portland Dive Bar book.

If a bar on our list of possible Portland Dive Bars sadly turns out not to be a genuine Dive Bar, it will be relegated to the “Not a Dive Bar” category and it won’t be featured here on this website.

Someday KC & Steven may make a list of the Portland “dive bars” they visited that in fact were not dive bars.

Honorable Mentions

Some of the “dive bars” that KC & Steven visit turn out to be “dive bar light” – close but not full on dive bars, and sometimes KC & Steven come across really cool bars that are not really dive bars but are ones that dive bar fans would enjoy.

Both of those kind of bars will get a Honorable Mention profile articles here on this website.