New York City Dive Bars

Easily found at the corner of East 2nd and Avenue A (hence the name, geniuses), 2A is one of the East Village's most beloved little hangouts. Though it's totally cleaner than most dives, it falls under the "dive" title for the crowd of heavy drinking blue-collar regulars that saunter in every day after work and glue themselves to the same barstool as the night before. The upstairs portion is more like your killer neighborhood bar, with live music going on regularly and a selection of cushy couches that are perfect for hanging out with friends or for having one of those oh-so-college-days drunken make-out sessions with the cutie you met slamming shots downstairs.

Instead of falling into the "since I'm now famous, I'm going to open some kitchy mega-club or hipper-than-thou ultra lounge" celebrity trap, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy went the route of cool neighborhood dive, and this is why we like him. Angels & Kings looks much nicer than your standard dive bar, with red curtains, leather couches and scattered votive candles, but it's got that unassuming basement dive feel (with just a dash of sleaze) that welcomes just about every random soul to wander through the East Village. The jukebox has some good rock tunes on it, and the crowd is mostly cool save for the occasional camera-toting college-girl tourist waiting on an appearance from Mr. Wentz himself.

The Barrow Street Ale House is replete with all the standard dive bar paraphernalia: sports-drenched TVs, a pool table, ancient video games and a jukebox filled with rock tunes. Though this historic old haunt was once a 19th century carriage house and then a jazz club, it now seems happy with its current incarnation as a neighborhood dive, drawing in young and old with over 30 bottled brews, 16 taps, an ample selection of spirits and a low-expectations atmosphere.

Why is the Blue & Gold Tavern worth a visit? Cheap booze. It's not particularly glamorous inside (several threadbare booths, questionable bathrooms and a big wooden bar), and there's nothing beyond the standard activities of shooting pool and listening to classic tunes on the jukebox. It's all about the cheap booze here, plain and simple. Most drinks, from wells to taps, can run as little as three bucks (!). So, when happy-I'm-off-work-hour rolls on, blue collars and random post-9to5ers saunter in to grab a seat at the bar and down a few before heading home. As the night wears on, college kids pack in by the dozen to capitalize on the drink prices, consequently upping the volume and adding a bit more under-25 eye candy.

Once a die-hard, punked-out rock bar in the East Village known for loud live shows and people with very spiky hair, the Continental is now your basic Manhattan dive bar where live shows are only a memory, there are cushy booths instead of a stage and plasma-screen sports are the basic form of visual stimulus. One thing remains the same here, though, and that's the cheap drinks. A steady following of regulars means there's always going to be some near toothless dude nursing a glass of whiskey at the bar who's down to tell you war stories that you don't care to hear, and the über-cheap drinks are always ready to turn your evening into one that's hangover worthy.

A deliciously grungy subterranean lair for the true dive bar lovers of the world, Down the Hatch is Greenwich Village's middle finger to the ultra-lounge and VIP club culture that Manhattan often seems so fond of. Exposed brick, rickety stools, year-round Christmas lights and all, this basement bar is a home-away-from-home for beer swilling patrons both young and old who dig the stupidly cheap drinks and decidedly no-expectations atmosphere. On the weekends, cheap drinks courtesy of the "after school special" draw in a loud and shameless lot of barely legals who can be found slamming booze and flirting mercilessly over foosball games.

If you're playing ping-pong, shooting pool and drinking in a place whose layout feels like a clubhouse decorated by college art students, then you're probably at Fat Cat. This groovy underground realm of alcohol and pool tables has a cool bohemian atmosphere that draws in decent sized crowds on a regular basis. Live Salsa music is the special on Tuesday nights, and Jazz groups hit the stage the rest of the week.

Nothing says "good morning" like a 32-ounce Styrofoam bucket of Coors for $1.75—it also says, "welcome to your new favorite bar." Jeremy's Ale House is basically famous for the buckets of beer that come for prices so cheap you can't help but love them. Though this great little dive has changed locations several times in the last few years, a faithful lot of regulars have proven that they'll follow Jeremy's to the ends of the earth.

All right, all you country lovers out there, this one's for you. Joe's Bar (not to be confused with Joe's Pub, the glitzy, shwanky cabaret supper club) is the kind of East Village dive that you saunter into at just about any hour to drink super cheap beer and listen to some awesome country music. You'll get everything from Haggard and Cline to McGraw and Hill in here.

Serving up brews to punks, drunks and dropouts since it was one of only two bars on all of Avenue B, Mona's is a dive bar institution in New York. As stubborn as its old-sot patrons, Mona's has absolutely refused to be anything other than a mellow, no-frills dive where the drink of choice is either beer or whiskey and ordering something like an appletini will earn you a score of dirty looks. The décor is seemingly ancient and there's no suggestion that it will be updated any time soon—the flashiest thing here is the ubiquitous oblong stained glass lamp that hangs four feet above the pool table and reads "pool" just in case you have too many shots and forget what the green felt table is there for.

Dripping with dive-bar-meets-saloon vibes, Rudy's Bar & Grill is a Hell's Kitchen neighborhood favorite. Stained glass lamps wash the bar in muted amber hues, old sots sip whiskey long past sundown, drinks are dirt cheap, the house drink—Rudy's Red—will have you seeing double in no time for under eight bucks, and hot dogs are free (seriously). Rudy's used to be filled with only the standard dive bar folk—the scruffy, older kind that have been drunk since the dinosaurs roamed—but it's now seeing an influx of hipsters and happy hour-seeking professionals who dig the cheap booze and big, cushy red booths.

A classic New York dive bar, the Subway Inn has been a staple in the lives of glued-to-a-barstool-'til-I-die drinkers since 1937. Sticky tables, scarred up bar, funky décor, neon signs and dust that's been kickin' it on the shelves since 1937 make this the kind of place where you can recover from the McBars that are popping up all over the city. When you're in the mood for nitty gritty Cheers-style love, find a stool that doesn't tip over and grab yourself a shot for four bucks. This might just be one of the best dives in NYC.

This dive bar is one of the few places in New York City where you can find $3 tequila shots, cheap beer, and the promise of celebrity caliber atmosphere. With multiple theme parties and a friendly staff, a night at the Skinny is a night to remember. This bar tends to fill up, as it is not the largest. Getting past its thin, shotgun bar proves to be a tight squeeze on a busy night, proving that the skinny lives up to its name both on your wallet and your sense of personal space.