As the glut of luxury condo builds attests, nowhere in Boston is safe from gentrification. So dive bars—those reliably cheap and gritty watering holes that every neighborhoods needs— are becoming an endangered species. Quirky JP, at least, still sips faithfully from the Fountain, a delightfully dank hole in the wall where it looks like some locals have been playing Keno since opening—and drinks can basically be bought with couch cushion change.
Drinking Fountain
3520 Washington St., Boston • (617) 522-7335
Other Winners
-
Dive Bar
2014 Winner: Charlie’s Kitchen
With its neon-filled windows and worn walls of white diner tile, this beloved beer and (deliciously sloppy) burger dive...
- 10 Eliot St., Cambridge
- (617) 492-9646
- charlieskitchen.com
-
Dive Bar
2015 Winner: Silhouette Lounge
There are plenty of college bro bars one might stumble into in Allston—and some fine beer bars, too—but for our money, one of the best watering holes in Rock City is the Sil’…...
- 200 Brighton Ave., Boston
- (617) 206-4565
-
Dive Bar
2016 Winner: Cantab Lounge
Grandiloquent laudations of lowly dive bars usually tick through this checklist of charms...
- 738 Mass. Ave., Cambridge
- (617) 354-2685
- cantab-lounge.com
Photo Credit: John D. Keegan
