I find I do more bar hopping and eating out in the city in the winter.
Beacon Hill Pub is currently shuttered... they CLAIM its going to reopen but I'm not holding my breath. Same goes with Sullivans Tap- that just "temporarily" closed but I have my doubts. Them and the Tam are all owned by the same new owners who I now believe to be the devil himself.
This bar speak should probably be moved to separate thread but I'll continue the derailment-
Still going strong are Deluxe and Anchovies in my hood, thank god for them.
I like the Sil as well hopefully that sticks around
Holy crap, Beacon Hill Pub?!? That was the lone place I could get into without an ID (other than Matt Murphy's in Brookline) long ago... wow. I work close by, wish I went there now more than I do.
A while back I went on a fairly obsessive investigation into a lot of the old dive bars in Boston... that search led to many late nights reading ancient pre-blogspot blogs, old angelfire sites, etc, with great testimonials on the existing dive bars as well as closed ones. Since this thread has been totally derailed, I suppose I'll spell out a bit of what I remember right here:
First, basically anything called "Tap" is the real deal and probably had some criminal connection. Most of the old "Taps" were. Google around and you'll find the info.
But also — there used to be a sort of chain of bars called Father's and they had funny names like Father's Too, Father's Three etc - I wonder if anyone here remembers them; I am too young. But from what I remember, they were all owned, along with a handful of other dives, by the same guy, who had some sort of connection to Whitey Bulger and criminal stuff. Cambridgeport Tap, Beacon Hill Pub, The Tam, Crossroads Pub, Sullivans (the North Station one, not Charlestown) and a few others (maybe Sullivans, I can't remember) were all part of this ownership.
If you google deep enough, you find all sorts of excellent stories and memories by real old timers, great stuff about the old Park Sq and the leather bars, old Combat Zone, etc etc... not to overly romanticize the grit, but the primary sources are so much better than what most people into this stuff settle for, like the occasional photo on Dirty Old Boston...
