“We’re getting a much younger crowd now,” says James Duguay, who has manned the bar at SRO Lounge in Bankers Hill for the past 28 years. There’s also the lure of copious cheap drinks.
Though the phrase “dive bar” once evoked the image of grizzled, bulbous-nosed old salts, spewing war stories amid the stench of cigar smoke, bile and rock-gut gin, these enduring (and endearing) neighborhood drinking spots arouse a sense of adventure in today’s urban spelunker.
Star Thompson, owner of the Star Bar, says her father taught her the bar business from the ground floor, stocking shelves and cleaning restrooms.
