Jakob McWhinney is an education reporter at Voice of San Diego and the co-host of the weekly VOSD Podcast. He's also a passionate explorer of San Diego's local dive bar scene.
"A dive bar at its best is not just a place that you can get a cheap drink," Jakob said. "It's a place where you can be a regular, you can be known, where you can walk in and everybody will know your name, right? That's like the ideal of a place, and those are the places that I think really build community."
Beyond being a place where you feel like a regular, Jakob has two other criteria for what qualifies a dive bar: It should have either sticky floors or carpeting, and "you should be able to tell that people used to smoke cigarettes there."
Jakob said dive bars are a dying breed. But a few great ones remain. Here are five of his favorites.
Grab a drink at these local dives
Chee Chee Club
Cheers
"It's just such a homey place. I'm very big on unpretentiousness, and it feels that way through and through. It really is delightful."
Cherrybomb
"Go to Cherry Bomb, order one shot, and that's all you will need. They fill their shot glasses up all the way."
High Seas Bar
"It recently got purchased and turned into High Seas, which retains a lot of the seediness but feels a lot more welcoming. And so I just love that, that it was purchased and it was not turned into something that drained all of the neighborhood feel out of it. It is still very much a regulars bar, and I have so much love and respect for the fact that it is."
SRO Lounge
"Despite it being a pretty upscale neighborhood, Bankers Hill just holds onto these gems in a way that I admire so much."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
