There are bars, and then there are dives.
The former are all manners of drinking establishments, the latter are neighborhood institutions that feel as if they exist outside of time. And the term is only an affront to those who know no better.
Here are three timeless dives along a stretch of 4 miles in the San Gabriel Valley, from San Gabriel to South Pasadena. Bottoms up.
Al's Cocktails
"Dives is a good term, I like that term," said Shawn Doyle, owner and operator of Al's Cocktails in San Gabriel — a tried-and-true example of the genre on Las Tunas Dr. that's been open since 1945.
Doyle remembers going to Al's on weekends for breakfast as a kid, a good decade before his mom, Regina, bought the little watering hole in the mid-1980s. Eventually, the siren call of the family business lured him in. Now, Doyle mans the bar and his 76-year-old mom works the back office.
True to its status as a local spot, Doyle says 80% of their patrons are regulars whose names or faces they know.
"Dive bar means it's a little bit of a neighborhood bar, but it's no-frills," he said. "Just kind of a friendly atmosphere. You know you're going to get a good drink. It's 'we're not gonna pay too much for it.'"
Especially nowadays, when a fancy cocktail at a fancy place can set you back a $20 bill before tip, Al's and other dives still manage to charge a quarter of that — with none of that cocktail jigger nonsense.
"You know, we're a small space and we just don't overcharge," Doyle said. "It's not that we keep [prices] so low. It's other places charge way too much."
Jay Dee Cafe
Many of us have our go-to dives — and they come and go, the same way that we come and go.
When you live in a city long enough, its streets are dotted with their ghosts. Hop Louie in Chinatown. Smog Cutter in East Hollywood. Cosmos in Little Tokyo. Their disappearances make the ones that are still standing seems all the more surprising.
Like Jay Dee Cafe in Alhambra, about 2.5 miles west of Al's. The century-old dive on Main Street serves breakfast on the weekend and has coffee on tap. Its lunch and dinner menu is also nothing to sneeze at — but the "cafe" part kind of ends there.
On a recent early Tuesday afternoon, Mary Arriola, her sister Josie and their friend Irene Rivera are nursing a round of drinks — a whiskey, a vodka tonic, and a vodka soda, respectively — at one of Jay Dee's slick round booths.
"The minute I walk in, they know what I drink. I never switch. Never, ever," said Rivera.
The ladies said they've been regulars at Jay Dee since the 1970s. Today's day-drinking was occasioned by Josie being back in town for a visit from New Mexico.
"Back when we started coming, all the bars were open at 6 a.m., and all the bars had regular people that, at 6 a.m., they came in and drank. And usually men," said Mary Arriola. "They were all lined up here reading the paper, eating breakfast."
The trio said the owners, Jimmy Lima and Eddie Krall, have always made sure the atmosphere is welcoming to everyone.
"We feel safe as women. Period," Josie said.
"Because we know everybody. Yeah, it's the locals and we know them," said Rivera, adding that the bar has stayed true to form in the 50 some years they have hung out there — and counting.
"Josie's been back for about 10 days," said Mary, only half in jest. "9 of them we have been at Jay Dee."
The Barkley Restaurant & Bar
Once you become a dive bar convert, it's hard to go back. They are like a comfortable old T-shirt, you just can't quit it.
For Daniel de la Torre, that meant taking over one of his favorite spots in the San Gabriel Valley: The Barkley in South Pasadena.
"It was a much older crowd and I could just sit in the corner and not be bothered. It just looked cool, like you walked into the past," de la Torre said of the bar before he took it over in 2012.
The owners wanted to get out of the business and one of them got talking to de la Torre.
"He goes, 'make us an offer'. And I was like, 'get out,'" de la Torre said. "I thought he was joking."
Talks fell through several times, but the thought that this neighborhood landmark could disappear forever pulled him back in.
"I dreamt that it became like some cheesy different restaurant," he said. "I called my brother, I was like, 'If we could break even every month and our friends' bands play there and we pump some life into it... we got a bitchin' hang out.'"
True to his words, The Barkley is all that and more. The 1951 steakhouse has been largely preserved — down to the original booths — with minor updates and flourishes. Yes, his friends' bands do perform there, including a jazz outfit.
As to the booze, it's also a throwback, down to the prices and the pour.
"You want to be reasonable enough so working class people could come and enjoy themselves for a few hours, you know, multiple times a week," he said.
Food, too, is still on the menu. But there's one big difference, de la Torre said.
"I would say we're more of a dive bar than a restaurant," said de la Torre. "A long time ago a dive bar was an insult. But now, I think youngsters started using that to mean neighborhood bar."
And remember, the first rule of dives still apply — for The Barkley, Jay Dee, and Al's Cocktails.
Cash only, please.
