Cheers

I've been to every bar in Antioch, except this one.  So I decided to change that one night with some friends after we walked out of Bases Loaded with exceptional intoxication levels.  We didn't know where we wanted to go so I triumphantly bellowed out, "TO CHEERS!" and everyone took me seriously for some reason.  I'm an Antioch vet so I am aware of the types of people that frequent this place.  I went in not expecting much and I had a surprisingly good time.  Lots of hardcore, old as dirt, rough looking alky's everywhere.  Me and my crew were the youngest ones there by at least 30 years.  The spring chicken of the regular cheers crowd stepped to me and my buddy and we laced her with straight GAME!  The only time I have any game is if I'm in a blackout state so I could have just said "Hey, boobs!" for all I remember.  Whatever I said worked because she definitely wanted a shot at the title.

This place is pretty awesome! I love dive bars full of older guys to keep me entertained.

After over 10 years (literally) of observation, sometimes in disgust, sometimes curiosity, I finally had a drink at Cheers a couple of weeks ago. The stripmall in which it's located used to be the skid row of Antioch--and where I took guitar lessons!--but now, thanks to the addition of a Starbucks, the bums and daytime drunks are joined by a plethora of hip youngsters, "business people," etc. But Cheers is, I daresay, as good as always.

It's one of those places where you see the old, run-down looking people outside at 10am, taking long, deep drags off of their Marlboro Reds and Winstons, already trashed and looking tore the fuck up. So I was skeptical and always assumed it to be a depressing scene. This was, obviously, before I was aware of the amazing inherent in super divey dives.

That isn't to say that Cheers isn't depressing. My friend and I were the youngest people in there by a good 30 years, and sadly the most sober. But you know what? Having a cheap bourbon on the rocks and the opportunity to have one of those semi-drunken deep conversations with an elder about things like the true definition of poverty (monetary or personal/spiritual) are what make places like Cheers really great. It's tiny, it's dark, everyone is 40+ and a regular, you know a lot of them have severe liver damage, but there's a friendly, relaxed atmosphere (from what I saw, no drama, and certainly no one-upping from sexier than thou Contra Costa Cunts), it's dark, there are TVs, and, hey!, there's homemade breads that you can buy (and I would've, if I hadn't spent all of my money on a whiskey).

Will Cheers become one of my regular hangouts? Hell no. I don't generally frequent bars where the clientele is all on a first name basis w/ all of the bartenders. It's enough for me that one bouncer at Zeitgeist always remembers me. But I will definitely be back to Cheers. Whether I need a mid-day cocktail to take the edge off or just want a cheap drink close to home in an unimposing place, Cheers is just seedy enough to be somewhere I want to return to.