The El Bar

Typical dive. Open mic is great, not sure if they still do it but I used to play on Wednesday nights. Diverse crowd. Good prices.

Is it appropriate to live and work and play in Fishtown/Kensington and not just really like El Bar? Is it not unconscionable to patronize the neighborhood establishments who run the gambit from trying so hard for posterity yet failing so much as put on aires to full on corporate mousetrap while turning up ones nose at an establishment which has clearly implemented a dive bar algorithm and executed practically without flaw? I think it heresy for any one who touts the culture of functional alcoholism relieved of politics for a politics of indifference, deficient in violence both physical and economic, and enlivened by the most proprietous anesthetic that cause of and cure to all of life's problems -- Cheap Booze -- to propagate the sin of self-induced delusions that El Bar does not approach the pinnacle of simplified, modern-dingy, dank, hole-in-the-wall aesthetic and streamlined the practice of drinking within in. So keeping in line with its "less than perfect perfect" spirit, four out of five stars is the most suitable rating..

I felt like I would have blended in a bit more if I had multiple tattoos or piercings, but anyway. The drinks were stiff, the mixed ones being average in price (something in the 7-range). The bartender was super sweet and friendly. The bathrooms are made to look like somebody snorted coke and graffiti-ed all over the place, but I suspect that this design is a deterrent for actual graffiti--and the sink and toilet were VERY clean, at least around 11 pm it was. Oh, and the non-ladies bathroom had a sign that indicated something to the effect of being open to anyone whose gender identity wasn't either or. The music wasn't my favorite, but there was only a donation of whatever you want to give for entry. And some part of the band (lead singer?) claimed that they were having their wedding reception there, so the entertainment factor with all the speeches and throwing of flowers, placing of the garter belt, etc was pretty amazing and by then, the urge to get a facial piercing or tramp stamp totally subsided.