I love a good dive. Â I don't mean love a good dive like "Yay, a good dive." Â I mean love a good dive like "I get excited, want to skip down the street to get there, feel giddy, slightly aroused, and cannot contain my joy as I order a well drink for $3.50 as people smoke in the bar around me and drunk couples play free pool against each other." Â Seriously, it fills me with jubilation, and I want to be able to do a leprechaun kick in mid-air. Â Sadly, I am white and drink too much, so I cannot do this kick, but in my mind, I do. Â
The jury room fills all of this. Â It is laid back, it is SUPER cheap, the pool is free, the music is good, and the ambiance is that a truck stop diner, but in bar form. Â It is heavenly. Â Plus, any bar where drinks are comped for destroying this poor, illiterate sap who decided to argue with me that Twilight is not misogynist, terribly written, and expresses little to no understanding of the human condition is A-OK with me. Â That poor girl, she was fine until she decided to argue that I obviously don't like Twilight because "I have bad taste in literature." Â First, I am impressed she knows the word literature, as it is far above the vocab of a Twilight fan, and second, that was a mistake. Â Word to the wise, when arguing about bad books, the line "You obviously have poor judgment so I feel I should invite you home with me" does NOT work. Â Oops.,
So my Lady's kid wanted to romp the Boardwalk with her friend so we came here. It was all good. It was like $12 for a neat double shot of gin, a beer and a diet coke for my lady who is expecting our 11th son. It wasn't too crowded, and apparently, although I'm not a smoker, I appreciate the fact that they allow smoking., kind of a throwback ya know.. check it. Good Time.
Review Source:Came here on our way home from being out every night in SC. Â It was a lot of fun as we were already slightly intoxicated, and they had good live music. Â It is pretty div-y, but that is actually a good thing. Â The interior was almost cabin-esque, in that it had a large fireplace in the center. Â The only negative is they allowed smoking, and not being a smoker, it was kind of a downer. Â But regardless, I would love to return.
Review Source:YIKES...I give it three stars because it's not a bad bar AT ALL! They did nothing wrong. Drinks were stiff, locals were friendly.
The 3 are for the fact that they completely embody that this is a dive or it would be a 1 start review. They are okay with (and should be) that most people would be scared away in seconds of getting close to the door.
Your feelings will sum up to one of two things;
"I love this place"
or
"I think this is the bar that Jodie Foster got raped on the pinball machine"
I would never go again, I LOVE DIVES. But wow....WOW! They got the dirty bar carpet smell and the dark/no window interior. But It just wasn't my scene.
There is a reason why when you search 'bar santa cruz' on yelp, that the jury room is on the 3rd page. this is because the jury room is something we colloquially refer to as 'in the cut'.
the jury room is not a bar for everyone. it attracts a certain type of crowd and although it is welcoming to everyone, i would say if you're the type of person to wear popped collared shirts and frequent the red room, you should stay on pacific.
This bar is off the beaten track because it is for those who don't follow the straight and narrow path. You want cheap beer? they got it. you want mad dog 20/20? they got it. don't know what mad dog is? gtfo.
couple that with free pool and a free jukebox filled with all your favorite punk rock and you can't do much better. AND you can smoke inside?
i don't think this place could get any better. hell, i've even seen someone bring a dog in here.
best bar ever... ~ hicccupp~~
Wow, what a difference this time! Â From the moment I stepped in, I got a bad vibe. Â The old bartender just looked at us with a funny expression and didn't say anything at first. Â I fully expected he'd make a lousy drink for me, but it was okay. Â Nothing like the drinks at the Asti though. Â
The room was just filled with cigarette smoke and at a casual glance saw and counted no less than six people smoking inside the bar (I thought there was a law?). Â I have good friends that smoke, but wow, I haven't seen a bar this smoky in years! Â Even out of state. Â Guess I'm just not used to it anymore.
Still managed to get on the table and shot some fun pool, but the overall vibe in there last night was really bad and the mood was sour, especially one obnoxious jerk. Â What's that old bar joke? Â How do you make an Instant A-hole? Â Just add alcohol!!! :)
Defnitely a true dive, you never know what you're going to get until you go in there. Â Meh, this place left a bad taste in my mouth. Â I love dive bars sometimes, but this was too much. Â I should have stayed at Callahan's or one of the other bars. Â Won't be back in here for a while.
As far as dive bars are concerned this place is the tops.
I live a stone's throw away from here and this place is wonderful.
Sometimes it's so loud in there I can't here myself think, which is a turnoff but over all I always have a good time when I'm at the Jury.
It's cheap and it's good. It's definitely a place for locals and thrives off its regulars. This is not to say that students aren't welcome, but the place is definitely not for the faint of heart. Recommended for alkies on a budget who like a free game of pool.
I recommend coming in Saturday nights. The bartender is the nicest guy and pulls a great Guinness.
An OK bar. We walked there after busing it downtown from the west side. The prices are affordable, and the juke box is free (but the play list is usually full with 2000 songs on the queue and many repeats). The jukebox has alot of punk and metal, rockabilly and skinhead music.
The scene there is very rocka/psycho billy with skins and some punks, a veritable melting box of those groups. The music is always way too loud and no one moves from the bar once they get there. The place looks kind of like a mess, with refuse all over the fireplace etc.
Overall, it is a decent dive, one of many i would visit on a regular basis but nothing to write home about.
I like dive bars. This one is so close to the courthouse that you feel like you are IN the courthouse. I'm talking mostly about the clientele. It was hard to tell who was just released from county jail and who was on the way in. I smelled a bar brawl so I left.
Stop acting hard guys.
Also if you want to smoke  some tobacco or just want to smell like you do these folks don't exactly observe the smoking ban. Bartender was cool, drinks were cheap but the vibe was ...kinda like the carpet,
The verdict is in!
This place is cool.
Conveniently located next to a jack in the box and staircase. We asked the bartender to pick a shot for us and the giant bad ass looking dude made us a cosmo! how cool is that? Not very exciting but it was strong and cheap and perfect for pre tattoo shot time. They also sell scratchers like any good, reputable bar should so that is a plus (or negative depending on how you look at it...wallets point of view). If I ever find myself 70 years old and living in SC, I'll be here all the time yo....followed by a trip to jack in the box for a small spicy chicken bites and  curly fries.
Man I LOVE this place, I wish it were closer!!
My dad used to frequent this bar back in the 80s. I remember sitting out on the curb one time after being at the Boardwalk all day, Â waiting for him as him and his buddy stopped in for one last beer for the drive home. Oh those were the days!! lol How we made it home alive I'll never know!
I'd been in this place once when I was about 23 and I lost my ID so they wouldn't pour me a drink but let my friend buy drinks and slide them over to me.
Well Dad died in 2002 and I'm finally starting to let him go....his ashes that is. So on the anniversary of his passing, just a couple weeks ago my bf and I decided to go and spread some ashes in the places he liked. Headed into the Jury Room, had a drink in his honor, dropped some ashes on the floor, watched the Raiders game (they won! and Dad LOVED the Raiders), met a super cool 70 yr old named George who offered to buy my bf a drink, if he could take me home! The bf told him, no need to buy him a drink, just take me. Nice!! haha
This place is totally divey, there were a few older folks but mostly younger people. Rockabillies, bikers, punks. Very friendly and alotta fun.
They have a pool table, microwave, tv screen where they had a movie playing, music, tvs with sports and the bartender pours a stiff drink at a cheap price!
We loved it there. If this place were in SJ it'd be my new regular hangout.
Dive Bar Deluxe.
There were few socially redeemable qualities about this place until a few years ago. They cleaned it up enough to make the bathrooms tolerable and now you can see who just felt you up. (better lighting)
NOW they have great bands coming to play, whatta ya know!
If you are into hardcore etc. you can see some good shows here!
This place is HELLA divey.
Supposedly it's named "The NEW Jury Room" because there was a serial killer that made a habit of picking up its victims at the "Jury Room". They wanted to disassociate themselves from the old, "get yourself murdered Jury Room".
It's conveniently located across from the Santa Cruz County Jail complex.
They let people smoke inside (Cigs? Of course. Marijuana? If it's busy enough), which left me reaching for my post apoc gas mask.
The biggest appeal (for a young hip person like myself): Fuckin' kickass local shows. I saw Daddy Crimbo, Future Dog, Cyclic Redundancy, Perfect Machines, and lots of others that I conveniently forgot here. The acoustics are decent and intimate.
EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS POINTS: After the Perfect Machines show, the bar offered to give EVERYONE IN THE BAR a free round of well drinks if the various bands collaborated to do an 80's butt metal cover. They haphazardly did "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest, and yours truly scored a free vodka and red bull. (:
For a dive bar, it is certaintly alright and even, might I say it, fun. Â
What you need though to prep for your arrival:
To be already drinking, is a neccesity for me.
Not to mind the older locals.
Not to wear your good heels.
Leave your sensibility at home.
I had avoided this place like the plague before, denying requests to go but there came a day when I met some friends there and really was quite surprised.
It is a smaller place, but enough room for a small local band to play (they were pretty good), a pool table (I suck, but it is good drunken fun) and a jukebox. Â The place is all dark, I think the dark wood gives it that feel as well.
The drinks are fairly cheap and pours are mighty. Â The bartender is sweet, fun and filled will old cheer. Â
The crowd is either college kids who have found their dive or older locals, comfortable for all though.
The bathrooms are a little gross (hence not going with the good heels) but hey, it's a dive.
It's fun, check it out, just don't raise the bar too high.
I was a little afraid to hit this place because it looks like and old man bar. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There is actually a nice crowd there, kind of a rockabilly crowd on the weekends, with some good music. I like that you can smoke while you drink. Not the ritz, but you'd have to be pretty drunk already if you even thought it would be from the outside. Good strong drinks in a non-pretencious atmosphere.
Review Source:
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