Dallas–Fort Worth, TXDive Bars

Open since 1963, Adair's has outlasted just about every bar around it, with live country music seven nights a week from local and Texas artists, free pool on Mondays, and a classic jukebox. The walls are covered in decades of graffiti, art, and photos of notable patrons, and the whole place still feels like the same dive it always was.

The Dallas Observer calls this East Dallas fixture the city's one and only upscale dive, running more than 50 years on a dimly lit room, a lauded jukebox, and worn-in detail. The house-battered corn dogs and an award-winning Philly cheesesteak, most plates under ten dollars, are the reasons regulars keep coming back.

A Cedars institution for more than 20 years, Lee Harvey's runs on quirky, unpolished charm, good burgers and wings, and onion rings people call epic. The large outdoor space with picnic tables hosts live music on the porch, making it as much a backyard party as a bar.

One of the oldest dark bars left in Dallas, Ships still has a cigarette machine, a pool table, and a padded bar front that dates the place instantly. There is not much else, which is the whole point for the Lower Greenville regulars who treat it as an unchanging fixture.

This trailer-themed Deep Ellum dive has kept its beer cold and its cocktails strong since 2003. Live music runs at least every Friday and Saturday, ranging from rock to country, with occasional karaoke, for a crowd that treats it as a low-key alternative to Deep Ellum's bigger music venues.