Denver, CODive Bars

A neon-signed dive on a residential stretch of Pearl in West Wash Park, holding its unpretentious character in a gentrified neighborhood. Cheap drinks and one of the better dive-bar burgers in town, with Westword dive-bar honors to its name and a crowd that runs from afternoon regulars to a busy weekend night.

Open more than seventy years on East Colfax, a Capitol Hill mainstay of corner booths and cheap pours. The long history is part of the draw, a low-lit room that has outlasted waves of neighborhood change and keeps a steady mix of longtime regulars and newcomers.

An Edgewater institution on Sheridan that opens at 7 a.m., drawing regulars who watch the sunrise over Sloan's Lake and the downtown skyline from a barstool. The early hours and lakeside view give it a character most metro dives cannot match, cheap drinks included.

A former factory-worker haunt turned rock-and-roll dive in Olde Town Arvada, with a jukebox, cold beer, pool tables, and regular theme nights. The room leans into its music-scene identity, a reliable spot for a cheap drink away from the polished bars that have filled in around it.

A cheap-drink Denver dive at 723 East Sixth that has poured for more than 75 years, known for shuffleboard, dog-friendly stools, and a vending machine stocked with frozen pizzas and odds and ends. No kitchen, and the crowd swings from daytime regulars to a packed night scene.