old neighborhood bars

[Brian Sheridan]

Old neighborhood bars hereabouts don't have much atmosphere - they're for the old neighborhood. Stale smoke and Bud are the keynotes, and you talk about work or sports or you don't talk.

That's true here too.

It was once said Erie had more bars per capita than anywhere else in the country. You should see how many divey neighborhood bars are still in business. Many used to be speakeasies and when prohibition ended, they just opened up as bars. Most are in dodgy areas where drugs and weapons are a problem.

It ain't like what you see in "Cheers."