About a week ago, I helped break the news that the Boiler Room, the beloved gay dive bar at 86 East 4th Street off 2nd Avenue in the East Village would be closing down at that address, after a whopping 34 years of being open at that location.
Technically yes, in terms of the look/feel of what makes a dive bar, but the term "dive bar" originated in the U.S. and is mostly only used there. Other countries may have different words to describe the feel of a "dive bar".
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the colloquial use of the word dive to describe a “drinking den” or “other disreputable place of resort” comes from the fact that these types of establishments were originally housed in cellars or basements, into which “frequenters may ‘dive’ without observation.” The OED says the first documented use of the phrase appeared in the New York Herald in July 1871: “One of the gayly decorated dives where young ladies … dispense refreshments to thirsty souls.” It appears again in 1882, then in an 1883 edition of Harper’s Magazine (“opium-smoking dives”). It is directly used in reference to a tavern in 1886: “A grand entrance takes the place of the tavern, which is relegated to down below, and is called a ‘dive.’”
Do gay dive bars exist outside of the States?
Technically yes, in terms of the look/feel of what makes a dive bar, but the term "dive bar" originated in the U.S. and is mostly only used there. Other countries may have different words to describe the feel of a "dive bar".
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the colloquial use of the word dive to describe a “drinking den” or “other disreputable place of resort” comes from the fact that these types of establishments were originally housed in cellars or basements, into which “frequenters may ‘dive’ without observation.” The OED says the first documented use of the phrase appeared in the New York Herald in July 1871: “One of the gayly decorated dives where young ladies … dispense refreshments to thirsty souls.” It appears again in 1882, then in an 1883 edition of Harper’s Magazine (“opium-smoking dives”). It is directly used in reference to a tavern in 1886: “A grand entrance takes the place of the tavern, which is relegated to down below, and is called a ‘dive.’”
Thank you!