Oakland's dives are the soul of the town, a 1933 sing-along piano bar, the birthplace of West Coast blues, and the country's oldest LGBTQ bar. Cheap, historic, and unpretentious to the core.
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A dimly lit 1933 piano bar where regulars belt out standards beneath walls papered with decades of business cards. Cash-friendly, boozy, and unapologetically old-school, the most iconic dive in Oakland.
Pip’s Tip Daily 6pm to 2am. A 1933 piano bar where regulars sing standards, walls papered in phone-book pages.
A gloriously grimy cash-only sailor's saloon that opens early for the graveyard-shift crowd, with cheap stiff pours and a pool table. Dogs, bikers, and dockworkers all fit right in.
Pip’s Tip Cash only, opens 8am for the graveyard shift. Grimy sailor's saloon at Jack London Square.
The oldest continuously operating LGBTQ bar in the country (since 1933), a beloved neighborhood watering hole with stiff cheap drinks, a back dance floor, and zero pretension.
Pip’s Tip The oldest continuously operating LGBTQ bar in the country, since 1933. Daily from 3pm.
Founded in the 1970s by Black owner Eli Thornton as the self-proclaimed birthplace of West Coast blues, this legendary dive still slings cheap beer, punk and blues shows, and killer patio hangs.
A ramshackle former 1920s bait shop turned beloved shuffleboard dive, packed with regulars, cheap pitchers, and a big beer garden out back. One of Oakland's most historic neighborhood bars.
A pitch-black, red-lit downtown dive with a killer jukebox, cheap strong drinks, and a rotating cast of DJs and regulars. Quintessential no-frills Oakland late-night hang.
An eccentric, cluttered Uptown institution jammed with taxidermy and oddball art, famous for fresh-squeezed greyhounds and live jazz and blues. A gloriously weird cornerstone of Uptown.
A beloved Black-owned Uptown saloon with a great back patio, packed karaoke nights, DJs, and stiff drinks. Down-to-earth and community-rooted, a cornerstone of Black Oakland nightlife.
A classic no-frills corner dive near Piedmont Avenue with a pool table, dartboard, cheap drinks, and a devoted regular crowd. Dim, friendly, and refreshingly unpretentious.
A reopened Uptown dive and grungy live-music room known for punk, garage, and blues shows, cheap beer, and a divey back patio. A gritty, beloved fixture of Oakland's underground scene.
A dimly lit 1933 piano bar where regulars belt out standards beneath walls papered with decades of business cards. Cash-friendly, boozy, and unapologetically old-school, the most iconic dive in Oakland.
Dive bars are one chapter of Pip's Lifestyle, find the whiskey bars, lounges, steakhouses and the Domino Club below.
