Added extras like a reverse happy hour every Thursday from 11 p.m. to midnight and a Sunday night jazz workshop have made the Famous Door a happening hangout for the have-a-Havana crowd -- for men both young and old and a surprising number of women.
Pink E's
3227 East Bell
602-482-8350
BEST BREW PUB
Four Peaks Brewing Company
1340 East Eighth Street, Tempe
480-303-9967
BEST DIVE BAR
The Coach House
7011 East Indian School, Scottsdale
480-990-3433
BEST SPORTS BAR
McDuffy's
230 West Fifth Street, Tempe
480-966-5600
BEST BAR TO BE SEEN
Six
7316 East Stetson, Scottsdale
480-663-6620
BEST BAR FOR CONVERSATION
Zipp's Sports Grill
7551 East Camelback, Scottsdale
480-970-9507
BEST GAY BAR
Amsterdam
718 North Central
602-258-6122
BEST LESBIAN BAR
Ain't Nobody's Bizness
3031 East Indian School
602-224-9977
BEST BEER SELECTION
Timber Wolf Pub
740 East Apache, Tempe
480-517-9383
BEST HAPPY HOUR
Applebee's
several Valley locations
BEST BAR FOOD
Zipp's Sports Grill
7551 East Camelback, Scottsdale
480-970-9507
BEST PLACE TO DROWN YOUR SORROWS
Jugheads
5110 East McDowell
602-225-0307
Plus: a sense of history (in Phoenix, this means at least 25 years old). Draft beer, of maximum three flavors. A less than six-dollar pitcher. A cold-ass bottle of Bud for around two bucks. Affordable shots of your favorite amnesia. At least one pool table and one pinball game; shuffleboard and darts a bonus.
Finally, a jukebox featuring '70s rock, tear-in-my-beer country and eclectic oldies. And a good, take-no-shit bartender.
Mecca fills the bill. It's dark and smoky, old and wonderfully worn. The indoor/outdoor carpet was once burgundy, the patrons range from neighborhoody to weekend hipsters to indigent.
Having opened in 1933, it boasts the second-oldest continuous liquor license in the county. The paneled-cum-patchwork ceiling droops poetically in the right places, making the average Joe feel 10 feet tall. The bar has a seasick quality to it, seemingly designed by munchkins with a desire to add on, like a vortex house on the side of the highway.
And if you have to break the seal, the rest room features a green shower curtain tween urinal and toilet for moments of reflection.