The liquor is always cheap at Queens’ many small neighborhood dive bars.

Dive bars may be the single greatest window into the lives of the real-life characters of the working-class.

And where else is the working-class more prominent than in Queens?

It is an impossible task to catalogue the literally hundreds of dingy, wood-paneled, smoke-filled (yes, even now) bars in this borough. But we can pick a few favorites.

Dive bars are the bottom-line measurement of a city’s character.

Walk into any dive bar and gaze sentimentally at the small-framed photos adorning the walls.

They tell a story of an entire life serving this blue-collar neighborhood.

You will often recognize the bartender, who is always the owner (or wife of the owner), in the photos of baseball teams, firefighters, community board members and union leaders.

Neighborhoods are formed at these places.

Ambiance, lighting, sound systems, general repairs, a new roof are all often sacrificed to sit and talk to a neighbor. Jukeboxes, never updated, are eternally classic.

Dartboard tournaments are as sorted and competitive as presidential politics.

But the real reason to go to a dive bar is to sit and have a beer and maybe a whiskey – and for wonderfully cheap.

At the Spinning Wheel in Astoria, a bar notorious for its older men, few teeth and incoherent shouting matches, a mug of Bud is a cool $1.75.
This leaves plenty of money for drunken jukebox surfing: Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, James Taylor are always favorites.

But by the end of the night, those remaining are always waxing sentimental to Berlin’s “Take (My Breath Away,” made famous in the movie Top Gun - a strange juxtaposition to say the least.

Down the street from the Tribune office is one of our favorite dives.
Emerald is recently under new management and renovations are propelling it out of divedom.
Sean, a junior partner at the bar, now surprisingly empty at 11 a.m. because of the smoking ban, said Emerald is a true local bar.

“This is a local pub, everyone here knows everyone here,” he said in a thick Irish accent.
So if you really want to get to know your community and your neighbors, mosey on down to your local dive bar, have a few drinks and throw a few darts. Or, if you want to just experience the archetypal Queens dive bar, try one of these:

Spinning Wheel
25-06 Broadway, Astoria
(718) 728-9716

Emerald Pub
183-01 Horace Harding Expy, Fresh Meadows
(718) 357-5572

Zone 13
163-16 Northern Blvd, Flushing

The Sand Bar
116th and Boardwalk, Rockaway
(718) 474-4842,

Bottom's Up
34-16 Broadway, Astoria
(718) 728-8680

Kelly’s Pub
136-11 41st Ave., Flushing
(718) 359-9668

SCALLYWAGS BAR AND GRILL
135-24 Booth Memorial Ave., Flushing
(718) 359-9032

Budd’s Bar, a Jackson Heights institution since 1946, may be closing its doors in the near future. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen

The Demise Of The Dive

Budd’s Bar
37th Ave. Jackson Heights
(718) 565-2821

Tony, a bartender at Budd’s Bar in Jackson Heights, said Budd’s managed to stay in business for more than 50 years, originally opening its doors in 1946, by serving grandfathers, fathers, sons and son’s sons.

But now, Tony said, the kids have grown up and moved away from Jackson Heights and what once drew crowds of 40 or more and lines around the corner, now averages less than 10.
“We don’t want to see it go,” Tony said. “But we have to. The neighborhood has changed, everything is going downhill, rent is high and we can’t get the business.”
And so the owner is forced to sell and the approaching demise of this historic dive looms.
But what a time they had.

People would come from all over the city.

They would line up and wait for their opportunity to pack themselves into this always over-flowing watering hole.

“We always had a nice crowd, young and old,” Tony said. “People would range from 25 to 60, they were a lot of fun.”

Tony describes himself as a socialable person. He said he likes to meet people and talk to them. And years ago there was no better place to do just that than Budd’s Bar.
But it’s not like it used to be.

And why does such a popular destination deteriorate so quickly?

Usually it’s because there is no market for its business anymore. And what was Budd’s market?
“This is the only white bar left in the neighborhood,” he said. “There are no more white people around that drink. They’re all Orientals, Spanish, Puerto Ricans and they haven’t been coming in.”
Indeed, Jackson Heights is a mecca of diversity these days. Predominantly Hispanic – almost 60 percent of the population –only 15 percent is white.

And it seems Budd’s Bar just doesn’t quite know how to adapt to the new population.
“I lived here since ’53. All of Jackson Heights has changed. Spanish gangs walk the streets at night. It is not a place people really want to go,” Tony said.
–Peter Gelling