Gales Pub

Shady neighborhood
+ Boarded-​up windows on a big, old house
+ Locals who stare you down when you walk in
+ Tacky-​fabulous interior
+ Super-​friendly bartender
+ Cheap-​ass drinks
+ A stripper stage
+ Parking lot surveillance cameras
+ Fire and police inspections at 10pm on a Friday night
= a ridiculously good time!

All I have to say is Yikes! If you don’t get mugged walking in you’ll definitely catch something from the pitchers of beer!

No longer «Old Bow Wow» (it didn’t have «old» in the title of its previous incarnation anyway), The Bow Wow is a total 180 of what it used to be: a foreboding, windowless crap hole that attracted lowlifes who don’t know how to handle themselves, hence lots of fights and other problems resulting in frequent visits from the police. Having joked with some friends that we should check it out sometime, we pretty much had to go here now that the undesirable element had been removed. The exterior looks much the same aside from a large banner letting everyone know this is *not* the same place it used to be. Now it’s a gay dive bar and it provides an interesting addition to any South Side bar hop. There’s cheap drinks to be had and since it was Friday night it was no surprise to walk in and see lip-​syncing drag queens. While it’s not the kind of place I would go to by myself we all ended up having a good time.