Philadelphia's Best Dive Bars by Brian McManus

Author:Brian McManus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: IG Publishing
Published: 2011-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Gil’s Goodtime Tavern

5956 Chester Ave.

Phone: 215-724-2500

Dive Bar Rating

I’ve heard it called both Gil’s Goodtime Tavern and Good Times Bar, and, unfortunately, there aren’t any signs out front to help. The bartender, when asked about this, has a question of her own. “You havin’ a good time? Then it’s a good time bar.”

Either way, it’s an odd name for a place to drink in after a funeral, but that’s where a fella named Jim and his dressed-entirely-in-black crew have ended up, and not by mistake. “This is my bar,” he says, a bit forlornly. “I drink here nearly everyday. Even today, when I buried my mother.” Jim is a Fishtown lifer who, despite his grief (or perhaps because of it), doesn’t mind telling the stranger next to him that he thinks his moustache makes him look “like a faggot… or a carnival worker.” He then alternates between laughing and deep frowns, but stops just short of sobbing. His friends offer to buy him another shot, but he won’t hear of it. Instead, the drinks are on him, and he’s buying for everyone, even the faggot carnival worker with the moustache.

Running alongside the shotgun bar at Gil’s is a shuffleboard bowling game called Master Strike. A man walks in and plops a duffle bag down on top of it. Inside the bag are a bunch of bootleg DVDs, which he’s selling, one for $5, two for $9, three for $12. Jim looks through them, none-too-pleased with the selection, with Michael Jackson’s This Is It earning his second homosexual slur of the night. Most of the movies he claims he’s never heard of. “I’m gettin’ old,” he says after not being able to register Julie and Julia, It’s Complicated, Lovely Bones or Couples Retreat. He settles on The Blind Side and Public Enemies. His drunk friends begin holding forth on the former, one insisting it’s nothing but a chick flick, another saying it’s the uplifting tale of triumph over adversity that Jim could use right now. I step in, saying, “Whatya think Jim is, some kind of faggot?” slip the entrepreneur with the duffle bag a five spot, grab Public Enemies from the stack and hand it to Jim. This is met with uproarious laughter from him and his friends. I’m now an honorary Fishtowner.

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