But why do we refer to these lived-in spaces as dive bars? The OED dates dive bar, a “shabby, cheap, or disreputable bar,” to 1940, but printed mentions appeared long before that. In a 1902 edition of The Daily News out of Perth, Australia, a travel column featuring its author in London mentioned that “Australians who are not quite at the top of the finance go to the Fleapit, a dive-bar and billiard-room and restaurant ... ”What Makes a Dive Bar a Dive BarNot all dive bars start out as dive bars. A sampling:Feature Regular Bar Dive Bar Pickled Bar Food X Clean Bathrooms X Franchise X Indoor Smoking X Worn Furniture X Cheap Drinks X Open for Two Decades or More X Condom Vending Machines in Bathroom X Craft Beers X Weird Smell X Drunk People X XIs Dive Bar an Insult or a Compliment? Dive bars are the beloved pubs and taverns that have operated within a community for years because they have their regulars and know how to keep it simple.” In this context, dive bar means “longevity.”If a bar owner wants to cultivate a reputation for being a dive bar, however, they probably need to avoid calling themselves a dive bar.