Beacon Hill Pub   

The Beacon Hill Pub is a bar, and a simple one at that. It gets loud sometimes, drawing old guys from Beacon Hill who drink here when it opens in the morning and who close it up at night (unless they fall down first). The neighborhood hates it, which you have to love because Beacon Hill, for all its wonderful virtues, still has a Puritanical ethos. At the BHP, you will not pay $5 for a pint of fruit-tainted microbrew. You can get a Bud for a handful of change. Bored? Go to the "game room" and play a basketball game, foosball or pinball. There aren't many tables; it's a stand-up sort of place. The owners proudly display a clipping from a local newspaper's annual "Best Of" contest that rated the Beacon Hill Pub the worst, strangest establishment in Boston. You gotta love it. College students throng the place, and have been known to throw a punch or two. Mostly, though, there's a whole lotta wandering eyes -- harmless furtive glances between somewhat sloshed patrons. Prepare to show the bouncers at the door your ID no matter what your age. And don't be put off by its reputation because, after all, the BHP is what it is: a neighborhood dive bar that seems to not quite be in the right neighborhood.