Huntridge Package Liquor   

With its refreshing no-frills feel and inexpensive drinkage (pound a frothy glass of domestic schwag like Michelob or Bud for a buck), the Huntridge Tavern is the downtown realm's premier neighborhood bar. With a cast of characters straight out of a Bukowski novel, the old bar draws a crowd of loveable regulars with a high grizzle factor: blue collar grunts, aging athletes, general down-and-outers, and the occasional conspiracy theorist. If you're a bitter, solitary drinker, late weeknights -- funereally peaceful, save for the parade of cleavage and car chases on late-night TV -- are a good time to go. On weekends, the bar bubbles with strange energy as punks, hipsters and the regular riff-raff drink amicably side-by-side. It's like a rainbow coalition doused with ale. -- Andrew Kiraly