State Park – The platonic dive bar

State Park Boston

Image by Cris Concepcion

State Park – The platonic dive bar

Cris Concepcion photo

Cris from Boston

I was born in the Philippines, raised in Canada. Boston is also compact and scal...

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“Do you think we’ve hit Peak Plaid?” My friend asks me this as I sip my red wine. I don’t know what the vintage is, because the menu choices are French Red, Italian Red, Italian White or German white. If I was in a mood where I cared for more information than that, I wouldn’t be drinking at State Park, and that’s all you need to know about what sort of place this is. And, yes, there is a lot of plaid.

State Park is a dive bar, but not the sort of dive where disputes are resolved with broken glass or where the toilets might give you cancer. It’s a dive bar as it exists in our collective imaginations, fueled by films of cops, grifters and construction workers, sharing stories over a pint of beer. There’s a comfortable vibe, cheap snacks, and quarters for pinball. There’s shuffleboard and pool, and a whole bunch of neon everywhere. It’s the Platonic ideal of the dive bar if Plato drank Miller High Life and ate potato chips.  

I shrug at my friend’s question. Yes, there’s also a lot of plaid, waxed hair, black-framed glasses and other hallmarks of the American hipster. However, that’s a feature, not a bug. The city has a ton of fancy cocktail bars and beer nerd halls but it has few places that are as uncomplicated as State Park, and that is a relief.

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Cris from Boston

Cris Concepcion photo

I was born in the Philippines, raised in Canada. Boston is also compact and scal...

Read all articles

Details about this spot

Categories

Address

1 Kendall Square, Boston

Telephone number

+161784843556

Opening Times

Mon - Wed 11:00 - 01:00, Thu - Fri 11:00 - 02:00, Sat 10:00 - 02:00, Sun 10:00 - 01:00

Price

Beer: US$ 4

Website

Last Changed Date: 2016-05-19 11:45:13 +0200 (Thu, 19 May 2016)