Bob & Barbara's

About this place Bob & Barbara's

Bob & Barbara's is the Philadelphia dive bar that everyone who loves dive bars is looking for: cheap, friendly, and genuinely unreconstructed. Located on South Street rather than in the Gayborhood proper, the bar draws a mixed crowd of gay and straight regulars, dive bar enthusiasts, and people who have heard about the legendary drag bingo nights and come to see what the fuss is about. The fuss is justified. Drag bingo at Bob & Barbara's is a Philadelphia institution — a weekly event that combines the competitive tension of bingo with the performance energy of a skilled drag host, resulting in an evening that is simultaneously participatory, funny, and the kind of communal fun that is increasingly rare in the age of content and screens. The bar itself is exactly what it should be: neon beer signs, a jukebox that leans toward country and soul, a shuffleboard table, and a staff that has been there long enough to remember your drink. The South Street location puts it at a slight remove from the Gayborhood cluster, making it the ideal stop on a night that begins in the neighbourhood and extends south into the city's broader social geography. The Citywide Special — a can of PBR and a shot of Jim Beam for a few dollars — has its own cult following.