by Rob Bellinger
photos by Rob Bellinger and Dan Meade

The Memphis dive bar scene is legendary, but not many people outside Memphis know that.  Here are the ten most insane Memphis dive bar adventures we had, over the course of just six nights.  All the stories are true.  Take your pick — one or all!

The Last Real Place in MemphisActual Meth Camper | Snake Tattoo Face | Down by Sundown | Ghost Mustang & the Magic Skillet | Bar-B-Brawl at the Bar That Never Closes | Perfect Ribs at 3 a.m. | Cougar in Training | Searching for Life on the Mississippi | PRAYING FOR YOU HATERZ

 

EPISODE TEN: PRAYING FOR YOU HATERZ

It didn’t take us long to figure out that in Memphis, you can pretty much do whatever you want.  And the entire city seems to say: right on.  We felt this spirit in every dive and barbecue joint we visited. MEMDIVE_e5_summ
Memphis just wants to be happy doing what Memphis does.  Memphis feels a little sorry for you if you see it any other way.

Maybe this car’s rear window says it best.  We saw it back in 2005, on our first night ever in Memphis.  We like to think that it’s still plying the sunbaked blacktop, hours and hours after sunset, roaming between Beale and the Buc, bar signs splashing neon waves off its oversized prayer hands:

Praying for You Haterz

Memphis has soul, creativity, history, experience, empathy….and beer.  So does anyplace else, but the mix and magnitude are just different in Memphis.  You get the sense that the city knows itself, well, and that the whole sprawling place, collectively, is praying for you haters.

Choose Your Next Adventure:

The Last Real Place in MemphisActual Meth Camper | Snake Tattoo Face | Down by Sundown | Ghost Mustang & the Magic Skillet | Bar-B-Brawl at the Bar That Never Closes | Perfect Ribs at 3 a.m. | Cougar in Training | Searching for Life on the Mississippi | PRAYING FOR YOU HATERZ

Written by Rob Bellinger
Photos by Rob Bellinger and Dan Meade
Edited by Dan Meade

Comments are closed.