Chief's

Chief's is one of the North Oakland dives that J spent a lot of her college years in. It had a surprisingly great jukebox. At the time, it was cheap and dirty and full of old dudes who took their drinking pretty seriously. You could get a Jacob's Best and a shot of Wild Turkey for $2. There were pickled eggs floating like a sideshow lizard baby in a jar behind the bar. It was a comfortable place to spend some wayward college nights.

A lot has gone unchanged at Chief's. It is still dirty and cheap, but all the old dudes must have finally gone to that great dive bar in the sky. They've been replaced by young dudes who wear sunglasses inside. And, in the best malapropism of the year, A got a lot of "eye fucking" on his way out. He meant "stink eye." 

The cheap specials are now pitchers of Budweiser and the pickled eggs must have moved on with the old dudes. The jukebox has been replaced by an Internet Crap Machine that was BLASTING some generic R&B the whole time we were there. 

There was an empty bottle of vodka underneath a disgusting urinal.

People had warned us that Chief's had gotten worse, but we always thought, "How?" The bar was set so low that we couldn't imagine it had gotten that much worse. Truthfully, it's not that much worse, just slightly. When we left at 9pm on a Wednesday night there were security guys with nightsticks in hand outside the door. So, maybe more than slightly worse. Moderately worse.

Everything that had been cool about Chief's is gone, so don't let any weird nostalgia draw you in. It's not worth it.

Address:	307 N Craig St, 15213	Games:	Magic Touch
Façade:	Scary	Scene:	Dive
Parking:	Easy	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	None	Cleanliness:	Nasty
Smoking:	1970's Pittsburgh	Jukebox:	Internet Crap
Hours:	6am -2am	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	4
Bathrooms:	Hold it	Specials:	Cheap beer specials
Live music:	No	Riley Factor:	$8.00
ATM:	Yes	Cash Only	Yes
TVs:	2	Size:	Hole in the Wall