Best dive bar in the Midwest: Fast Eddie’s Bon Air in Alton, Illinois

by Aaron Hotfelder on

About a thirty minute drive from downtown St. Louis, Fast Eddie’s Bon Air humbly calls itself “The best bar in the Midwest, maybe even the world.” We don’t know about that, but we do know what keeps us coming back: the cheap beer, 99-cent half-pound burgers, and huge peel-and-eat shrimp for 29 cents a pop.

The crowd is as eclectic as the decorations on the wall, from bikers to businessmen and everyone in between– except for those under 18. “There was a sign that said ‘No Kids’ and it got us interested,” a diner said in one Youtube video.

Be on the lookout for a glass display case which holds the shoes of the world’s tallest man, Alton resident Robert Wadlow, who lived from 1918-1940 and stood a whopping 8’11”.

For more on Fast Eddie’s, check out this video hosted by the Food Network’s Alton Brown:

What’s in a dive bar? More than your guidebook is telling you

by Grant Martin on

Dive bars have a special place in this traveler’s heart. They’re places where sullen, engaging, vociferous and colorful locals get together, down a few pints and tell the real story of a destination. They’re the corner bar in the middle-class neighborhood south of Stockholm, the late night dive hidden down an alley in a pocket of the Barri Gotic in Barcelona and the smoky joint with board games and the 78 year old bartender off of the Addison corridor in Chicago.

They haven’t always got the the newest digs, hottest style or top spot in Time Out’s regional guide, but the story that they tell is cleaner and more visceral than all of those vapid places combined. It’s the story of being a local in a place not unlike home, of lives reeling in motion, working, commuting, loving and drinking in an orbit just removed from our own.

Today at Gadling we’ll be featuring our favorite dive bars and dive bar stories from around the world, from Aaron Hotfelder’s profile of the BEST DIVE BAR IN THE MIDWEST (coming next!) to Melanie Nayer’s own interview with Guy Fieri from the hit show on the Food Network Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Stick around, get comfortable and lets work off our weekend hangovers together.