Hard Hat Lounge/Stay Tuned Burgers

If you’re looking for a blue-collar down-and-dirty drinking establishment with a lot of history, that embraces the label “dive bar” while still attempting to remain current, look no further than the Hard Hat Lounge. It has the cramped quarters and grungy feel you want from a dive bar, despite the deep cleaning musician Frank Sidoris (who tours with artists like Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen) gave the bar when he purchased it in 2023.

If you’re hungry, that’s even better. Because the Hard Hat is also home to Stay Tuned Burgers – a company that made its name at the now defunct Vegas Test Kitchen. Their smashburgers were cited as some of Vegas' very best burgers by Chefs James Trees, Nicole Brisson and David Varley as well as restaruanteur Anthoyn Jamison, cookbook author Alicia Shevetone, and veteran food writer Al Mancini.

In business since 1962, and open 24 hours a day, The Hard Hat is so dedicated to its working class audience, it gives construction workers $1 off the price of many of its already inexpensive drinks -- all day, every day. For everyone else, Happy Hour (from noon to 4 p.m. daily) offers well drinks for $4, drafts for $5, and P.B.R.s for $3. Strip employees get 10% off their tabs on Monday “jazz nights.” And Wednesday nights offer karaoke until 2 a.m.