Located in Jack London Square, and purportedly Jack London’s favorite bar, Heinold's was founded in 1883. These days, it's a cultural landmark and a tourist attraction, owing its striking curved floor to a long history of seismic activity since opening. Throw in the low ceilings, tchotchkes and dollar bills dating back 100 years, and you have the makings oof an icon. Grab a beer or a shot (it's cash-only).

Built in 1926, the building that would become Townhouse was a speakeasy during Prohibition, and it looks like the exterior hasn’t been painted since. Inside, it’s more like a dinner club sprung out of the '70s and redecorated in the late '90s (same goes for the menu), but you can still remember the days when Emeryville was less Ikea and loft apartments, and more rum runners.

The Hotsy Totsy has been around since 1939, making it Albany's oldest bar. It recently underwent a remodel that left it with purple walls and a large collection of undoubtedly priceless velvet paintings. The shuffleboard table is a popular attraction, as is a jukebox stuffed with old 45s from the '50s and '60s. The happy-hour drinks are cheap, but there’s also a full craft cocktail list, with some elaborate takes on hot chocolate and apple cider, and a taco truck parked outside a few nights a week.

Opened in 1922 as a bait shop and bar, Kingfish originally benefited from a location just outside the UC Berkeley dry mile radius. It’s been serving a steady stream of heavy drinking locals for a long, long time, and all the random tickets and crap stapled and stuck to the wall and ceiling are like a geological record of filth and drunkenness. Like Hotsy Totsy, shuffleboard is the only amusement, and the drinks are cheap. It now enjoys a new location in Telegraph, after it was lifted onto a truck and moved to save it from being razed for condos. Now it has a roomy patio, so silver linings do exist.

The White Horse claims to be America’s longest continuously operating gay bar, with a fuzzy opening date that probably happened during Prohibition. Officially, the bar has been on the books since 1933. During the day, it's like a living room, with patrons watching TV movies and smoking cigarettes on the spacious indoor/outdoor patio (it's even got a pool table). At night, things get rowdier, with karaoke, dance parties, and jello shots.