Blackie’s listed as top bar

A haven for both the post-surf and the no-surf crowd, Blackie’s by the Sea is certainly a Newport Beach institution. Now it’s a national landmark. Well, sort of.

Esquire Magazine chose it as one of the best bars in America.

Blackie’s is “an authentic beachfront dive if ever there was one,” writes the men’s magazine. It categorized Blackie’s in its best “bar on the water” category. Other top waterside watering holes that made the cut are in New York, Hawaii and Big Sur.

Some are luxurious and others hip. Blackie’s, on the other hand, specializes in “gruff bartenders, crusty regulars [and] shockingly cold beer.”

Mike Reicher