The Dive Bomber: Larry's Tavern

By Robin Wheeler Thu., Aug. 20 2009 at 12:00 PM

Categories: Dive Bomber, Drink Drank Drunk

West County does not have dive bars. I don't spend much time in the area, but my prejudice tells me that there are no dives in the western bottomlands.

Just to prove my prejudice wrong, my Screamer's friends Grandma and Grandpa encouraged me to go west to Larry's Tavern in Grover for a dive and one of the finest burgers in the St. Louis area.

A dive on Manchester Road? Right.

Robin Wheeler

Larry's isn't a dive. It's a road house -- the grandpappy of all dives. White clapboard with the paint peeling, it didn't come from the same cookie-cutter that produced most of the archetecture in the neighborhood, a new housing development where prices start at $300,000 and a shopping center with the fanciest Walgreens in all the land.

Just goes to show that you should always listen to Grandma and Grandpa and do as they say.

Day drinking is alive and well at Larry's. I went for lunch, but had a beer purchased for me before I was fully seated at the bar. Harold, an older man who arrived at the same time as I did, was buying for everyone. He discussed women he's dated with a younger man at the bar. Seems there's been some overlap in their social circles despite a good 30-year difference in their ages.