It's late, you're in Center City, hungry and there's no Wawa in sight. You see a sign on 15th Street between Walnut and Spruce for a place named "McGlinchy's," and underneath the name it says, "sandwiches." You walk in and see dim red lights doing their best to shine through the thick smoke that's suspended in the air. But there are no sandwiches. Just hot dogs. Seventy-five-cent hotdogs and cheap beer.
While McGlinchy's isn't quite as established as Dirty Frank's, it is one of the most genuine dives in Center City. Most bars of this nature attempt to create a disheveled, unorganized atmosphere, but McGlinchy's lacks any type of "formal" decoration whatsoever. There is one giant faded mural on a wall and a few pennants spaced out on another. Most notably is the "countdown to First Friday" clock, which counts down, but not to first Friday. The feeling is that there was, at some time, an honest attempt to decorate the bar, but halfway through, the decorators saw no reason to continue. The scene itself is difficult to describe in that there doesn't seem to be any scene at all. After midnight, the bar is packed with mods, rockers, gutter punks, art students, grad students and young business folk alike. So if you walk in and feel intimidated, don't be. No one cares about your appearance--dress or race.
People are there for one main reason: the beer is ubercheap. There's a small selection of beer, the least expensive of which would be Yuengling porter, as lager is not on tap. It's priced at around $5.45 for a pitcher, with pints costing about $1.60. I say "about" because the change the waitresses give is a bit inconsistent. The mixed drinks are about $2, sometimes cheaper, but don't expect anything fancy. There's vodka tonic, and gin and tonic, and basically any type of drink whose name is that of its ingredients. Along with the drinks, there are also hot dogs, no peanuts or pretzels, just hot dogs with the typical toppings. Last, but not least, if it is too crowded, there is an upstairs area called "tops." The atmosphere is a quite a bit different--the lights are brighter, and there are pool tables. There are no hot dogs or draft beer, but the prices for everything else are the same. And there, as well, is a noticeable lack of sandwiches.
