My local dive bar has been spruced up! It was recently bought by new owners who have a bit more vision than the last owners.
Most know of the Duck Island Club from it's 90's reputation. So apparently it used to be quite the Metal bar, complete with huge piles of Cocaine and undesirables wandering in and out of the bathrooms.
It's come full circle since then, so don't worry about keeping your knife close anymore.
The front bar area has been split up so it has more of a DJ deck, elevated sitting area and the bar mirror framed by a nice clean white frame. They Mid-Clean up owner bought a slew of pretentious mod chairs which just didn't fit in the dive bar atmosphere that the rest of the bar presented. Now they have just a couple of the mod-chairs left as accent pieces and it actually works!
The back for the last few years has been a couple of old couches with big white sheets over them claiming to be "covers". I think they had an untouched game of chess set up for anyone daring to get fleas. Now those have been replaced by nice new booths. It's like a whole new place!
Overall, the Duck is clean, unpretentious and a worth-while stop on any Ohio City bar crawl. You'll sit next to some local Duck Island residents, overflow from Velvet Tango, or possibly a bike courier or two, but everyone has welcomed us in with open arms.
Random note: If per chance you fall and bloody yourself up, the bartenders have a great first aid kit!