The claim to fame of Rush Inn is that it is a favorite spot in downtown Santa Cruz for the 3rd and 4th generation Santa Cruzians. Rick (the owner) has managed to weather the Santa Cruz politics of city to keep the place open, despite the fact it is widely known they accommodate smokers (inside, with ashtrays) to the degree they do not enforce the silly municipal codes on that; they should be congratulated on that....despite the fact some Yelp reviewers might take advantage of that fact to seek retribution (the bar business is brutal in this regard, especially a "special" quaint place like Rush Inn). Believe me: I've been married to three bartenders over 30 years and these were old school bars just like this; familiar territory. Reviews on Yelp should tell facts (like, "you can smoke there"), and not be lambasted by special interest who don't and never will patronize the venue in the first place. Remember the Whiskey Revolution?.....I digress.... The Rush Inn are good people. Check it out on a Friday night for excellent high IQ Santa Cruz cool interaction. The pool table action is like a Lenny Kravatz beer commercial. And Rick has some salami for sale at the Rush Inn that I can personally attest to is exceptional and authentic Italian. Warning: it's big, really big. The Santa Cruz Batman channel read more

Best place ever. Nice dive, great drinks, great prices and great company. Got a pool table too.

Sheri was amazing bartender made you feel right at home enjoyed watching the World Series with her

Great drive bar. Fast and good drinks. Friendly regulars. There's one pool table in the middle of the bar. Wednesday night has free pool from certain hours. Cash only accepted here. Open late. read more

Solid low key divey drinky spot. As far as parking goes, there are maybe ten spots in the back accessed from bulkhead...look, just circle the block to the back okay? It's quiet, reasonably secure and perfect for a quick smoke, cuddle, or moment of sickness depending on how the night is going. If none of that seems like your thing, there's the downtown park and walk choices a block or so away. Inside there's a couple of tables that are more or less clean, and maybe a dozen 1970's style bar stools. Plenty of leave me alone spots, but also some I need company spots as well to chose from. It's not fancy yet more then comfy enough for casual drinking. Service is decent. The barkeep has been around awhile, knows how to read your thirst, won't keep you waiting any too long and -this is important-has a fine feel for when to cut you off. Usually an easy let down, but really that's up to you. Selection is decent but not comprehensive. Heavy on the low to mid grade quality. Not a lot of top tier items-but there's more then enough selection to keep you going and best of all this is a wallet friendly choice. Pretty much everything will be half of what you'll find anywhere else on the strip. No food except bar snacks (chips etc), no kitchen but there is a taco joint more or less next door. All in all it's a solid choice for low key, no shame, affordable drinking. read more

Rush Inn - They has a pool table - Bars Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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I went into this bar on a Tuesday afternoon in-between clients. The place was nearly empty, which is to be expected. The music was bad, to say the least. The bartender was obviously drunk at 1pm. I ordered a margarita, which was way too strong and sat at the bar. The bartender was taking shots with customers, who I'm assuming he is friends with and making homophobic and sexist remarks. This threw me off because of the pride flag on the wall, and due to the fact that I had attended a pride event there with my girlfriend a year earlier. I sat and listened while I finished my drink, thinking I must have heard something out of context. Then it happened again, then as the music got more homophobic and sexist, the bartender loudly made a joke about lesbians. This was the final straw, I quietly got up and left. I have been there at night, and it feels like a different bar. In the evening, the clientele is nice, and the bartenders are awesome, polite, and friendly. Why is it so bad during the day? read more

Bartenders are friendly. A nice place to have a drink or two. It sometimes gets crowded with youthful drinkers. My age gives it 4 stars... sorry about the bias. read more

Dive Bar central.... local hang out read more

I'm so sick I've reading the reviews from non smokers on here. Go somewhere else pink lung. Sheeeesh you guys have the whole state, calm the eff down. I make it a point to only come to SC when Molly is working. She's a god damn angel. I heard there's a kitchen here, fire that B up sometime. read more

Well what can I say, I'm a Cali girl through and through and I can't handle the smoking in the bar. We're not talking about a little smoke drifting from the back patio, we're talking full on cigarettes at the counter. I think my hair STILL smells. However, sans smoke, I'd be all up in this Divey joint if I weren't 500 miles away. Friendly crowd for sure! read more

Happy hour 4pm to 7pm: dollar off beers wines and wells. 1 beer would be $3.00 or thereabouts.

I like the Rush Inn more and more every time I return. It is NOT unnecessarily dirty. Nor is it overrun by hipsters...unless you think that Joy Division and Neutral Milk Hotel occasionally being played on the jukebox makes it hipster. And I've also shown up here to classic rock, and then one time I heard Green Day and All-Americans Rejects. That's proof enough that hipsters do not own the Rush Inn. This brings me to the Internet jukebox, which is a virtually limitless selection of music so you can always find something you like. It is a little pricey though. The only complaint: if you're not careful you may be poked by a pool cue since the place is almost too small for that pool table. Or you might get hit by a wayward pool ball as my friend was. But then you'll probably get a free-drink offer out of that, as my friend did, since people here are usually pretty friendly. read more

Best. Place. To drink. in Santa Cruz. Ever. Period. Yes, crowded, yes, smoky, yes, it's a dive But it's so good in a very old skool, mid-west, everyone is welcome kind of way. Hands-down my favorite (human-made) place to spend time in Santa Cruz. Free pool and cheap pitchers on Wednesdays. Strong drinks, especially if you're nice. Plus the Sun-Wed bartender, Wendee is best, welcoming, generous, and down to lay down the law when need be. Come here for a drink, stay for the experience. read more

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Generic dive bar. Smoky. Inundated with hipsters and graduate students on weekends. But seriously, find me a better place to drink in Santa Cruz. If I might conjure up a future version of me, I can see myself three, maybe four years down the line, being terribly nostalgic about the drunken nights I ended up in this place and the goings-on I either witnessed or participated in. With that future in mind, my sense is that this is not the kind of place one should take for granted. Plus, Wendee, the bartender on Thursday--and a few other nights--is awesome. read more

Blech. Me thinks nots. 1. they allow smoking inside. so the moment you step in you're greeted by a wall of cigarette smoke. 2. The place is small...and smells. 3. The pool table in the middle of the room occupies the whole damn bar area, meaning you're going to get stabbed numerous times by the pool players. Its gross, crammed, and I won't be back. read more

The bar I grew up in, with the bartender I grew up with, Keith. We used to call this "Joe's Garage", for really no sensible reason at all, and used to come blow all our tip money after shifts at Mobo Sushi or Emi's, back in 95-96. I can't believe I'm even typing this as a "way back when" story. They used to have "guest chefs" for monday night football. The jukebox is good. At night, the pressmen from the Sentinel used to come in. Really this is not a review of the bar in it's current state at all, I don't know anythign about that. This is really a review of my memories of the once-great (and hopefully still so), Rush Inn. read more

I don't go often, but when I want a LEGIT dive bar this place is it. Friendly, they pour well, laid back, you feel like they'd love to have you back again. Don't go if you smoke grosses you out; there's plenty of other places to go. Besides, no one will mind: it leaves more bar stools available for true fans. read more

A good bartender is tough to find. There might be one or two in any given town. Seth at The Rush Inn is off the hook. He personally greets my wife and I every time we go in and treats me like I belong there. It is the only bar where I truly feel at home. If there was a yelp where you rated people I would give Seth 5 stars! If this were the last bar on earth I wouldn't mind :) Rush Inn Rocks! read more

Brian. Rules. Sweet juke box, strong cheap drinks and random conversations with all kinds of people. It's not a bar for everyone, but I have many fun memories from this place, when I can remember the night. ;) Since I quit smoking a couple years ago I haven't gone as much but it's still one of my favorite places to relax with a drink. read more

I love dive bars and I love the Rush. It's a basic bar with no real frills- a couple tables, a pool table, a great jukebox and a couple games. Prices are good and the drinks usually generous. Many times I wish there was food but I guess that's what the diner is for. read more

I love this bar. Always chill and great friendly bartenders. Free pool on wednesdays and always good music on the juke box. Very friendly and fun. read more

The Russian is a good bar overall. Their beer selection is nice, but they always card so do not forget it. Passports do not fly (poor international students). The crowd is a mixture of middle and younger aged locals, graduate students from the UCSC, and hipsters. I have seen people do homework here during its down times. The drink prices are affordable, for a bar and they mix drinks of decent strength. Juke box, free pool which some avid A-Hole pool players who drink maybe one beer a visit INSIST on playing even at the most crowded of times. Oh yea, smoking is a nightly thing climaxing on the weekends where the second hand resembling that of a reggae show. Tobacco that is. Go there, it is definitely right up your alley if you like dive bars and good prices, and a good scene. If you do not mind smoke. It is right down town under the clock tower, so get all your friends away from the RED ROOM or the RED or whatever and their 5 dollar beers, and go to the working mans bar down the street. I am surprised at how few bar hoppers know about the rush inn. read more

This is a fantastic establishment through and through. The bartenders are cool and the drinks are great. Fantastic Irish car bombs. Nate is the man! One of the best dive bars in town. (Warning: There can unfortunately be a rush of hipsters) read more

It is not often that I find myself yelping about places. Perhaps 2 others, 3 tops. Venturing to the Rush Inn, however, is the rarest of occasions when I am so moved by a place or event that I have to go out of my way to let complete strangers know about it. This bar, the term hardly seems to do it justice, is one of the few spaces in Santa Cruz where I felt safe. It felt like home. Wendee, Brian, and Nate are all very welcoming bartenders, but also protective of the space. Happy hour is a good deal, and if you can handle the smoke, you can stay there from open until close doing whatever you would like (given that you are spending money). At the very least, it is worth the price of a drink to see what goes on behind that 1970's, pebbled wall that stares at you from the trendy side of Pacific. read more

My favorite bar in Santa Cruz. A close second would be the Jury Room. If you want to go sit at a clean table with low ambient noise and drink a fancy martini with your boss, this is probably not the place to go. But if you want to drink some beer and way too many shots and end up forgetting what happened to all the time and money the next morning...this is your spot. And this is one of the last spots in California you can still have a cigarette with your booze...what a free country! The bartender Brian can make a wicked awesome screwdriver if you ask for Stoli. And their jukebox is the best. read more

Which Rush Inn you see depends on the time of day you go. 9AM-4:30PM - Some professional alkys and older retired guys. A lot of joking, no music, and you can hear some good stories at times. 4:30PM-7:00PM - Older locals and a lot of regulars who work the construction trades. Shot and a beer crowd, and all nice people. Pappy on the corner stool. 7:00PM-10:00PM - Some locals watching sports and shaking dice for shots. Pappy in the house. Lot's of jokes and stories. 10:00PM-Close - The hipster crowd with a few regulars mixed in. This is generally when the pool table is being used. Music - Frank Sinatra, Vic Chesnutt, Pixies, Gang of Four, Hank Williams, Motown, Stax, Jazz, Cheese. You name it, and it'll be on sooner or later. Bartenders - Wendee -Tuesday thru Thursday nights. A piece of work, she is. Nate - Friday-Sunday nights, and Thursday day. Know something about baseball? He knows more than you. Brian - Friday through Monday nights. He is the King of Bartenders. Elaine - keeps the juicers juicin' on the weekdays. Rick - The owner. Has the occasional day shift. Gene Barry - Your go-to guy on Sunday days. Have no doubts - this is a dive, populated with sometimes flawed, but always nice and genuine people. In the years I've been going there - the sound of a blender has never been heard. read more

I grew up in Santa Cruz and have been going to the Rush Inn since before it was even called the Rush Inn (it was originally called Bei's Sportsman's Den). I love these guys. This bar has been "my bar" for a very long time and even all the times that I got so very, very drunk here - the bartenders and patrons always looked out for me. I don't live in Santa Cruz anymore - but anytime I'm in town - I make a point to stop by - get ridiculously drunk - and tell all my buddies how much I've missed them. read more

The Rush Inn sucks--don't ever go there. It is NOT fun. NATE and BRIAN are not NICE! Their drinks are not STRONG or CHEAP. Gosh, this is truly a place you should never go. read more

Dive bar; minimal beer selection and prices are ok. Laid back vibe, small place full of locals. Ok if you are not picky about what you're drinking and want a tourist-free place to drink. TVs to watch sports. read more

I just referred to the Rush as "the bar" for all the years that I lived in Santa Cruz. Because as far as I was considered there was only one bar worth going to, and this one was it. Brian and Nate are bartenders in a league of their own, and ever since I left town I have been in search for a dive bar that I can call "mine" again, but none have felt as right. read more

The Rush Inn is the worst dive in downtown Santa Cruz. I don't recommend anybody who wants to have a good time, get drunk, or meet girls go there. If your idea of a good time is a morose backdrop of depressed alcoholics chain-smoking around a cramped pool table, maybe you should try it out. If you're coming from out of town trying to have a memorable time in Santa Cruz, there are way better places to go at night. Try Rosy's, or something. They'll make you all the long-islands and irish car-bombs you need to forget who you're going to have sex with tonight. Wendy sure is nice, though. ;) read more

Good place to go to escape most students off the main drag of downtown Santa Cruz (Pacific). Some nights, very cheap drinks ($2.50 for decent pints). Bartenders often voted Best / Most friendly in Santa Cruz. Pool table and arcade machines / pin tables. read more

This bar is my favorite place to drink in town because it doesn't try to be something it's not. It's a bar that doesn't attempt to hide its happening with low, colored lights. Nope. It's well light, cheap but good drinks, friendly and efficient staff and has the kind of community feel that all bars should have. You come there to drink and have a conversation. It's never crazy loud, but just the right amount of noisy and there's always fun (or ridiculous but enjoyable) music on the electronic jukebox. read more

This is a great place to drink without a lot of money, plus you can smoke inside. It is just like the dive bars that I am used to from Long Beach, CA. The bartenders are very nice and quick. read more

Back in the day, I had a buddy who crushed on a bartender there. Ergo, we ended up straddling a bar stool about once a week. It was a mellow, chill vibe then, where we could play some pool, listen to tunes, and be happy. Now cut to 7 years later, I'm all grown and sophisticated and such. When my cool SF, LA, Portland, Austin, and Eurotrash friends visit we taste it up at all the lovely down town restaurants, and inevitably end up at the Rush. My feet must be on autopilot. And I love my feet. The drinks are still strong, the bartenders are still on point, the music is fun, the loiterers are friendly. I mean seriously, a preppy pseudo intellectual hipster dude actual approached us and offered to help my drunkidy drunk buddy take a picture of us. Seriously? In SF they'd steal your phone, at the Rush the randoms snap you, give you photoshop pointers, and then compliments your shoes. Love this place. read more

I went here once. The bartender was super sweet and down-to-earth, and made a mean gin and tonic! This is a classic local bar, but isn't intimidating in the least. read more

Hands down, the best bartenders in town. I miss Levannah (sp?). Wendy. Nate. BRIAN, the king of them all. Sweethearts. Brian is allergic to idiots, so if you got bad service from him, better listen to some MJ... take a look at yourself, and then maaaake a chaaaange! read more

Popped in here a couple weeks ago and have been meaning to do an update. Perhaps I had been a little harsh last time. Rush Inn is nothing flashy, just a local dive bar with a mediocre pool table. No pretense, no hipster poseurs, just locals and local drunks. Not a bad place to stop in for a casual drink when you're in that frame of mind. read more

Good place, friendly bartenders..they remember you, hook up the drinks....yeah its smokey...We still start out there often.

Um, only the BEST bar in Santa Cruz. I'm no local, so I don't know much about what else they offer...but the Rush Inn is comfortable, friendly and the drinks are strong and cheap. They have all the NFL team flag up, so I'm assuming this is the best spot to find yourself during football season. read more