They are known as cantinas or, less elegantly, “chicheros.” Cheap and disreputable dive bars can be found in all regions of Costa Rica, but most of the cantinas in the lovable city of San Jose are as legendary as they are infamous. According to architect and social researcher Andres Fernandez, cantinas form an important part of the archeological and anthropological record of Costa Rica; for this reason, he has dedicated part of his life to documenting the boozy subculture of the capital city.

Mr. Fernandez is the author of several books that explore the arts, culture and architecture of Costa Rica. He has served in an advisory capacity to two Ministers of Culture, and his work has been featured in various newspapers, magazines and research journals. In a recent article by Karen Fernandez of daily tabloid La Teja, Mr. Fernandez explained why cantinas were strictly off-limits to women in Costa Rica until the late 1980s.

The first dive bars in San Jose opened their doors in 1900; they were located in the inner-city communities of the capital and mostly catered to town drunks and assorted scoriae. For nearly two centuries, only adult men were allowed to enter these dark and decrepit places. The barkeeps’ rationale for keeping women out was twofold: On one hand, no self-respecting lady in Costa Rica would be caught dead inside one of these establishments; on the other hand, cantina proprietors did not want to deal with scorned women who believed bartenders were the root of all evil since they kept their husbands juiced up until they completely ran out of money.

To make it even less enticing for women to venture into cantinas, business owners kept the décor ultra spartan under the philosophy of “whosoever drinks standing up, must urinate likewise.” Cantinas had only urinals and no toilets for ladies to use until municipal codes imposed them in the late 1980s.

Allowing women into dive bars in the capital city of Costa Rica was not really seen as a triumph of equal opportunity or feminist activism; however, social workers and mental health practitioners remarked that hopeless female alcoholics who previously drank themselves into oblivion at home would actually be better off in cantinas where they can at least socialize.