The Legendary Dobbs

Philadelphia, United States

4.3

23 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 267-239-0197
Website:
legendarydobbs.com
Address:
304 South St, Philadelphia, PA, 19147
South Street District, Society Hill
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.3 miSpruce St & 6th St
0.5 miWashington Sq & Locust St
0.5 miLocust St & 8th St
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Street, Validated
Bike Parking
Yes
Good for Kids
No
Good for Groups
Yes
Ambience
Divey
Noise Level
Very Loud
Music
Live
Good For Dancing
Yes
Alcohol
Full Bar
Happy Hour
Yes
Best Nights
Thu, Fri, Sat
Coat Check
No
Smoking
No
Outdoor Seating
No
Has TV
Yes

Today

Today –
Local time (Philadelphia) 03:08 Tuesday, 24 June 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Whiskey, beer, live music

History

Established in 1974.

The Legendary Dobbs was established in 1974 as JC Dobbs, and has served as Philadelphia’s most iconic Rock N Roll bar ever since. Dobbs’ stage has hosted many notable acts, including Bo Diddley, George Thorogood & The Delaware Destroyers, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Rage Against The Machine, Tool, and many many more.

The Legendary Dobbs continues this tradition of giving independent, emerging, and re-​emerging talent a stage to highlight their abilities, with great sound & lights on 2 stages — one upstairs in a more intimate setting, and one downstairs on the main floor.

Discover a Legend at The Legendary Dobbs!

Meet the Business Owner

Nina, Gary and Heshey R.

Business Owner

Nina, The Ninja, Mamma Dobbs — all the same person. With a background spanning multiple industries in project and program management, knowledge management, user experience, and still working her ‘day job’ in a large, global corporation, Nina has the business chops to take Dobbs to the next level. With her love of a good party, Nina’s in her sweet spot as your hostess of the good times at Dobbs. She’s the Ninja half of NinjaBull. She’s the ying to the Bull’s yang. She’s also fiercely protective of all she holds dear… so don’t mistake her kindness for weakness.

The Bull, aka Gary — if it’s fixed, he might break it… but he’ll fix it again too. Gary handles all facilities maintenance at Dobbs, and it seems like she’s always needing attention. So you’ll see Gary there tinkering with this or that almost all the time. When he’s not tinkering, he’s playing his guitar. Don’t mistake his craziness for meanness. He has a heart of gold.

Heshey needs no other name. He’s just Heshey

The Legendary Dobbs — CLOSED also recommends

Body Graphics, Inc

20

reviews

Tatoveringer

Nina, Gary and Heshey R. says,

«Agent is doing Mamma Dobbs’ leg piece. Great artist. Clean shop.»

Crash Bang Boom

30

reviews

Mode

Nina, Gary and Heshey R. says,

«Rock n roll looks for guys and girls. Edgy, fun clothes and accessories.»

Chico’s Crows Nest Tattoo Studio

Tatoveringer

Nina, Gary and Heshey R. says,

«Gary had his „Legendary Dobbs“ forearm tattoo done by Chico — said Chico was the softest-​touch tatoo artist he’d ever seen!»

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23 reviews of The Legendary Dobbs

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Ardmore, PA
The hallmarks of my youth keep closing… Dobb’s is gone.
Place rating: 4
Feasterville-Trevose, PA
The bar a fun place to be been there a few times bartender and staff great! Will be back soon!
Place rating: 4
Philadelphia, PA
Great place to visit when in Philadelphia, PA. Very pretty with lots of green space. Very informative about space and our solar system. Where else can you see moon rocks and touch moon meteor fragments. Beautiful facility and great views of the city, The Legendary Dobbs. Very clean and nice. You can use the telescopes!
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
Come on! Philadelphia Classic! Great place, great music.
Place rating: 4
Philadelphia, PA
Great live music. Ok draft selection but talk to the owner and she will provide some good ones. Great history!
Place rating: 5
Woodberry, Baltimore, MD
I’m from Maryland and went there on 12⁄3 to see Red Dragon Cartel and it was awesome! The owner and staff were great!!! I had the best night ever!!!
Place rating: 5
Scranton, PA
I have been to The Legendary Dobbs just once so far. i had a great time and the staff is amazing. I can’t wait to go back again.
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
Great place for live bands, atmosphere and awesome bartenders! All the legendary greats are known for playing in this place!
Place rating: 4
Philadelphia, PA
Dobbs! Yep, it’s crowded frequently. Yep, it’s a tight squeeze, but, a great place to see live music. It has not changed visually since I can remember, but unless they break through, or get wall expanders, or create a dimensional rift, it is what it is. IT IS an awesome music venue, truly a Philadelphia classic. As a local musician, I have played both up and downstairs a number of times. It’s a tight squeeze downstairs for the drums, but I love the monitor mix there. It’s a bit messy with set up and breakdown, but it always works out well. The sound guys/​girls have always been professional and accommodating. Load in early if you’re playing so you can not only find decent parking, but so you can load in through the back side door, (don’t know the name of the little street). When you go to Dobbs, expect a fun, diverse, music venue, with so much to do right in the heart of South Street. Yes it is loud, but this place jumps! It’s history, and long line of amazing bands does speak in it’s own right.
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
This place is awesome if you love Rock music and live music. This place has some of the best unsigned bands. It caters to a select audience but who cares! Love the music! Good selection of regular/​seasonal beers. Nothing special. Kitchen closes pretty early. But food is good if not excellent. Overall love this place for the music and ambience.
Place rating: 3
Upper Darby, PA
I came here to see a friend of a friend perform. He was great! BUT, this place is mehh. kind of small, a little too loud. obviously its supposed to be loud but i couldn’t even hear myself think, lol. And the «full bar» really wasn’t a full bar. every time i asked for something, they didn’t have it.
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
Great music venue, staff & Tunes!
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
The former J.C. Dobbs still makes its forever home on South Street, but given its history, it has become the Legendary Dobbs. I never attended any shows at Dobbs prior to moving to the city; however, my first time there was when a friend and fellow musician invited me to perform at an open stage they were hosting one Sunday in early March because there were no scheduled performers. Surely enough, I came with my guitar in tow and played a decently-​sized set (around 10 songs?) on the very same downstairs stage on which famous bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Green Day, among others, have performed.
More recently, however, I attended an acoustic performance upstairs at Dobbs, featuring my good friend and ukulele world champion Eric Jaffe, as well as musical drag queen Lili St. Queer, and acoustic singer/​songwriters Brian Harmer and Sarah Goldbloom. The upstairs listening room, while smaller and more intimate than downstairs, still has its own bar with the same drink selection (my favorite is the black cherry hard cider!) and limited seating. I will definitely be back for future performances and hope to appear onstage there again!
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
Live music 5 nights a week! Local Beer on Tap, BYO.Lorenzos. Seriously — since Lorenzos is right across the street they allow you to bring that big sliced baby in while you watch the show!
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
Dobbs is a great find in Philly. It has a little bit for everyone. The crowd here is really diverse. I went last night to see a friend’s band play live, $ 10 for ten bands. I had a great time! The bands that played were really good and if was a great venue to showcase them. This bar has two floors (secretly three), with the stage upstairs and TVs throughout so you can watch the live bands even if you aren’t upstairs. There is a bar on each floor. Bartenders and the rest of the staff are super nice. Drinks are good and decently priced.
Be warned though, it is super loud!!!
Place rating: 4
Philadelphia, PA
Surprisingly never stepped foot in here until last night and I have to say, it’s got a nice chill vibe.
Went to see a friend’s band (I think there were 4 or 5 bands on the lineup), so the cover was $ 10. Not sure what the standard is, but some people have said they’ve only paid $ 5. Ten dollars isn’t a terribly priced cover, considering it’s the touristy section of South Street and the band’s gotta get paid somehow, but it’s also not something I’d be willing to dish out every single weekend just to get inside, especially if it’s bands I’ve never heard of.
With that said, they make sure not to overprice the drinks, which I love. The special was I think $ 3 PBRs and the Yuengling drafts were only $ 4. Can’t comment on mixed drinks.
The place is kinda smaller than I anticipated, but there is an upstairs area (not positive if it’s open to the public most nights or if it’s just the green room area for the band). Overall, I love the divey/​punk rock feel and the cheap drinks. Will definitely come back if I’m digging the lineup.
BONUS: The amazing Lorenzo’s Pizza is directly across the street and they don’t seem to care if you buy a slice then come back to the bar to eat it.
Place rating: 4
Philadelphia, PA
Randomly stumbled upon this live music gem. Its everything I want in a live music venue. It’s small, intimate, dark, divey, and dingy. PBR is on draft. The acoustics are great. The blues band we saw was awesome. Just a great place to chill out and feel the soul. Will definitely be back.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
So happy I stumbled into this place at the end of the night. It should have been the end of the night and I had to have stumbled at least a few times.
They had an amazing live band playing off the wall instruments and performing wonderfully. Very loud. Good music quality. Very divey. Very quaint. Extremely friendly. Bartender and I bonded over bracelets. Cheap drinks. Everyone is welcome, although the crowd is what you would expect on South Street.
Place rating: 3
Annandale, NJ
Cute place. The second floor is set up for a larger crowd with a stage. Nice seating for band watchers.
Bartenders are friendly.
Validation for the EZ parking garage diagonal from The Ledgendary Dobbs on the corner of south and 3rd. See bartender for discount validation.
Great venue to see bands of any size.
Beer is on the pricier side. $ 5.00 for a Corona bottle and $ 6.00 for a Purple Haze draft. Yikes!
Place rating: 3
Philadelphia, PA
Went last night to watch a friend’s band play. Fun place with a good vibe and overpriced beer. A fine venue to watch a band, but not much else.
Place rating: 4
Tallahassee, FL
Divey, but fun. I miss going to live shows the way I did in high school and Dobbs is a great way to revisit the good old days. Bouncers are a little gruff, it is South Street after all. The bartender is attentive and friendly and drinks aren’t too exorbitantly priced. I spied Angry Orchard on tap so I was a happy camper.
The positive review is more a product of the fantastic talent I watched there. The Fresh Fusion Collective showcased a number of DJs, bands, rappers, and other artists and the vibe was fantastic. It was a very mixed crowd (rockers, blipsters, preppy folks, all ages), which is always nice to see. I was at Dobbs for about 6 hours and was not bored for a minute. Props to the venue for hosting such wonderful acts, I definitely want to return.
Place rating: 5
Tampa, FL
Went to Dobbs to kick off this year’s March of the Sombreros for Cinco de Mayo. My group was having such a blast that we decided not to do the bar crawl and stayed at Dobbs all night.
Sombrero firmly planted, I headed to the bar with my friends where we got $ 5 loaded coronas. The DJ was awesome and to my surprise (and delight) the place wasn’t insanely packed. We went upstairs where the bar is smaller but the music is louder! Everyone was there for a good time and had a blast dancing.
South Street is a bit of a trek for me but I can definitely see myself going back for a great time.
Place rating: 5
Philadelphia, PA
If you told me that this place was going to reopen on South Street a year ago I would have looked at you like you were a space alien. J.C. Dobbs was an iconic club in Philly back in the day, and it was the only game in town for young up and coming bands, local and otherwise. When I think of well known bands that played their first ever Philly shows inside of it names like Cat Power, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana come to mind. A lot of us may remember here as The Pontiac Grille. and while The Grille never lived up to the hype of Dobbs, It definitely did what it could to help out the local scene. And when it came to pass it looked like venues like it on South Street (that weren’t as far out as Tritone) were going to be a thing of the past.
But as of June 25th it looks like the past has come back. A new Dobbs reopened in the old place and housed The Lustkillers and a whole bunch of good local acts. And it already has a bunch of other great shows lined up. They even have a number of all ages shows. And since the stage is downstairs you can get a good preview of a show while you get your Lorenzo’s on across the street. Will it be as iconic as the old Dobbs? Only time will tell, but I’m sure as hell willing to find out!