Downtown Josh

What’s not to like about this place? There are so few dive-​type bars left in this squeaky clean world of sports bars with 32 TV screens and grating annoying background music. This place is a gem. It’s what you’d want and expect when you realize you’re in a desert. If you are a real traveler and not a tourist interested in the same old same old that you could find at your favorite mall back home in Toledo.
The beautiful bartender, Kristin, was friendly and quick with the bottle opener.
I can’t imagine sipping a cold beer in a more comfortable place.
Again, these places are hard to find and it will only get worse as the chains take over the last strongholds of the really great places that have character.

We were in town for our wedding, and looking for a lowkey place to have drinks with as many of our guests as possible the day before we got married. Downtown Josh was perfect for this — we started a cash tab, and the bartender was so friendly and provided great service to our friends and family. The space was large enough to hold our whole group, and included shuffleboard, jukebox, a small outdoor patio, and ample seating. A really fun, memorable night.

I’m not usually a fan of dive bars but the group we were travelling are all about them. My rating is for dive bars specifically, it’s not a 4* establishment. It’s got the dive bar vibe, two pool tables, a huge air hockey table, karaōke, outdoor patio and a great bartender! We were just passing thru for one night and mid-​afternoon we got thirsty and hungry. We were looking for a bar that served food but that’s not easy to find in Twentynine Palms at 2:30 in the afternoon. We saw the reviews for Josh’s and couldn’t see whether or not they offered food and we were one block away so decided to go for it. They do not serve food, however, the bartender on duty, a tall, slender blonde woman was so cool, she offered us menus from some of the surrounding restaurants and said we could order and bring it into the bar. We were just looking for something light before dinner so we got a pizza from Rocky’s, very good and within walking distance. We had a party of 7 and one of them picked up the tab for the first round of drinks, everyone had beers and one mixed drink — $ 15.50!!! Now that’s a bar I can afford to hang out in for several hours — granted, you have to take into effect the town this bar is in, it is not a prosperous town so if they want the locals to be able to afford to patronize their place, they have to keep it reasonable. We will definitely be stopping in when we’re in town next time! Thank you pretty lady bartender for making us feel so welcome!

Best little dive bar around. 2 pool tables, a jukebox, nice back patio with a mister for hotter weather. Best Bloody Mary’s in town and they open at 6 am! Never any drama or crazy booze fueled fights. And they have free shuffleboard all week and free pool on Sunday’s and every day between 4 and 6pm during happy hour.

Poor run down nasty bar
They do over serve and that’s not okay with me! Very hole in the wall, as a local I’d never come back

Cool little hole in the wall, 3 dollar rum and cokes! To hell with the Gas Lamp District

I decided to hop on my bike and ride into the desert and since I have never been in 29 Palms before, I decided to ride down highway 62 and stay here and see what it is all about.
I stopped in Downtown Josh and there were about 7 people in there drinking and a few of them were playing pool. I made small talk with a few of the locals which was cool and I met Leilani who was the bartender.
I ordered up a beer and then headed down to the Motel 6 to grab a room for the night. I came back and I was ready to suck down a few beers and smoke a cigar. Leilani was off by now and she was hanging out with a guy that looked like a marine who seemed to love to dance to just about everything on the jukebox.
Anyway I told her that I read an article about Highway 62 that talked about this bar and had a picture of her in it and she got a big kick out of it. So did some of the locals and they were kind of teasing her a bit and calling her Hollywood.
So there is a good vibe going and about the same amount of people but the original 7 is starting to get hammered. They help one guy out of the bar because he was a little stumble which I thought was hilarious and helpful at the same time.
At some point the new bartender asked me if I wanted to join the 8 ball tournament. What the hell I though! Nothing to do and I haven’t played pool in a long ass time. I actually did pretty good in 8 ball bracket play and I ended up outplaying 3 other guys out of a total of 6 people playing.
During the middle of the game, one of the guys came over to me and told me he just did a car repo on somebody in the car. Not sure why he told me that but I think it was just for heads up purposes. A half hour later the drunkest oldest guy in the bar starts yelling about where is car is and I figured out who’s car it was.
Long story short he got threatening and had to be put on the ground by a marine and one other guy.
You cannot pay for this kind of entertainment! Going to a dive bar and watching some old drunk guy being put to the ground for being a drunk ass.!!
It was so awesome. They settled the guy down and got him out of the bar before going to the next level by calling the cops. Now this is important. People get fucked up in bars and as this guy will be pissed and hungover the next day, he will still be doing that in his own home.
Downtown Josh will not let you disrespect them but they will keep you out of jail by tossing you out.
I love this bar and I had good conversations with everybody in it.
I finished the night by playing pool with the guy that won the competition. Man he kicked my ass. I think I won 1 game out of 8 and on the last game he run the table on me so I decided to hang it up and call it a night lol!

This is THE PREMIER DIVE BAR in Twentynine Palms, CA. I love this place! Leave your hangups at the door and let it all hang out here. People are friendly and they have a pool league. If you’re looking for a young hip crowd… THIS IS NOT THE PLACE. Come through the door, order you drink and take it all in. Kareoke on Wednesday and Saturday.