Boston’s Most Iconic Haunted Bars & Restaurants
Posted: 02.27.2025 | Updated: 02.27.2025
A night out in Boston is more than just food and drinks; it’s a journey through time. One moment, you’re sipping a cocktail in one of many Boston bars that once housed prisoners; the next, you’re dining in a hotel where the founder’s ghost still roams.
From the lively Liberty Bar to Cheers, which inspired one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, these historic spots offer a chance to step into the past while enjoying the best of the present. The best bars in Boston are often filled customers from an age long past. Do you dare meet them for a drink?
Take a sip of the finest spirits in the city that built American spirit on a Boston haunted pub crawl!
What Time Do The Bars Close In Boston?
Bars close at 1am or 2am in Boston, but that doesn’t mean the party is over. Beantown is famous for throwing a very special tea party in the harbor. That reverly hasn’t ceased since and many phantom patrons still speak of that fateful day. From rooftop bars to dive bars, Boston’s bar scene may spark a revolution in you!
Liberty Bar
The Liberty Bar is located in the Liberty Hotel at 215 Charles Street. Eerily, it is the former location of the infamous Charles Street Prison. The hotel, constructed between 1848 and 1851, contained 220 granite cells. These cells once housed famous inmates such as Malcolm X and assassin Elmer “Trigger” Burke, and even German prisoners of war.
In 1973, the District Court ordered the closure of the prison, ruling that the overcrowded conditions at the jail constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The jail had violated the constitutional rights of those housed there. In 1990, the prisoners were moved to the Nashua Street Jail.
In 2007, the former jail reopened as a renovated, luxury hotel, named the Liberty Hotel in a paradoxical twist. Much of the original structure of the prison remains – and so do the tragic stories and ghosts left behind.
Strange eyes peeping through upstairs windows and the sounds of prison riots, heavy boots, and cell doors slamming are just some things unlucky guests have experienced.
The Liberty Bar, located in the lobby rotunda, which the hotel has kept from its prison days, is a popular spot for travelers and locals alike. Serving house-infused liquors, wine, local cheeses, and artisanal pizzas, it’s a popular spot for networking and a night out on the town.
The downstairs lounge provides plenty of space for dancing, while the upstairs seating areas offer views of the beautiful rotunda. The Liberty Bar is just one of the many Boston bars that will astonish, scare, and humble you all at once.
Alibi at The Liberty Hotel
Another restaurant in the Liberty Hotel is Alibi, which is housed in the former “drunk tank” of the prison, where intoxicated and unruly prisoners were held. Nowadays, you can enjoy a refreshing drink in this former drunk tank, with beers, wines, and cocktails on offer.
The full menu from the nearby Scampo restaurant is available in case you need a late-night snack. Relax and enjoy the sunset on the beautiful outdoor balcony or participate in one of the seasonal events Alibi holds.
Parker’s Restaurant
The Omni Parker Hotel, opened in 1855 by Harvey Parker, is one of the most haunted buildings in Boston. As early as the 1940s, reports started surfacing of strange occurrences on the 10th floor.
A lady reported seeing a gray mist that slowly morphed into the figure of an overweight man with a mustache. According tot his woman, this was Harvey himself. Numerous other guests reported sightings of Harvey, and the hotel thus turned into a Boston legend.
Parker’s Restaurant is also located in the hotel, albeit far from the madness of the 10th floor. It is here that the famous Boston Cream Pie, which is also the official Massachusetts State Dessert, was invented.
The Boston Cream Pie is not actually a pie but a cake. At that time, however, people cooked both in the same type of pan, so they used the two terms interchangeably.
Although it was first an American staple, being popularized by a Betty Crocker boxed cake mix recipe, French chef Augustine François Anezin first prepared the recipe for the hotel’s grand opening ceremony. If you want an original, authentic Boston Cream Pie, forget the boxed cake mixes. Order one directly from Parker’s Restaurant, which delivers cream pies across the country.
The hotel is also credited with inventing the Boston scrod, a local twist on split baby cod with bones removed and bread crumbs sprinkled on top.
Parker’s restaurant is famous not just for its food. Both Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh worked here; Malcolm served as a busboy, while Ho Chi Minh worked as a baker. The restaurant was featured on Zagat’s 10 Unexpectedly Romantic Restaurants in Boston, which makes it perfect for a date night with your significant other.
Cheers
A pub crawl in Boston would be incomplete without a visit to the former Bull & Finch, the inspiration for the sitcom Cheers, which aired on NBC from 1982 to 1993 and remains one of the most popular American sitcoms of all time.
If you’ve watched Cheers, you’ll feel right at home when stepping into Cheers. It will take you back to the (fictional) time when Sam Malone, inspired by real-life bartender Eddie Doyle, who worked at the bar for 35 years, ran the bar. It also has a gift shop with t-shirts, mugs, keychains, and other Cheers merch.
The bar was originally founded in 1969 as Bull & Finch, but after the popularity of the show, it was renamed Cheers.
Although Carla may have bought a haunted house in Season 5, episode 5, there is no indication that Cheers is haunted by anything but a hangover.
More Things To Do In Boston
Boston has a lot of other great spots to check out. If you’re in the mood for authentic, made-from-scratch Southern cuisine, check out Souleil; for some of the best pasta in town, head to Mida’s on Monday for their Mangia Monday special, which allows you to pick from five pasta entrées. Both are black-owned businesses, and you’ll be supporting local!
Grab you walking shoes and hit the streets after a divine meal at any of these black-owned business in Boston. Hit the streets with Boston Ghosts on one of our Booze and Boos Pub Crawls. This haunted Boston pub crawl reaches deep into the past of America’s most rebellious city. Discover the many spirits waiting to reignite their eternal flames at many of Boston’s most haunted locations!
In the meantime, keep reading our blog for more information on haunted Boston, where to eat, and where to drink. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for even more spooky content around the clock!
Sources:
- https://newsletter.spoteasy.com/blog/black-owned-restaurants-in-boston-and-beyond
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0789376/
- https://www.cheersboston.com/
- https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/boston-parker-house/dining/parkers-restaurant
- https://www.alibiboston.com/
- https://www.boston.com/
- https://libertyhotel.com/restaurants-bars/liberty-bar/
Book A Boston Ghosts Tour And See For Yourself
Get an unfiltered look into Beantown’s most petrifying hauntings and learn how Boston’s bloody past resurrects nightly in the most terrifying ways.
Join Boston Ghosts for a haunted history tour through the city’s darkest moments, unearthing the gruesome events that produced the harrowing hauntings permeating Boston’s streets.
