Retro Dating

Take a page from the past for your next date or roommate outing. FM braved the T and single men at bars to bring you the best bits of nostalgia this side of Lovers’ Lane: a low-lit pool hall, a vintage bowling spot, and Cambridge’s center for old-school beer.

Kings

50 Dalton Street, Boston

617-266-2695

Two minutes from the Prudential Center is an alley where bright lights beckon. This bowling spot’s smiling bouncers will politely ask for your 21+ ID after 6 p.m. Try to go before then anyway for the reduced rates, a dollar off the night-time price of $6.50 per game. This converted cinema features lanes lit by neon blue squares and tiny red lights. You won’t have to miss a basketball game when there are projection screens in sight. For a short break, follow the lanterns to the old school Pac Man and pinball machines. After a few games, slide into a dark, romantic booth at deVille, the attached restaurant, where you and your honey can enoy sirloin ($19) or a Guinness Float ($7). Want a souvenir? Buy a Kings t-shirt or a Von Dutch bowling bag.

Bukowski Tavern

1281 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

617-497-7077

Stroll 15 minutes from Memorial Hall to sip on old-school beers, like Valentine and Schaeffer or the more risque “Sex on the Sidewalk.” (“A fruity concocktion,” says the menu, which has a beer list longer than the English 158 syllabus.) But even the underage should give Bukowski a try—just be sure to get there before 8 p.m. on weekends. Bite into a burnt “Buck Burger” at a retro price ($1.69; $1.10 extra for fries), and let the red pleather diner booths and bare lightbulbs awaken your nostalgia. By day, you can catch “All My Children” and your other favorite soaps on the three televisions along with locals decked out in goth gear. A mural dedicated to poet Charles Bukowski—who wrote the script for the 1987 flick Barfly—features a red typewriter with a single line: “I am drinking beer.” You should be, too.

Flat Top Johnny's

1 Kendall Square, Cambridge

617-494-9565

Tucked away in a maze of bars by the MIT campus, this converted warehouse features the friendliest billiards in town. The star here, though, isn’t the dozen pool tables, but the affordable comfort food. Start off with the down-home pulled pork sandwich ($7.95; on wax paper that says, “DELICIOUS”), then end with the Volcano Cake ($4.95). With the chocolate dessert, Flat Top Johnny’s serves a pile of whipped cream with a maraschino cherry—and while too rich for one, it’s the perfect size for two. Meet white-haired Kenny at the bar, who stumbles in with his cane every night at 5 p.m. to nurse a beer—or nothing at all. Pool is half-price on Tuesdays, Ladies’ Night, and free on Wednesdays from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. The seven-minute walk from the T-stop can be deserted, so go by daylight or with friends.