The makings of a great dive bar are cheap drinks, regulars, and history. Give Snappy’s some time, and the small, quirky bar in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood thinks it can tick off all three boxes.

The bar already has an affordable menu, with every drink and snack priced under $10. A 10-ounce Miller High Life on draft is $4. Add a 2-ounce shot of brand name liquor to that and you got yourself a “Mr. Big Shot” for $10. Got cash? Congrats, you get a dollar off drinks. Pricing includes tax, and “none of that surcharge bullsh*t,” the printed menu reads.

“People can treat this like their second home and not feel like they’re breaking the bank because you can come here and have five drinks for 20 bucks,” says Sean Ryan, the co-owner of Snappy’s.

Ryan and his co-owner and friend, David Grenaldo, opened Snappy’s with the intention of creating a comfortable and familiar bar. The bar’s menu, staffing, and design reflect that. Everyone’s welcome, even dogs if they are chill.

Ryan and Grenaldo have tended bar around the District for at least the last decade, including at local watering holes Dew Drop Inn, Wonderland Ballroom, Union Pub, The Pug, Jack Rose, Boundary Stone, and Calico, among others.

They decided to open Snappy’s — and be its main two bartenders — because it makes financial sense, plus they get to continue to do the job they love.

“I don’t think it’s realistic to do it forever, but this is the best job I’ve ever had,” Grenaldo says of bartending. “So I was like, how can I figure out a way to own my own business but still do the job that I love to do? So this was the best solution for that.”

The pair hope their constant presence sets the steady vibe they’re going for. They want Snappy’s to be a neighborhood joint where residents come in to relax and even make friends. The menu encourages it: A patron can buy shots for everyone at the bar for $6 per person, a deal they named after the sitcom Cheers.

Their cocktail list features simple drinks — nothing made in a shaker — something Grenaldo and Ryan say allows them to focus on hospitality. So there’s the Ranch Fire (Topo Chico and Illegal Mezcal with lime juice and tajín) and the Spaghett (Miller High Life and Aperol with, maybe, lemon garnish). Their menu is also simple, and a little tongue-in-cheek: dino nuggets and bagel bites made in an air fryer. Patrons can snack until close, which is as late as 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

“If people want to come every day, we want to make it so they can feel like they can come every day financially as well,” Grenaldo says.

The pair used to dream about opening their own bar over drinking. Then one day, they just dove in. Many people in the local restaurant industry not only encouraged them but inspired them, Grenaldo and Ryan say. Nic Makris, owner of Adams Morgan dive Blaguard, actually owns Snappy’s building on Georgia Avenue NW and leased it to them at an affordable price.

“He came to us and was like, ‘When I was 30 years old, a guy came to me and was like, I’m going to give you a chance… I just ask [that] when you guys are older, you find a 30 year old and you do the same thing,'” Ryan says.

Grenaldo admits Snappy’s looks like a lot of other dive bars, but that’s kind of the point. It’s furnished with secondhand items from local haunts to make it look like it’s been open a long time. The bar top is from Iron Horse and the booths are from The Big Hunt. Snappy’s was designed by Kate Talbert, who runs the Instagram account dive bar vibes.

Grenaldo coined the bar’s name, which is inspired by a no diving sign that he’d see at the public pool as a kid. Over the years, he took to drawing his own cartoon version of the image, inking it at any public bathroom that would let him (you may have seen one of his originals at The Pug). Grenaldo associated the memory with good times. Ryan was game, so the pair had Talbert riff on the cartoon for the Snappy’s logo.

Their origin story seems simple but the owners are honest about how costly and time intensive opening a bar is. They held a fundraiser as opening neared because their liquor budget became tight. If a person donated $100, they’d get their name engraved on a brick in the bar plus a free drink, t-shirt, and invite to the soft opening. For a $250 donation, people got all that and their own shot glass as well as a few other perks. Roughly 100 people donated.

It took Grenaldo and Ryan roughly a year to get to Snappy’s opening day this past Saturday. It ended up being a hit: the new bar sold out of booze, and so had to close the next day. Grenaldo says they even had a few repeat customers since the soft opening last week, potential regulars.

The longtime barmen already have a few more ideas for Snappy’s, which can seat 50ish people comfortably inside and has an outdoor area. They want to host live music and pop-ups.

“We don’t really know what it is yet. And so like it’s going to take us at least a year to really figure it out,” Ryan says. Snappy’s has a ten-year lease, so the duo has time.

 Snappy’s is located at 3917 Georgia Ave. NW. It’s open Sunday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m.-3 a.m.