The story
Captain's Cabin has been open in Hamra since 1964, which makes it one of the oldest bars in Beirut. In that time a very large number of people, from a very large number of places, have sat in the same few chairs — and most of them left their name on the wall on the way out.
A fish shop and three pilots
In 1964, three Middle East Airlines pilots and the father of the current owner rented an old fish shop a few metres off Hamra Street. They panelled over the yellow tiles in wood and made it their own — somewhere to land between flights. Word travelled through the airline, more crew started spending layovers there, and the room kept growing. By 1972 it was a fully licensed bar.
It never closed
Captain's Cabin is one of the few bars in Beirut that stayed open through the civil war. Not as a statement — it simply kept opening. That is the thing regulars mention first, and it is why the place carries the weight it does in Hamra.
Andre
The bar has been run by Andre for decades. He pours, he picks the music, and he decides when the night is over. Ask him about the room and he will tell you about it; the stories are better first-hand than they are on a website.
The walls, and the flags
Every surface is covered. Names, dates, drawings, messages from people who came through once in 1988 and people who were here last week — and above them, the flags left behind by drinkers from just about everywhere. It is the closest thing Beirut has to a guest book, and it is still being written.
Everyone ends up here
The crews stopped coming when the airline schedules changed, but the room never went local-only. Students from the university down the road, journalists who came for a fortnight in 1982, sailors off ships in the port, people who moved to Beirut and people who were leaving it. The bar has no door policy and never has, which turns out to be the whole trick: sit down for long enough and the person next to you is from somewhere you have never been, with a reason for being here that you would not have guessed.
Come in tonight
Everyone whose name is up there was a stranger walking in for the first time, exactly once. Come in, have a drink, stay long enough to be worth remembering, and put your name somewhere near theirs.
The short version
- Opened
- 1964
- Licensed as a bar
- 1972
- Neighbourhood
- Hamra, Ras Beirut
- Type
- Dive bar