BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Our ongoing search for the oldest bars, taverns and watering holes in the Birmingham area continues.

And the search inevitably led us to The Plaza, also referred to as The Upside Down Plaza, in Five Points South.

This is true despite the fact that the bar has had two homes -- each for about a quarter century.

The Plaza opened first in 1962 in a small, oddly shaped building on 11th Court South that is now the home of The Hot and Hot Fish Club.

The owners were Joe Cannon and his brother Terry, better known as T.C., who later started another bar and became an unsuccessful Birmingham mayoral candidate.

The bar moved in 1987 to the basement of the Pickwick Plaza, then called Pickwick Place, and was sold to Jimbo Flemming, who remains the owner.

But The Plaza, despite the move and the passing of five decades, has endured, perhaps because it has continued to offer its patrons a remarkably consistent value proposition.

"It's a dive with good booze, good music, pool tables, foosball tables and the best jukebox in town," said Kim ("Kimbo") Walker, who has tended bar at The Plaza since 1996.

"It's dark, loud, full of fun," said Austin Blanton, who has been a bartender at The Plaza for three years. He calls it "the last dive bar in Birmingham."

The appeal of this Birmingham institution does not stop there, though. T

he regulars at The Plaza - like those of many establishments -- develop an easy and comforting familiarity with the other patrons and come to feel at home at the bar.

"I come because any time I come here I will see somebody I know," said regular customer Hayden Bickerton. "I know almost everyone who works the door here."

"Everybody knows your name," Blanton said. "It's the Cheers of Birmingham"

Bickerton also likes the fact that the bartenders at The Plaza, like Blanton, know her and know what she wants to order.

"I come in here after work, and Austin already has a Yuengling (beer) waiting on the bar," she said.

Tyler Draper - a Southside resident who also frequents Matthew's Bar & Grill and used to go to the now-closed Marty's - likes the relaxed atmosphere at The Plaza.

"You will never find a fight," he said. "You can come in. You can chill. There might be 10 people. There might be 30. People here just like to drink and conversate."

The Plaza really comes alive late at night, according to Bickerton. "After midnight, it's the place to be," she said.

Wednesday night is another good time to see the bar at its best, according to Bickerton. "Everybody comes (to The Plaza) after 'Well Hell' at Black Market Bar," she said, referring to the $1 well drinks served on Wednesdays at another popular Five Points bar.

The Plaza's status as a reliable late-night spot makes it popular with employees of other bars and restaurants. "It's all service industry all the time," Blanton said.

"People who work in other places around Five Points come here when they get off work," Bickerton said.

The basement location of The Plaza, with its single entrance behind the Highland Hotel building, gives it a somewhat mysterious quality.

Much like a very different drinking establishment we visited recently - the venerable Red Lion cocktail lounge in Homewood - The Plaza is a sort of hideaway, a place that people usually don't find on their own.

"I know a lot of people who don't know about it," Bickerton said.

"I try to bring people here," Draper said. "They're never even heard of it."

In fact, Draper had never heard of The Plaza before his first visit about 6 years ago. He was taken there by a friend.

"She knew all the bars," Draper said. "She told me, 'Let me take you to my favorite bar.' I was like, 'I didn't know this existed.'"

The Plaza mainly skews to a younger demographic, according to Bickerton. "

There are definitely some older people who come in, but the majority of the crowd is in their 20s," she said.

Walker perceives a little more variety in the ages of The Plaza's patrons. "

It goes from 21 to 45 and then.... depending on the night, up to 55, 65," he said.

Walker said that most of the bar's patrons are "good people... who like to behave themselves and have a good time. If they don't (behave), they aren't here very long."

And there are still a few customers who represent living links to the old Plaza, according Blanton and Walker

"You still have the old Plaza people who like to come in and see what's up," Walker said.

"We've been open so long, you have multi-generations that come down here," Mims told AL.com. "You have people that tell me that their parents met down here, that they're grandparents met down here. If it hadn't been for this bar, they might not exist."

The patrons of The Plaza have come to form something of family, according to Mims. Bar regulars are called "Plaza people," he said.

And one group of loyal customers has grown so close that they sometimes vacation together, according to Mims.

Regular patron Steva Casey said last year that the bar is an institution in Birmingham. "

It's not just a young people's bar," she said. "It's not just a hip thing to do that in two years is going to be out of style. The Plaza transcends all of that. It's an iconoclast in the bar industry in Birmingham."

The Plaza, or Upside Down Plaza, is located on 2012 Magnolia Ave. South. The bar opens seven days a week at 3 p.m. and remains open extremely late.

Karaoke begins at 6 p.m. on Sunday and Wednesday. Monday is service industry night, with beer and drink specials.

For more information, call 205-930-0333 or go to Facebook at "The Upsidedown Plaza."