Denver Bars and Clubs That Shut Their Doors in 2017

Venues close their doors for all sorts of reasons. Some are priced out of town, as the city's oldest blues bar was; others get the boot from a landlord; and some close for renovations. Here are four Denver venues that shut down, either temporarily or permanently, in 2017. Happily, one of these has already reopened, and none of the four are necessarily gone for good.

Buffalo Rose
With a history that dates back more than a century and a half, the Buffalo Rose is one of Colorado’s oldest bars. The iconic music venue in the heart of downtown Golden hasn’t really had any enhancements since the mid- ’80s, and a major facelift was long overdue. Last month, the venue closed for extensive renovations and is slated to reopen in the fall of 2018.

Cold Crush
Since it opened in May 2013 (earning our recognition as Best New Bar that year), Cold Crush has been a hotbed of activity, with live music inside and live art outside, including during Colorado CRUSH 2016. In October 2016, 29-year-old Tyrone Adair Jr., aka rapper BossMan Goodie, was killed in a shooting outside the venue at 2700 Larimer Street. A year later the venue closed after landlords refused to extend a lease on the building. Co-owner Brian Mathenge hoped to move Cold Crush to 3014 East Colfax Avenue, a location currently occupied by Southside Bar and Kitchen, which has two more years left on its lease. Mathenge has owned the building since 2016 and hope to evict Southside, but he was not successful. Last we heard, he put the building on the market and is looking for a future home for Cold Crush.

Ziggies
After more than five decades, Ziggies, Denver's oldest blues bar, closed on October 31, when its ten-year lease expired. Ziggies' website states that the building at 4923 West 38th Avenue has been put up for sale by the trust that owns the property. Last August, owner Carla Jordan posted on Facebook that she was looking closely at her options, which included "potentially moving Ziggies to a new location (which may be cost-prohibitive), selling the entire Ziggies business (assets, licenses, etc...) to someone else, and/or offering to sell the business with the real estate building sale. The sale of Ziggies with the sale of the building is unlikely, as they believe any buyers of the property will scrape the building and build more lofts or some sort of new development."

Dazzle
In good news, after nearly two decades at 930 Lincoln Street, Dazzle closed that location and moved over the summer to much bigger digs in the Baur’s building downtown. The new location, which is 18,000 square feet, boasts three stages, including a new main stage set along the south wall of the building. With that new stage, the venue is able to seat around 200, more than double its former capacity. Some other changes include a new tiered ticketing system and a record store that specializes in vintage vinyl.