After Months of Delays, Good Luck Club Debuts on South Broadway

After years in the making and months of delays, Good Luck Club on South Broadway is finally open. The Y2K-themed bar hosted a grand opening party on April 30, drawing a crowd of locals, influencers, and media for a night that included a vinyl set by Nelli, a pop-up bar from Aguasol Tequila, Nintendo 64 games, dice rolls for drink specials, and more.

“We dealt with a lot of complications getting all of our zoning and permitting aligned with the city. It was hurdle after hurdle,” says general manager Ben Hamilton. 

When Westword first spoke with the team, they were preparing to open in January, February the latest. However, a long and complicated process navigating the city’s regulatory landscape left them in limbo. In the meantime, the team hosted a series of pop-ups at its sister bar, Seven Grand, while waiting for final approvals.

“Opening a bar in Denver right now requires as much patience as it does passion,” Hamilton told Westword in February. “We’ve faced the typical bottleneck challenges of coordinating between multiple city departments and meeting evolving code requirements for older buildings.”

Good Luck Club’s permitting woes echo sentiments expressed in the 2025 State of Denver Restaurants report released by the Denver Restaurant Liaison Project. In addition to citing rising wages and ever-growing costs as major pain points for restaurateurs, the report also pointed to regulatory hurdles as a substantial area of concern, with a permitting process that could take upwards of nine months, sometimes longer. 

“Departmental silos, inconsistent code interpretations, and prolonged review cycles create costly uncertainty,” the report states. “Based on more than 50 interviews with operators, it is estimated that delays can generate operator losses of up to $70,000 per month in working capital.”

Luckily, Good Luck Club was able to soft open on April 2 and has been quietly operating for the past month. Now, the focus is on building momentum during slower midweek hours.

“It’s been a little slow Sunday through Wednesday, so we’re going to get creative,” explains Hamilton.

The bar recently went live with an all-night happy hour Sunday through Wednesday, and will kick off new programming on May 12 including Y2K trivia on Tuesdays with Denver Trivia League, events with Law’s Whiskey House on Wednesdays, and jazz nights. Looking ahead, its teaming up with Club Volo across the street for a Kick the Keg event on Friday, June 5, and offering $5 shots, $5 drafts, and $5 wells to anyone who comes in wearing a Volo shirt after games. 

Notably, the bar is also planning a Throwback Thursday party on May 28 in partnership with the in-person dating platform Thursday, which hosts events exclusively for singles. Billed as “bringing back the old-school meet-cute,” the $17 event has already sold 50 tickets, according to Hamilton. The event’s early traction not only speaks to the bar’s nostalgic theme, but also to a larger trend among young Denverites seeking authentic, analog experiences.

“We didn’t know what to expect with this concept,” Hamilton says. “But I think it taps into something people are craving. Everything’s been so technology-focused – AI, computers, screens in your face. People are looking for genuine conversations and interactions.”

Hamilton says he’s seen conversations strike up around the venue’s video games and board games, as well as the horseshoe-shaped bar, which allows patrons to interact with people across the way – all while sipping on drinks from the millennial-coded menu like the Crimson Chin spritz and Teddygram old-fashioned.

“If I’m in the middle bartending, people are chatting across the bar back and forth, which you don’t really see on a regular horizontal flat bar,” he shares. 

A particularly nostalgic element of the new watering hole is the lounge inside the women’s restroom, designed to resemble a girlypop bedroom straight out of an early-2000s Disney Channel show. There’s a couch with pink pillows, a fuzzy magenta lamp, and even a boombox stocked with real CDs, from Shania Twain to a breakup mix.

“There’s been a lot of hype around our opening,” Hamilton adds. “We’re just happy to finally be here now.”

Good Luck Club is located at 1350 S. Broadway and is open 5 p.m. to midnight Monday through Wednesday; 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thursday; 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday; noon to 2 a.m. on Saturday; and noon to midnight on Sunday. For more information, visit goodluckdenver.com or follow them at @goodluckdenver.