Reader: As Old-School Dives Close in Denver, Bar Bar Must Survive

It’s an ongoing lament: Denver is changing, fast – and not always for the better. One by one, beloved classics have shuttered. But as Molly Martin reports, now we have a chance to help save what could be the city’s diviest dive bar, by donating to a fundraiser for the Carioca Cafe, better known as Bar Bar because of the glowing red, repetitive sign over the door.

This spot has been pouring drinks at 2060 Champa Street for over a century – and looks like it. Today, Bar Bar is one of Denver’s last true dives, where the booze is cheap, the bathrooms are…questionable, and the rotating cast of characters can always be depended on for a good time and even better stories.

For now. While dealing with a new underage-drinking citation, Bar Bar learned that it needs a cabaret license in order to keep offering the live music shows that helped keep it open through the pandemic. Donations for the fundraiser will go to getting that license, as well as making some fixes. But as fans urge in their comments on the Westword Facebook post, not too many fixes. Says LaRee:

Best dive bar in town!!

Responds Shey: 

That place is an absolute shithole. I love dive bars; that’s not a dive.

Counters Joey

I felt like I caught hepatitis just from walking into this place: a true dive bar.

Notes Brian:

Only bar I’ve been to in Denver where I actually thought I would get shanked, drugged or worse.

Replies Charlie:

People complaining about how dinge-y Bar Bar is, don’t understand the true essence of a dive. Long live Bar Bar.

Suggests Jim:

This place needs to survive in a climate where all old-school dives need to shutter to make way for the next best (overpriced and under-delivered) crappy new bars that mostly all suck and go under in two years or less.

Recalls Nick: 

Oh, my days. So many blurry evenings at this spot but my favorite memory is my first visit there; the last show by the Denver hardcore band Guns n Rosa Parks, in which this sticky dive’s limited square footage seemed much larger than it was because of the sheer amount of sweaty Colorado Nativesâ„¢ï¸ and transplants like myself, all squished in there ass to elbow. Months or years later, I would have a “tic tac” cocktail (a pint glass of red Bull with a shot of well vodka dropped into it). The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but much like the Bar Bar experience writ large, the details don’t matter much as the moment.

Concludes Andrew:

I presumed Bar Bar was immortal per some black magic. Truly the undisputed champion of shithole bars. It’d be sad to see it go.

Have you been to Bar Bar? What do you think of the place? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.