Look: Watering Holes
Boulder's Best Bar None
From the end of Prohibition in 1933 until 1967, Boulder only allowed 3.2 beer to be served within city limits. Students’ early favorites included Timber Tavern, Lucky Inn, Tulagi (formerly the Anchorage), Tom’s Tavern and The Sink, according to historian Silvia Pettem (Psych’69). Catacombs, below the Hotel Boulderado, was one of the first to receive a liquor license after the 1967 repeal of the city’s liquor ban. It will close to be remodeled and renamed.
Nominated by USA Today as one of the “places to eat a burger worthy of paradise,” the Dark Horse Bar and Grill on Baseline near Williams Village has been a Boulder landmark since 1975. True to its slogan “casual, convenient, cheap,” the Walrus on Walnut is exactly how you remember it. Across the street lies the longtime Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant. Its famous three-margarita limit is still in effect.
The signs adorning some of Boulder’s most popular college pubs: Dark Horse Bar and Grill, Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, the Walrus Saloon and Catacombs Bar.
Photography by Peter Burke