Remembering The Hoffbrau

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I attended the First Friday Art Walk on Denver's Santa Fe Drive this past Friday night.  Earlier that afternoon, I had taken the bus from my condo to the corner of Josephine and Colfax, and then walked down 17th street to downtown and from there to Santa Fe Drive.  On the way, I passed what used to be the Hoffbrau Tavern and Grill, which is just a few blocks from the apartment where I used to live at Parkway Center. When my mother flew into town (via airplane) from Florida for a visit, I would pick her up at the airport and we would often have dinner here.  It was a very cozy, low key place that served reasonably priced steaks.  It is long gone, and the building has hosted a number of restaurants since then.  I took the photograph on the left of the back of the place, showing both a huge mural and no cars in the parking lot, always a bad sign for a restaurant.

Coming around the front, I saw that the latest incarnation of the place is The Denver Pony.  The marquee still advertises happy hour from 3 until 6 Monday through Friday, but since it was almost 5:00 P.M. and there was not a soul around, I had to assume the place was closed for good.  Looking at the photograph on the right close up, I also saw graffiti on the front doors, still another bad sign for a going business. This building is located at 13th and Santa Fe Drive, and being only a few blocks away from Parkway Center, a very large apartment complex, it used to draw a decent crowd. It was built in 1883, and as I recall from my last visit years ago, had a quiet, old time charm to it.  I am not sure what happened - possibly just a victim of too many restaurants competing against each other.  My friend Wally has often suggested opening up a bar called Geezers, catering to an older crowd that prefers a quiet atmosphere, as opposed to music blaring at a volume that rivals jet airplanes taking off.  I have often suggested to him that I could be the idea guy, Wally the money guy, and our friends Darrel and Linda, who used to own a high traffic restaurant, could run the place.  Seems fair to me. This might be the place.  But those murals will have to go.  Your job Darrel.