My Brother's Bar
Traditional American restaurant · Highland ·
Historic Denver bar with classic burgers, beers, and Beat history
Historic Denver bar with classic burgers, beers, and Beat history
"In one iteration or another, My Brother’s Bar has been operating for nearly as long as Denver has been a city (since 1873). Amid wooden furnishings under tin ceilings, it looks and acts its age — as well it should. There’s beer and whiskey and burgers, including the famous JCB with jalapeño cream cheese, galore. There’s easy camaraderie among the patrons inside and out on the patio. There is, in short, a sense of homecoming that newbies can feel as keenly as longtimers." - Ruth Tobias
"Though it has gone by many different names under many different owners since 1973, this low-key lounge at the edge of LoHi remains Denver’s oldest continuously operating bar. And the Johnny burger (along with its simpler sibling, the JCB) is nearly as fabled as the place itself, loaded with Swiss, American, and jalapeño cream cheese as well as grilled onions." - Ruth Tobias
"A historic hangout where classic old-school burgers like the JCB are a draw, offering a dive-bar atmosphere steeped in local tradition." - Ruth Tobias
"Beat icon Neal Cassady may still have an outstanding tab at the bar on Platte and 15th Street in Denver. A copy of a letter he penned to an unknown associate in 1944, while serving time in the Colorado State Reformatory for stealing cars, is framed by the bathrooms. It reads, “I frequented the place occasionally & consequently still have a small bill run up, I believe I owe them about 3 or 4 dollars. If you happen to be in that vicinity please drop in & pay it, will you?” Although it has changed names (from Paul’s Place to My Brother’s Bar), visitors can belly up to the same bar where Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg were once regulars. Being one of the oldest bars in Denver, My Brother’s Bar is a bit of a luddite, doing its best, it seems, to keep itself in the Beat years. There are no televisions, the till is analog, and wifi was only a recent addition. It’s not hard to imagine dust-coated, gun-toting cowboys shouldering open batwing doors back in the 1870s, when a bar first opened on the premises. The bar comes by its grit naturally. There’s not even a sign out front. The former owners, brothers Jim and Angelo Karagas, couldn’t afford one when they bought it in 1970. The current name stems from an ongoing joke whereby a bill collector would come by the bar to collect debts and either one of the Karagas brothers would say “take it to my brother, he owns the place.”" - ATLAS_OBSCURA
"My Brother’s Bar Beat writer Jack Kerouac fell in love with Denver after a visit (he eventually bought a home in Colorado ), and Sal, the lead character in On the Road , travels to the city a few times. The free-spirited character Dean Moriarty was based on the real-life Neal Cassady, who frequented My Brother’s Bar, the oldest continuously operating watering hole in Denver. My Brother’s Bar keeps a low profile—a super-basic website and no sign on the door. Inside you’ll find a letter Cassady sent to a friend asking to cover his tab. This spot is also a good place to grab a burger and beer, and—during Girl Scout Cookies season—a box of thin mints."
