A salute to saloons: Booze runs in the veins of Denver’s history

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madden
Madden’s saloon at 1140 Larimer Street in the early 1900s, with bartenders Michael Flaherty and Edward Madden (in aprons), owner Eugene Madden (center with mustache), and Denver Police detective Mike Carroll (with pipe).
Dr. Colorado, Tom Noel

Throughout its history, the city of Denver was home to saloons that served up a lot more than alcohol. Ken McConnellogue talks with CU Denver History Professor Tom Noel – aka Dr. Colorado – about the liquid history of Denver and how bars evolved throughout the ages and helped form the Denver of today.

  • Ethnic and cultural importance of Denver’s early bars.
  • The first bar and its significance to the community.
  • Denver’s oldest surviving bar.
  • A bar named for the city’s most colorful villain, the king of all Western con-men.
  • Police entrapment in Denver’s early gay bars, and how the LGBTQ community leveraged it for gay rights.
  • Colorado’s favorite bars in modern times.

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