The rise and fall of Boulder’s Broken Drum Tavern — the city’s last 3.2 bar, on Pearl Street

The Broken Drum Tavern was a “working man’s bar” — likely the last of its kind in Boulder. Serving only low-alcohol beer, it opened during citywide prohibition, then was torn down to make room for new development, including a parking garage. Its demolition marked the end of an era.

Prior to the opening of the Pearl Street Mall, in 1977, city planners realized that Boulder would need more downtown parking — not just on Walnut Street and Broadway (as mentioned in a recent column), but also on Pearl Street, east of downtown.

Among those who lamented the wheels of progress were patrons of the Broken Drum Tavern at 1534 Pearl Street. Boulder resident Carl Drum had established the tavern in 1952, choosing the name because, when he opened, he said he was “broke.” The Broken Drum, located in between the Pearl Street Cafe and the McCaddon Oldsmobile-Cadillac used car lot, was demolished in 1983 to make way for new development, including the parking garage at 15th and Pearl streets.

For most, if not all, of the tavern’s 31 years, it sold only 3.2% (low-alcohol) beer, as that was all that was permitted at the time by Boulder city ordinance. That didn’t stop the locals. They’d sit at the bar for hours, drinking Budweiser and Coors by the quart.

The late Jack Smith, a frequent patron, once stated, “The bars were an important part of the city’s history. They were a place to have a beer and see friends.”   

Unlike the Timber Tavern, the Sink and the Anchorage (which predated Tulagi), all frequented by college students, the Broken Drum often was referred to as a bar for the working man. Many of its patrons were mechanics and laborers, or those who stocked grocery stores all night and then came in to relax and have a few beers in the morning. Later in the tavern’s history, it opened at 8 a.m. and stayed open until 2 a.m., but in its earlier days, it was open 24 hours a day.

The Broken Drum’s claims to fame were its twin dog murals, commercially printed on wallpaper and glued to the wall above the booths that ran along the west side of the long, narrow room. This barroom art, however, wasn’t unique to Boulder. The same, and similar, wallpaper decorated mid-century bars throughout the country.

Between the bar and booths was a pool table, later replaced by shuffleboard.

The drinking age for 3.2% beer was 18. When the bar closed in 1983, a newspaper reporter quoted a patron who stated, “I’ve been coming here since I was too young to be in here.”

To fully understand the era of 3.2% bars, one has to go back in time to the 1880s and 1890s, when Pearl Street had numerous full-service bars, or saloons as they were called at the time. Their days were numbered, though, in 1906 when the Women’s Christian Temperance Union held its state convention in Boulder and mobilized local prohibitionists. Women in Colorado already had won the right to vote, and many of them fought against the sale of alcoholic beverages.  

In 1907, with the support of the newly enfranchised ladies, Boulder residents elected “dry” candidate Isaac T. Earl as their mayor. He and the Boulder city council adopted an ordinance that prohibited the sale of regular beer, as well as wine and liquor, within the city limits.

The whole state of Colorado went dry in 1916. Four years later, in 1920, national prohibition outlawed alcoholic beverages all over the country. Bootlegging flourished until President Franklin Delano Roosevelt repealed national prohibition in 1933. Most of the country could drink again, but Boulder only permitted 3.2% (low-alcohol) beer. Those who wanted a stiff drink had to drive to full-service bars in Louisville and other nearby towns.

Voters finally repealed Boulder’s prohibition in 1967 — after 60 years! That didn’t mean, however, that that the former 3.2% bars could suddenly serve regular beer and other alcoholic beverages. To do so, they had to apply for new liquor licenses that often included years of bureaucratic red tape.  

With its loyal clientele, the Broken Drum managed to stay open until 1983. Then the city forced its closure to pave the way for the now-existing 15th Street parking garage. By then, folk singer Joni Mitchell sang about those who “tear down paradise and put up a parking lot.” Few people would compare the Broken Drum to “paradise,” but according to news reports at the time, its regular customers certainly thought so.  

A crowd gathered when the old building was torn down. Glass and bricks littered the street, and the dog murals were part of the rubble. The bar tried reopening at 2850 29th Street, but the ambiance wasn’t the same, and it closed in just five months. The Broken Drum marked the end of an era.