Interior of the Grizzly Rose (from their website GrizzlyRose.com)
By Kasey Cordell, 5280 | Thirty years ago, the Grizzly Rose was born amid a boom of urban country music venues. Today the beloved institution stands as the last true country music hall in town. We take you inside.
In 1989, while Milli Vanilli was blaming it on the rain and Cher was turning back time, a little-known Oklahoman named Garth Brooks was feeling much too young to feel so damn old inside a brand-new honky-tonk in industrial north Denver. The Grizzly Rose had just opened and was one of the first clubs in America to book Brooks. “This is kind of where it started,” Brooks told reporters before his performance at Empower Field at Mile High this past June. Both Brooks and the Rose — as it’s affectionately called — rode America’s obsession with line dancing and country music through the ’90s. By the end of that decade, Brooks owned more than 20 number one hits and Denver boasted about half a dozen country music clubs.
Today the Rose is, arguably, the last honky-tonk standing in the Mile High City. “Denver is a loyal town,” says Scott Durland, who’s owned the Rose since 2009. “The fact that Casa Bonita is still in business tells you how loyal it is.”
Over the course of its 30-year history, the venue has remained committed to booking country acts — from legends like Waylon Jennings, Chris LeDoux, and Merle Haggard to then emerging artists such as Brooks, Miranda Lambert, and Toby Keith — and keeping shows affordable (most tickets max out at $25). “The Grizzly Rose has always survived, and will always survive, because of the concerts they get in there,” says Bill Repola, who, with his wife, Kathy, owned the Rose in the early 2000s. This month, that includes up-and-comers Jimmie Allen and Tyler Farr and old-schoolers Montgomery Gentry.
You might see fewer cowboy hats in the crowd these days, but the Rose still draws a diverse, multigenerational crowd six nights a week. From line-dancing lessons (Tuesdays) and ladies’ nights (Thursdays) to two-stepping and mechanical bull rides, we help you slip on down to the oasis of country music in the Mile High City.
Read the whole article here:
https://www.5280.com/2019/09/step-inside-denvers-last-honky-tonk/