"I don't bike," Kelly Brackin told Boulder Reporting Lab when her mahjong club opened on Spruce Street this month. "I will hike, but I don't live to hike. I play games."
That line makes a good opening for the cold months in a town that usually talks about weekends in terms of trailheads. Boulder has a new group of indoor places to spend a winter evening, and they have one thing in common. Almost none of them are places you just walk into and find a stool. You reserve a two-hour session, sign up for a monthly membership, or come on the night that matches the activity. Boulder's indoor social life this winter runs on a calendar, and the one venue built around the old walk-in sports-bar model hasn't opened yet.
The Old Anchor Is a Demolition Site
The World Famous Dark Horse at 2952 Baseline Road closed on March 14, its 51st anniversary, and Boulder Reporting Lab covered the farewell gatherings in its final weeks. On Oct. 8, crews started tearing down the building to make way for a mixed-use development, The Denver Gazette reported.
In April, the owners said on Facebook that the Dark Horse would reopen in Louisville, in a building near U.S. 36 and McCaslin Boulevard. By Sept. 24, Axios Boulder said that plan "has gone quiet."
BuffHouse is the closest thing to a direct replacement. It's an upscale, CU-themed sports bar going into the former Harpo's and Ralphie's building at 2860 Arapahoe Ave. Axios reported that it was aiming to open in November after first targeting August or September. Co-owner Joe Manzanares said the team chose to expand the building's outdated bathrooms and add a pizza oven, and that change required more architectural and engineering work. Plans went to the city for permitting in mid-September. "It will be worth the wait," Manzanares told Axios. For now, November is a target and not an opening date.
The rest of the new indoor map is organized differently.
Dealt Social Sells Two-Hour Blocks
Dealt Social at 2709 Spruce St. opened to the public on Thursday, Oct. 15. It sits just east of Common Threads Consignment, in the space that used to be the headquarters of Krimson Klover. Co-founders Kelly Brackin and Jen Budacz built it with two game rooms, a retail area for mahjong-themed goods and a kitchen. They got most of the furniture from Eco-Cycle's reuse center and opened four weeks after signing the lease. The decor is Western-inspired. Bridge and canasta come in January, and a lounge and a private two-table room are planned after that.
Dealt Social doesn't post regular walk-in hours. Play runs in reserved sessions. The listed weekday slots include 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., noon to 2 p.m., 1 to 3 p.m. on some days, and 6 to 8 p.m. According to its membership page, prices are:
- Drop-in play: from $27 a session, with some sessions listed at $29 or $30
- Four visits a month: $79
- Eight visits a month: $119
- Punch cards: five visits for $140 or ten for $250
Beginner lessons and strategy sessions are on the schedule too.
The schedule is a big part of the appeal. Natalie Pigliacampo, who organizes the Boulder County group BoCo Mahj, told Boulder Reporting Lab that a dedicated room works as "neutral ground. You're not having to host or align schedules; you just get to play with whoever can play when you're free." The booking calendar handles the coordinating a group chat used to do.
The Week Already Has Standing Appointments
If Dealt Social sells time slots, Boulder's other recent openings sell regular nights. Put them on one grid and you get a weekly schedule for the east side and downtown:
| Day | Where | What's on |
|---|---|---|
| Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–7 p.m. | East & Co., 2100 Central Ave. | Coffee, lunch, after-work drinks, take-home dinners |
| Tuesday, 6 p.m. | Pattern Break Brewing, 3550 Frontier Ave. | Group run |
| Thursday evening | Pattern Break Brewing | Live music |
| Sunday, 2 p.m. | Pattern Break Brewing | Bingo |
| Last Sunday of the month | Pattern Break Brewing | "BREAKfast" with yoga and music |
| Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | The Romance Section, 1909 9th St., Suite 125 | Book clubs and author events on set dates |
Each of these places is built for a particular kind of visit.
East & Co. opened in May inside BioMed Realty's life science campus in Flatiron Park. It comes from Working Title Food Group, the Boulder group behind River and Woods. The Daily Camera's opening coverage lists a fireplace lounge, tables by the front windows for laptops, a game room, a terrace, a community lawn, a weekly take-and-heat sheet-tray dinner program, and a morning lineup of OZO Coffee, Black Box Bakery pastries and Moe's Bagels. It's open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and takes reservations on OpenTable. In practice, it's a weekday living room for East Boulder and isn't open on weekends.
Pattern Break Brewing opened May 8 at 3550 Frontier Ave. It focuses on hoppy beers along with low- and no-alcohol options, and its "zero alc" list is one of four menu categories. Its food truck, The Break, serves smash burgers made with regenerative beef from Western States Ranches. As of Boulder Weekly's August profile, the brewery was open daily with longer weekend hours, and the Tuesday run, Thursday music, Sunday bingo and monthly breakfast were all running. The last Sunday in November is Nov. 29.
The Romance Section opened near Pearl Street in February under the name Sugar and Spice Books. It's a romance-only bookstore planning author events, book clubs and craft nights. The store is closed Mondays. Its event calendar lists a Halloween event on Saturday, Oct. 31, a book club on Wednesday, Nov. 11, and a $30 event on Sunday, Nov. 15. The other listed events are free.
Berner Collective Is Selling Memberships Before It Opens
The most extreme version of this model hasn't opened yet. Berner Collective lists an opening date of Nov. 7 on Pearl Street, with a cafe, a wood-fired sauna, a cold plunge and a nine-mat yoga room. Its website doesn't give a street number.
It is selling memberships in advance. One hundred founder spots are on offer:
- Berner Unlimited: $169 founder price, standard $199, for unlimited sauna and cold plunge plus five yoga classes
- Sauna Unlimited: $99 founder price, standard $129, for unlimited sauna and cold plunge
Founders lock in their rate permanently, get two free guest passes each month and get a 14-day priority booking window for classes and sessions. Billing doesn't start until opening day. The planned hours are coffee daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and sauna from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day except Tuesday, when it opens at 1 p.m. Yoga is set for three classes a day.
Sauna time here is something you book, the same way Dealt Social books mahjong, and founders can reserve up to two weeks before everyone else. If Berner opens on schedule, it opens the day after NoBo First Friday.
The Next Five Weeks, Indoors
Put the new rooms on the same calendar as Boulder's seasonal fixtures and the rest of the fall comes together. The fixed dates below come from The Boulder Magazine's October–November calendar and the venues above:
- Through Nov. 1: The 14th Boulder Jewish Film Festival at the Dairy Arts Center
- Oct. 31: Downtown Boulder's Munchkin Masquerade on Pearl Street from 3 to 6 p.m. for kids 12 and younger, plus The Romance Section's Halloween event a few blocks west
- Nov. 6: NoBo First Friday, 6 to 9 p.m., across the North Boulder Art District
- Nov. 7: Berner Collective's planned opening on Pearl Street
- Nov. 21: The Boulder Farmers Market's final Saturday of the season, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 13th Street at Canyon Boulevard. That night, the 22nd annual Last Waltz Revisited plays the Boulder Theater, marking the 50th anniversary of the original concert.
- Sometime in November, if permitting allows: BuffHouse on Arapahoe
After Nov. 21, the farmers market's 13th Street stalls are closed for the season, and bridge and canasta join the mahjong tables at Dealt Social in January.
Thinking about how a home fits the way you actually spend a Boulder winter, from a weekday table at East & Co. to a standing session on Spruce Street? Laura Melquist knows these blocks by the rhythm of their weeks as well as their price points. Book a free consultation and we'll talk through what your calendar looks like from different parts of town.
