The rambling building with a rustic, barn-like facade sits in the middle of a huge parking lot. Wagon wheels are attached to the front wall and a large plastic model of Ralphie, the CU Buffaloes team mascot, dangles above the door.

Inside, the cool, beer-scented rooms are cheerfully cluttered and utterly eclectic. License plates from all over the country, an ancient airplane engine block and a boat used in The Caine Mutiny are scattered about. There are TVs, old photographs, tables into which hundreds of patrons have carved cryptic messages, and shelves lined with musty, probably never-opened books. There’s a barbershop pole topped by a traffic light, a game room full of pool tables, foosball, pinball and video games, and an old Rockola jukebox. The men’s bathroom door sports a painting of a shapely leg and high-heeled foot with a sign that reads Women’s and an arrow pointing to the ladies’ room. Naturally, that door boasts just the opposite—a trouser-clad leg with an arrow and a sign that says Men’s. A sea of wheels sways overhead in the men’s room, along with suspended wagons, sleighs and a mannequin-driven hearse. A brown plastic cow flies alongside.

“We have big dusting parties where we go out and climb all over the stuff,” says owner Dave Tobin. The tall, vigorous 47-year-old Tobin got a job working the door when The Dark Horse opened in 1975. The bar was part of a chain of southern California restaurants created by an airline pilot who’d just bought an MGM warehouse full of Hollywood props.

“Drinks were sixty-nine cents, beers were thirty-nine cents and a half-pound burger was a buck fifty-nine,” Tobin recalls. “And it was crowded! People came from Denver and all over northern Colorado. The place was jammed all day, every day.” Longtime patrons remember having to stand in line just to get into The Dark Horse and the packed dance floor.

The Wild One

“In the early days The Dark Horse was a wild, rowdy place,” Tobin says. It was even a biker hangout in the late ’70s until its former owners outlawed leather jackets.

Then came the city’s controversial 1995 smoking ordinance, which didn’t sit well with many patrons. But the restaurant’s upstairs room, which has separate heating and ventilation, was remodeled into Boulder’s largest smoking room and the ordinance actually ended up helping the bar.

During his 25 years at The Dark Horse, Tobin became a waiter, then a bartender and eventually regional manager. When the restaurant chain went under in 1993, he bought The Dark Horse. In the interim he’s made incremental changes—adding pool tables, rearranging the seating and building a patio—but old fans still feel right at home. “And now it’s a much nicer environment,” Tobin says.

Although the original owners believed in focus groups (“I think that’s what put the company out of business,” Tobin says), Tobin knows his clientele. In many ways, the bar’s spirit has remained remarkably consistent over the years. But nowadays The Dark Horse appeals to a broader clientele—students, white- and blue-collar workers, neighborhood families—and is even used for conventions.

Well-handled menus (sporting several images from the first-ever menu, including a hungry vulture and that ’70s icon, Mr. Natural) feature American pub fare. The restaurant is well-known for Burger Madness on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, when the original burger with fries, a salad or pasta salad is only $3.29. Buffalo wings go for a quarter apiece on Thursday, and Monday Night Football specials include half-price wings and $2 jumbo beers. Tuesday is trivia night, Wednesday features live music, Thursday is karaoke night, and Fridays and Saturdays a DJ spins dance tunes.

Burgers and sports are a common combo and The Dark Horse does its part by sponsoring local teams and an annual charity golf tournament. “We like to find a small charity where a four- or five-thousand-dollar donation makes a big difference,” Tobin says. This year’s proceeds went to Rocky Mountain Riding for the Disabled.

“With the exception of Tom’s Tavern, all of downtown’s individually owned bars and restaurants have closed,” Tobin notes, adding that because of its location, The Dark Horse has been protected from negative forces that have affected other Boulder restaurants. Tobin’s rent is reasonable and parking is plentiful, but living in Boulder is expensive and it’s becoming more difficult to pay enough to keep staff. Many of Tobin’s older employees have been with The Dark Horse for more than a decade, but younger ones tend to cycle through in months.

A decade remains on his lease and then, Tobin says, “I think they’ll redevelop this part of town and send us on our merry way. I’d really hate to see this town lose its identity, but by then I don’t think there will be anything left on the scale of The Dark Horse that’s not part of a chain.”

The Dark Horse is at 2922 Baseline Road. The phone number is 303-442-8162.