How to turn a working man's bar into a long-standing music venue

Denver's Herman's Hideaway is something of a Denver music scene institution. Big Head Todd used to be regulars. The Dave Matthews Band has played there. Here's a bit of history. An interview with Mike Roth.

Herman's Hideaway "My father, Allan, owns it now. My grandfather bought the place in '62, and it was called Cunningham's Lounge. It used to be a steak and lobster place, and a lot of the old-school, professional boxers used to hang out down here. Denver, back in the '60s, had a lot of professional boxers. ...

There used to be pictures of boxers all over the walls. Then, my grandpa turned it into more of a shot-and-a-beer joint. We had Gates rubber company and Samsonite, all right down the street on Broadway and I-25. They had shifts of workers, that would work 24 hours a day. What they would do, when they'd get off their shift- whether it was seven o'clock in the morning, three in the afternoon or nine in the evening- they'd come down here, and get drinks and shots, and run kind of "tabs", all week long. Then, they'd come down here, and my grandfather would cash their paychecks for a small charge, pay off their bills. That's how it ran from '62 to '82. It was that kind of place.

In '82, I was four years old. My father came in, as a booking agent up in Boulder and around the country, helping bands tour through and around. He came in in '82, and turned it into a live music venue. He ran it for like a year, but my grandpa didn't like the way it was going, so he pulled the plug on him.

... Didn't like the way it was going. But my father convinced him to give him another shot, and it just took off after that. Then, my father remodeled the place three times between '82 and '94. There were expansions. Three expansions."