Read Neal Cassady's unpaid bar tab where he ran it up
Pouring since 1873, no televisions
My Brother's Bar has poured continuously since 1873, first as the Highland House, later as Whitie's, the Platte Bar and Paul's Place. It sits by the river at 15th and Platte and looks it.
Why it's unique
Plenty of cities have a bar the Beats drank in. What this one has is the paperwork. Framed by the bathrooms is a copy of a letter Neal Cassady wrote in 1944 from the Colorado State Reformatory, where he was serving time for stealing cars, in which he mentions he still owes the place three or four dollars on his tab.
You can read it standing in the room where the debt was run up, at the bar where Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg were regulars. The bar has also declined to modernise around it: there are no televisions, the till is analogue, and wifi only arrived recently.
Before you go
The letter is by the bathrooms, not behind the bar, and there is no sign pointing at it. Go and look rather than waiting to notice it.
Order the JCB, which is the burger the place is known for and has been on the menu longer than most of the customers. The patio by the creek is the good seat in summer. The name comes from a running joke: when a bill collector called, whichever Karagas brother was working would say to take it to my brother, he owns the place.