Boulder Restaurant Guide

The building, built in the early 60's has quite a bit of Boulder history. It was originally Azar's Big Boy. A few Fairview and Boulder High alums claim to actually know where the missing Big Boy rests. You see he, Big Boy is missing. He was abducted as a senior prank a few times by the local hooligans. After one of the kidnappings Big Boy was actually mounted on the roof of Boulder High School. Legend has it, that Big Boy lies in a deep slumber in a storage unit somewhere in Boulder County, dreaming of a return to the roof of now Harpo's, that he for so many years called home.

After Azar's Big Boy, the building was occupied by Hooter's. Yes, there actually was a Hooter's for a couple of short years in Boulder! Then, the guys from The Barrel House called 2860 Arapahoe home for about nine or so years, operating a tap house and sports bar. A botched business transaction turned The Barrel House into The Aloha Grill, the first strip club in the city limits. It operated here until city officials shut it down, 5 days later. Such a sexy history the building has, or is it sexist history?

A remodel of the bar and the addition of the rooftop were completed in 1999. It proved to be a tiresome battle against the City of Boulder's strict codes and policies. The business was again sold, this time to the Johaningmayer family, who operated it as The House.

Harpo's Sports Grill took over the building in November of 2004 after a remodel of the kitchen and the restrooms. Charlie and Mark have owned and operated Serranos Southwestern Grill in Gunbarrel since 1996. A great neighborhood restaurant and bar serving the north eastern area of the city of Boulder. Mark worked at the Barrel House in its early days, and when the opportunity came to operate it again, he and Charlie decided to take it on and offer Boulder the best locally owned sports bar they could.