Rose Bowl Tavern

Cheap pbr and trading of recipes from prison. If you don’t want to to go to a blue collar (or no collar) dive bar, don’t go to a blue collar dive bar. Plenty of business in the front and party in the back; as well as misogynisticly-​named sleeveless shirts.
You can’t handle the truth.

The Rose Bowl Tavern is one of the most historic bars in CU, they have always hosted live local Music. The Rose Bowl is definitely an «old school tavern», I remember my parents use to go there when they would get dressed up for a Saturday night. This Tavern is like Chesney’s song «When I see this Bar»
regulars and new comers alike feel at home here. What I love about the Rosebowl is; the history, the dance floor and the patrons– everyone has fun together and the fact that they host live local music is a huge plus!!!

I’ve only been to the Rose Bowl on one particular night, Tuesday. They have bluegrass music.
I don’t know about any other night, but Tues there are quite a few laid-​back grad student types. It’s always been fun, pitchers are cheap.
It’s dark and has a dive bar feel. The only food available is tater chips.

If you are wondering whether you should go to the Rose Bowl, then you probably should not. This is a redneck townie bar for redneck townies, to the exclusion of all others. This is the sort of place in which the record skips* if anyone not fitting this precise description walks in. If you are that intrepid adventurer seeking a new experience, you will find yourself in an uncomfortable paradox: all attention is on you, yet the bartender is not aware you exist.
The bar is dark and a little dusty. Décor is of the promotional variety, with some pretty interesting stuff from back in the day, as well as a good representation of Nascar hoods. They usually have a good price on drafts and even pitchers, but only of bland domestic macros. There are a few video games and even a Megatouch. Live bands playing both kinds of music (Country & Western) stop by several times a week, and I have heard that some of those bands are pretty good.
Before you write this off as a typical Chambana-​by-​way-​of-​Chicago student snob poo-​pooing the local scene, please know that I appreciate dives as much or more than most, and can swallow swill as fast as you can pour it into a plastic cup. In my book, genuineness is a turn-​on, dirt don’t hurt, and grits is good. However, that does not mean that I like going places where they don’t make you feel welcome. If you want a great laid back joint nearby, try Bunny’s. If’n you be wantin’ a snarl, the stinkeye, and mebbe a stabbin’, try the Rose Bowl.
*They don’t actually play records at the Rose Bowl, they play mp3’s off a cpu with WinAmp.

The Rose Bowl is a dusty, hole-​in-​the-​wall bar that nonetheless has charm. It also has pitchers of PBR and Oldstyle for cheap. It has the wood paneling, dartboards, and signs of any of a bajillion divey bars across America, but I like it. Even more fun is the live music performed when I was there this week. The guy with the guitar performing played pretty much anything the increasingly drunk patrons could throw his way, and I will freely admit that I sang along with everyone else when he played Marcy Playground’s «Sex and Candy». I can’t believe that song is ten years old, WEIRD.
Anyway, nice divey spot. I’ll be back.

There’s almost always a live band playing country music in the evenings here and there’s a dance floor for the uninhibited. Someone told me this place has the best White Russians in town.