In the 25 years since the Grateful Dead’s frontman and cultural icon Jerry Garcia died, perhaps no one has been as central to the Denver-area sizeable Deadhead scene as Jay Bianchi.
Bianchi, working with partners including his late brother Phil, has opened more than half a dozen Grateful Dead themed bars and music venues around town since 1996, including Quixote’s True Blue, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom and Sancho’s Broken Arrow, creating centers of gravity that pulled in like-minded people in Steal Your Face tie-dyes and others.
The 52-year-old ran afoul of the pandemic and the law this spring when the city of Denver shut down two of his businesses, Sancho’s at 741 E. Colfax Ave. and Be on Key Psychedelic Ripple, 1700 Logan St., within weeks of one another for violating public health orders barring on-site consumption.
That was the start of a new chapter for Bianchi and the Deadhead bar genre he’s cultivated in town.
As first reported by Westword, Bianchi agreed to sell Sancho’s earlier this year to Tyler Bishop, a 20-year restaurant industry veteran and Colorado native who spent plenty of time in Bianchi’s bars over the years.
Bishop was also going to buy Be on Key but the landlord had other plans so it is no more, Bianchi said. Sancho’s reopened in September, something the city allowed contingent on Bianchi transferring the liquor license to someone else, records show. Bianchi still owns Quixote’s, 2014 S. University Blvd.
“We agreed it would stay the same and if doesn’t, I can take my stuff,” Bianchi said of Sancho’s sale. “That’s kind of the agreement, so it doesn’t feel like it’s really lost. It’s like it’s continuing.”
Bianchi is also helping Bishop open So Many Roads Museum and Brewery, a sprawling bar, restaurant, venue and, pending licensing, Bishop and Bianchi say, brewery at 918 W. First Ave. The 15,000-square-foot project, taking over a brewing setup and canning line once owned by Renegade Brewing, is primed to be maybe the biggest and most ambitious Dead-inspired bar and venue in Denver yet.
“I bought into the brand, and it’s huge shoes to fill,” Bishop, 42, said Thursday night from behind the bar at So Many Roads, the Grateful Dead, naturally, playing on the jukebox. “But we’re providing a place for our community to hang out.”
Sancho’s is home to about 300 pieces of art and memorabilia owned by Bianchi, most of it Grateful Dead but with a few other jam bands and other classic rock acts mixed in. So Many Roads meanwhile has around 1,200 pieces in it, Bianchi estimates, thus the “museum” name. Some of his brother’s ashes are encased in a marble that sits above the bar.
“I designed it and I used all my artwork to help open it up, and I basically put my influence there. I’m the historian,” Bianchi said. “I feel like I am pretty good at creating good environments, but I kind of like to let stuff run itself and maybe I am not built for these (COVID-19) restrictions. I think it’s good for me to let other people deal with all the hassles.”
On Friday night, So Many Roads was set to welcome a public health order-capped capacity crowd for its grand opening celebration with live music from local band Three Days in the Saddle. The kitchen isn’t fully set up yet, but Bianchi said sandwiches, fries and soup would be available as part of the festivities with Bishop working on a more eclectic menu to come.
Bishop and Bianchi have high hopes for the place named, of course, for a Dead song but also as an homage to the paths they both took to get to this point.
“We’re proud of this. We put a lot of work into it,” Bishop said.
They’re already tossing around beer names like Sancho’s Broken Ale and Quixote’s True Brew. They noted the project would not even have been available to them if not for previous occupants leaving because of the pandemic.
“It’s been, like, not the best year but I think what it did do is it allowed the art that I had to be seen in a most positive light, in a museum atmosphere,” Bianchi said. “I think everything works out.”
