Description

The Rockbar is a time capsule.

"We pretty much left everything exactly as we found it," says Jerri Thiel, the mastermind who designed the theme in operation at the Rockbar. "Almost all of this stuff was already here. We just had to clean it and patch it up."

Those space-age corner light fixtures were here. The iron-and-yellow glass chandeliers were here. The foil wallpaper with the earth-toned arc pattern was here. The dizzying orange-and-brown carpet was here.

The added touches: A few old video game cabinets like Donkey Kong and Joust. Flat-screen TVs (running a Three's Company marathon). Colt .45 in a can. Lucite light fixtures that each sport a band logo like the Clash, Van Halen and Led Zeppelin. Bar foods like jalapeño poppers and corn dogs all designed by culinary artist Sean Yontz.

The Rockbar is a rock bar snapshot of the '70s, not really a '70s-themed bar. Aside from the fact that most of the staff doesn't look old enough to have been alive in the '70s, there's nothing manufactured about this room. It's a time capsule. And on Friday night, it's suddenly the hippest place on Colfax.