Cherry Cricket

History of the Cricket The term legendary is overused these days But the Cherry Cricket lives up to the lofty classification and the revered reputation it holds as a bastion of classic neighborhoodbar culture Mary Zimmerman opened the original Cherry Cricket as Mary Zimmermans Bar in 1945 The bar was actually the living room of her home which sat where the Sears Auto Center is today Her customers were mainly garbage truck drivers working at the Denver trash dump now buried beneath the Cherry Creek Mall site Yep this was one of Denvers first successful recycling endeavors Around 1950 Zimmerman purchased the property at 2nd and Clayton where she built what is now the Crickets main dining room Over the years she added to the structure increasing its size to accommodate a growing clientele After Zimmermans death in the early Sixties the Cricket changed proprietors a couple times before ending up in the capable hands of Bernard Duffy Duffy gained local barculture fame as the owner of the equally legendary and now shuttered sniffsniff Duffys Tavern in downtown Denver Duffy installed the classic neon sign that now graces the front of the building and carried out a number of improvements at the Cricket One of the most notable was a hugely popular 250 prime rib lunch buffet History says Duffy was a thrifty tender who rarely offered a round on the house Duffy retired in 1972 and sold the bar Over the following years The Cricket was decked out in much sports memorabilia making it one of Denvers first sports bars Sadly the Cricket also gained a reputation for bringing a dump back to Cherry Creek Along with some of Denvers surliest waitresses and a contingent of sixlegged visitors But Eli McGuire and her husband bought the bar in 1990 and returned the Cherry Cricket to its former glory Under her watch the Cricket took on more customers and more space for those craving a cold beer and a great burger in a friendly unpretentious setting Today the Cherry Crickets clientele includes working stiffs old schoolers and shoppers taking a break from chic hunting It also welcomes a younger crowd business lunchers and families who savor the aforementioned legendary status of the Cricket After Elis passing in 2000 Wynkoop Holdings purchased the longlived landmark Today the Holdings team and Cricket staff are honoring Elis dream of making the Cherry Cricket the best damn bar around