Sedalia – Irish pubs developed their place in history not because of the booze they serve but because of the role they play as “public houses” – warm, familiar places to talk about the weather, politics and one another.
Some American towns have the good fortune to have such a place. Welcome to Bud’s Bar in Sedalia, just south of Denver.
“It’s been like a town hall, a meeting place for the locals, the ranchers, the cowboys,” said owner Mike Steerman, 52, who ate his first hamburger here as a kid on a fishing trip with his dad. “A lot of these people have been coming here since they were kids.”
Steerman bought into the bar a few years ago because he loved its history, its people and their elbow-to-elbow tolerance of most everyone, from the very wealthy to the lowlifes. Now that he’s the sole owner, the tradition scares him – it’s his responsibility to keep it exactly the same.
He said, “The last thing (the previous owner) said to me was, ‘You better keep this the same.”‘
Just after World War II, Calixte “Bud” Hebert bought Herman’s Garage on the road to Deckers and the South Platte River. In June 1948, he converted it into a small roadhouse bar with a few stools, a half-dozen tables and a tiny grill for cooking three or four hamburgers at a time – no french fries because the kitchen was too small.
Bud became so good at resolving disputes that Gov. John Love appointed him in 1964 to be the judge in Castle Rock, 9 miles away. There wasn’t a law against a judge owning a bar, but Bud felt it was a conflict, so he sold it to his friend Therman Thompson, who had been working there about nine years.
Thompson ran it exactly the same for another 42 years until old age forced him to sell it to Steerman, his fishing buddy and business partner.
Steerman had to make one change: The floor was shot, worn out from all the cowboy boots, the dancing and shuffling, and even a few horses.
“People gasped when they saw I’d put in a new floor,” Steerman said. “We laid it exactly like the old one, even put the bar stools and the foot rail back in the same place. But still it wasn’t the same.”
Chet Hier, a local rancher and builder whose family homesteaded Sedalia in the late 1800s, put his friend Steerman at ease one night when he sneaked in and burned his cattle brand into the floor – a stamp of approval.
“This has always been a family place – people understand that,” said the 63-year-old Hier, who still remembers stubbing his toe on the front door as a 5-year-old. “We’ve probably had about three fights in 50 years. People don’t allow it.”
Not that there haven’t been a few pranks, such as the time Hier’s brother, Tee, rode his horse in, pulled his pistol out and demanded all the money in the cash register. Bud just told him no and kept serving drinks, according to Hier.
Steerman says the staff is the reason things stay the same – like Judy Harvey, who’s been cooking burgers since 1969, or Barbara Burr, who’s been bartending and waitressing since 1987.
“I don’t come here to drink,” Hier said. “I come here to see my friends, to socialize. You know everybody in here.”
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
