I remember it well… My friend Shane and I were standing on the platform of the light rail station at McClintock and Apache in early 2010, looking at a “For Lease” sign. Of course, we had some great ideas for that space and hoped someone would do something really cool with it. Just a short time went by and I saw a new sign, one where the City of Tempe had posted a Public Hearing Notice for the Tempe Tavern. The hearing date was to happen on March 2, 2010, it sounded like a good fit, to me.
After the painstaking wait of over a year, the new Tempe Tavern is opening tomorrow, May 6, 2011. Last week, I stopped by with my friend Jack and spoke with Rob Tasso who is opening the tavern. Rob told us of some of the cool things planned and showed us around the building. The building has been nicely renovated, permits are in place, they are ready to start serving food and the beer taps are ready to rock.
Without a doubt, the Tempe Tavern is convenient for light rail riders. They are located directly across from the station, it’s about as close as you can get. I wonder if they will have super fast service for people trying to time the trains. Heck, if you have 15-20 minutes between a train on the weekends, you probably have plenty of time on a hot summer day to throw back a frosty cool one! 🙂
The Tempe Tavern is located in the historic White Dairy Barn property built by E.M. White in 1918. and is the only known river cobble building remaining in Tempe. Their street address is 1810 East Apache.
Expect to find reasonably priced pints on tap ranging from $2 to $3-$4 craft beers and more. Rumor has it that Rail Life and crew will be there from 4-6 pm for an opening day happy hour. You should join us!
This week is kind of a “soft opening” that will be followed up with a grand opening party in the coming weeks. We’ve been told that the live music will begin in another week or two. We will try to keep up with the upcoming events and let you know what we hear, but you might want to check out the Tempe Tavern Facebook page for more details.
The owner is nice, the place is ready and the location is convenient. Check em’ out, they are cool!
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