Hamburger Mary’s has been the place to see drag in Denver since 2006.
Sure, the vision has evolved over the past two decades — but the community built around the queer-supporting hangout is still very much intact. When the original Hamburger Mary’s restaurant chose not to renew their franchise license in 2015, then renamed as M’s Uptown, the beloved Hamburger Mary’s name and legacy went up for grabs.
Christopher Maluck, who had worked at the original Hamburger Mary’s Denver since it opened, got to talking with his friends about the fact that the Mile High city still needed a queer-oriented space owned by the local community.
“We felt that Denver wasn’t possibly done with Mary's, and what if we just bought the franchise and kept it going?” Maluck says.
Maluck and his friends brought the modern Mary’s to life in 2016 inside of a cozy home-turned-venue now lovingly called “the little purple house.” Since Maluck became co-owner of Hamburger Mary’s Denver that year, he’s focused on creating a community-driven establishment.
“We've really started to see how the magic of drag blended with the intimate event space that we created,” Maluck says.
Today, Hamburger Mary’s Denver hosts events every night of the week (except Mondays, when they are closed), including trivia Tuesdays with Brittany Blaze, drag bingo on Wednesdays, and Saturday Big Drag Energy dinners hosted by Zarah Misdemeanor.
In short? Hamburger Mary’s the perfect place to celebrate Denver’s Drag scene because there’s simply something for everyone.
Douglas Ambrose, who stepped into his current role as General Manager at Hamburger Mary’s last year, says that maintaining a welcoming queer space is exactly what brought him back to Denver for the job after living in Chicago.
Ambrose always feels a sense of authenticity at Hamburger Mary’s, but it's especially palpable on karaoke nights. “The amount of people that come through and just sing their hearts out, and there's just a space for them to just be themselves,” he says.
The Hamburger Mary’s RuPaul’s Drag Race screening is sold out for tomorrow night, but now is a great time to book brunch or bingo at the little purple house, where you’re likely to feel the spirit of Mary herself.
“The current space feels like somebody's house, like maybe it's Hamburger Mary’s house,” Maluck says. “She travels to the other franchises and does her thing, and then she comes home to Denver.”
