Rock Rest Lodge

Built in 1885 as a stagecoach stop and trading post, Rock Rest Lodge spent its early 20th century as a brothel, speakeasy, and gambling den — and it has never really shed the vibe. The back-room dance floor ceiling is festooned with hundreds of bras left by visitors as offerings to Molly Barton, a working girl who died in 1923 when she climbed the rafters to retrieve her stolen clothes, dislodged a taxidermied moose head, and was fatally struck as it fell — her ghost, known as the Lady in Red, is said to still roam the building looking for what she lost. Presiding over the whole scene is Murray, a real rhinoceros head with a genuinely unhinged provenance: he was William Randolph Hearst's pet, developed a taste for ale thanks to a tipsy Charlie Chaplin, and arrived at Rock Rest after a boxcar mishap. Golden is a town that most visitors blow through on the way to Red Rocks or the Coors Brewery, which means this former brothel-turned-biker-bar, sitting right on old Mt. Vernon Road, goes almost entirely unnoticed by the day-trip crowd.

The move: Drive up on a Friday or Saturday night when there's live music, grab a peanut butter bacon burger at the bar under Murray's gaze, then dare your date to add a bra to the rafters in Molly's honor before touring the haunted back room.

• 📍 Golden
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 16005 Mt Vernon Rd, Golden, CO 80401

Hours: Added 2026-06-09 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

Verified 2026-06-09.