Eclectic Bum Steer property goes to auction

The once-popular college hot spot northwest of the University of Arizona opened back in the early 1970s and closed in 2010.

The restaurant was founded by a group of airline pilots who simply wanted a place to have fun while in town, according to the auction house, Phoenix-based Cunningham and Associates.

Featuring a red barnlike structure and antique decor across its walls, the Bum Steer was one of several other similar properties the group opened across the country, including the now-closed Minder Binders in Tempe.

Auctioneer George Cunningham says the roughly 8,000-square-foot Tucson building is still sound and features an upper level that gives it a lot of potential for use as a brewpub or other uses.

Cunningham said the 1.4-acre land is valuable in itself, and much of the decor inside the restaurant came from the back lot of a Hollywood studio that was closing in the ‘70s.

“There are still some very valuable Western memorabilia and various antiques attached to the building,” Leonard Frankel, a member of the company that currently owns the property, said in a news release.

The memorabilia is included in the deal, and there’s no reserve auction price, Cuningham said.