Tempe bar abruptly closes following second connected death

Tempe Tavern, the college bar embroiled in a series of high-profile raids exposing underage drinking, has abruptly closed. The closure comes after a second fatal accident was tied to the bar.

Zachary Robert Penrod told officers he drank three beers at a Tempe bar before getting into his car in the early hours of Sept. 16. Two cars were pulled to the side of U.S. 60 near Higley Road to change a flat tire when the car driven by Penrod crashed into them, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Ruth Acuna De Valenzuela died. Three others were treated for injuries, as was Penrod.

DPS troopers noticed the smell of alcohol on Penrod’s breath, per court documents. The 21-year-old was arrested and booked into Maricopa County Jail on one count of manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of endangerment.

The officers investigating the accident suspected Penrod had been at Tempe Tavern, per a news release from the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. Investigators went to the bar on Sept. 16 and confirmed Penrod had been there drinking, a DLLC sergeant confirmed on Wednesday.

Owner Robert Tasso made the decision to close the bar in early September, “well prior to the unfortunate accident on U.S. 60 last week,” and officially shuttered it on Sept. 16 “because of dramatically reduced business due to harassment by the Arizona Department of Liquor and the Tempe Police Department,” his attorney Timothy La Sota said in an email. La Sota represents the bar and Tasso.

This brings a dramatic end to a turbulent 17 months for the bar, marked by headline-making underage drinking busts, several lawsuits and a damning state report recommending the bar lose its liquor license. There was also a second death tied to the troubled tavern. Last year, Tempe police placed a 19-year-old at the bar before she was involved in a fatal accident. Prosecutors have charged her with a felony for leaving the scene.

Before these lawsuits and criminal cases will be decided in court, the bar closed.

On Tuesday, Tempe Tavern’s gates were locked. Items from the bar sat stacked on tables of the vacant back patio. The embattled bar’s website and phone still work, although no one is answering calls. The tavern’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have been deleted. Now, only posts from former patrons pop up on social media. 

The bar has also begun selling just about everything inside its walls. A business liquidation service is inviting restaurant owners and fans to bid on the bar’s remaining items in an auction that went live Monday and runs until Thursday afternoon. Items up for bid include neon bar signs, Arizona State University memorabilia and kitchen equipment, including a meat slicer, fryers, plastic storage containers and even the kitchen’s fire extinguisher.

What happened at Tempe Tavern?

Owner Robert Tasso opened Tempe Tavern in the cobblestone-walled White Dairy Barn at the northeast corner of McClintock Road and Apache Boulevard in 2011. The tavern continued the building’s long history as a watering hole, serving cheap beers, drinks with provocative names like the Baby Dick shot and pub grub.

The chaotic past year-and-a-half began in 2025, when dozens of Tempe police and state liquor enforcement officials nabbed 422 people during two busts – first in April, then in November. They found drinkers crowded shoulder-to-shoulder in the small bar and cited them for underage drinking, using fake IDs and making false statements. 

The raids followed several complaints, city officials said. Both busts drew widespread media coverage and calls for the bar to lose its liquor license. 

In December, things got significantly darker for the college town bar. Tempe police connected ASU student Ava Bellowe to the tavern. She drove the Chevy Camaro that hit a motorcyclist after he collided with a self-driving car. She was at the bar before getting behind the wheel and used a fake ID to get in, investigators found. 

Prosecutors charged Bellowe with a felony for leaving the scene of an accident involving a death. She pleaded not guilty in Maricopa County Superior Court on June 25. Her case is ongoing.

Tasso’s attorney, La Sota, previously told Phoenix New Times that comments from officials and the connection to the hit-and-run amounted to a “smear campaign” against a “highly scrupulous” owner. That was before a second alleged bar customer was involved in a deadly accident.

A wave of lawsuits

In the months since the raids, Tempe Tavern launched its own accusations at Tempe and state officials, filing lawsuits against them in federal and county court in February and August, respectively.

Both lawsuits claim local officials singled out the bar. Tempe Tavern’s business took a nosedive, falling 80 to 90% since the raids, the suit alleges.

The accused officials have maintained that they’re simply doing their jobs to keep young people safe and ensure bars are following the law. Over two years, about 80% of the people Tempe police arrested and cited for underage drinking and using fake IDs were at Tempe Tavern, a city statement noted in February. The city has called the bar’s federal lawsuit “absurd.”

“We appreciate the DLLC’s work to make our community a safer place,” the statement from Tempe said.

Adding even more examples of issues at the bar, state investigators released a damning report in March, outlining a “pattern of noncompliance” dating back to 2020, when the bar was open amid the pandemic. After Devil’s Advocate Sports Grill closed at the end of 2024, Tempe Tavern became the de facto “freshman bar” because of the ease of entry, the report said.

The state’s report reiterated the issues raised in headlines throughout 2025, leading the state investigator to recommend revoking the bar’s liquor license.

Investigators referred their findings to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for review, a DLLC representative said. The attorney general’s office will review it, but “no determinations have been made by our office yet,” a spokesperson said. He declined to comment further.

While Tempe Tavern’s lawsuits move forward, the city has an active case against the bar in its municipal court for alleged violations of the bar’s security plan. The city case is set to go to trial next month.

While these court cases about Tempe Tavern continue to move forward, the physical location is closed. Once the business liquidator sells off its appliances, stereo equipment and wall hangings later this week, the fate of the historic cobblestone building remains unclear.