How do you get into Founders Speakeasy?
We have not confirmed it. Founders Speakeasy is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at Founders Speakeasy
How the venue describes itself: “Founders speakeasy, downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Admission by word only.” (from its own website, retrieved 9 October 2026)
Beyond what the venue publishes we have not verified a list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Sidecar, Boulevardier, and Vieux Carré are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
The building
Documented — Founders Speakeasy occupies the John Pearce House, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places under reference number 80002546. The listing is a federal record maintained by the National Park Service, and the nomination document is the primary source for the building’s architectural and social history.
National Register reference 80002546 · NPS nomination document
Where Founders Speakeasy sits
Founders Speakeasy is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in Bernalillo County, in the Southwest of the United States.
Our directory currently lists three speakeasies and hidden bars in Albuquerque — too few for a city guide of its own yet, so they sit on the New Mexico page until there are more.
Measured from the map pins, the closest of those to Founders Speakeasy are Teddy Roe’s, about 4.2 km away and The Bunny Ranch, about 6.4 km away.
New Mexico holds nine listed venues in this directory. See them all on our New Mexico speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in New Mexico
New Mexico did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1918, two years before the Eighteenth Amendment came into force nationally on 17 January 1920. By the time the Volstead Act was being enforced across the country, New Mexico already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in New Mexico.
What the newspapers recorded in Albuquerque
Searching the Library of Congress run of New Mexico newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Albuquerque:
- The evening herald, June 9, 1921 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Albuquerque morning journal, April 29, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The evening herald, June 8, 1921 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Albuquerque morning journal, August 7, 1921 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach Founders Speakeasy by phone on (505) 582-2693, through its own website, and on Facebook.
The address is 622 Central Ave SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Founders Speakeasy we hold street address, telephone number, official website, social accounts, and a listed-building record. We do not yet hold opening hours, a published drinks list, or an online booking link.
It is in the directory because its own name calls it a speakeasy and the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Overture Maps carries this venue; OpenStreetMap has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.