On September 12, 1924, John Ashley and Lynn Middleton walked into the First Bank of Pompano on NE 1st Street and left with $5,000 in cash and $18,000 in securities. On a Friday night this fall, the same block will have a band playing, food trucks parked nearby and gallery doors open at the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center. The old bank building is now a restaurant and bar called The Vault.
Downtown Pompano's evenings now follow a regular schedule. Two free city-run series fill the first and third Fridays of each month. Both happen within a short walk of BaCA at 41 NE 1st Street, so the block works as a standing plan rather than a one-time outing. Here is how the calendar runs through December and how to build an evening around it.
The two-Friday calendar
Old Town Untapped is on the first Friday of every month, 6 to 10 p.m. It is free and family-friendly, and it sets up on NE 1st Street and North Flagler Avenue next to BaCA. Pompano Beach Arts describes it as live music, gallery openings inside BaCA, work from local artists and food trucks. You can also register for free on the Old Town Untapped page to be entered in a monthly giveaway for an event of your choosing.
Old Town's Backyard Jam is on the third Friday. It takes place in Old Town's Backyard, the outdoor space behind BaCA. The city's event listing describes it as free, with live music, Southern food, craft cocktails and a laid-back outdoor setting. October's date runs from 6 to 9 p.m.
Both series welcome chairs and blankets.
Here is what's posted for the rest of 2026:
| Date | Series | On stage |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, October 16 | Backyard Jam | Relentless |
| Friday, November 6 | Old Town Untapped | Shane Duncan Band |
| Friday, November 20 | Backyard Jam | Mix Tape |
| Friday, December 4 | Old Town Untapped | Waist to Chest: A Christmas Spectacular |
| Friday, December 18 | Backyard Jam | Indigo Dreamers |
The bands are quite different from one another. Pompano Beach Arts calls the Shane Duncan Band a South Florida variety party band whose set list covers Top 40, dance, disco, pop, rock, country and a little Latin. Waist to Chest's December show is billed as holiday-style surf music. On the Backyard Jam side, Mix Tape is an '80s rock and pop cover band, and Indigo Dreamers is a soulful-pop duo from Delray Beach.
Untapped also adds something for art lovers. BaCA runs docent-led art tours from 8:00 to 8:45 p.m., with sign-up through the event page. Catch the first set outside, then go in for the tour while the band plays on.
Why the block holds together
Old Town is compact, and that's what makes this schedule work. The Vault's official site lists it at 61 NE 1st Street. BaCA is at 41 NE 1st Street, so the music, the galleries and a sit-down dinner all sit on the same block.
The building itself is the reason to plan dinner there instead of grabbing something from a truck. The Vault's history page says the First Bank of Pompano opened to the public on September 25, 1922, and calls it the city's oldest commercial structure. After the 1924 robbery the building became Farmer's Bank, which closed during the Depression. In 2006 it faced demolition and was preserved. When the restaurant opened, the Sun Sentinel described it as a speakeasy with Prohibition-style cocktails, set at the site of a bank heist that "sent shockwaves through South Florida in the 1920s."
The Vault serves indoors and also has an outdoor patio and bar called Sidecar Alley. On a Backyard Jam night, that patio puts you outside and a short walk from the stage.
The deck you're sitting on had help
In September 2026 the City of Pompano Beach published a redevelopment post explaining how its Community Redevelopment Agency backed The Vault. It describes owner Jessica Spillman's plan for the old bank. A $40,000 Façade and Business Site Improvement grant paid for windows, doors, the outdoor deck, the pergola and the biergarten counter. Another $97,000 from the Strategic Investment Program went to electrical, plumbing and HVAC upgrades. According to the same post, businesses in these programs pay every cost upfront and pass all inspections before the CRA sends a reimbursement check.
The city is investing in a gathering place on the same block where it programs free music twice a month. Its post calls The Vault "a hot-spot gathering place in Old Town."
The skyline nearby has changed too. Old Town Square, a ten-story, 282-apartment mixed-use building by Cavache Properties, was finished in May 2024 with ground-floor commercial space. The city says its success led the developer to build a second phase a block outside the CRA zone, without CRA support. That means more people now live within walking distance of the Friday programming.
Rounding out the evening
If you want more than music, two of the city's cultural venues are close by.
- Pompano Beach Cultural Center, 50 W. Atlantic Blvd. It sits next to City Hall and hosts arts programming and performances, with its 2026–2027 season now on the city events calendar. Check the Cultural Center schedule to see if a show lines up with a Friday you're already downtown.
- Ali Cultural Arts Center, 353 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. It hosts exhibitions and performances focused on African American history and culture. Its program page lists what's coming up.
- BaCA itself, beyond the Untapped gallery openings. Pompano Beach Arts lists it as a working studio, gallery and cultural center with workshops and monthly exhibitions.
The Saturday morning after
The newest addition to the downtown routine is a breakfast spot, not a bar. GRUB – A Finer Diner, at 14 N. Federal Highway, was announced to open October 7. Pompano Beach Insider reported a menu of diner classics with Southern and globally inspired twists. Highlights include a Brown Butter Cast Iron Pancake, French toast on house-baked Japanese cinnamon milk bread, chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, and meats smoked in-house. There's also a coffee and tea bar and signature milkshakes. Miami native Chef Kinsler Josaime runs the kitchen.
On hours, the opening announcement said 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, but GRUB's own site currently shows 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For now, treat it as a breakfast or brunch stop and check the site before you go. Breakfast is served all day.
Getting downtown without circling the block
On busy Fridays the parking can matter more than the lineup. For Backyard Jam, the city lists extra parking at City Hall, 100 W. Atlantic Blvd., and at the Cultural Center, 50 W. Atlantic Blvd. Untapped's event page also links to a parking map.
The city also runs Pompano Circuit, a free, on-demand electric ride service. Its weekend park-and-ride lots include City Hall and the lot at NE 2nd Street and NE 2nd Avenue. Service runs Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on holidays. A newer Fishing Village Shuttle started October 2. It runs to and from the beach and Fishing Village, not downtown, so it's useful if your Friday starts at the ocean.
City events can change, so check the City of Pompano Beach events calendar the week of any date you plan around.
At Castles By The Beach Realty, we enjoy watching downtown Pompano fill in, one block and one Friday at a time. If you'd like a local's take on Old Town or the streets around it, we're always happy to talk. Let's Connect.
