Happy Hauntings

The story goes like this: Corridor 44, at 1433 Larimer Street, was once a brothel owned by a reformed showgirl and her ornery husband. When the couple’s daughter began dallying with a city lowlife, the irate father sent a hit man to rub out the boyfriend — except the plan…

Rocktober derails Union Station gala — temporarily

Everything was in place for one of the biggest social events of the season. Union Station was primed to host “A Night in Old Union Station,” a swanky, Victorian-themed gala, on October 15, with tickets set at $40 to $200 to raise money for a replica of the long-gone Mizpah…

For the Rocktober fan who has everything: The Rockiesmobile

Spotted for sale in Chicago by a Westword alum now livin’ large in Chi-town, this ’69 Chevy Chevelle with a certain recognizable black-and-purple color scheme has popped up just in time for the start of a glorious new Rocktober. The asking price is $10,500, which inspired us to do a…

New Belgium’s on a bike

Here’s another example why the folks at New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins are some of the coolest beer cats around. As 5280 first reported, for the last installment of its summer “bike-in movie” series last Wednesday, New Belgium, makers of celebrated Fat Tire Amber Ale, unveiled “I’m on a…

Does Boulder DA Stan Garnett want to legalize pot?

Kudos to Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett for boldly going where few elected officials are willing go these days: into the politically thorny issue of marijuana. Most politicians these days are staying as far away from the subject as possible. This summer, the state health department tried to limit the…

Who really wrote Colorado’s medical-marijuana law?

Colorado’s flourishing medical marijuana industry, with nearly a hundred pot dispensaries statewide servicing thousands and thousands of marijuana patients, got its start in 2000, when state voters legalized medical marijuana by passing Amendment 20. But who was the ganja genius who came up with the amendment? Most people in the…

The tale of the “S Bandit”: A crime spree of alphabetical proportions

This sordid story is brought to you by the letter “S.” Today, the Denver District Attorney’s office charged Ernie Lee Calbert with nine counts of aggravated robbery and one count of second-degree kidnapping. Authorities believe Calbert to be the so-called “‘S’ Bandit,” so named because most of the seven Denver-area…

Four Seasons tops off Thursday

The Four Seasons Private Residences Denver, the 45-story luxury condo building and hotel that’s been under construction since September 2007, is set to be topped off this Thursday at 10:30 a.m. with the ceremonial hoisting into place of the 75-foot mast that will crown the structure. With the spire, the…

Telling Stories music and readings to hit the airwaves on CPR

Telling Stories has long been a blessing for those of us who like our high culture in low-impact form. The four-year-old program combines chamber works and literature readings in ways designed to appeal to the under-forty set. In other words, the troupe, founded by local classical musician and writer Jennie…

Could Clendenin case deal a blow to Colorado’s pot biz?

As noted in this week’s cover story, “Pot of Gold,” while Colorado’s Amendment 20, which legalized marijuana in 2000, does not cover the subject of marijuana dispensaries, a flood of such operations are opening statewide under the auspices of a complicated legal framework that’s evolved within the vague constraints of…

Union Station redevelopment consumes some of LoDo’s best free parking

View Larger Map Big news on the transportation front: The long-awaited redevelopment of Union Station into a new transportation hub got underway yesterday. Sure, it’s just some preliminary work on utility lines, but considering the lengthy and convoluted back story to the redevelopment, just the fact that shovels are finally…

The astounding BBQ problem of Andrew Novick

Andrew Novick is probably best known as a dude with a lot of stuff. The local electrical engineer and punk-rock trend-setter (he was a member of the legendary Denver band the Warlock Pinchers and co-owner with his wife, Janene, of the Asian pop culture boutique Gimme Gimme Pillow Toast) earned…

Urbavore’s Dilemma: Final harvest

Urbavore’s Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers’ commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from backyard chickens to front-lawn gardens, from greenhouses to co-ops and food-sharing. Check out the full series here. I’ve spent all…

Urbavore’s Dilemma: EarthLinks helps the displaced set down roots

Urbavore’s Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers’ commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from backyard chickens to front-lawn gardens, from greenhouses to co-ops and food-sharing. Check out the full series here. They come from…

Mason Tvert bamboozles his way onto the Amazon bestseller list

Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), which ran a successful 2005 campaign to legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana in Denver, has long been the merry prankster of Colorado weed activists — a prankster who knows how to have serious impact. When…

Somebody stop that cleverly named bandit!

It’s been a big week for local robbers with snazzy names. On Tuesday, the FBI announced it was looking for a scofflaw they’d named the $83 Bandit, since the bank notes he’s used to rob eight Denver area banks since March often included odd numbers that have the numeral 3…

Urban homesteading deluxe with Fort owner Holly Arnold Kinney

Most of the gardening operations I’ve been exploring as part of “Urbavore’s Dilemma,” my summer-long series on the local urban agriculture movement, are grassroots affairs: compost bins made from recycled plastic barrels, chicken coops built in old kids’ playhouses, garden fences born out of back-alley wood scraps. That’s why when…