It’s the end of the year, which means that Westword scribes are busy compiling lists of the good, the bad and the ugly of 2011…sometimes the very ugly. If we were working on a list of the worst art moments of 2010, it would certainly include the fact that arts…
Read it and reap! We’ve long lamented the lack of a strong literary history of Denver — and now Jenny Shank, author of The Ringer, has provided one, just published on the em>Poets and Writers web site. “Colorado has often been a boom and bust state,” she writes, “attracting outsized…
Even before Occupy Denver protesters started setting fires in Civic Center Park last night, they were wearing out their welcome with some people, who tired of seeing Civic Center Park, which Mayor Robert Speer envisioned as a crown jewel in Denver’s crown, turned into a trash heap…
For the past two weeks, Laura Shunk has been going behind the bar every Friday to interview a local mixologist. First up was Brian Smith (above) at Pinche Taqueria; Joshua Smith of TAG and Williams & Graham was featured last Friday. And Brian M is ready for another round:…
The Regional Transportation District Board is scheduled to make a final decision on the redevelopment of Union Station tonight — choosing between the proposal of the Union Station Neighborhood Co., which already has the contract to oversee the development behind the historic station, and the Union Station Alliance. But another…
There’s big news on Broadway, where Fancy Tiger and the Buffalo Exchange will be sharing a building at 55-59 Broadway, with the clothing resale shop opening post-Christmas after a quick move from Capitol Hill, and Fancy Tiger opening its new, merged doors in in early January. It’s big news, but…
On December 14, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had completed planning for a western expansion of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge — that’s the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant, minus several hundred acres that are deemed too contaminated to ever go public — as…
The renovation of Club 404, the classic dive at 404 Broadway that Jerry Feld had owned for over sixty years, has already begun — as evidenced by the amazing mural “Hep Hounds,” by Constance Depler Coleman, just found under some siding. The new owners took over on Thursday and immediately…
Denver has been threatened with doom many times — when the transcontinental railroad threatened to skip the infant city, when numerous booms went bust, when the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant caught fire. Although the homegrown PeaceJam has debunked the latest doomsday scenario — that the Mayan calendar predicts the…
The late Christopher Hitchens was not only a great writer, he had a great appreciation for alcohol. And he got a lot of mileage from an incident that occurred in Aspen back in 1990. Here’s his account from a 1994 Vanity Fair: “At a bar at the top of a…
Last Friday morning, metro area highways were almost as crowded as a Republican presidential debate when supporters of Ron Paul unfurled banners, slowing traffic along the routes. And although the Colorado Department of Transportation says such advertisements are against the law, Paul proponents insist they’d do it again…
Is Denver just a pathetic, Midwestern version of Portland? That debate is raging across westword.com, particularly in the comments section after “Fifteen reasons why young people move to Colorado,” but this city’s beer lovers stand by their taps. Says Max:…
It’s not too early to make plans for the second annual Denver County Fair — which has been moved to the second weekend in August, starting on Friday, August 10 and running through Sunday, August 12, with extended hours. “We won’t be up against the Dragon Boat Festival, the last…
Jesus and Saturday Night Live got it right: Despite the ardent orange-and-blue Tim Tebow fans who filled Sports Authority at Mile High yesterday, the Patriots clobbered the Denver Broncos — as an SNL sketch in which Taran Killam, as Tebow, and Jason Sudeikis, as an athletic-sox wearing Jesus, had predicted…
‘Tis the season to torture sales clerks, as Bree Davies revealed in “I’m an idiot, and other misconceptions about retail employees.” At Shirt Folding Store, where she’s worked off and on for five years, she’s suffered through people who’ve used her as a babysitter, people who’ve used her as a…
A century ago, Mayor Robert Speer saw big things ahead for Civic Center Park, which he predicted “will do more than anything else to advertise Denver — attract the tourist, health and home seekers, stimulate civic pride and encourage prosperity to abide with us.” He didn’t say anything about Occupy…
Rob Lawler worked in a lot of restaurants before he and his wife bought the Truffle, the specialty cheese shop on East Sixth Avenue. He talked about that career switch in this week’s Chef and Tell interview, where he also weighed in on people obsessed with gluten — some for…
Kristen Stillman had been on the witness stand for two days — talking about how her mother had dropped Kristen and her twin brother, Will, off at a house in northwest Denver when they were eight, and how the head of that household had abused them emotionally, physically, sexually for…
Yes, the town seems ready to canonize Tim Tebow — but is it too early to dedicate a santera to the Broncos quarterback? Artist Catherine Robles Shaw makes retablos, plaques depicting the saints that are hand-carved and painted in a folk style that’s been handed down over hundreds of years…
The space at 555 Broadway that was vacated by Kokoro in October won’t be empty for long. Five Star Burgers, a New Mexico-based mini-chain that already has a store at 2330 East Arapahoe Road in Centennial, has taken over the spot, and promises to open soon. Follow @CafeWestword on Twitter…
Visit Denver just announced the people who will be inducted into the Tourism Hall of Fame at the thirteenth annual celebration set for March 14, 2012, and the list includes two key people from the Colorado drinking/dining scene: Great American Beer Festival president Charlie Papazian and Pete Meersman, president and…
Were you there last night when Club 404 issued last call under the ownership of the Feld family? If you can’t remember, take a look at our slide show — it might help you remember. And there is plenty to remember about the legendary Club 404, which Jerry Feld opened…
