Ratio Beerworks, which opened at 2920 Larimer Street in February 2015, earned two Best of Denver awards this year, including top honors for Best Brewery Entertainment. And thanks to some fast work by the RiNo Art District, the City of Denver, the State of Colorado and Ratio itself, the shows will go on this weekend, despite a liquor license snafu that had the taproom at the brewery closed for ten days.
Opening chef Nicholas Petrilli is back at Gozo, the Italian/Spanish-inspired restaurant that opened in March 2014 at 30 South Broadway. He’s back, but he has a new boss: Curt Sims and his wife, Pam Savage Sims, familiar faces in Denver’s restaurant/club world for the past thirty years, took over the place a month ago, bringing lots of local connections to the concept.
Westword staff writer Alan Prendergast’s “How Renick Stevenson Survived the Wild Beat Scene and Helped Transform Denver,” our November 10, 2016 cover story, just won first place for Arts and Entertainment reporting in the Best of the West contest.
How many friends can consume cannabis on a front porch? Some Colorado lawmakers wanted to limit it to five.
Michael Singer created “Interior Garden” 22 years ago. Now Denver International Airport wants to get rid of it, a request he discusses in this Q&A.
Michael Singer’s “Interior Garden,” which Denver International Airport wants to deaccession so it an save money and gain space, got a reprieve from the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs.
The week after the 4/20 Rally was held below the State Capitol — and the office of the Colorado governor —John Hickenlooper met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, urging him to keep the feds out of the state’s business, and pointing out how none of the ominous predictions made in the wake of the passage of Amendment 64 have panned out.
At the April 4 meeting of the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs, commissioners received a Request for Deaccession report from Denver International Airport that proposed removing three of DIA’s original pieces, part of a $15 million-plus art collection made possible by Denver’s policy that sets 1 percent of every major construction budget aside for art. “SkyDance” never really worked, and the floor in the Great Hall is apparently doomed by big expansion plans. But why get rid of Michael Singer’s “Hidden Garden”?
Denver was barely a century old in the go-go ’60s, when eager developers began wiping this city’s past off the map, demolishing old buildings downtown and replacing them with surface parking lots, all in the name of urban renewal. But much of that stopped when Denver City Council approved the Denver Landmark Preservation Ordinance in March 1967, a year after the National Historic Preservation Act was enacted and two years after Dana Crawford began creating Larimer Square.
History repeats itself. So does “famous artist” Phil Bender’s art. Denver’s artists are getting priced out of the city, again. And when Pirate: Contemporary Art goes to Lakewood, Bender and his multiplying art will go, too.
Denver is suddenly stuck on nicknames. Developers are smacking hip labels on once-dowdy parts of town; the Colorado-born creators of South Park are smacking those developers with SoDoSoPa mockeries. So far, though, only three neighborhood nicknames have passed any test of time. One of them is RiNo, and the area is holding its annual meeting April 13.
On April 3 governors of the four states that were first to legalize recreational marijuana — John Hickenlooper in Colorado, Jay Inslee in Washington, Kate Brown in Oregon and Bill Walker in Alaska— sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, urging them to respect the rights of the states to pass such measures.
If you’re new to the Mile High City, memorize these 100 Colorado classics before you move on to the Best of Denver 2017.
LoHi is one of Denver’s hottest neighborhoods. That wasn’t the case when it was just known as the lower edge of Highland.
There was action inside My Brother’s Bar on Sunday, March 26. Under the watch of Jim and Angelo Karagas, My Brother’s Bar had never been open on Sunday; did this signify big changes ahead under the new owners? No way. The event was a gathering to honor Jim Karagas, who bought the bar at 2376 Fifteenth Street with his late brother, Angelo, back in 1970.
Denver is suddenly awash in nicknames. Developers are smacking hip labels on formerly unhip areas of town; the creators of South Park are smacking those developers with mocking SoDoSoPa mockeries. The city is drowning in an alphabet soup.Denver has always had nicknames — Mile High City, Queen City of the Plains — but the first neighborhood nickname to really stick was LoDo.
The Senate should be voting on Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court next week. That gives us time to mull over the testimony that the Colorado native made during his three-day confirmation hearing last week, at which everything from Wyoming blizzards to fishing to mutton-busting was discussed. Speaking of which….
There may not be a cooler project in all of Colorado than the Rocky Mountain Land Library. Find out why on March 21 when library reps go live on Kickstarter.
A kitchen fire closed the Cherry Cricket, an iconic Denver burger joint, on Thanksgiving Eve. Five months later, the 71-year old Cricket has announced plans to reopen on April 11.
Backstory: Western American Art in Context, a collaboration between History Colorado and the Denver Art Museum, not only tries to fill in our understanding of the West, but marks the start of a new chapter for History Colorado.
At the thirtieth annual Colorado Business Committee for the Arts awards luncheon — yet another sold-out event, which filled the Seawell Ballroom with over 700 arts enthusiasts on March 15 — the CBCA honored arts organizations, companies and individuals. And also hosted an array of acts that showed just how wide-ranging this state’s cultural scene can be: At how many business luncheons can you have your photo taken with a polar bear or a viking? Or Mayor Michael Hancock, for that matter.
Meow Wolf could soon be howling in Denver: The Santa Fe sensation has been exploring expansion to a number of cities, including Las Vegas, Austin and the Mile High City. But long before Meow Wolf puts its paws down here permanently, Denver will be sending one of its most beloved acts there: Avant-ritualists Itchy-O will offer a special, one-night-only performance at Meow Wolf on Saturday, March 25.
