I was cruising I-70 two years ago when I spotted the “Museum Auction” sign on the World’s Wonder View Tower, a roadside attraction a hundred miles east of Denver on a rise that, at 5,741 feet, is the highest point between Denver and Kansas City, or Denver and Chicago, or…
Happy birthday to the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, which the legendary educator founded in Denver a hundred years ago today. Griffith, who’d gotten her start as a substitute teacher in Denver Public Schools, created a ground-breaking program open to people of all ages, from all economic and ethnic backgrounds. The…
Our long hunt for Westword’s next restaurant reviewer has ended — and we’re pleased to announce that we’re returning to the tried and very, very true. Gretchen Kurtz, a seasoned pro who takes the role of reviewer very seriously, is back as our Cafe critic, offering her educated, opinionated take…
No. 64: Super Pass Key Special at Pass Key The Colorado State Fair is back in Pueblo, which means you do not want to pass up one of the first vendors you see as you enter the fairgrounds: Pass Key on the Go. For more than fifty years, the Pagano…
The Colorado State Fair, now under way through Labor Day in Pueblo, is full of many marvels: incredibly composed 4H kids showing their animals at yesterday’s Junior Livestock Sale (last year’s raised $534,650 for the youthful exhibitors); parading pigs; musical acts big and small; a display where visitors can milk…
Erik Storey, the Colorado author who scored a six-figure advance for his first thriller, Nothing Short of Dying, along with a sequel starring adventurer Clyde Barr, has been compared to mega-best-selling thriller writer Lee Child, creator of the Jack Reacher series. In fact, Child’s agent negotiated the deal for the book,…
Get ready for a big bash at the Tavern Uptown. Last Thursday, the Denver Planning Board recommended that a PUD be approved allowing the redevelopment of the 500 block of East 17th Avenue — a revised redevelopment plan that now calls for maintaining the facade of the one-story Tavern building as…
The grounds of the Colorado State Capitol hold many monuments — and if legislators approve the Sand Creek Massacre Memorial, they could soon hold one more. Here’s an inventory of the pieces you’ll find today outside the Capitol; descriptions (excluding editorializing) are from the colorado.gov site, where you’ll also find…
“So far, we have had to give ground, give ground, give ground,” Herbert Welch told the Capitol Building Advisory Committee meeting in the basement of the Colorado Capitol, which stands on top of some of the ground that the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes used to call their own. Welch, who…
Today the Board of Education of Denver Public Schools is slated to vote on the sale of the Emily Griffith property at 1250 Welton Street to Stonebridge Companies for $26,100,000. Legendary Denver educator Emily Griffith would probably give this deal an A — although for a long time, it looked…
Colorado celebrated its 140th birthday on August 1. Because it was admitted to the Union on the hundredth anniversary of this country’s declaration of independence, it was quickly nicknamed the Centennial State. But to us, it’s always been Coolorado, the coolest state around, and the thousands of people moving here…
If you haven’t headed to Jefferson Park for your last supper at La Loma, you have yet another reprieve: It’s staying put through September. Since 1981, the massive Mexican restaurant has been perched at 2527 West 26th Avenue — just down the hill from the little bungalow where Savina Mendoza…
Are tiny houses the solution to many of society’s ills? Artist Lauri Lynnxe Murphy is exploring tiny houses as a sustainability move, and a way to educate people about climate change; she’s been writing about the Mayday Experiment in articles here. Now Off the Grid is sponsoring a series of…
The deadline to turn in signatures pushing initiatives for Colorado’s general-election ballot in November was 3 p.m. August 8, and as Westword was broadcasting a Facebook Live interview with Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, word came down that a U-Haul loaded with petitions for 75 and 78 — which…
Colorado celebrated its 140th birthday on August 1. Because it was admitted to the Union on the hundredth anniversary of this country’s declaration of independence, it was quickly nicknamed the Centennial State. But to us, it’s always been Coolorado, the coolest state around, and the thousands of people moving here…
In recent decades, this state has been the focus of numerous doomsday predictions that Colorado — if not the world itself — was in imminent danger of disappearing. The most recent furor involves the Mayan calendar’s prediction that the world will end on December 21, 2012 — a prediction debunked…
Headed to Hugo for a meeting yesterday, I texted a friend whose parents live in the small plains town two hours from Denver, asking for a breakfast spot. “There’s only one restaurant in Hugo,” she responded. “Jean’s.” And even Jean’s Family Kitchen is closed today: Yesterday afternoon, Hugo officials warned…
Little Man Ice Cream has been a hit since it first opened in LoHi. Developer Paul Tamburello created the giant milk can-shaped shop in honor of his father, and put it in an empty spot at 2620 16th Street, between the two buildings in the Olinger complex in LoHi that…
Denver is a city of great neighborhoods — some modest, like Westwood, others moneyed. And last Friday, it got a brand-spanking-new neighborhood: Union Station North. Not so long ago, there wasn’t much there there, even though the area is in one of the oldest parts of Denver, near where the…
Every year, Colorado Inside Out — the weekly public affairs roundtable discussion on CPT12 — takes a break from the usual business for the July 4 weekend. But that doesn’t mean the hard-working crew is taking it easy. In fact, sound engineer/producer Larry Patchett and the rest of the staff…
First it was the Pot Pavilion. Then when pot got too hot, the Denver County Fair introduced the Kitten Pavilion. Now organizers of the sixth annual fair, which runs July 29 through July 31, are jumping on a brand-new fad: Pokémon Go. “We’re changing up the county-fair model as usual,”…
Union Station, which unveiled its renovation in July 2014, is celebrating its second birthday by giving Denver a couple of presents. One is the Union Station 105th Meridian Buskerfest, a resurrected festival that developer Dana Crawford is bringing back this weekend. And the party won’t end when buskerfest does. The…
