When In Golden, It's Hard To Miss The Coors Brewery

Coors Brewery has been in Golden, Colorado since 1873, and is the largest single-site brewery in the world. And when you are in Golden, it is hard to miss. It starts right beyond Washington Avenue, the town's main drag, as seen in the photograph above, and seems to go on eastward for miles. When I was first married, my then wife Lisa directed the choir at a local church in Golden, and virtually everyone I met back then either worked at Coors or the Colorado School of Mines, also located in Golden. Hard to believe, but at that time Coors had a century-old policy of providing free beer on the job to employees during breaks, lunches, and the half-hour after work, although as far as I know, the Colorado School of Mines did not. That policy ended in 1994 for obvious reasons. These days the company is called Molson Coors and is headquartered in both Chicago and Montreal, with the Coors and Molson families well-represented on the Board of Directors. And yes, you can indeed tour the Coors Brewery up in Golden for $20, after which you get three samples of - wait for it - Molson Coors products. Yum!

Historic El Rancho - Soon To Be Riding Into The Sunset?

El Rancho, seen in the photograph on the left, has been a landmark in Evergreen, Colorado since 1948, when it opened as a cafe and trading post. It quickly became a beloved dining spot, famous for its views of the Colorado mountains. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a frequent guest. In fact, I read somewhere that Eisenhower was friends with the owner, and thanks to a U.S. Post Office opening in the building in 1956, El Rancho was able to get its own exit off Interstate 70. Having your own exit sign off busy Interstate 70 definitely did not hurt El Rancho's business. I remember having Thanksgiving dinner there once with my sister Susan and late brother-in-law George and admiring that wonderful view. I also remember having a drink in their bar area several times, too. The walls were made of logs, a fire was lit in the fireplace, and it was like being in a rustic mountain lodge.

In any case, after changing hands several times, it was purchased out of bankruptcy to save it from demolition, but after a dispute with the celebrity chef about the future direction of the restaurant, the owners sold the building to Quik Trip, who will build a gas station on the site. There has been a proposal to move the building across the street where a new development called The Observatory will be built, and a local bicycle shop called Evergreen Bicycle Outfitters agreed to buy the relocated building and move their shop into part of the space, as well as reinstate the original brewery and upstairs lodgings. However, to offset the high cost of this proposal, local developer Observatory Holdings made a request to the Jefferson County Commissioners to approve a metro district for El Rancho to help finance public infrastructure, such as roads, utilities, sidewalks, etc. However, the application was denied 2-1 by the Board of County Commissioners, citing uncertainty about the financial viability of the district. And so, if that ruling stands, El Rancho is toast. So much for saving one of Jefferson County's landmarks. Is there still a chance the building still might be moved, anyway. Only if someone with deep pockets takes an interest. We'll just have to see.

The View From The Wynkoop

My sister Susan and I stopped into the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) for a beer the other day, where I snapped a photograph of the view out the window, as seen above. During the summer, I love to sit on the outside patio after attending a Rockies game and watch the crowds stroll past on their way home (Coors Field is just two blocks away), but during the winter, it is best to just take a seat in the bar area and avoid pneumonia. The Wynkoop is pretty quiet this time of year, especially on a weeknight, but a great spot to hang out and enjoy its1890s vibe. In any case, just across the street on the left side of the photo is the Icehouse Lofts, which was originally constructed in 1880 or 1903, depending on which website you look at, and was home to Littleton Creamery and Beatrice Foods Cold Storage Warehouse before being converted into lofts back in 1998. Currently there are two units for sale there - a 1-bedroom, 1.5 bath unit on the 2nd floor selling for $550,000, and a 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit on the 6th floor selling for $1.3 million. Both of which seem to me a bit pricey. On the other hand, the Rodizio Grill Brazilian Steakhouse is located on the first floor of the building, offering its sampling of a dozen rotisserie-grilled meats for $51.95, easily affordable to someone who can afford to live in that building. Or, if you are on a tight budget due to your 1-million-dollar mortgage, you can always just cross the street and have a $6 happy hour IPA at the Wynkoop. I myself intend to just skip the $1.3 million unit and continue to drive the 20 minutes to the Wynkoop from my current residence. No matter what the price of gas is.

The February Mutt Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the February Mutt of the Month the Sunday after New Year's Day on the patio of New Terrain Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado. As you can see, that dog was happy to pose for the photo, no doubt bored out of its mind while its owner and her friends were relaxing and having a couple of beers. And yes, that group, as well as everyone else, was hanging out without jackets at the beginning of January in Colorado. Having occasional warm days during the winter is not unusual here in the Denver area, but this year, except for maybe a day or to, we have not yet had winter weather. Flowers are beginning to bloom, the snowpack is at an historic low, and there is great fear that Colorado will have severe drought conditions and a high risk of wildfires this coming summer if conditions don't change. Which is why everyone is praying for a very snowy March and April, which are traditionally the two snowiest months in Colorado. Pleasant patio weather is all well and good, but not at the cost of endangering the state.

Spring Training Begins At Last!

Pitchers and catchers report to their spring training ballparks in Florida and Arizona this week, with the rest of the team arriving five days later. This is a wonderful time of year for baseball fans. Every team in major league baseball has a chance to win it all, no matter what the experts predict. My South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, report to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona today, anxious to get started with their climb back to respectability. Meanwhile, their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, are having their pitchers and catchers report to Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona tomorrow, no doubt confident they are destined to finish first this year in the NL Central and move on to the playoffs. My adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, are waiting until Thursday for pitchers and catchers to report to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona. As Rockies fans will remember, the pitching staff put up a 6.65 ERA last season, the worst in major league baseball since 1901, and the starting rotation tied a modern-era record with 93 losses. The Rockies missed tying the White Sox for the worst record in the history of baseball by 2 games, finishing with 119 losses. Perhaps management wants to put off seeing that pitching staff back in action as long as they can. Thursday doesn't work? How about next week instead? And yes, the photograph above is still another that I took at the late, great Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach during spring training back in March of 1996. Since I haven't been to a spring training game since then, I have a very limited number of spring training photos to show. Perhaps that's for the best.

Super Bowl Sunday! Time To Finally Take Down That Xmas Tree!

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday, the day I finally decided to take down my Christmas tree, seen in all its glory in the photograph on the left. I was originally going to take it down February 2nd, which is day on which the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, also known as Candlemas, is celebrated, since I read on the internet that it was the day many Christians took down their trees, thus giving me an excuse for leaving it up so long. But then February 2nd rolled around, and I thought about having to take the hundreds of framed painting and prints out of my storage locker (all belonging to my sister Susan, I might add) to make room for the box containing that massive tree, and then having to put all those paintings and prints back in front of and on top of that box. And then decided that since I wasn't religious, I would do something more traditional in America - take down the tree while watching the big game. Which used to be the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, but now, I firmly believe, is the Super Bowl. Makes sense, right? And by the way, Americans ate 1.5 billion chicken wings yesterday, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13. Now you know everything.

Goldens In Golden 2026

Yesterday was Goldens in Golden Day, the largest gathering of Golden Retrievers in the world. It takes place in Golden, Colorado and attracts over 10,000 people and 3,500 dogs in celebration of International Golden Retrievers Day. I drove to Golden for this event last year, just as it was ending. The main events, including a group photograph of thousands of owners and their Golden Retrievers taken in front of the Golden Welcome Arch on Washington Avenue, were long over, although there were still a lot of people with their dogs wandering around, as seen in the above photograph. And, of course, there was not a parking space in sight. Golden has made virtually every residential street around the 12th Street Historic District "residents only" parking, leaving very few spaces for visitors, especially 10,000 of them. But what I most remember was the traffic, which was at a standstill for what seemed like hours. Afterwards, I think there were a lot of complaints, and so this year, Golden instituted a shuttle from an off-site parking lot. However, I decided to skip the festivities this year. For one thing, waiting for a shuttle to take you downtown and then waiting to catch one on the way back takes a lot of time. Which, despite being retired, I don't seem to have a lot of these days. Plus, those buses get very crowded, not only with people but with all those dogs, too. And for another, I was not sure I wanted to be in a one-block area with 10,000 people and their 3,500 Golden Retrievers. Does that mean I have turned into an old fuddy-duddy? Don't answer that.