Grin And Bear It

An acquaintance of my friend Stuart went on a 3-day camping trip here in Colorado with two of her friends last week, and the very first night they had their food stolen by bears. Unfortunately, one of those bears was able to get into that friend's car and caused $8,000 worth of damage. They went into town and purchased more food, but the bears came back the next night and took that food, too. But she did manage to take the photograph on the left of one of the perpetrators. And I must say, I am a bit jealous. I have never seen a bear in the woods before and have always hoped to get a photograph just like that one. But of course, if the price to get it was $8,000 damage to my car, I would just as soon skip that particular life goal. I don't know what happened the third night, but since she was able to get an estimate on the damage to her car, I assume all three survived with limbs intact. Bear sightings are by no means rare this year. Due to severe drought conditions, thanks to record low snowpack, the berries, fruits, and grasses, among other things they eat, are in short supply, leading to many bears heading to Denver's suburbs in search of food. There have been sightings in Keenesburg, which is way the hell out on the Eastern Plains, Wheat Ridge, which borders Denver, Arvada, Louisville, and Broomfield, all 3 in the northern suburbs, as well as all over Dougles County, including Castle Pines and Roxborough to the south of Denver. Colorado Parks and Wildlife stress the need to secure trash, remove bird feeders, keep garage doors closed, store pet food and grills indoors, and in general not leave out anything bears might want to eat, such as young children. Wise advice. And by the way, it was Stuart who came up with the phrase "Grin and Bear it." Hopefully that was not what he said to his friend after she told him about the 8K damage to her car.

Recess!

I read in the Denver Post yesterday that Recess Beer Garden, located in Denver's Lower Highlands (LoHi) neighborhood, will be adding a location in the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus, which is the home of the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University, and the Community College of Denver. They will be occupying the space vacated by Tivoli Brewing Company, a brew pub which operated at that location for 10 years, until closing in 2023. And by the way, the Tivoli Brewing Company building, which is now the student union, was built in 1864 and housed the original Tivoli Brewing Company, which was a major brewery until it closed in 1969. I have patronized the later version of Tivoli Brewing several times, but never heard of Recess Beer Garden until yesterday, and decided to check it out. However, the website said its address was on 17th Street, and when I walked up the hill, found an entrance to the place in a back alley, and went in that way. It was not until I was leaving that I found the main entrance, seen in the photograph on the left, which in fact is on Erie Street, not 17th. Very confusing indeed. 

In any case, Recess Beer Garden is in the very heart of LoDo (aka Hipster Central), and is actually very much like a garden, with trees and landscaping all around its patio, as seen in the photograph on the right. This brewery has been around since 2015, and I find it strange that I have never heard of it for the past 11 years. Perhaps the hipsters wish to keep it a secret from the non-hipster set, who would probably crowd into the place if was better publicized. That would explain the address that leads you to a very non-descript back entrance in the middle of an alley. Originally, I was just going to take a photograph of the garden area from the street and not actually go into the bar, but there was a very tall fence that completely hides that garden from view. Well folks, the secret is out. Now that the great unwashed know about the place thanks to my blog, the LoDo hipsters will be competing for tables with a whole new crowd.

Recess does have an inside bar and dining area, which is what I saw when I first came through that back-alley entrance. And I must say, it is a really nice space, but it is the huge patio which is the real draw, and I headed straight past the bar and went outside, where I took the photograph on the left. They do serve food, and have a happy hour, too, although only Bud Light and Labatt Blue are on that happy hour menu. The one thing I found unusual is they have separate dog hours for their patio, unlike places like New Terrain in Golden, where you can bring your furry friends anytime they are open. While dogs are welcome open to close Sunday thru Thursday, they are restricted to 11am to 5pm on Fridays and 11am to 2pm on Saturdays. To me that is strange. Imagine you and your dog being evicted at 5:01pm, just as happy hour is starting to get going full steam.  Kiss your Bud Light or Labatt Blue goodbye, people!

The Gentrification Conundrum

I got to know West 23rd Avenue here in Denver while biking from my condo in South Central Denver to Sloan's Lake, on the city's west side. After biking around that lake and starting home, I would head down West 23rd past many Victorian homes and what were once corner grocery stores. One of those former groceries is now Briar Common Brewery and Eatery, located in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. The Sloan's Lake area east and north of the lake itself has always been a desirable location, but Jefferson Park, not so much. Federal Boulevard is the main business street for the area, and many of the businesses and homes in the neighborhoods along the length of Federal are Hispanic or Latino. During the 1990s, due to the affordability of Jefferson Park and its proximity to downtown Denver, not to mention being close to both Sloan's Lake and the very desirable Highlands neighborhood, "Jeff Park" began to experience a renaissance. These days, it is filled with pricey apartment buildings, as well as homes from the 1890s, 1910s, 1920s, 1940s, and 1950s. And I suspect it is now anything but affordable. Gentrification has taken a firm grip on the area. And so, biking past the corner of 23rd and Federal on my way toward downtown, I am always happy to see two traditional Mexican businesses on the corner - Taqueria Mi Pueblo, seen on the right in the photograph on the left, and Pinateria La Fiesta, across the street from it.

I especially like the outside of Pinateria La Fiesta, which sells flowers and pinatas. I saw an old photo of this building on the web, and it was painted white and a bit run down but now is painted red and decorated with many festive drawings, as seen in the photograph on the right. I assumed that it now attracts its Latino customers from further south, where most if not all of the businesses are Hispanic, but then I looked up Jefferson Park on the internet and saw that it was still 44% Hispanic or Latino, which hopefully means that the gentrification process did not drive all of the long-term residents out of the neighborhood. I remember working with a woman at the Tattered Cover Bookstore here in Denver who lived in the home she grew up in in the Lower Highlands (LoDo) neighborhood, which today is hipster central. She is still there, but remembers the good old days when parking was easy to find, there were no crowds of hipsters walking around night and day, and the property taxes were a fraction of what they are today. But, as I said, she is still there. Hopefully that is the case for many of those residents who have lived in Jefferson Park all their lives.

Police Action In RiNo

I was driving on a street that borders the Platte River in Denver's River North (RiNo) neighborhood the other day and happened onto a police action of some sort. I drove past, found that the street I was on dead ended, and went back the way I came, which is when I took the photograph above. I don't think I have ever witnessed police with guns drawn and pointed at someone before. The photograph was taken through the front windshield of my car, and so is pretty low quality, but you can get the drift of what is happening. The man on the right appears to be homeless, and I am not sure what the threat was that made the police draw their weapons. One of the officers did turn the gun away after I took the photo, so hopefully the confrontation started to deescalate from there, although the other officer was still holding what I assume was a stun gun, but am not sure. I did not stick around to find out. But it does make you realize that incidents like this are happening a lot more often these days. This area, before it was lined with expensive apartment buildings, was popular with the homeless, who would build makeshift shacks along the river. Those structures are gone now, but I imagine the homeless still hang out there, many either mentally ill or with drug or alcohol problems, which creates problems for everyone else, which I suspect was the root cause of the incident that I saw. With so few state-operated psychiatric hospitals these days, which years ago used to treat these people, they now have nowhere else to go but the streets. A problem that definitely needs to be fixed.

A Return To The Past In Idaho Springs

The other day I was driving down Colorado Boulevard in Idaho Springs, a former mining town about 40 minutes west of Denver, and took the photograph on the left of a house located at 804 Colorado Boulevard. It was built in 1891 in the Queen Anne style and back in 2006 the owners filed for and were granted the house's designation as a Historic Preservation Site. I have no idea how long they have actually been restoring the place, but I have to say that I have never seen this house not undergoing repairs. It seemed like they worked on that gazebo-style entry porch for months and months, and now it looks like they are beginning to repaint the outside. And have they been working on the inside of the house since 2006? Lord knows. All I have to say is that owning a 135-year-old home has its downsides, the biggest one being that you can never stop working on it.

The owner of this home also seems to like restoring old cars, two of which can be seen in the photograph on the right. If I removed the color from that photo, you would not be able to tell it wasn't taken in the early 20th Century. Perhaps that is the goal - turning that particular corner of Idaho Springs back to a simpler time, allowing you to sit by the fire, the house lit by gas lamps, and look out the window and see a scene straight out of the 1920s. Get rid of the televisions and computers and smart phones and you are back in the past. No war in Iran, no mass deportations, no attempt to establish an authoritarian dynasty throughout the country. And by the way, Calvin Coolidge was the president back in the 1920s, who, I might add, restored public confidence in the White House after the many scandals of the Harding administration. Now that is something to think about.

Low Flow, But Still A Go On Golden's Clear Creek

Clear Creek in Golden, Colorado is the Denver area hotspot for tubers, and despite lower flow due to a dry winter that resulted in record-low snowpack, the crowds are still coming, especially on the weekends, as seen in the photograph above. In fact, driving down Washington Avenue, Golden's main drag, the other day, it seemed like every other person was walking around with a tube, no doubt having just rented it from Adventure West, which operates a river tube rental stand. The co-owner of that store, Beth Battilla, believes that the lower flow makes the tubing experience more comfortable, as opposed to previous years, when high, fast flowing water can make for a pretty intense adventure. However, Adventure West is not renting tubes in Littleton this year due to low water levels on the South Platte River making tubing difficult. In Boulder, Boulder Creek is also much lower, resulting in a significant drop in the number of tubers there, too. Which means they are probably all coming to Clear Creek. No wonder there are so many traffic jams on that body of water this summer. Time to hire a water cop to keep things moving. I'd apply for the job myself, but it might involve getting wet.

Watching The World Cup Final With Mark

I watched the World Cup Final, which was played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey yesterday afternoon, with my friend Mark. The game pitted Spain against defending champion Argentina, with Spain dominating the game from the start, although neither team was able to score a goal during regulation play. It wasn't until thirty-nine seconds into the second half of overtime that Ferran Torres kicked an 8-yard shot into Argentina's net, giving Spain a 1-0 victory. Mark was cheering for Spain in this match, but his favorite team was England, which lost to Argentina 2-1 in the semifinals. However, France and England played a very exciting game for the bronze metal this past Saturday, which England won 6-4. That game was actually far more exciting than the final, which seemed to me to drag on a bit too long. But that is just my personal opinion. And yes, that is indeed Mark in the photograph above celebrating the victory with the Spanish team through the magic of Photoshop.