Late Fall At Wash Park

Recently it has turned cool here in Denver. Just before Thanksgiving, we had several days in the 70s, but now we are flirting with temperatures in the 30s and 40s. That has not stopped the afternoon strollers and dog walkers in Washington Park from staying calm and carrying on. I took the above photograph at Washington Park around sunset one recent weekday afternoon. And yes, I have taken photographs of this same view and posted it many times before on my blog. In my defense, Claude Monet used to paint the same scene over and over again at different times of the day or in different seasons, and so why can't I do the same with my photos?  But do people call me Denver's Monet? No! They call me "Crazy Old Man Hoyt." Life is so unfair.

Remembering The Good Old Days Back On The South Side Of Chicago...

And no - I was NOT around when the above photograph was taken. I am not sure what year it was, but do know that it features - from left to right - my Uncle Jack, my Grandmother Louise Spillard (my mother Mary's mother), and my Uncle Bill, posing in front of what I assume (perhaps) was the family car, parked in front of their apartment building on the south side of Chicago. My mother was the youngest child, and Grandmother Spillard would often make my uncles take her to nearby Washington Park, which my mother says they bitterly resented. I know I have featured this photograph before, but since I have been writing a blog for over 11 1/2 years now, it could have been posted just last year or a decade ago. Sadly, my memory is not good enough to remember those kind of details anymore. But no matter - it is still a fun photograph worth posting again and again.

The Christmas Season Has Begun!

Last night I drove down to see the Downtown Denver Grand Illumination, which features lighting ceremonies and events at the City and County Building, the 16th Street Mall, and Union Station in Lower Downtown Denver. I arrived early at the City and County Building, and decided to kill some time wandering around the annual Christkindl Market, which is being held in Civic Center Park this year to allow for more social distancing between the booths. However, the line to get in was about a block long, and so I decided to say the hell with it, and head to Union Station after taking the photograph on the left.

There was a nice crowd around Union Station, and although indoor dining has been banned due to the coronavirus, there were a number of hearty souls dining outside under heat lamps.  However, the fact that I was able to find plenty of parking spaces just a block away on a Friday night meant that crowds must be way down from last year. I was hoping to take a photograph of Union Station bathed in blue, which it has always been in years past, but instead, the facade of the old train station had Christmas videos being projected onto it. The only thing turning blue was me, standing out in the cold, waiting for the right photo opportunity. I was finally able to take the photograph on the right without the video scenes, and headed for the car to get warm. And I must say, I am not a fan of what they call the "wonder lights," but as I have said many times before, I think I am beginning to turn into an old curmudgeon, which is not a surprise to anyone, I suspect.

The Friday After Thanksgiving In Santa Fe

Years ago my sister Susan, her late husband George, and I would spend Thanksgiving weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico. On Thanksgiving Day we would dine at a fireside table in La Casa Sena, located in historic Sena Plaza, which started out as a modest home back in the mid 1800s. This was a pretty upscale restaurant, and I am eternally grateful to George for always picking up the check, even though I would treat for drinks in the adjoining cantina afterwards. The next day the start of the Christmas season would begin with the turning on of the holiday lights on the historic Santa Fe Plaza, including luminarias lining all the sidewalks,  as seen in the photo on the left, with the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis in the background.

These luminarias are my favorite part of the festivities. The first time we went went down there for Thanksgiving, I decided to not take any photos of them Friday night, assuming that they would be lighting them the next night, too. Big mistake. They are lit only on the Friday after Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve, and since I had to be back at work at the University of Denver Bookstore Monday morning, staying there until Christmas was not an option. You can be sure that the next year I took as many photographs of them as I could. Sadly, but not surprisingly, this year the lighting of the Christmas lights has been canceled due to the coronavirus. Let's hope it takes place next year as usual.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day, and sadly, it is taking place during a major pandemic, with health experts recommending that no one travel or celebrate with anyone outside your own household. A lot of people are ignoring this advise and getting together anyway. No matter what you yourself decide to do, try to stay safe.  And by the way, almost every Thanksgiving I have been using the same black and white photograph taken at our house in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, back on Thanksgiving Day in the 1950s. However, this year I have decided to start featuring something different. Unfortunately, that old black and white photo is the only one I know for a fact was taken on Thanksgiving Day. And so, I am now forced to feature photographs taken on different holidays, instead. But a holiday is still a holiday, right? And so today I am featuring a photograph of my sister Susan, brother-in-law George, and mother Mary, taken in the dining room of my Denver condo back in 2001.  It might not be Thanksgiving, but I still like it. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Living The Good Life At Sloan's Lake

I biked from my condo across from the University of Denver to Sloan's Lake last week on a really sunny, warm weekend afternoon. Sloan's Lake was always pretty upscale to the north, bordering the trendy Highlands neighborhood, while on the south end it was mainly an Hispanic community. In recent years, this area has become gentrified, with lots of apartments and condos, culminating in the construction of The Lake House, a high rise condo development with units starting in the million dollar range, as seen in the background of the photo on the left. Many of the modest bungalows in the area have been torn down and replaced by upscale McMansions.

Today the area is a hangout for hipsters. There is now a trendy brewpub on the northwest corner of the park, and Odell's Brewery, a Fort Collins icon, is building another brewery across from the park, with a rooftop patio overlooking the lake. And it might surprise you - or perhaps not - that millennials, who seem to make up most of the residents now, just love hammocks. I see them all over the place, including at Washington Park, on the balconies of pricey apartments, and at Sloan's Lake, too, as seen in the photo on the right. What I want to know is where the hell these millennials are getting all that money? I also want to know if they are hiring.

Guarding 17th Street

I took the above photograph of a dog planted squarely in the center of the sidewalk, blocking my path, the other day as I was walking along 17th Street toward Lower Downtown Denver. The owners, a couple of millennials, were sitting along the railing of a restaurant patio. As I approached, I took out my camera to take a snapshot, but as soon as I did the damn dog turned away and refused to look me in the eye (or lens, to be exact, which to me is often the same thing). After several failed attempts, it's owners told me it always does that whenever someone tries to take it's photo. They said the only way to get it's attention is to feed it a dozen dog biscuits or so. Since I didn't have even one on me, I gave up, walked around it, and continued my trek downtown. And because of this, this dog will never be a mutt of the month. So there.

Continuing The Walk Down 17th Street

Even with the Covid-19 pandemic raging, I am still taking the bus every now and then up University Boulevard to the Tattered Cover Bookstore on Colfax, and from there walking down 17th Street to Denver's Union Station and the light rail train home.  I took the self portrait on the left at the University of Denver Light Rail Station while waiting for the bus.  People are afraid to ride public transportation these days, so much so that I am often the only passenger, which to me makes it an extremely safe way to travel.

Along my walk, I took the photograph on the right of the Dow-Rosenzweig House, which was built in 1882 and is now a law office. I was surprised to find that members of the Leopold Rosenweig family lived there from 1888 until 1970, a long time indeed. I have taken photographs of this place before, but the light was so nice I couldn't resist taking another. One advantage of going back to standard time and shorter days.

Another structure I admire can be seen in the photograph on the left, a series of rowhouses built in 1886, which have been turned into condos, one of which is currently for sale, if you have the dough. The nice thing about this neighborhood is that you can get a good feel for what it was like living here back in the latter part of the 19th century. Denver has a lot of neighborhoods like this, as opposed to it's downtown area, much of which was bulldozed during the urban renewal frenzy of the 1960s. Only Larimer Square was saved in it's entirety from the wrecker's ball, thanks to the efforts of Dana Crawford, who also helped renovate Denver's historic Union Station. Sadly, it wasn't until after many of Denver's most iconic buildings were destroyed that historic preservation took root here. Sad but true.

The House Of Refuge

I first saw the House of Refuge Museum back in 1975, when my mother Mary and father Nelson and I drove down to Stuart, Florida to see if my parents might want to retire there. My Aunt Elsie and Uncle Bill had already moved to Stuart a few years earlier, and showed us around the area, including the House of Refuge Museum, which was a lifesaving station built back in 1876 to rescue sailors whose boats shipwrecked on Gilbert's Bar, located just 100 yards offshore. The sailors would live in the upstairs attic until a ship arrived to take them back to civilization. I took the photograph on the left of my mother standing at the entrance of the place when we visited it one day many years later.

The photograph on the right I took the last time I was down in Stuart, getting my mother's condo (which my sister Susan and I now own) ready to rent out, which for better or worse has been leased for the past 4 years. Hard to pop down for a visit these days if someone is living there. I am sure our tenants would object to us dropping in for a few weeks, even if we did bring our own sleeping bags and crashed on the living room floor. In any case, the House of Refuge is located on a coral reef just down the way from Stuart Beach, and is a wonderfully peaceful spot, especially at sunset. It is well past time to pay another visit.

The Cherry Creek Bikepath

It was in the 70s this past Tuesday and Wednesday, but the weather bunnies were predicting colder weather to come, and so I decided to go biking both days to take advantage of the weather while I could. On Tuesday I biked from my condo near the University of Denver to Sloan's Lake and back, and on Wednesday went the opposite direction through upscale residential neighborhoods to the Stanley Marketplace, a very unique shopping mall that was once the home of an airplane factory, located on the grounds of what used to be Denver's Stapleton Airport. On my way home Tuesday, I biked along the Cherry Creek bike path, where I took the above photograph as I passed Lower Downtown Denver. Denver began in 1858 where Cherry Creek meets the Platte River, which is now the location of Confluence Park, where during the summer large numbers of people, mostly poor families, swim and play in the river, which unfortunately is polluted as hell. I am surprised they all don't simply dissolve on the spot once they enter those waters. Of course, during these times of Covid-19, that seems like small potatoes indeed.

The Ghost Of Monkey Island

I read an article in the Washington Park Profile, the community newspaper for the neighborhood where I live here in Denver, that claims there is a ghost that haunts Monkey Island, which is located in Grasmere Lake in nearby Washington Park. Evidently the south end of this park was a notorious hippie hangout back in the 1960s, which I was very surprised to learn. I was also surprised to learn that there was even an island in this lake, and went to look for it after I read the article.

Sure enough, there indeed is an island in Grasmere Lake, which can be seen in the background, behind the jogger, in the photograph on the right. The island comes pretty close to shore on the other side of the lake, and back in the 60s, there was a bridge that connected it to the rest of the park. Flower children, including a young woman named Beatrice Haven, would hang out there, smoke pot, practice "free love," as they used to say back then, and generally run wild. Haven disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and since that time people have reported seeing ghostly images on that island after dark. The park district removed the bridge years ago after neighbors complained about the activities going on there, and so if you want to spend the night on the island to see if Beatrice appears, better bring a boat. And no, monkeys do not run free around that island. I have no idea how it got that name, but perhaps the Denver Zoo might be willing to supply some monkeys during the summer months so that the place can live up to it's name. No harm asking.

Bosworth House

I walked past Bosworth House the other day, and it is looking good, as seen in the above photograph. However, it also looks pretty deserted.  It is located around the block from Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore, where I used to work as the bookkeeper. At that time, it was occupied by the Assistance League of Denver, which bought and restored it in the 1960s and used it as their headquarters. It was built in 1889 and was the home of a wealthy widow named Leona Bosworth. I toured it a few years ago during Open Doors Denver (an annual event that allows visitors into many public and private structures throughout the city), and was quite impressed. The Assistance League sold the place for $1.75 million in 2017, and the company that bought it planned to rent out offices there. However, thanks to the pandemic, office space is not in demand these days, and so empty (I think) it stands. A pity.

Revisiting The Littleton Museum

I decided to visit the Littleton Museum, located in the historic old town of Littleton, Colorado, last week for the first time since the start of the coronavirus. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find that they were operating on limited hours and by reservation only. I arrived at close to 2:30 P.M. and the volunteer at the desk was kind enough to schedule me into the 2:30 to 3:00 slot, which is when they close these days. The highlight of this museum is it's 1860s homestead farm and 1890s turn-of-the-century urban farm. They are called "living history farms," which means they have docents dressed up in costumes, and actual live farm animals, such as the cow seen in the photograph on the left.

The farms have horses, cows, steers, goats, donkeys, sheep, chickens, as well as turkeys, which is appropriate since Thanksgiving is little over a week away. And don't worry - I don't think these turkeys are heading for the chopping block anytime soon. I took the photograph on the right of a goat despite it's best effort to hide from me. Damn uncooperative animals.

The horse in the photograph on the left was none too happy to have it's photograph taken, either. I had to come back several times, until it was positioned just right, and even then it was standing in front of the sun, making for another tricky shot.

The donkey on the right was more than willing to have it's photo taken, although, once again, the position of the sun required a bit of Photoshop magic after the fact. My sister Susan, who lives up in Fort Collins, is quite fond of donkeys, but I have advised her not to adopt one, since keeping it in the courtyard of her townhouse might irritate the HOA. Killjoys one and all.

Big Troubles At RTD

As regular blog readers know, I use Denver's light rail train (part of the metro area's Regional Transportation District or RTD) quite often. It is very convenient and can take me downtown in about 20 minutes. Voters throughout the metro area approved a sales tax to build this system, and it is something like 70% complete. What remains is to extend 3 current lines. Unfortunately, the line to Boulder and Longmont would cost a fortune to construct, and thanks to a massive decline in passengers due to the coronavirus (health experts said riding public transportation was a death trip, which people found off-putting), I think the completion of this extension is in doubt. Just recently, I read that if the line is built, it won't be operational until 2050, ridership will be very low, and the express bus to Boulder (the Flatiron Flyer), established as an interim solution, actually takes less time to get to Boulder than the proposed light rail train. And we want to build this line why?

The November Mutt Of The Month

I took the above photograph of this month's mutt of the month on Old South Gaylord Street, a one block business district in Denver's Washington Park neighborhood. It was hanging out on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant, where it's owner was no doubt inside sampling that establishment's bill of fare. A number of restaurants have closed their doors on this street, as well as on Old South Pearl Street, a similar business district located on the other side of nearby Washington Park. Happily, even during the pandemic, all those establishments are being replaced by new restaurants, more than happy to serve the residents - and dogs - of this vibrant, and affluent, area.

A Long Ago Winter Vacation Spot

I ran across the photograph on the left of my Grandmother and Grandfather Hoyt the other day, which I believe was taken many years ago on the deck of their winter vacation rental in Newport Beach, California. They used to drive out there every winter and stay until spring. My Uncle Jack - their younger son - and his family lived in Pasadena, and so they had family both out there and back home in the Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, where my father Nelson, mother Mary, sister Susan, and I lived. They stayed in Newport Beach at a time when it was actually affordable, as opposed to now, a waterfront community for the super wealthy.

Eventually, Newport Beach became too expensive for them, and they bought a trailer in a very nice park for seniors in nearby Costa Mesa. After that, they moved to California permanently, and from then on we rarely saw them. However, both Susan and I fondly remember them when they lived in their house in Brainerd. I took the photograph on the right of the house, looking pretty much the worse for wear, when I visited Chicago back in 2010, and superimposed on it a photo of my grandparents at an anniversary party. My grandfather was a great gardener, and both the front and back of the house were filled with flowers. My father had his dental office in a front room off the porch for many years. The porch itself was his waiting room, and each night after work he would visit with his parents before coming home. My grandparents spent most of their time in a large enclosed back porch, often listening to White Sox games on the radio. Those were such happy times, and a completely different world from today. I know I am looking at the past through rose colored glasses, but some things you instinctively know are true.

Many Rivers To Cross

I just finished reading Many Rivers to Cross, the new Detective Superintendent Banks police procedural by Peter Robinson. These stories take place in West Yorkshire, England, and for such a rural area, I must say they have a lot of crime. This time a Muslim lad of 13 is found murdered and put in a garbage bin, which means a politically charged investigation for Detective Banks. At the same time, a friend of Banks, who was kidnapped from an orphanage in Moldavia at the age of 17 and forced into prostitution before finally making an escape, has started to track down her former tormentors to exact revenge. This is a very absorbing tale, well worth reading, and I strongly recommend it. And if you do happen to travel in Yorkshire anytime soon, watch your back.

The Christmas Tree Is Up At Union Station

The Christmas tree is now up at Denver's Union Station. Does this seem a little early to you, too? Not only that, but stores are filled with holiday merchandise, and Christmas commercials are already running on TV. I suppose it is the same every year, but it is still a shock to the system. Wasn't it just summer? Union Station, by the way, was renovated and turned into a playground for the city's hipsters a few years ago, with a hotel, restaurants, shops, and a large central area with plenty of comfy furniture. The Terminal Bar, seen in the background of the above photograph, was named in honor of the original Terminal Bar, located a few blocks away and now the home of Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar. The original Terminal Bar was also a favorite watering hole of Jack Kerouac, who is said to have rented a room upstairs. Good thing Kerouac isn't still around to see it. I have a sneaking suspicion he wasn't a sushi kind of guy.

Back To Remote Learning At DU

The University of Denver has decided that it will return to remote learning starting this Monday, due to the increased number of coronavirus cases on campus. Classes are scheduled to end by November 25th, and in a major break with tradition, finals will take place online two weeks later. Since most of the quarter has been taught in-person, a week or so of online classes shouldn't be much of an issue. The big question, however, is what happens if remote learning needs to continue during the winter quarter? Will students balk at having to pay $50,000 per year in tuition to sit in front of their laptops and take classes in their living room? I know I would. Granted, after working at the DU Bookstore for almost 30 years, I have never found DU students to be all that studious, but to miss out on all the parties and weekend ski outings? Bummer Dude!

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day, and in honor of this I am featuring a photograph of my father Nelson (seen on the far right) with two of his fellow officers during WWII. I'm not sure if the photo was taken in Abilene, Texas, where he underwent basic training, or Okinawa, where he was sent afterwards to join a MASH unit. My father was a dentist, and was drafted - much to his surprise - around the age of 35, probably in 1944. He just hated being a dentist, and my mother Mary told me that he actually liked being in the army - it meant he didn't have to go into the office for 4 years. He came back home to Chicago (again a guess) in 1948 and he, my mother, and sister Susan lived with my mother's parents before moving to our house in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago the following year. I myself arrived in January of 1953, to the great joy of everyone except Susan, who eventually forgave me for being born after about 50 years or so. Better late than never, right?

Fall At The Zoo Part II

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I went to the Denver Zoo Sunday afternoon to take a few photographs, including one of the orangutan seen on the left. This seems like a very friendly animal that is always willing to pose for a portrait, although sometimes it comes so close to the viewing window that I cannot get a good photo. Happily, Sunday afternoon it was in the sunshine, just hanging around, enjoying the fine fall weather, allowing for a good shot.

I was also able to get a good photo of the baby orangutan, too, as seen on the right, which is not an easy task, since it is always on the move, climbing up and down and all around. Fortunately, I was able to capture it in midair as it took a minute to look over at the zoo guests, no doubt wondering what it was going to perform next for it's doting audience.

Next I visited the mandrills, where I was glad to see that the baby mandrill was also out and about, running around the compound, running to it's mother, and then running up to the viewing window, putting his face against it, usually to look at the young children gazing back. It is obviously one smart creature to recognize that these are children, just like him. I am sure they would all love to play together, but I suspect zoo officials and their insurance providers would have some objections.

It was impossible to predict when the baby mandrill would run to the viewing window and make an appearance. And it was so fast that by the time I was about to take a photograph, it was already gone. I took the photograph on the right the second it appeared at the window, with no time to aim or steady the camera. I am happy it turned out as good as it did. And that ended my day at the zoo. Simon and Garfunkel once sang that "it is all happening at the zoo," and I guess that is still true, even 50 or 60 years after that famous song.

Fall At The Zoo

Yesterday afternoon was a perfect day to visit the Denver Zoo - sunny and 60 degrees. Not too warm for the animals to stay in the shadows, and not cold enough to keep them indoors. As always, Tobias the lion was happy to pose for photographs, as seen on the left. I know I have featured him many times before, but when such a beautiful animal like that is willing to stand still and look you in the eye for a portrait, how can you resist?

I was also able to photograph Tobias with one of his cubs, as seen in the photograph on the right. The cubs are pretty lively these days, now that the summer heat is past, and tend to run around all over the place, although yesterday they spent most of their time in an area that would have forced me to shoot directly into the sun, which is definitely not good if you want to take a photograph other than a silhouette. It was definitely very unthoughtful of them, although they finally did move into better light, which is when I was able to snap that shot.

I was also able to get a photograph of my friend the tiger, who was nowhere to be seen the last time I was at the zoo. Plus, last time, there was caution tape across the entrance to their compound, called The Edge, and a sign posted that said they were taking precautions because these big cats are especially susceptible to Covid. Happily they must have completed their mandatory 14 day quarantine and are now back outside.

Biden Wins! And Trump Delivers An Eloquent Concession Speech...

Just kidding. We learned yesterday that Joe Biden has won the presidential election. However, Donald Trump has stated that this was the most fraudulent election in U.S. history, and that he will fight in the courts (and, I suspect, by any other means) to retain power. I walked around downtown Denver yesterday, and people were celebrating the Biden-Harris victory everywhere. When I got to the Colorado State Capitol, a group of Trump supporters were there protesting. They were being protected by what looked like the entire City of Denver police force from the Biden supporters surrounding them, as seen in the photograph above. It looks like it will be an exciting two months until the inauguration. Trump has been strongly suggesting that this would happen, and so it should come as no surprise to anyone. This long-running reality TV show will be going out with a bang.

Walking Around Chautauqua Park

I drove up to Boulder yesterday afternoon and walked along the always busy Pearl Street Mall before heading to Chautauqua Park. This is a beautiful spot right beneath the Flatirons, and is the location of the Chautauqua Auditorium, a large wooden structure built in 1898 to host concerts, lectures, and other events, and happily, it still does. I remember years ago my sister Susan, mother Mary, and I attended a Peter Kater concert there, after having an early dinner at the Chautauqua Dining Hall, also built in 1898 and seen in the photograph on the left. Along with Susan's late husband George, we also had Sunday brunch a number of times on the outdoor patio there. A beautiful spot to just sit and enjoy the scenery.

The photo on the right shows the view you get from that patio. As I recall, the breakfasts were good, but sitting at your table along the railing and looking at the park and the mountains beyond was the real attraction. And I am happy to report that it looked like there were a fair number of people dining up there on a rather overcast, fall-like Friday afternoon.

In addition to the auditorium and the dining hall, there are a fair number of cottages located next to the park, which I believe can still be rented during the summer. When classes are in session at the nearby University of Colorado, they can be rented out by the faculty for the school year. Some of these cottages can be seen in the photograph on the left, with the Flatirons looming in the background. There are many popular hiking trails throughout the area, which makes it virtually impossible to find a parking spot on the weekend, especially during the summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day they have started charging $2.50 an hour to park there. I am glad it was still free back in the day, when we used to have brunch there. Knowing me, I would have insisted on finding a free parking spot, and it would have been a long walk to the Dining Hall for my poor old mother. What can I say? I am an incorrigible cheapskate.

Political Correctness Gone Wild At DU

The University of Denver is once again focusing on political correctness issues, which by no means is anything new. Back when I worked at the University of Denver Bookstore as the Finance Manager, this was always a hot-button issue. When Robert Coombe became chancellor in 2005, the officers of the Staff Advisory Council - a group of volunteers from various departments who work to enhance conditions for the staff - presented Coombe with an Indian headdress and peace pipe, with a message of "hail to the chief." They were immediately reprimanded and sent to diversity training, where I assume they were given a well deserved beating. And soon after this, the university eliminated Boone, the school mascot, a cartoon character of a pioneer wearing a coonskin cap. Not only was Boone not gender neutral, but it was also a pioneer. 

The Pioneers, by the way, is the name of the school's sports teams, and so it should come as no surprise that the university now wants to eliminate that name, too. Evidently pioneers are no longer politically correct, and even the very mention of them needs to be eliminated. I know that this country treated the Indians disgracefully, but I personally don't think the solution at this date is to villify the pioneers, who settled the west. If it were up to me, I would let the sports teams remain The Pioneers, bring back Boone, and set up a branch of the school's famed social work department at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in nearby South Dakota, which is one the poorest places in the country, and needs all the help it can get. I doubt the university will do this, since it seems to prefer appearance over substance. On the bright side, the new Community Commons Building, seen in the photo on the right, is about finished, and I hope to meet the new chancellor at the grand opening and tell him all my ideas. I'm sure he can't wait.

Discussing The Presidential Election With Stuart At Oregano's

I had pizza and beers with my friend Stuart (seen in the photograph above) at the Oregano's Pizza Joint in Littleton, Colorado yesterday evening, where we discussed the recent presidential election. Of course, neither of us knew at the time what the outcome would be, although Stuart thought it would be Biden. I myself take nothing for granted these days. What we both did agree upon was that the thin crust Chicago style pizza there is really good, even if, like Stuart, the family who owns the chain originally came from the north side of that city. I will always stay loyal to Vito and Nick's and Aurelio's, the south side pizza parlors that I grew up with, but when you are 1,000 miles away from Chicago, you take what you can get.

Blocks Away, Worlds Apart

I took the bus up to Colfax Avenue the other day, close to Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore, and walked from there to downtown Denver. I usually walk down 17th Street, but this time decided to take Colfax Avenue to see what was new on what Hugh Hefner once called "America's longest, wickedest street." And I must say, I was surprised to see so many empty storefronts and so many homeless people. A very depressing sight, and something that definitely needs to be addressed, not only here but nationwide. There is a ballot measure this year here in Denver that proposes increasing the sales tax to help the homeless, and that I hope will pass, and perhaps make a difference. 

Amazingly enough, 17th Street - running parallel to Colfax, just two blocks to the north - is a playground for hipsters, with restaurants, bars, boutiques, and upscale apartments. I took the photograph on the right at a place called Stoney's Uptown, which to me looks like ground zero for Denver's hipsters. I walked 17th Street all the way to downtown, and did not see a single homeless person. I am amazed that these two worlds exist so close together, but never interact. What strange times we live in.

Election Day!

Today is Election Day, the day we have been anxiously awaiting for months, if not years. People who have not voted early will be casting their ballots today throughout the 49 states. Will President Trump win a second term, or will Joe Biden win this bitterly fought contest? I say 49 states, since I live in Colorado, and President Trump announced in a speech this year that he was building "a big, beautiful wall" on the southern border of our state to keep the rapists, murderers, and Muslim terrorists from getting into our country. Here in Colorado we now use the map on the left, which someone evidently adjusted using a sharpie, no doubt inspired by the incident where Trump altered a National Weather Service map to justify a remark he incorrectly made about a hurricane threatening Alabama. Hopefully, if New Mexico goes for Trump this election, he will let it back into the union and stop building that wall.

This is definitely the most exciting election we have seen in our lifetimes, since the president has indicated that if he does not win, it will be because of massive fraud, and he might not accept a peaceful transition of power. Because of this, and his telling the Proud Boys -  a right wing militia group - to "stand down and stand by," buildings all over downtown Denver (as well as other cities) are being boarded up in case of possible Election Day riots and violence. Still another first for our country.  Sadly, if Trump does lose, politics will probably never be as exciting as they were the last 4 years. How boring is that?

Lunching With Mark

I had lunch yesterday afternoon with my friend Mark (seen in the photograph above) and his brother Mike in the backyard of their Denver home.  They treated me to Chinese food, which was excellent and just hit the spot. Mike works at the Denver Botanical Gardens and is in charge of the Alpine Garden there. Mark, as regular blog readers know, works at the University of Denver's Anderson Academic Commons (the library). Or, to be more precise, he works from home these days due to the pandemic. Mark tells me that DU, which is conducting in person classes this quarter, seems to be weathering the coronavirus quite well, although I have noticed on my infrequent walks through the campus that the Driscoll Center, where the now Follett run University of Denver Bookstore is located, remains closed, and the bookstore is only doing mail order or curbside pickup. That must not be good for their bottom line, although since they have fired all personnel except for the managers, their costs must be way down. As always, a company with a heart of gold. I expect nothing less from that outfit. And I am not just bitter because they laid me off. No way.