Denver's Hippest Nightclub

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I visited Denver's newest food hall Wednesday afternoon to check out "the scene." And as unofficial "king of the hipsters" here in Denver (according to my friends Bill and Renee), I felt I was duty bound to also check out Denver's newest, hottest nightclub, The Temple, located on South Broadway just two blocks to the north of that food hall.  And yes, the photograph on the left is indeed the entrance to The Temple.  There is no sign outside, so the only way I could find the place was to look up the address on the internet.  I was visiting it around 5:00 in the afternoon, and the place didn't open it's doors until 10:00 P.M., so I assume that was why it seemed a bit deserted.  This area of South Broadway, by the way, is filled with empty storefronts, pawnshops, and homeless people (one of whom can be seen in the photo with his dog), and so I had a hard time feeling the hipster vibe.

After taking a look at the place, I walked down to Broadway Market, which although still in this dreary neighborhood, actually had people inside, and was fairly lively.  After I took some photos there, I walked back the way I had come and took a photograph looking toward The Temple from a different angle.  There was a mural of Prince on the wall - always a sign that hipsters might be in the neighborhood - and I took a photograph of it, with still more homeless people in the background.  It is pretty damn cold around here these days, especially after the sun sets, and I really feel bad for these homeless people, sleeping on the sidewalk and in doorways.  Hopefully the obviously well off hipsters who show up around here at 10:00 P.M. will give a few bucks to these poor souls who have to endure winter in Denver outside.

And just to add a historical note to this post, Denver's previous hottest nightclub, Beta, seen in the photo on the left, went out of business this past fall.  It was just a block away from Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies play, and I have walked past it for years thinking it was a vacant building.  It evidently had the same hours as Temple (Wednesdays from 10 until 2 and Fridays and Saturdays from 9 until 2), and so it was extremely rare when I was around to actually see people going into the place.  However, I must say I like this building much better than The Temple, and there is actually a banner outside stating it's name, against all hipster rules.  I am not sure how they got away with that, especially since they were one of the top 25 nightclubs in America. One of these days, I will try to stay up past 10 and actually visit one of these establishments, dressed in one of my finest outfits.  I will just have to go through the closet and see if I still have of those old leisure suits.

Exploring The Food Hall Craze

Food halls seem to be popping up all over the place.  Here in Denver, we now have Zeppelin Station, The Preservery, Stanley Market, the Denver Milk Market in LoDo, Denver Central Market in RiNo, The Source Market Hall, also in RiNo, Avanti Food + Beverage in LoHi, and now Broadway Market.  I know these food halls are popping up all over the country, but what I really want to know is if everyplace else in the country is giving their neighborhoods all these crazy acronyms. In Denver we have LoDo, RiNo, LoHi, SoBo, and God knows what else.  Are we too cool here to actually pronounce the full name?  But I digress (as usual). Yesterday was such a dreary day that I decided to head down to South Broadway to check out Broadway Market, the latest addition to the genre. As you can see from the photograph on the left, the patrons of Broadway Market are a mellow bunch - they are actually smiling for the camera.  Probably had a few brews.

I must admit that I like the vibe at these food halls.  They feature a wide variety of food stalls, and the atmosphere is relaxed and fun.  There is always a bar featuring a wide variety of cocktails, beer, and wine, and Broadway Market even features what they call a "beer wall." You evidently get some sort of "fob" card as you walk in, and can then go over to the beer wall, sample up to 24 different beers, then choose which one you want to drink. Afterwards, you settle up at the checkout counter, if you can still walk that far.  Sounds like one of the greatest technological inventions of the age to me.

I myself decided to give the beer wall and the bar a pass, and for good reason.  I once drove over to the Lower Highlands neighborhood to visit Avanti Food + Beverage.  In addition to the usual plethora of food stalls, there was a bar both on the lower level and on the rooftop, which has a spectacular view of downtown Denver.  It was a wonderful place to stand on a warm summer evening and take in the scenery, but I'll be damned if the beer didn't cost $7.00.  I mean seriously - there are views in the world I would certainly pay $7.00 to see, but not of downtown Denver (and no offense meant).  Cruising around the Broadway Market, I noticed a lot of the stalls were selling sandwiches for $12.00, and so I had no intention of finding out what a beer would cost. Next time I visit, perhaps I will just bring in my own beer. I also have to mention that the South Broadway neighborhood is a bit iffy.  Lots of homeless people hanging out there.  But happily, there is a pawn shop right across the street, just in case you have to find a way to pay for those $7.00 beers.

A Cold Winter's Walk...

This past Sunday the morning's low was 6 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and I decided to stay home and watch a spring training baseball game from sunny Florida.  However, after the game, I was a bit stir crazy, and since the temperature had heated up to 8 degrees, decided to take a walk over to nearby Observatory Park to get a little exercise.  I put on my sweater, thermal Michigan State sweatshirt (long story), and stocking cap, and headed out the door.  This is the same outfit I wore when I worked as a rural post office carrier in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and I must say, I felt quite warm.  And unlike working at the post office, I knew I would be home within the hour, as opposed to having to stay out until all hours of the night.  And no, I am not still bitter.

In any case, the Observatory Park neighborhood is quite nice.  Many of the houses surrounding the park are beautiful old Victorians, although like many Denver neighborhoods, some of these older homes have been torn down to make room for McMansions.  I took the photograph on the right of the homes just across the street from the park, and I must say, I would not mind living here at all, as long as someone else paid the mortgage, the property taxes, and the heating bills. On a hunch that I will not find a person willing to do this, I guess I will just have to be happy with my condo across the street from the University of Denver, just a short walk from this beautiful neighborhood.

Speaking of the University of Denver, I finished my walk strolling around the campus.  I had planned on walking around the grounds and then heading into the Driscoll Center, the location of the DU Bookstore, where I worked as the store's Finance Manager for almost 30 years, but then remembered the north side of the center has been torn down to make room for a new student center.  If I did make it across the bridge connecting the north and south sides of the complex, it would be a long drop to ground level.  Best to just take the walkway next to it and get home in one piece.  I must really be getting old, avoiding those types of daredevil activities I enjoyed so much when I was younger.  I probably won't even jump off my 4th floor balcony into the condo building's pool this summer.  What a bummer.

Dog Walk

I drive up to Fort Collins from Denver twice a week these days to help my sister Susan out with chores (driving to the grocery store, the library, the beauty parlor, etc.), and one of my duties is to take her dog Blackberry out for a walk (her other dog, Tutu, is a Yorkie that refuses to go out in the cold). Blackberry seems to love the cold, however, and when we leave the house runs as fast as she can to the green space around the apartment complex across the street.  There are evidently wonderful smells over there, and it is almost impossible to get her to go back home.  I took the photograph on the left of her while she was looking back at me, wondering why I was not moving forward in the quest for new smells.

Yesterday, on the first part of the walk, we passed the entrance to the farm next door.  At least it used to be a farm.  My sister tells me it belongs to an older couple who retired from farming but still live there, and who kept an entire square block of land that is now simply prairie that attracts wild turkeys, deer, foxes, and untold numbers of birds.  It is a very pleasant open space right in the middle of a residential area.  It is a great place to walk and get an idea of what the area looked like before it was developed. However, I would not want to be the one to have to pay the property taxes on it.  I imagine when that couple sold the rest of the land to developers, they must have gotten enough to maintain the rest of the grounds during their retirement.  A win-win, as we say in the business world,  for both them and the surrounding neighbors.

Streaming A Baseball Game From Roger Dean Stadium

As regular blog readers know, I have decided to subscribe to MLB.com. allowing me to watch every single televised baseball game this year except those involving the home town Colorado Rockies, as opposed  to paying the same amount of money ($120) to sit in the worst seat in the house and attend the Colorado Rockies' Opening Day.  And so, since the temperature outside was 9 degrees and it was snowing, I decided to stream a spring training game on my computer.  Amazingly enough, the game between the Chicago Cubs and my south side heros, the Chicago White Sox, was not being televised.  Instead, I watched the St. Louis Cardinals play the New York Mets, which was being played at Roger Dean Stadium, where I have attended many spring training games as well as Florida State League games.  This is the nearest baseball stadium to my sister Susan and my condo in Stuart, Florida, which we inherited from our parents.  I took all but one of the photographs in the above collage off the computer.  The other photograph I took of my mother Mary at one of the Jupiter Hammerheads minor league games many years ago.  I truly enjoyed watching the game, even it was between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets.  The Mets won, 10 to 8, by the way.

Remembering The Hoffbrau

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I attended the First Friday Art Walk on Denver's Santa Fe Drive this past Friday night.  Earlier that afternoon, I had taken the bus from my condo to the corner of Josephine and Colfax, and then walked down 17th street to downtown and from there to Santa Fe Drive.  On the way, I passed what used to be the Hoffbrau Tavern and Grill, which is just a few blocks from the apartment where I used to live at Parkway Center. When my mother flew into town (via airplane) from Florida for a visit, I would pick her up at the airport and we would often have dinner here.  It was a very cozy, low key place that served reasonably priced steaks.  It is long gone, and the building has hosted a number of restaurants since then.  I took the photograph on the left of the back of the place, showing both a huge mural and no cars in the parking lot, always a bad sign for a restaurant.

Coming around the front, I saw that the latest incarnation of the place is The Denver Pony.  The marquee still advertises happy hour from 3 until 6 Monday through Friday, but since it was almost 5:00 P.M. and there was not a soul around, I had to assume the place was closed for good.  Looking at the photograph on the right close up, I also saw graffiti on the front doors, still another bad sign for a going business. This building is located at 13th and Santa Fe Drive, and being only a few blocks away from Parkway Center, a very large apartment complex, it used to draw a decent crowd. It was built in 1883, and as I recall from my last visit years ago, had a quiet, old time charm to it.  I am not sure what happened - possibly just a victim of too many restaurants competing against each other.  My friend Wally has often suggested opening up a bar called Geezers, catering to an older crowd that prefers a quiet atmosphere, as opposed to music blaring at a volume that rivals jet airplanes taking off.  I have often suggested to him that I could be the idea guy, Wally the money guy, and our friends Darrel and Linda, who used to own a high traffic restaurant, could run the place.  Seems fair to me. This might be the place.  But those murals will have to go.  Your job Darrel.

The First Friday Of March

Yesterday was the first Friday in March, and so I decided to head down to Denver's Santa Fe Art District for the First Friday Art Walk.  This is the Month of Photography here in Denver, and so a number of galleries were featuring photographs for a change.  At the Center for Visual Art, run by Metropolitan State University, they were featuring photographs by photographers from across the country with the theme of oppression and institutionalized discrimination.  The photograph on the left shows reflected images by Krista Wortendyke, which to me were the most visually impressive.  This series was meant to question our reliance on mass media for our images and news accounts of current events.  By the way, the Santa Fe Theater, seen in the background, is looking a bit frayed around the edges these days, and as far as I can tell is now a dive bar.

Just down the street, the Knoll gallery was featuring a series of photographs by recently retired lawyer Randall Sampson.  He decided to make a bicycle trip from Washington State to Portland, Maine, and took a series of photographs with his I-Phone along the way.  A lot of them were quite good, and a lot of them were just so so. There were a lot of photos, and although he could have pared them down to just the best of the best, I think that the exhibit was more about the experience than just the photographs, with a lot of explanatory detail on the walls. The photograph on the right shows Knoll Gallery from the outside looking in, my usual perspective on most things.

And as I have remarked a number of times on this blog, there seems to be a lot of vacancies in the Santa Fe Art District these days.  Two very large storefronts - the Artwork Network space, which has downsized, and the John Fielder Photography Gallery - remain empty, as well as a number of other, smaller spaces.  Is it because winter is a bad time for art galleries, or because the galleries can no longer afford increasing rents in the district?  Kanon Gallery, an artist's collective, is moving to Lakewood, Colorado, for God's sake, near Colfax and Pierce. And therefore, for the Month of Photography, I will be visiting galleries in various neighborhoods across the city, most likely where the rents are cheaper (for now). I guess the stereotypical view of the starving artist is still valid.