Spanky's Urban Roadhouse - Finally Turning Down The Sound?

My sister Susan and I returned to my Denver condo after her physical therapy session, and found the elevator out of order. Since Susan is having a difficult time walking after a fall, we decided to head to nearby Spanky's to wait until the elevator was back in service. I have not been to Spanky's, located just to the west of the University of Denver campus, in quite a while. The last few times I have been there, the music was turned up so loud you could not hear the person sitting across from you talking, and it actually hurt your ears to sit there. This time, however, the music was turned way down, and there was a fairly decent crowd actually interacting with each other. Was this a fluke, or has Spanky's decided to cater to a more mature, neighborhood type crowd? Let's hope the latter is the case. And by the way, the photograph above is of my sister Susan sitting at our table at Spanky's, contemplating her 90 Shilling.

It's Cold As Hell Outside - And Just How Cold Does Hell Get, Anyway?

It got up to a whopping 8 degrees yesterday afternoon here in Denver, but the heat wave is now over, and as of this morning, it is a rather cool six below zero. And naturally, I have to have drop off my car to have some work done by 8:00 A.M. so that I can catch the bus home without having to wait an hour or so. Nothing like waiting for a bus in below zero temperatures, especially with a wind chill of around -15. It would definitely be time to head to Stuart, Florida and those nice 70 degree temperatures, if only my sister Susan and I weren't renting our condo out down there to help pay expenses. And I am pretty sure our tenants would not want us to show up with our suitcases and "crash" there for a few days - or even better, a few weeks. Still, the snow does make it very pretty, especially in Denver's Washington Park, where I took the photograph on the left the other day, with Monkey Island in the background.

We've told our tenants down in Florida we will extend their lease for one more year, and so we will have to wait 18 month to start living the good life, commuting between Denver and Stuart at our leisure. In the meantime, we will just have to grin and bear it. Of course, the geese in the photograph on the right have the option of heading south any time they want, but instead choose to hang out here in Denver all year round, just like those damn Californians. And why do the geese put up with below zero temperatures instead of simply flying south? There is a reason why the word "birdbrain" was invented.

Living The Dream At Water Tower Place

A few days ago I mentioned in a blog that there was a short article in the January issue of Chicago Magazine about how various malls in and around Chicago are trying to attract customers at a time when malls are losing their popularity. One of them featured was Water Tower Place, which I used to visit on my day off from my job managing a Walden Bookstore in Chicago's western suburbs. I would walk a block from my apartment in Forest Park, board the "L" and be downtown in no time at all. I would then walk up North Michigan Avenue to Water Tower Place and have lunch at the McDonald's there. Then I would peruse Marshall Field's and the Rizzoli Bookstore before heading to Oak Street Beach and Lincoln Park. None of those stores are there anymore, and as far as I am concerned, that mall will never be like back in the good old days. I took the photograph on the left in 1978 showing the actual Water Tower (built in 1869 and famously surviving the Great Chicago Fire two years later), with the much more modern Water Tower Place in the background.

The nice thing about living in Forest Park, just west of Oak Park and only a block from the "L" stop at Harlem and Lake, was that you could head downtown even during a major snowstorm, and back in 1979, when I took the photograph on the right of the park around the old Water Tower, the snow never seemed to stop. Coming home from work each day, it was like driving though a canyon, with tall piles of snow on each side. Where I lived, we had to drive to a local elementary school with a plowed out parking lot in order to park your car. But on Fridays, my day off, I could head downtown without any hassles whatsoever, courtesy of the CTA. Granted, I lived in a studio apartment right across the street from the Daisy Hill Meatpacking Plant and the "L" train barn, but nothing is perfect in life, right? Just ask Donald Trump.

Urban Farmer

I went for a walk around Lower Downtown Denver the other day, and just for fun checked out the menu at Urban Farmer. This restaurant replaced McCormick's Fish House, which was a very popular restaurant at the corner of 17th and Wazee, just down the street from Union Station. Former President Bill Clinton famously ate there once after touring the nearby Tattered Cover Bookstore. I never paid much attention to it's replacement, Urban Farmer, and assumed it was some sort of casual dining spot specializing in vegetarian dishes. In fact, it is a steak house, and their steaks are quite pricey, some approaching one hundred dollars. And if you also want a potato, vegetable, or salad, it is extra. How many people can afford a dinner like that? Even if you are well off, would it not be a bit off-putting to spend such a large amount on a single dinner? I guess that is what expense accounts are for. I long for the days of the $8.95 steak special at Hops Bar and Brewery, where I used to dine in both Denver and Stuart, Florida. Gone but not forgotten, I'm afraid.

Saying Goodbye To Fort Collins

My sister Susan's townhouse up in Fort Collins is just about ready to be put on the market. Susan has decided she no longer feels comfortable living by herself and having to deal with stairs every day. And so she has moved to Denver, and is staying with me at my condo. This past Tuesday I drove up to her place to have new carpeting installed, per the recommendation of the realtor. It took over five hours to complete that installation, and so I took the opportunity to drive around town one final time and take a few photos, including at the Annual Flower Trial Gardens, located outside Colorado State's University Center for the Arts. It is quite beautiful when it is in bloom from May to October, but this time of year seems a bit stark, not to mention deserted, as seen in the photograph on the left.

Fort Collins has a lot of open space, in addition to many bike and walking trails that run all through town, including along the Poudre River and Spring Creek, seen in the photograph on the right. With a beautiful CSU campus, a wonderful and vibrant old town, and Poudre Canyon just a few miles away, it is a wonderful place to live. And I haven't even mentioned the Odell Brewing Company and its great patio. I am sure we will be up there to visit from time to time, but it really won't be the same. Of course, I am assuming the townhouse will sell quickly, although after the realtor told me her concerns about deferred maintainence at the townhouse, that might not be true.

Fort Collins has a lot of wildlife, too. It is the only place owned by a family member where I have seen large deer with huge antlers hanging out in the front yard. Susan has also seen foxes and skunks running around her place, and some people have even spotted bears and moose in the area. Granted, I did not see any such animals there this past Tuesday, and had to make due with the photograph of the squirrel on the left, which technically speaking is still part of the wildlife population. Of course, we also had such beasts where I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and so exotic it isn't. But Fort Collins is still a great town, no matter if the wilder wildlife tend to hide out. 

My Mother Mary's Birthday

Today would have been my mother Mary's 107th birthday if she were alive today. The photograph on the left was taken in front of her condo in Stuart, Florida, a place she really loved. She and my father Nelson moved there from Chicago back in 1976, and after he passed away, she continued to live there for almost 30 years. She had more friends down there than at any other time in her life, and even hurricanes didn't faze her. In her later years, she was hard of hearing, and slept soundly through those storms without hearing any of the howling winds outside. All for the best, I now realize. Happy Birthday Mother!

The January Issue Of Chicago Magazine

I just finished perusing the January issue of Chicago Magazine. From the feature story on the cover, titled Our 30 Favorite Things to Eat Right Now, seen in the photograph above, you can tell that this publication is obsessed with food. This article features the top dish at 30 different restaurants in Chicago, and I have to admit, some of these menu items sound good. On the other hand, a lot of them leave you shaking your head. More interesting was an article about street photographer Jay King, who spent the pandemic going down into his basement and printing photographs he took during the 60s and 70s. In the article, King said he took these photographs, which are featured in this month's issue, not to sell, but because he enjoyed taking them, which is as it should be. There was also a small article about how some of the major shopping malls in the Chicago area are reinventing themselves as entertainment centers as the popularity of malls declines. Two of these malls I used to visit when I lived in Chicago, including Oakbrook Center in the western suburbs and Water Tower Place on North Michigan Avenue. And all I can say is that they will never recreate the atmosphere at Water Tower Place back when Marshall Field's and Lord and Taylor were there. I would often take the "L" downtown on my days off, have lunch at the Water Tower Place McDonald's, and then browse the Rizzoli Bookstore across the way. Now that's what I call living the dream.