The view is fine inside and out at Platte River Bar and Grill

I recently stopped by Platte River Bar and Grill (5995 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton), a good local bar and also a good local restaurant serving Mexican food and burgers. I spotted a guy and his son, who looked about ten years old, sitting at the bar, eating chicken wings. After finishing a glass of Sprite, the kid asked the bartender for a can of Mr. Pibb, which I thought was strange, because I'd completely forgotten the soda still existed, kind of like TaB. A few minutes later, a fellow walked up to them, and the dad asked his son if he remembered "the Lizard Guy," who's apparently an expert on reptiles and even brings his lizards to the bar from time to time. The Lizard Guy suggested the kid look into getting a bearded dragon; for about three seconds, I thought about butting into the conversation and asking what kind of lizard Stacy Keach had in Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams.

Instead, I pried myself from the bar and headed out to the huge patio, which has the best view I've found at a bar, facing the mountains and overlooking the Platte River and Littleton Golf Course. A good assortment of folks — middle-aged people with kids, twenty- and thirty-somethings, bikers — were spread across the massive space, while the St. Louis-based Rockin' Jake Band kicked out some fine rock and roll. Platte River brings in rock and blues bands on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, and has a DJ on Friday nights. The bar also hosts poker on Monday nights at 7 and 10 p.m. and has trivia on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. And then there are the lizards, which follow no regular schedule.

Club scout: Not far from Platte River, the Blue Moo'd Lounge (5950 South Platte Canyon Drive in Littleton), a jazz and blues club and restaurant, celebrates its grand opening with Fusion Juice Jazz on Friday, July 31, and Brethren Fast on Saturday, August 1. The music starts at 8 p.m. and cover is $5. As of August 1, the Blue Moo'd promises to be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week – pretty expansive hours for Littleton – and serve both lunch and dinner.

Bar Standard (1037 Broadway) recently started Movie Mondays on its rooftop patio, where every week through September 14 the club will show films. See Night & Day, page 22, for details.