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Best Of Denver^® 2016

We were sitting in the down-home bar that serves 2016’s Best Breakfast Burrito — Smothered, looking across the intersection at the upscale Chinese spot that’s the Best New Restaurant in Denver. This intersection at the corner of 35th and Larimer streets is one of the many spots in the city where old is colliding with new, where the working-class Bud drinkers heading to Phil’s Place are snagging the parking places vacated by diners who’ve just tried turkey gizzards and marrow fried rice at Hop Alley, rubbing elbows — and maybe more — with fans headed to Denver’s Best Long-Running Drag Show at Tracks.

But for all the rapid changes in Denver, some things here remain remarkably consistent. The city’s history continues to fascinate natives and newcomers alike; it’s an intriguing combination of Old West lore and the true tales of people who arrived here with a desire to create something new, whether it was the city’s first brewpub or the prototype of what today is the world’s largest burrito chain or an authority-defying lifestyle that inspired the Beat Generation. Hop Alley is named for the area in what is now LoDo that was home to Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s — newcomers who faced hostility from residents who’d only beaten them to Denver by a few years, maybe just a few months. It’s only a few blocks from the warehouses where Jack Kerouac worked in the late ’40s, from where Coors Field emerged fifty years later, and it’s in the heart of the RiNo neighborhood, where newcomers are flocking today, paying the high rents that are pushing out so many artist studios and DIY venues — and facing hostility from residents who’ve only beaten them to Denver by a few years, maybe just a few months.

We were sitting at Phil’s Place with Rich Grant, former communications director for Visit Denver, the city’s convention bureau, and co-author of 100 Things to Do in Denver Before You Die, slated to be released any day. And as we compared notes about the basics natives and newcomers alike should know — to climb Longs Peak before you blow out your knees on Outhouse at Winter Park, to attend an Easter sunrise service at Red Rocks (when it isn’t snowed out), to be prepared for late-March snowstorms that can bury all good intentions under a foot of the white stuff, to eat before you eat at Casa Bonita — we realized how challenging it is to try to put all the wonderful things about life in Denver in a single book, or a single issue of Westword. This city is simply too big to be easily contained, changing too fast. While 100 Things to Do in Denver is an excellent beginner’s run, the Best of Denver 2016 often approaches Outhouse in its advanced awards, although you can cruise through many of the hundreds of honors you’ll find inside.

This is our 33rd annual Best of Denver, a giant beast of an issue that celebrates so much about what we love in this city right now, from its cowtown heritage to the rare new building that’s actually a welcome addition to the skyline. While we can’t honor everything every year, taken as a whole, 33 years of the Best of Denver add up to one big love letter to our town. And that will never change.

Best Of Denver^®

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Best Of Denver® 2016

Best Of Denver® 2016

Best Of Denver®

Arts & Entertainment

Best Free Entertainment

First Friday

Best New Festival

Denver Small Press Festival

Best Annual Festival

People's Fair

Best Zine Festival

Denver Zine Festival

Best Free Comedy Show

Too Much Fun!

Best Comedy Night

Lucha Libre & Laughs

Best Comedy Show in Boulder

The Boulder Comedy Show

Best Comedy Club

Comedy Works Downtown

Best Comedy Podcast

Empty Girlfriend

Best Film Series for Boss Hepcats

In a Lonely Place

Best New Super 8MM Film

Tiny Cinema's Moonglow

Best Film Series for Theater Lovers

Sie FilmCenter

Best Recurring Classic Film Series

Scream Screen

Best Mini Film Festival

CineLatino

Best Film Festival

Denver Film Festival

Best Movie Theater — Programming

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Best Movie Theater — Food and Drink

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Best Movie Theater — Comfort

United Artists Denver Pavilions 15

Best Web Series

Behind the Smile

Best Civic Olympics

Stompin' Ground Games

Best Pop-Up Museum

Black Cube

Best Incentive to Visit a Museum

Clyfford Still Museum free programs

Best Deal for Artists

MCA Denver I'm an Artist program

Best Move by the History Colorado Center

New programming

Best Museum Redo

Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising

Best New Multi-Purpose Art Space

The Art Gym

Best Arts District

River North

Best Art Party for Non-Artists

Sculpture Brunch

Best Incubator for Visiting Artists and Scholars

Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design

Best Window Onto the Creative Process

Denver Art Museum Artists at Work Program

Best DIY Space for Academics

Counterpath

Best Lowbrow Art Gallery

Sally Centigrade

Best Public Art Mural

Project Colfax

Best New Public Art

"Shadow Array," by Patrick Marold

Best Gallery Show — Solo

John Buck

Best Gallery Show — Group

Unexpected Narratives

Best Museum Exhibit

Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty

Best Of Denver^® 2016

Best Of Denver^® 2016

Best Of Denver^®