Best Masks 2009 | ArtsMyths | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Masks

ArtsMyths

Fire eater, belly dancer and mask maker Tiffany Smyth is young in years, but her skills as a craftsperson seem as old as the Renaissance, which is a clear influence for her. And it's a potent combination of youth and wisdom that goes into creating the flights of fancy she builds from leather, feathers and beads — from the most realistic elf ears you've ever attached to your head to larger-than-life black-light dragon masks with fiery haloes of flame. Lightweight and absorbent, they are also as comfortable as they are impressive to look at. This is your go-to, the next time you need to look smashing at a masquerade.

Best Milliner

Go Go Chapeaux

Hat-making is one of those old arts that, in the age of mass production and cookie-cutter style, are fast becoming lost. But that didn't stop milliner Erin Saboe from breaking the mold. Her impetus? Flat-out love. Saboe, who studied the milliner's craft at FIT in New York, loves hats and wants the world to know how wonderful a good one really is, which is why she opened Go Go Chapeaux. Here, she sells her own headwear — from popular newsboys to wide-brimmed pool hats in cheery fabrics — reshapes and customizes old ones, and continues her one-woman crusade to put a hat on every head.

Best New Store on Broadway

Sweet Action Ice Cream

Danielle Lirette
This hoppin' stretch of Broadway has been more than ripe for an ice cream store for a long time, and finally, Sweet Action, with its open-air storefront and funky flavors, delivers the goods. Creamery mavens Samantha Kopicko and Chia Basinger start with some fresh basics — milk and cream from Diamond D Natural Dairy and scintillating spices from Savory Spice Shop — and then throw everything for a loop by creating new tastes you never heard of in ice cream. Vanilla Porter, for instance (made with Breckenridge Brewery's dark brew), Horchata, Garam Masala and Brown Sugar Banana. More imaginable flavors include a dreamy White Russian, Chai Tea, Baklava and antioxidant-rich Pomegranate Sorbet, along with a vegan-friendly Coconut that will fit right into the neighborhood.

Best New Store on Colfax Avenue

Blue Sky Collective

There used to be a typical antique mall jammed into this warehouse-like West Colfax building, but that was before Jen Schafer and her Blue Sky Books and Media took it over. Now it's a diamond in the rough: Essentially a community gathering place in progress, it's not only home to Schafer's sprawling used bookstore, which donates a percentage of all sales to Doctors Without Borders, but it also offers basement space to KGNU's Trust the Dust non-profit used CD and vinyl record store and Skull Gate Games, a haven for role-playing gamers looking for more of the same. Upstairs, there are artist studios, a gallery and a dance studio; until this month, the Free Boutique clothing exchange also held forth in part of the space, and the Holistic Business Center, an organization giving workshops for small business owners, is in the process of setting up an office. But Schafer is also trying to show it off as place to hang out without spending a lot of money, by encouraging artists, musicians, authors and poets to perform, meet, jam and otherwise make use of the space in a community-building way.

Best Over-the-Counter Healer

Bonnie's Balms of Wheat Ridge

Made in a small kitchen in Wheat Ridge, Bonnie's line of natural salves and ointments are good for the aches and pains of an active life. They take the sting out of climbers' skinned knees and split thumbs, soothe sunburns and sore muscles and help repair cracked lips and feet. Tree resins, shea butter, arnica, comfrey root and Colorado sunflower oil are among the secret ingredients that go into Bonnie's expanding product line, which includes a climbers' salve, lip butter and the essential Pain Eraser. Distribution is a bit erratic — at present, the products can be found in spots ranging from a couple of Army surplus stores to the Colorado Mountain Club gift shop to an Ace Hardware store in Edgewater — but look for the Bonnie's brand to become as common as Burt's Bees as the word gets out about these locally produced healing marvels.

Best Paint Store

New Era Paint

Laurie Hessemer has lived in a lot of places, but when she decided to mine her background in green building supplies, she chose Colorado. Paint, she reasoned, is an affordable home-improvement commodity, especially for people who decide to stay and fix up their homes instead of selling, and that's how she conceived of New Era, the only store in the metro area that specializes in paint products that are free of those polluting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The cost for consumers, she says, is competitive with other types of paint, but here's what you will live without if you switch: paint odor and toxic fumes. Plus, VOC-frees come in a rainbow of hues and can be custom tinted. New Era is painting the town green.

Best Pet Boutique and Bar

Mouthfuls

Deb Dempsey and Tonya Payne have created a place where the eats are all natural, unprocessed and delish. New restaurant, you might ask? Not exactly: Mouthfuls is where Berkeley Park denizens and their pets try out a smorgasbord of doggie munchies, from hand-baked cookies and scrumptious training treats to bags of chow from makers like California Natural, Candidae and Nature's Variety Raw Frozen Diets. Canine or feline, pets all inhale the store's exclusive dehydrated chicken chunks, and the toy selection would fill many a doghouse with hours of indestructible fun.

Best Place to Buy a Maxi Coat

Nejashi Textiles and Gifts

The maxis are coming, the maxis are coming! Maybe not, but if you do find yourself hiding your legs underneath one in the coming seasons, have you thought about what to wear over it? Truthfully, the ankle-length coats at this Ethiopian boutique that caters to Muslims would do just as well over a mini when the fall breezes start to blow, and the price is right. Some coats are mighty trendy, such as the hip denim dusters that will keep you snug and stylish, and the shop's wide-leg jeans, tunic sweaters and embroidered caftans are well crafted and often stunning. What a way to make an entrance!

Best Place to Buy Re-Ment Miniatures

Talulah Jones

What is Re-Ment? It's a Japanese phenomenon, a company that manufactures Puchi Petites plastic miniatures, which resemble those fake food models used by Japanese restaurants to entice customers, only in diminutive form. There are dozens of sets to choose from, including $5 blind boxes. But beware: Puchi Petites are seriously addictive, and you'll find that if you buy the Seafood Surprise packet, with its tiny red plastic lobster, you might soon catch yourself coveting Healthy Happy Bagels or All American Apple Pie. It's childish. It's weird. It's cute. And if you want it, go straight to Talulah Jones.

Best Place to Get Whiskey and a Western

Watson's Liquor and Grocery

Stressful work environment? Bad breakup? Some days simply beg to be killed off with a bourbon, a beer and an old Western movie. Happily, you can get all three at Watson's, which has held down the corner of Ninth and Lincoln since the 1950s. The store started selling old Westerns — which are prominently on display above the counter — on DVD a couple of years ago. Priced at $7.99 each, they are popular around the holidays and on Father's Day, as well as with some regulars, one of whom has bought every title. Examples include: Apache Rose (1947), with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans; Abilene Town (1946), with Randolph Scott and Lloyd Bridges; Randy Rides Alone (1934), with John Wayne; and Tulsa (1949), with Susan Hayward and Robert Preston. Giddyup!

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