Best Of Denver® 2005 Winners
Goods & Services
Best Store on the 16th Street Mall
Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau outpost on 16th Street was located a few blocks down the mall until three months ago, when it moved into new digs on California Street. While the inside is all new, the services are the same: Tourists can come in, look at maps and buy Denver-related trinkets. For natives -- or native wannabes -- there's a Ticketmaster and RTD outlet as well as little-known factoids about the Mile High City.
You're at a hot concert, but you're running out of cash for cold beer. Bummer, dude. But wait -- it's the Fabulous Free ATMobile to the rescue! Last summer, Compass Bank rolled out a customized mobile van that visits fairs, festivals, concerts and sporting events (it made its debut at the Elephant Rock Cycling Festival in Castle Rock), dispensing fee-free cash from two NCR machines. There's no such thing as a totally free lunch, of course: While the service is free no matter where you bank, you'll have to work hard to avoid all the Compass marketing materials touting other services.
Parking in Cherry Creek is a nightmare -- no two ways about it. Oblivious pedestrians stream through the streets, giant-ass SUVs block sight lines, and the few parking garages are so narrow that using them requires a death wish. Hopping the bus to the swanky district doesn't have the cache of arriving in, say, a new Mini Cooper or a Crossfire -- but a bike, well, there's a certain charm to two wheels. And the Cherry Creek Bike Rack is there to care for your speedster. Tucked between the Janus building and Hapa Sushi, the tiny shop functions much like a coat check: Employees lock your bike up tight and give you a claim ticket so you can return in a few hours, at the end of the day -- or even the next, if you down a few too many at the Cherry Cricket. Best of all, the service is free, thanks to the feds. The boys in Washington gave a grant to Denver-based Transportation Solutions, which advocates for better -- you guessed it -- transportation solutions. The public-private partnership then teamed up with Campus Cycles to set up the Bike Rack. Happy trails.
Yes, we all know that parking in Cherry Creek is terrible. There's never enough space, the meter rates are murder, and valet? Forget it. No one wants some nose-picking dweeb in a rented blazer getting his goat stink all over the leather of the new Lexus. But here's a secret: Just north of the intersection of Third Avenue and Columbine Street is a stretch of road where parking is not only available, but free. It's not the most convenient location in all of Cherry Creek, but during the six o'clock dinner rush when every spot within six blocks has been taken, there always seems to be room for one more. And you know what they say: Beggars can't be choosers.
Best Parking in LoDo
Wewatta St. between 16th and 19th streets
The construction of Wewatta Street in the Platte Valley from 15th Street to Park Avenue West is finally complete, making it the best parking in LoDo. The hordes have yet to find this convenient oasis, which, at the moment, remains meter- and pay-kiosk-free. Just pull over, step out, walk across the Union Station light-rail platform and hop the 16th Street Mall shuttle to your drinking destination. Or you can enjoy the evening while strolling along 16th Street: Wewatta is just one block from Wynkoop Street. The strip between 16th and 19th streets has a two-hour-parking restriction until 10 p.m., but local nightlife doesn't get started until after 10, anyway. And there's no street sweeping after 2 a.m., so if your night is a little too eventful, feel free to leave your car and take a cab.
Have pocket bike, will travel. Boulder-based NightRiders has been caring for Pearl Street Mall drunks for nearly five years, and last September the company finally brought its for-hire designated drivers to the LoDo-reveling throngs. The best part is, they drive you home in your own vehicle -- returning on their collapsible scooters -- so you never have to bum a ride back to your car the next morning. Just dial them up, and they're on their way. Cheers!
For the hopelessly tech-dependent, the battery-powered Segway may just become the city vehicle of choice. Four grand gets you one of the self-balancing, no-pedaling-required human transporters that go -- and park -- anywhere. Belmar shopping center's security forces are rolling on them, and now they're being spotted on the most fashionable LoDo streets. That's because Len Osmond recently opened Segway of Denver in the Waterside Lofts building, just across the street from the Pepsi Center, gambling that urban hipsters are tired of battling downtown parking meters. Just be sure to stay on the city's sidewalks: Segways only go 12.5 mph.
All hail Rodney's, the parking savior of Cherry Creek. While all the usual suspects provide valet service for their gas-guzzling guests -- Whole Foods even offers it on weekends -- nobody would expect it of this divey fern bar. Still, Rodney's is offering it up for free -- yes, free! -- after 5:30 p.m. when customers come in for, at least, a cocktail. All the more reason to visit this outpost of smoker culture hidden in the basement of ritzy Cherry Creek North.
Best Store at Denver International Airport
Mile High Harley-Davidson
Airport retail shops capitalize on the wretched disposition of the procrastinator. Usual suspects such as the Body Shop and the Discovery Channel Store offer travelers a chance to hurriedly snag something meaningful for the family before boarding the flight home. But if Grandma has been hinting at some leather biker chaps for her birthday, head to the mezzanine of Concourse B, where Mile High Harley-Davidson has a selection of biker apparel, including T-shirts, leather wallets and jewelry. They also carry enough shot glasses to keep you stocked in gifts till next year.
Miss Talulah's has hit one out of the park. After almost five years in the Ballpark neighborhood, the dainty shop filled with all things ladylike and out of the ordinary headed to a new home in the just-built Stapleton Town Center. You'll still find the thoughtful mix of beautiful jewelry, artisan handbags, brocade slippers, Mariebelle chocolate products, soaps and lotions, but the bigger, more modern space also means more stuff. For the new shop, owner Robin Lohre forayed into patio furniture decorated in funky stripes and polka-dots, and she's taking a cue from the Uptown Talulah Jones by stocking children's toys, books and adorable baby clothes. Welcome home.
All the goods inside Ten Thousand Villages bear the "Fair Trade" stamp, which means the artisans who created them -- women, mostly, from Third World countries -- were justly compensated for their labor. So you can feel very, very good about dropping a little coin in this globally minded boutique. You'll certainly want to. The store is a wondrous place to find unique items for the home, from hand-woven floor mats and crockery from Southeast Asia to colorful bedspreads from India. At Ten Thousand Villages, you'll have the whole world in your hands.
Best Souvenir Store on the 16th Street Mall
Where the Buffalo Roam
Most stores on the 16th Street Mall are souvenir stores, which is why any visiting businessman who suddenly needs a shirt to wear to an important meeting may wind up wearing a T-shirt displaying a well-endowed woman and the saying "Get a load of these peaks." Sure, Where the Buffalo Roam has some of the same stupid trinkets, but it also has a stash of University of Colorado memorabilia that includes soon-to-be collector's items. There's no Ward Churchill doll, but will a teddy bear wearing a pink sweatshirt with the football team's logo and the word "Mom" do? Go, Buffs!
The Pearl Street Mall may be close to wholesale commercialization, but in the trendy West End neighborhood adjacent to the shopping mecca, there's still an independent flavor in the air. That holds true for nearby Atmosphere, a loft-looking "lifestyle" store that combines furniture, fashion accessories and baby clothes. The swank amalgam includes Mueller refrigerators from Germany (available in 200 colors), retro diaper bags, playful Offi birch furnishings for children, furniture upholstered in '50s-era fabrics, and tons more stuff that might be right at home in these stainless-steel modern times.
When David Bolduc, owner of the Boulder Book Store on the Pearl Street Mall, decided last year that he wanted to promote local shopping, he imported a slogan from Austin, Texas, which has had a successful "Weird" campaign going for years. But that's really no competition: Can Austin be one-tenth as weird as Boulder? Bolduc printed up 10,000 bumperstickers that say "Keep Boulder Weird: Support Local Businesses," which he hands out gratis. He also sells hats, T-shirts and mugs with the message.
Wendy Marlow, Alisa Dowell and Sara Thurston -- better know as DJ Sara T -- made big alterations to Denver's fashion scene this year by giving South Broadway staple Sugar an extreme makeover. The result: Chielle. The name is a combination of Thurston's and Dowell's dogs' names, but it also adds up to the very clever "girl energy": "Chi" means "energy" in Chinese, and "elle" translates to "she" in French. The new shop features designs by locals along with national brands, and the prices are a steal, with bright-colored leather cuffs for spring at just $15, rings galore at $10 and shoes for under $50. If only all makeovers were this good.
Indigena Gallery has really come into its own since moving to a charming little house on Tennyson Street last year. Once constrained in a smaller, darker, harder-to-find space, Sandra Renteria's Haiti-centric, Fair-Trade marketplace and gallery has stretched out physically and psychically to fill the sunny, brightly painted rooms. The merchandise is always changing, but regular staples are whimsical Haitian folk-art paintings, sequined vodou flags and metal sculptures hammered out of drum lids. In April, Renteria will load up on beads and handmade textiles from all over the globe, as well as functional Moroccan cookware known as tagines. Later this year, she'll refocus with a show of paintings by respected Haitian artist Turgo Bastien.
The original Five Green Boxes was a wonder, the store you wanted to move into and
never leave. At least, never leave without an overloaded shopping bag. But then proprietors Charlotte Elich and Carrie Vadas closed up shop and relocated down the street to a smaller location that could only fit smaller merchandise. Deep down, though, they knew it wasn't enough. They missed their original, home-oriented concept. This year they brought back the spacious old store, dubbing it Five Green BoxesŠUnpacked. The little store is still there, with its goofy plastic shoes and silken scarves in watercolor hues, but now the big store is there for the big stuff: daffodil lamps, summer patio lanterns, butter-yellow garden furniture and a floor full of rescued chairs and ottomans that have been reupholstered in hand-dyed, boiled-wool artisan designs. It's the best of both worlds.
Best New Store on Colfax Avenue (Since March 2004)
ArmAzem Bookstore & Cafe
Owners Mauricio Vieira and Blair Dunn started waving the Brazilian flag proudly from their Colfax Avenue outpost, ArmAzem Bookstore and & Cafe, last March. Since then, the shop has developed a loyal following of book enthusiasts and Colfax-lovers, thanks to its well-culled selection of novels and nonfiction, free wi-fi, Portuguese discussion groups (armazem is Portuguese for "general store") and a sidewalk patio that offers prime people-watching. Fiercely local and eclectic, ArmAzem is the epitome of the New Colfax.
The Denver Book Mall has more than two dozen booksellers all housed in a big, bright storefront on Broadway's book row. So whether bibliophiles are looking for a rare first edition or a pulp novel to kill some time with, there's a good chance they'll find it. For a near-perfect chance of scoring, go in search of a Colorado author's latest release or vintage, hard-to-find tome. The back of the shop is packed full of novels by Greeley-based sci-fi wonder-gal Connie Willis, as well as a host of John Dunning's cop-turned-book-dealer mysteries. But if you're not ready for an earful about our local scribes, don't open your mouth: Each proprietor is a fount of non-stop literary information and intrigue.
Best Bookstore for Readers Who Have Time (and Life) on Their Hands
Denver Book Fair
In the digital age, people don't browse anymore; they use their browsers to search databases. For vintage browsing, though, this is the place -- and not just for well-thumbed paperbacks. There are stacks and stacks of old magazines: muscle mags, guns, golf, aviation, decorating, a Life from the week your favorite baby boomer was born, Architectural Digest, Oui and, of course, a collection of National Geographic that stretches back to the early 1900s. Students of the twentieth century, breathe in the pulpy atmosphere, and leave your laptops behind.
Best Library in Which to Read The Fountainhead
Ross-Broadway Branch Library
There's a special ambience about the Ross-Broadway Branch Library, a certain feeling that if you close your eyes, you might open them to find Frank Lloyd Wright (reputedly the inspiration for Ayn Rand's Fountainhead character, Howard Roark). The Ross-Broadway branch was built in 1951 in the Prairie School style that Wright popularized, and it featured stunning woodwork, stained-glass windowpanes, made-to-order reading benches and bespoke burgundy benches. After more than fifty years in service, the library was getting a little tattered around the edges, but recent renovations restored some woodwork and window glass, added fixtures and counters, and modified the entryway for easier access for the disabled. The worn, frame-banging entry doors were finally replaced with sturdy, silent hardwood ones in a repro-Wright style. So silent are they now that, if you listen closely, you can almost catch the faint echo of Gary Cooper's voice giving a Roark soliloquy.
Best Online Service for Ten-Year-Olds
Denver Public Library WonderWeb
Lots of organizations have child-friendly websites, but the DPL's section for kids is downright chummy. The site offers a monster-truckload of homework resources (including access to the library's interactive ask-a-librarian feature, Smarty Pants); quick links to other sites designed with kids in mind, such as the Colorado Virtual Library for Kids; info on how to read aloud to a dog for the popular Paws-to-Read program; a second-by-second countdown to the release of the new Harry Potter novel this summer; and even an opportunity to write book reviews and post them online. Shazam!
Face it: Most elementary-school field trips provide less practical information than the average episode of Fear Factor. Not so at Young AmeriTowne, a daylong, hands-on event specifically designed to teach fifth and sixth graders something about the grownup world around them. Students must interview for positions in the mini-community's government and business sectors, then hold their own on the job, running TV or radio stations, putting out a newspaper, acting as judges, police officers, or even mayor. The program, run under the auspices of the Young Americans Center for Financial Education, has become so popular that a new branch recently opened in Belmar to supplement the original base in Cherry Creek. That's great, since nearly every kid who visits Young AmeriTowne actually learns something along the way. What a concept.
Calm down, Doors fans: The Jim Morrison behind LocatingMe.com isn't that Jim Morrison. He's a Conifer resident whose website helps track down loved ones in case of an emergency -- whether they're sitting at home or sailing the high seas. Families who pay the $29 sign-up fee receive cards listing standard contact data, as well as a password to the site, where they can input new numbers and travel itineraries. Also included are private pages where clients can store information about their driver's licenses and passports, in case they're stolen. For people constantly on the go, LocatingMe.com provides a 24-hour-a-day link to loved ones. Talk about an open-door policy.
Best Online Service for Civic-Minded Adults
City of Denver website
Parking tickets are loathsome no matter how you pay them. But now they're slightly less painful, thanks to denvergov.org, the city's well-designed, easy-to-navigate digital hub. Computer-savvy motorists can erase vehicular debts and challenge tickets, all from their desktops. The site also makes municipal life run a little more smoothly -- and saves you a trip to the Webb building -- by offering everything from weather reports and City Council information to zoning maps and building-permit forms. The map section is of special interest to Denver-philes, thanks to cool, interactive images taken from planes flying above the city. Welcome to the City Beautiful.
Best Way to Keep Civil Servants Civil
Mayor's Office of Employee Assistance
The unsung Office of Employee Assistance provides city employees and their families with short-term counseling, referrals and other help in dealing with a host of workplace and personal issues -- everything from stress and anger management to relationship or substance-abuse problems, grief and financial losses, even the terror of being laid off. It's all confidential and free of charge, and the professional staff is friendly, committed and amazingly unbureaucratic.
There isn't always a method to the mad way movies are displayed at Video One. The
alphabet? Fuggedaboudit. If you're looking for a particular film, you'd better hope it finds you. Yet there's a love for film and a quirky kind of community vibe that oozes from this Capitol Hill mainstay. Clerks banter about new releases and Kurosawa while cleaning out the popcorn machine. Clever notes about the merits or failings of a particular film are taped up everywhere -- and the staff is likely to have actually seen many of the movies in the store. The inventory numbers in the thousands, with a well-worn back catalogue of older documentaries, music videos and stand-up comedy to match its cutting-edge selection of new foreign, gay and lesbian, and low-budget releases. Video One is an indie oasis in a corporate-controlled industry, as diverse and well-worn as the neighborhood it serves.
Paul and Jill Epstein launched Twist & Shout in 1988, moving the business to its current location seven years later. Now the pair is looking at relocating to the long-vacant Lowenstein Theater on East Colfax Avenue -- a move that would roughly double the size of their floor space. That such a plan is even on the drawing board is a testament to the great sales and service the Epsteins have always provided. Twist & Shout has practically every CD a music fan could want, a knowledgeable staff that can point listeners in new and exciting directions, and a dedication to live and local music that's won acclaim far beyond the city limits. The store may be getting better in the future, but it's pretty damn good right now.
Now in its mid-twenties, Wax Trax provides the sort of music-shopping experience that's become all too rare in the age of big-box stores and corporate homogenization. Its new CD branch stocks the coolest and latest discs, as well as imports and recordings far too bizarre or obscure to find their way into the Best Buys of the world -- yet the vinyl wing is even more of a find. Within its walls are piles of long players and 45s available at rates that make the prices regularly charged on eBay seem downright astronomical. For anyone with a working turntable and a nose for bargains, it's a little slice of paradise.
Since most print stores aren't run by a legitimate hero, Power Imaging was hot last October after owner Matt Casias was shot while trying to help a purse-snatching victim. But there are other reasons to stop in addition to meeting Casias, a governor's Medal of Valor winner who was recently featured in People magazine: Power Imaging has extremely competitive pricing that's typically lower than what the big chains offer, as well as personalized sales and service with a neighborhood feel. Supporting one of the good guys pays unexpected dividends.
Best Retro Gift Shop
20th Century Emporium
Lakewood Heritage Center
This is a store like no other. Not only is the 20th Century Emporium full-bore retro, it has a scholarly edge that is lacking in most retail shops. That's because the emporium was created in conjunction with the opening of a related permanent exhibit at the Lakewood Heritage Center. Some of the merchandise is hokey -- Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cookbook, for example -- but, thankfully, there isn't a trace of Betty Boop anywhere. What patrons will find is a retro penny-candy collection (fifty kinds), oilcloth linens, Depression-era glass and museum-quality prints of old Denver.
Best Unexpected Gift Shop
Lakewood Cultural Center Artisan Showcase
Who knew that little Lakewood would bloom into such an inspirational hotbed? Thanks to the booming Lakewood Cultural Center and artsy Belmar, the old-time suburb is remaking itself. The Artisan Showcase highlights this renaissance by featuring more than the usual museum-store shlock. Lisa Janisch keeps the shop filled to the rafters with handmade items, from sterling silver jewelry to glass pumpkins. For spring, she is featuring elaborately patterned Pysanky -- Ukranian Easter eggs -- that are so delicate you barely dare to breathe on them.
Artist Carol Simmons didn't plan to open a business last summer, but her middle daughter, Lisa, surprised her with a newly leased Downing Street duplex and said, "You see that? It's yours." So Simmons commenced to sculpting out a charming studio with yellow walls, a wealth of handmade items, and a smattering of antiques, soaps, candles, cards and the like. This spring, gardeners will find plenty of outdoor decorations at Sunflower, including recycled-metal sculptures, unique reflective garden spheres, stepping stones, hand-painted flowerpots and sweet wooden garden angels. Indoorsy types can choose from striking handmade ceramics in intricate black-and-white patterns, colorful shaman pins, painted gourds and fabric dolls. For artsy folks, Simmons recently opened a new fiber room dedicated expressly to hand-spun, hand-dyed and hand-painted fibers. All in a day's work.
There will be no surreptitious stuffing of the pockets with spare change when you tour the Denver Mint -- security is mighty tight. But you don't have to leave empty-handed, either. In fact, the gift shop at the Mint offers a fabulous selection of souvenirs, everything from the expected first-day-issue and collectors' coins to sweatshirts, hats, tote bags, water bottles and, in honor of the 200th anniversary of their expedition, lots of Lewis and Clark commemoratives. At the Mint, you not only get to watch money appear -- you get to watch it disappear into gift-shop cash registers.
Barring a miracle, the sweet chariot is bound to swing low sooner rather than later for Pope John Paul II. For those who want to get some mementos of the long-reigning prelate, the Catholic Store is the place to make a pilgrimage. T-shirts commemorating the pontiff's 1993 swing through Denver can be had for a prayer, and there are plenty of other items to ensure that the holy man is remembered for a long, long time. Maybe for eternity.
It's Valentine's Day year-round at Charli Warren's charming Ogden Street boutique, which has the feel of a lady's boudoir -- one that reveals an intimate secret with every step. There's a lacy prom dress, an eclectic mélange of flower brooches, Queen bath products, organza evening bags, beaded votives, sparkly hair clips, lilac incense and chunky pink-pearl chokers. In the back, the glass case is filled with beautiful baubles, from lovely costume-jewelry rings to rhinestone cowboy-boot flasks. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Where's a Humvee-drivin', all-night-partyin', martini-swillin' guy supposed to carry his credit cards? A Ducti wallet, of course. For the past few years, Aurora denizens Dave and Joy Pippenger and buddy Wade Morrison have been making duct tape wallets, watches and handbags that have been turning up on the most stylish arms. But are they tough? You'd better believe it. As millions will attest, there's nothing more indestructible on the planet than duct tape. It's a beautiful thing.
Tommy Rhine may grumble when you hand him the little pink sandal with the broken strap. He may even give you a lecture about wearing such silly shoes. But the man can glue a heel back onto a stiletto and make it look like was never broken while you were idiotically trying to run on the four-inch stilt. Rhine's has been around for almost a decade, but it looks like it's been there forever. Old newspapers collage the walls, and men smoke stogies and read Playboy while Rhine shines their shoes. A polish will set you back $5, while the strap comes in at a whopping $6.
Shopkeeper Joy Barrett really knows her beads. She stocks a glorious selection of Czech glass beads in a rainbow of sizzling colors and unusual shapes. Whatever the project, be it a complicated masterpiece or a single pottery shard hung on an organdy ribbon, Barrett will have what it takes to make it. But even if you have two left thumbs, there's plenty of finished beadwork to choose from, including Barrett's own gorgeous necklaces. Bead there, or be square.
Located in the carriage house of a magnificent 1882 bed-and-breakfast in Golden, the Silk Pincushion is not your typical sewing shop. But it's not exactly a modern-age stitch-and-bitch, either. The store is like an overflowing sewing basket of vintage lace, specialty and quilting fabrics, ribbons and trims, and state-of-the-art sewing machines. The owners, who prefer to be called simply Judy and Patty, host sewing, quilting and knitting classes, as well as overnight sewing retreats. Here, wishful thinkers can hone such old-fashioned skills as smocking, appliqué, embroidery and heirloom stitchery over homey tea and pumpkin bread, then plop into a beautiful bedroom to sleep. And while you're sewing away, Judy and Patty will see to your every needle. Just be sure to call ahead: The Silk Pincushion is open by appointment only.
Occasionally, the need to craft with leather arises. When it does, it's best to head over to Jerry's Leather Goods to get your fix. While the front of the shop is a Harley-lover's heaven, brimming with custom chaps and vests, the back is a sifter's paradise. There are hundreds upon hundreds of leather remnants piled on the tables like snowdrifts, waiting to become bootjacks or pieced skirts or pouches. Lining the walls are the more exotic -- and organized -- leathers that are sold in larger pieces. No matter what you need, they're likely to have it -- and be willing to deal.
Best Place to Pretend Denver's Still a Cowtown
Lonesome Ace Boot Company
Clay Hathaway is a one-man show. As the owner and sole employee of Lonesome Ace Boot Company, he sizes, cuts, stitches, inlays, embroiders and shapes every one of the custom cowboy boots he crafts. And he's got more than a few masterpieces. Hathaway's created a pair of orange boots for a bartender at the Skylark Lounge, a tiki-themed set for a hotrod builder and a teal-and-calfskin duo for a Clear Channel executive. At an average of $1,000 a pair (more for exotic leathers), Hathaway's handiwork doesn't come cheap, but personality and quality rarely does. Boots off to the Lonesome Ace.
Rockmount Ranchwear puts the snap into Western wear. Company founder and patriarch Jack A. Weil was the first haberdasher to put snaps on Western shirts, and the company's designs from the '40s and '50s are very snappy. Under the direction of the 104-year-old's grandson, Steve Weil, the Denver institution has been reissuing those beauties for years, and they account for about 25 percent of Rockmount's stock. In 2004, one very special shirt was released to accompany the publication of Weil the Younger's new book, Western Shirts: A Classic American Fashion. The timeless, art-deco-embroidered snap-down from 1954 was featured on the cover, and Rockmount is selling it in a limited-edition numbered run. The first batch sold out before Western Shirts even hit booksellers, so round one up before they're gone.
Finding a perfect piece of vintage clothing is one of life's true pleasures. But searching can be exhausting, time-consuming and sometimes best left to experts. The proprietors of Rare Bird Vintage Clothing, a happening new boutique on a famously crusty stretch of 13th Avenue, scour thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets for prize finds. The store specializes in women's clothing, from '50s dresses to Western shirts to '60s hats and purses, with selections rotated seasonally. The collection suggests what the coolest closet in Capitol Hill might look like -- without the work.
Debra Franklin travels across Colorado and Kansas, hitting every estate sale she can find, always searching for anything vintage. The fruits of her labor stuff her store, Graham Crackers, and spill over into her next-door neighbor's shop, Antiques Etc. A mink wrap from the '30s will come in somewhere between $65 and $90, while a three-piece luggage set from the '40s will set you back about $85 -- if you haggle right.
According to the designers at vintageskivvies. com, the full, elastic waistband is the worst thing that's ever happened to men's underwear. The company specialty is tie-style boxer shorts with button flies that are modeled after the standard-issue underwear worn by soldiers during World War II -- an homage to a kinder, gentler, less restrictive era of underclothes. And although, technically, the Web-based retailer traffics in panties, don't expect any frou-frou fabrics or floral print: These shorts are 100 percent cotton, and the color scheme ranges from plaid to, well, plaid. Vintageskivvies.com celebrates the classic boxer -- and a brief-free world.
Walk into Bridget Dornbirer's spic-and-span warehouse this spring, and you'll feel like you've discovered the Garden of Eden. Children's clothing swings from the racks like a zillion lollipops on hangers, all raging with color, blooming with itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny details of lace and ribbons, and cute beyond belief. Some mothers become blubbering fools at the very sight of it. But the best part of Petite Patoot Warehouse is that the jewels are all heavily discounted new and gently used items from upscale boutiques. Be sure to shop early, though: The warehouse is only open on Fridays and Saturdays while the inventory lasts, so dry your tears and park your patoot.
Deb Henriksen's motto is "For the Core, From the Core," and few designers keep it as real as she does. The former environmental scientist gave up her good day job to pursue her fashion dreams full time -- and we're lucky she did. Her first designs were clever, well-made screen-printed T-shirts that featured, most memorably, a cat skull and crossbones. But in the last year, she's branched out into a full line of made-to-measure treasures, offered at her Equillibrium showroom/boutique. Henriksen admires Betsey Johnson, and her new dresses and skirts reflect that sensibility: Simple, clean lines meet punk-rock ruffles. That's hard core.
When Lynne Bruning walks into a room, you can't miss the former-architect-turned-fashion-designer. Her outrageous, over-the-top fashions just scream out for people to come and investigate. Start with her key skirt: Unadorned, it would just be a simple, denim mini. But with more than 500 keys sewn onto it -- not all, she swears, are to the homes of ex-boyfriends -- the skirt becomes a walking piece of art and music. The duster takes on new meaning in her hands: She weaves them with surveyor's marking line -- yes, the green and pink string you buy at Home Depot -- and El wire. Talk about a neon extravaganza. But Bruning is at her best when she turns to her simple, elegant, bias-cut dresses. The flowing gowns won her top prizes during last year's Fashion Group International of Denver competition and resulted in an internship with New York designer David Rodriguez. Way to sew!
Fashion's obsession with all things rockabilly is long over, but Crown Mercantile still carries a wide selection of retro-inspired bowling shirts, from the understated to the full-on psycho-billy. Don't forget the witty T-shirts to go under them, or the excellent accessories to finish off the look. And for the ladies waiting for their stray (straight-gay) to stop preening, there's a host of smart skirts, blouses and housewares to peruse. Good style never goes out of fashion.
Best Fashions to Wear on the Head
Minerva's Hat and Fashion Boutique
Minerva's Hat and Fashion Boutique is the ultimate window-shopping experience. You may not always go in, but it's always worth stopping and gawking at owner Minerva Smith's glorious selection of hats, including everything from show-stopping Sunday bests to African kufis. If you don't stop in and admire the exquisite handiwork, however, you're most certainly missing out. But be warned: Minerva's is known to induce fantasies of being as chic and turned-out as Greta Garbo or Dorothy Dandridge.
The House of Mesha opened last June in the former Hue-Man Experience Book Store, ready to serve the Five Points neighborhood with fresh looks. Owner Holly Kai Hurd says the boutique's signature items are "deconstructed" denim skirts that are revitalized with inserts of neckties or Kente cloth, but there are also crocheted tops, waist beads, dashiki dresses and feminista T-shirts emblazoned with every known English synonym for "vagina." Less risqué shoppers can try Hurd's Afro-centric tees that announce "I love black people," "I'm big in Europe" or "I am a man," inspired by civil-rights-movement picket signs.
Fashion Institute of Technology graduate Mona Lucero opened her shop about two years ago and recently expanded into a sparse, wood-floored space that puts the clothing front and center. Lucero stocks some vintage-inspired styles by other designers, but they take a back seat to her work. Stop in for a simple A-line skirt in pink bouclé or a luxurious Japanese print; a sleek, multiple-seamed denim tulip skirt that opens at the bottom into pleats; form-fitting T-shirts screen-printed with uncomplicated emblems; or a tiny handbag in a variety of fabrics.
Best Teamwork by Independent Retailers
Side Street Shopping List
As the owner of Sparrow, Kirsten Coplans knows how hard it is for an independent, small -- no, minuscule -- business owner to build up clientele when there's little money for advertising. She and pal Melissa Santiago figured the myriad of boutiques around town were experiencing the same struggle. So they created Side Street Shopping List, a modest guide to fifteen local shops that help to keep Denver vibrant. Right now, the guide is distributed in stores -- with a coupon good at any of the participating locations included -- but Coplans hopes to someday expand to a website and instigate organized group events. Until then, she's a word-of-mouth expert.
Gospel Hour Cardio. Stripper Workout. Ballet Boot Camp. FlashDance Studios has it all for aspiring divas -- even a Paris Hilton Day to work on your heiress-model-stripper strut. But despite the facade of glitz and over-the-top class names, at its core, FlashDance is a great dance studio for adults. There's no pretension or awkwardness, just a safe place to come and enjoy movement, whether it's classical ballet or the art of the striptease. Now, that's hot.
Best Place to Get a Tattoo and a Flu Shot
Enchanted Ink Body Art Studio
Tattoo shops are as plentiful as 7-Elevens, but a place to get tattooed by nurses? That's something. Wolf Wolfstar and Tara Gray-Wolfstar (aka Spider) got tired of the hospital grind and its politics, so they quit and opened Enchanted Ink Body Art Studio. They're happy living their dream, but they also keep their nursing licenses current -- just in case one of those oh-so-precise genital piercings goes awry. And they're always happy to offer cookies and juice to clients who get a little woozy -- without a prescription.
A self-professed professional "ladder monkey" who specializes in gutter cleaning, Lee Eldridge keeps his mind out of the gutter -- way out of the gutter. His business's name, Guttersnipe, is as charmingly highfalutin as his accent -- both reflecting Eldridge's English origins.
Lighten up, people! The first word in the name of tanning emporium Darque Tan is pronounced "dark."
Best Business Name to Use Very, Very Carefully
Denver Concrete Vibrator
Sorry to disappoint, but Denver Concrete Vibrator is not an industrial-strength adult toy store. No, as its website explains, since 1980 the company has been an "industry leader in sales and service" of "dependable flexible shaft, pneumatic, high cycle and external concrete vibrator tools." Hose us down now.
Does anyone really know what time it is? Not at the King Soopers in the Golden Triangle, which honors its very diverse, very motley crew of customers with a wall of clocks by the entrance showing the current time in cities around the world. The display would be more impressive, though, if the minute hands all matched.
The only thing worse than a bad haircut is a boring haircut. If you long for the days when A Flock of Seagulls ran so far away and Billy Idol danced with himself, Moxie is your style. The salon decor is industrial hip, the music punk and the stylists multi-talented and multi-hued. Keep a kohl-lined eye out for the shop's benefit bashes, when the Moxie Squad features free snacks, live DJs, and gratis haircuts in exchange for donations to local charities. Just tell them Siouxsie Sioux sent you.
Practice makes perfect, in hairstyling as in life. At the Aveda Academy Salon and Spa, advanced students in the Pure Talent program hone the art of snipping and clipping before striking out as full-blown stylists. Legions of loyal, budget-minded clients know the Academy as the place to score a high-quality coif on the cheap: All Pure Talent students are licensed cosmetologists whose services run about a third of regular salon prices. Clients spend a bit more time in the chair, but every cut and color is supervised by an instructor. Plus, the Academy furnishes the creature comforts of any bona fide Aveda salon, from herbal tea to wine. That's a beauty of a deal.
At any hour of the day, you can get rubbed by somebody, somewhere, as long as you're willing to pay. The Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado takes the financial sting out of massage by offering low-cost therapeutic services at its student clinic, an appealing, quiet complex on York Street. Students enrolled in the school's advanced-certification program offer deep tissue, Swedish and shiatsu full-body massages for just $25 an hour; more intensive services are also available. The clinic is not open every day, and the student therapists are often booked weeks in advance -- but it's well worth the wait.
Some Sundays scream to start off the week with full debauchery and drunkenness, while others need to commence in a more cleansed, restful manner. Try to schedule those around the third Sunday of every month, when the Lake Steam Baths open for a special ladies' night. Normally, the West Colfax Avenue institution is only available to the fairer sex on Mondays and Thursdays, but this year owner Amy Hyman finally gave the gals an extra day of pampering. So forget $2 drink specials or free draws, and instead sit and steam in the eucalyptus room or relax with a cheap massage. Bottoms up!
Best Place to Detox -- and Retox
A New Spirit Wellness Center and Spa
While A New Spirit Wellness Center and Spa has all the makings of a classically great day spa, owner Andrea Hawkins-Leigh offers some non-traditional joys as well. After an hour-long deep-tissue massage, relaxation hounds can get an osmosis detoxification foot bath, try the flotation tank, or experience a pedicure accompanied by sound and light relaxation glasses. So indulge, and try something daring. As Hawkins-Leigh likes to say as she's handing you a glass of wine, "One detoxes so one can retox!" Cin-cin.
Buddhists have a favorite joke about their practice: "I tried to meditate, and nothing happened." Truly, there's usually very little happening at Shambhala Mountain Center, a meditation and retreat center northwest of Fort Collins. Scattered around the boundless mountain encampment, groups gather in tents and study halls to tune out the world and tune into themselves. Advanced students of Shambhala Buddhism spend weeks at the center in silence. But it isn't an entirely wordless world: Beginning classes and seminars are available for those looking to learn about meditation, and guided tours of the grounds and the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, the largest Buddhist shrine in North America, are daily activities. Stay for an hour, a day or a weekend; for those seeking some quiet time, Shambhala is Om away from home.
Sure, other rub joints can offer you a facial and a wax, but Beau Visage has the whole package: soft lights, music, lunch and a staff that's fanatical about hygiene. Family-run and friendly, the BV staff is ready to indulge your every spa need, whether your pleasure's a hot stone massage, a non-surgical face lift, a sea-kelp pedicure -- or just some time lounging and chatting with the nail techs in one of those super-comfy La-Z-Boy-type chairs.
Parker's Colorado Horse Park has a growing reputation among equestrian circles as a competition site; it also has big plans for a horse museum, an equidome and a wildlife refuge. But savvy horse owners know it as a premier boarding facility, with more than a hundred spacious, heated stalls -- each with its windows and bedding cleaned daily. A scenic location, plenty of trails, a cross-country course. Mr. Ed never had it so good.
Tens of thousands of animals are euthanized in Denver every year, simply because nobody wants them. The Animal Rescue and Adoption Society does what it can to save as many cats as possible from that fate. The 23-year-old no-kill shelter operates on less than a shoestring budget and without the fanfare of some of the city's larger shelters, but it's enjoying quiet, steady success. The facility isn't much to look at, and ARAS is always in desperate need of food and supplies. However, the money they do receive (all private donations, no government funding) goes to giving their feline friends the royal treatment with free-roaming cat rooms and a safe, caged area outside where kitties can play or sit and bask in the sun. The Animal Rescue and Adoption Society is the cat's meow.
Bird is the word at the Birdbrain, a retail store and community-outreach resource for the birding community. Run by the Gabriel Foundation Education Center, the Birdbrain offers seminars on parrot wellness and behavior that bring together parrot enthusiasts, bird specialists and veterinarians. The 'brain center stocks plenty of toys to keep Polly happy, including games designed to stimulate cognitive functions and hardware such as swings and cages. As pets go, parrots are high-maintenance, but the Birdbrain makes it a snap to care for our feathered friends.
Recycled Racers seeks good homes for retired greyhounds -- pooches whose brief careers chasing a mechanical rabbit gave them little chance to show off the breed's gregarious, gentle and often-clownish nature. Located near the dog track, Recycled Racers allows adopters to meet and greet retirees, who are in the two- to five-year-old range, right in the kennels, guided by knowledgeable volunteers. The speedsters are already spayed or neutered, vaccinated -- and ready to assume their new jobs as 45-mile-per-hour couch potatoes.
All week long, the poodles and Pomeranians, Rottweilers and retrievers in City Bark's care frolic in the facility's 12,000-square-foot backyard obstacle course and pool. But on Sundays, when City Bark is closed, owner Nicole Delmoro invites the rest of the city's pooches to come for a swim at the doggie daycare. It's just $5 per dog -- on the honor system -- and there are plenty of lawn chairs for owners to loll on while Fido and Fifi have their day in the sun.
While artist Jen Griggs can paint a realistic portrait of your pooch, her whimsical "ScoutDog Style," which gives new life to the oft-maligned pet portrait, is even more fun. Griggs starts your custom painting by choosing from her "Dog-matic Table of ScoutDog & Her Friends" -- featuring 86 breeds -- and then personalizes the basic caricature with your furry friend's markings or favorite toy. The result it 100 percent mantel-worthy. If you're not quite ready for that level of devotion, Griggs offers a host of other products, from T-shirts to hand-drawn holiday cards.
Are you still feeding your feline friend cheap, nasty grocery-store cat food? Shame, shame! Make amends and head over to Sue Green's charming shop, the Whole Cat, which she stocks with high-quality healthy cat (and dog) food, holistic medicines, books, toys, collars, beds, tchotchkes and locally made kitty condos and jungle gyms. Green and her staff -- assisted by the official store cats, Petunia and Blake -- also host workshops and classes that are guaranteed to bring out your inner Dr. Dolittle.
Best Plant Sale
North American Rock Garden Society Alpine Plant Sale
Denver Botanic Gardens
The North American Rock Garden Society Alpine Plant Sale is the Botanic Gardens' undiscovered treasure. While hordes descend upon the gardens during the annual spring sale in May, the atmosphere is much calmer and more congenial during the Alpine Plant Sale just one month earlier, when gardeners come in search of unusual, hardy plants, such as spreading groundcovers, candytufts, succulents, skullcaps and mallows. Though society members get first pick, there are still plenty of hard-to-find species available when the doors open to the public. Can you dig it?
Add yardwork to the adage about death and taxes. But if you have to do it, you might as well do it big. And big is Paulino Gardens' middle name. From anemones to zinnias, cacti to bonsai, these trees, shrubs, plants and flowers comprise more than twenty acres. Plus, the staff knows their Best Boys from their Beefeaters, and they can give you cures for mugwort and pigweed and tips on getting rid of that nasty case of silverfish.
When bungalow-lovers Ed and Kate Sultan started to furnish their cozy circa-1919 home, they struggled trying to find the right Arts and Crafts-era decor. So they opened their own store, Modern Bungalow, featuring the Mission-style designs of artisans around the country. The homey place glows with rich woods and textiles, angular stained-glass lampshades and elegant pottery, all of which quietly defy the Victorian frills that preceded them in fashion. Pull up a Stickley chair and stay a while.
For one-stop furniture shopping, the newly completed Clayton Lane is the place to go, with its mix of mass-produced styles and high-end design houses. Hidden down the lane you'll find Arhaus, which sports a rich, antique and sometimes ethnic feel; the modernist-leaning Design Within Reach; and Colorado-based HW Home. If you can't find what you want, within blocks of the development are such emporiums as Room & Board, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. Happy hunting.
There's nothing run-of-the-mill about Suzanne Blaylock or her eccentric shop, Red Door. The place is little more than a two-story closet, and Blaylock knows how to pack it in. You'll find fabric shower curtains in a variety of styles and moods, Old West tea towels, tin toys, Red Tango grinning kitty clocks, candles in the shape of elephants, little German alarm clocks mounted on a spring, miniature paintings by local artist Kate McPhee, and the occasional Asian-influenced items, such as Japanese bowls festooned inside with smiling cats. Blaylock plans to move into a larger space down the block, so hurry on over to pay your respects to this Denver gem.
Any do-it-yourselfer who's spent any amount of time wandering the aisles of Home Depot knows fixer-uppers don't come cheap, even when you're providing all the labor. The big-hearted volunteers at Habitat for Humanity understand that, and they've opened a retail shop to help pass bargains along to the rest of us by selling donated materials. There's no real method to the madness, but packed in the warehouse are stashes of building materials, appliances, furniture, plumbing and electrical supplies, windows, doors, decking, tile and carpet. Wander on in: Not only might you find the stainless-steel stove of your wildest dreams, but you won't be paying for it for the rest of your life.
Women rule. And more and more, they hammer, drill, lay tile, plumb and plaster. So don't they deserve tools of their own? The founders of Denver-based Tomboy Tools thought so, and they designed smaller, ergonomically easy-to-grasp tools that are proudly "not pink." We can do it.
Big Chill Fridge, the brainchild of Boulderite Thom Vernon and his nephew Orion Creamer, produces the centerpiece of the mid-century-modern kitchen: a retro-styled refrigerator with spacious, streamlined, frost-free innards and exteriors of Cherry Red, Beach Blue and Jadite Green. In fact, it's really more a "Chevy Bel-Air without the fins" than a refrigerator, according to Vernon. One that you can park in your home.
Spice lovers Cal Smith and David Citizen practice a kind of alchemy in the tiny back room of their Golden Triangle shop, Colorado Mountain Spiceshop. That's where they create their exclusive blends, as well as decant and bottle small batches of fresh teas and spices. Try the 5280 Grind, a peppery mixture good for dipping oils and marinades, or the Maple Pepper, or the Chocolate Mountain Chai, or, if you're adventurous, Citizen's aromatic lavender sugar. If you're timid about exotic flavors, let them persuade you on First Fridays, when they offer culinary works of art.
Cute betrothed couple Mike Johnston and Janet Chambers decided to spice up their lives by opening the Savory Spice Shop in the nascent 15th Street business district just west of the Platte River. The flavorful store boasts 300 different herbs and spices, including a slew of international flavors such as dried curry and Kaffir lime leaves favored in southeast Asian and Indonesian cuisines. Patron favorites include infused vanilla-bean sugar and freshly ground Vietnamese cassia cinnamon, an addictive seasoning that reveals the seasoning's very essence in a single sniff. And if a pinch is all you need, that's all you'll have to buy.
Staring down the refrigerator again? Want to have a sit-down family meal but have no idea what to cook? Let Relish! make all the decisions for you. Evergreen moms Ann Bender and Karen Hutchinson have devised an online service that offers subscribers weekly menus for fast, healthy meals. They also provide detailed recipes and shopping lists, so getting dinner on the table is easy as pie.
A cooperative of thirteen farms in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, Tres Rios distributes wholesale produce, grains, honey and meats to stores and restaurants out of its Denargo Market warehouse in Denver year-round. But the grassroots organization is also happy to cater to home chefs. Each week it offers boxes of fresh, organic produce and meat to individual consumers, basing the delivered fare on what's in season. Each box runs $25, and Tres Rios certainly doesn't skimp. Foodies, unite.
For those addicted to the charms of the farmers' market, winter comes as a horrible shock. But thanks to Bonnie Smith, such guilty pleasures live on during the gloomy season at Goodness to Go, a tiny store fronting her backroom bakery at Quiche Factory Catering. In snow or sleet, addicts can buy such favorite summer-market treats as Big Mike's barbecue sauces, Loredana's Pestos, Oro Blanco goat cheese and Minnie Beasley's almond-lace cookies. A taste of spring in a bleak, bleak world.
Best New Destination for Candy Addicts
Enstrom's Almond Toffee
Enstrom's Almond Toffee, arguably Grand Junction's greatest gift to the planet, has had a shop in Cherry Creek North for years. But the company recently moved to a larger space a few doors down. There's now a full-fledged coffee bar, an adjacent Internet-cafe area, and a much broader selection of ice cream, chocolates and other sinful snacks. Yet the store also retains all of the features that have kept fans coming back, including a sample tray of almond toffee that's always temptingly in view. Your waistline may expand just by looking at it, but what a way to grow.
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