People & Places

After 36 years in Aspen Park, the historic Coney Island hot dog stand is now an official resident of Bailey, where the giant stucco landmark will be open by summer. But should gentrification -- or one of those wildfires that always seem headed for Bailey -- endanger the hot dog's new home, we have the perfect placement for Coney Island's next incarnation: Tiny Town, just off U.S. 285 along South Turkey Creek Road. Frankly, we relish how majestic that building would look sitting by the tiny railroad, near all those diminutive dwellings. Hot dog!

Governor Bill Owens says that when he's term-limited out of the governor's office in January 2007, he'll go into the "private sector," but it's not too late for him to reconsider and give just a few more years to public service. (No need to go the full Roy Romer route and become superintendent of Los Angeles schools -- although that job's about to be open, too.) At one point, Owens was touted as a potential presidential contender -- so there's no reason he shouldn't head the list as a vice-presidential contender. And the White House could use some fresh blood, particularly blood that hasn't been shed by a friend of the current vice president. At some point, Dick Cheney's got to go -- to hell, to the hospital, wherever -- and who better than Texas native Owens to keep George W. company through the rest of his term? Not only has the genial Owens proven his ability to debate almost anyone, the ACLU included, on the national stage, but he's an accomplished hunter who's never, ever shot anyone, confirms spokesman Dan Hopkins.

No matter where Marc Holtzman is next January -- and we're betting it won't be the governor's office -- the shoot-from-the-lip Republican challenger could use a smooth, personable frontman. And there's no one more personable than Dan Hopkins, current spokesman for Governor Bill Owens. When his boss leaves office, Hopkins will be sixty and eligible to retire after 24 years in the state system -- assuming PERA still exists, of course. But should the state retirement system go down the tubes, Holtzman could do a lot worse than latch onto Hopkins. Sorry, Dan.

At the Colorado Legislature, you often can't tell the players without a scorecard -- and fortunately, Rocky Mountain News reporter Lynn Bartels is there to keep score. When she's not breaking news (and there's been plenty this session), she's offering amusing, insightful play-by-play on the various wins and losses. Unlike Denver's sports-page stars, politicians play for keeps. But so does Bartels.

It took him long enough, but in the end, John Hickenlooper made the right decision. Disappointing those who wanted him to run for governor (and divide the Colorado Democratic Party in the process), he opted instead to complete a whole term (at least) as mayor of Denver, continuing to push the impressive, ambitious agenda that has already put him on the national political map. Today and tomorrow, the city; there's time enough for the world after that.

Democratic state senator Ken Gordon got his campaign for Colorado Secretary of State off to a rousing start with a quirky, hilarious Internet ad poking fun at other politicians' more memorable stunts, including John Hickenlooper's not-quite-free-fall to push Amendment C. But Gordon didn't stop at just jumping out of a plane; he also paid homage to former senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell with a horseback bit during which he warily asked of his horse's wrangler, "Why is he called 'Widow Maker'?" We don't know if this is how campaigns are won -- but it's sure what makes them fun.

We couldn't make up a story this outlandish. Ten years ago, former society scribe (for 87 days), artist and car-parker Ivan Suvanjieff decided he needed to do something to convince kids to stop the violence, and so started PeaceJam. Today he and partner Dawn Engle run a global operation out of an Arvada bungalow, organizing more than a dozen conferences for kids around the world each year and answering to a board of Nobel Peace Prize winners. The Nobels are all coming to Denver in September 2006 -- only Oslo will have seen a larger group of Nobel Peace Prize winners -- to mark the tenth anniversary of PeaceJam at a major gathering of thousands of youth from around the world. Give peace a chance -- PeaceJam did.

With Union Station slated for a major overhaul, it looked like one of its tenants might have reached the end of the line. The Colorado Midland Railway, the oldest model-railroad layout in the country, has been tucked into the basement of Union Station since 1935, where it's been run by volunteers from the Denver Society of Model Railroaders. But a model railroad wasn't in the plans for Union Station's redevelopment -- not until one particular train buff jumped on board. The layout, which is open to the public for two hours on the last Friday of every month, is a particular favorite of John and Teddy Hickenlooper, and thanks to some mayoral maneuvering, this train will be pulling into the station for years to come.

It was fun while it lasted. Not. Over the past five years, we've all had ample opportunity to get up-close and personal with T-Rex, the massive, $1.67 billion project designed to ease congestion and speed up traffic through the southeast metro corridor but in the meantime blocking roads and sending drivers off on thrill-ride detours. Still, if the pace of construction is any indication of T-Rex's ultimate success, we'll all soon be speeding along I-25 -- in cars or on light-rail trains. At of the start of the year, the project was 91 percent complete, with the last stretches in the seventeen-mile paving process scheduled for fall completion and the complete light-rail system slated to open on November 17, 2006. Keep your fingers crossed -- and both eyes on the road.

Sometime in the next month or so, the wrappings will come off the Daniel Libeskind-designed addition to the Denver Art Museum, and while work continues on the interior, the exterior will be complete. But even before that, the DAM will announce an official opening date for the Frederic C. Hamilton building, as well as a schedule for the accompanying celebration. At this point, though, the museum will only say that the project is on track for a debut sometime this fall, as has always been the plan. We're betting on November 8, 2006 -- which, not coincidentally, is the day that the 2006 edition of the Farmers Almanac predicts that Denver will get its first major dump of snow. (Hey, things couldn't go smoothly forever.) Fortunately, those Libeskind angles will stand out even in a blizzard.

At the University of Colorado, Ward Churchill has outlasted athletic director Dick Tharpe, chancellor Richard Bynny, president Betsy Hoffman, even football coach Gary Barnett. But we're predicting he won't outlast current president Hank Brown. The committee reviewing Churchill's work is supposed to turn in its report by May -- and with any luck, by then the regents will have come to their senses and made Brown's interim appointment permanent. That, and a handy chunk of change (but less than it cost to get rid of Barnett) should be all it takes to make Churchill disappear from CU. He won't have any problem finding another public podium, of course. But at least Colorado will be able to close the book on one of its most unsavory chapters.

There are strips that are faster, but when you're heading west across central Denver, there's no more scenic route than Thirteenth Avenue. And if you happen to get stopped at the light at Broadway -- as you inevitably will -- your route will seem positively inspired. Rather than fume silently at the crimson glow overhead, use the time to ponder Denver's rapid ascension into a bona fide city of cultural note. To your immediate right, there's the Colorado History Museum, with its buffalo sculptures, exhibit banners and exasperated teachers bookending chains of linked-armed kids. Across the street, there's the massive central branch of the Denver Public Library, alternately spilling out and sucking in the bookish, the homeless, the hurried. To your left, a museum devoted to the work of Clyfford Still will soon join the galleries and theaters that already dot the Golden Triangle. And there, straight ahead, like some strange metal spaceship, is Daniel Libeskind's sprawling addition to the Denver Art Museum, slated to open this fall. Imagine the influx of art and architecture buffs; envision the lines out the door. Think about all the great concerts you've seen recently, all the creative, artistic people you know. Could this city be on the verge of something big? Twirling in the second floor of the Colorado Ballet building, the Degas ballerinas smile down on your still-stopped car. To them, that's the dumbest question in the world.

Bart Simpson used to stand on highway overpasses just like this one and spit on the anonymous traffic below. God bless that little fucker. We can't believe there's no barrier here, no chain-link fence, nothing. We could hurl ourselves right over this railing right now, and nobody could stop us. The fall might not kill us, but one of those cars whipping by at 65 mph sure would. Man, we'd love to see the look on Johnny SUV's face when we came crashing through his windshield! It'd be priceless. And look at Invesco Field over there. Oh, we're sorry, Invesco Field at Mile High. Like anyone even says Mile High. It's all about Invesco; corporations always win. God, it's so depressing. And look at REI -- that used to be the Forney Museum with all those cool cars and that Alfred Packer diorama. Now look at the place: cobwebs to kayaks, train cars to trail mix. We ought to end this right now. For chrissakes, there's an aquarium with a seafood restaurant in it right over there by the Children's Museum. In Denver! That's it, we're going over the rail, right now. But what's that? That burst of laughter from the open door of My Brother's Bar just down the road? That's the oldest bar in town; Neal Cassady still has an outstanding tab there. Maybe we should head over for a drink. Yeah, why not? Just one.

The bridge at Genesee Pass, which separates the Clear Creek and Bear Creek drainages, as well as Gilpin County from Clear Creek County, may well be the most elegant structure in the state. The perfect fusion of form and function, achieved with perfect economy of means, it stands in silent mockery of the many overwrought, pseudo-historical pastiches that have sprouted like weeds along the Front Range. Designed by in-house Colorado Department of Transportation engineer Frank Lundburg, it was completed in 1970 for $410,000 -- but would have been a bargain at many times that, so beautifully does it frame the view of the Continental Divide for west-bound motorists. Literally and figuratively, this is the gateway to the Rockies.

Like any other teenagers, homeless teens (and all the ragged posers and deadbeat twenty-somethings who lurk alongside them) need a place to hang, too. After getting run out of their long-held Skyline Park kingdom, the gangly crowd migrated up the 16th Street Mall to where it meets Stout Street in front of Walgreens -- but business complaints and motorcycle cops made that spot a bust as well. Today the fountain on the north side of Civic Center Park is the teen meeting place of choice. Though it's poor panhandling territory, the pillared amphitheater allows for all manner of hijinks away from the suits and tourists. At least for now.

The Hyatt Regency Denver got off to an ignoble start when the old Denver Post Building, an art-moderne treasure by Temple Buell, was torn down to provide a site for a not-yet-lined-up hotel at the expanded Colorado Convention Center. But then things took a turn for the better when klipp, a Denver architectural firm, was hired to design it. The firm's team, headed by Brian Klipp, with Keat Tan acting as design architect, conceived of the hotel as a sleek, neo-modernist skyscraper made up of a series of vertical rectangular volumes that are clustered cubistically and soar to 37 stories. Since the hotel is city-financed, it has lots of publicly funded art; since it's a Hyatt, there are also privately purchased pieces. Jaded Denverites couldn't have expected this building to be the best new high-rise in a generation -- but we ought to be grateful that it is.

It sounds trite, especially since the analogy was repeated over and over during the construction process, but putting the Ellie Caulkins Opera House inside the historic Quigg Newton Auditorium really was like building a ship in a bottle. The auditorium -- a 1908 buff-colored brick building designed in a neoclassical style by Robert O. Willison -- had become run-down over the years and had long since lost its historic interior. In 2002, voters approved a bond initiative to pay for a renovation, and Denver's Semple Brown Design was hired to design it. Peter Lucking, the firm's principal in charge of the project, came up with a gorgeous, neo-modern interior that's all rich woods and shining glass and metal. Lucking made the best of an unimaginably difficult situation and gave this city a winner.

The Denver Art Museum's Frederic C. Hamilton Building is getting close to completion, although most of the titanium panels that cover it are still encased in plastic wrappers to protect them from airborne debris raised by the construction of the nearby Museum Residences. But from the moment the steel beams started going up, people have been drawn here to look at the site, take pictures of it, let their visiting out-of-town friends and family check it out. The jagged forms of the building designed by Daniel Libeskind aren't even contained by the confines of the block, since part of it flies over Thirteenth Avenue. And if an unfinished building is already one of the best sights in town, imagine what's going to happen when it opens.

To get a quick read on a prospective new landlord when apartment hunting, you need look no further than the lobby. If the foyer is completely devoid of adornment, turn around and run -- and don't look back. There's always another building with a beautiful theme and decorating scheme, including the ever-popular pilgrim, Mediterranean, Southwest and ski-chalet models. But nothing says "We take care of this place" better than a landlocked lobby with a nautical design. For the best example, pop through the front door of the Captain Cook Apartments, where a glassed-in alcove features regulation fishing nets and dried starfish, all framing a full-sized treasure chest. It's a display worthy of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and you're guaranteed to fall for its charm -- hook, line and sinker.

Next time you hop on one of RTD's free mall shuttles, look at the odd seating arrangement: All of the seats are located on one side, and most riders are uncomfortably bunched together, shoulder to shoulder, in an effort to avoid sitting too close to less savory passengers. But look over there, on the passenger-loading side, next to the middle door: There's one single seat that's gloriously extra wide. Its expanse guarantees a comfortable ride, and its central location is perfect for keeping an eye and ear on everyone. Fair warning: These thrones are popular with germaphobes, fat-asses and people-watchers alike, and they're rarely vacant mid-mall. Your best bet for preferred seating is to board at the Union Station end of the line.

Anyone who'd ever been to the bus stop at Colfax and Logan knew that you could catch more than the number 15 there -- until local businesses paid to install cameras at the corner last year. Today you may still see a casual slip of the sack in exchange for some cash, but now the eye in the sky sees it, too.

With cameras documenting all of the action at Colfax and Logan and the State Capitol just two blocks west of there, Denver's crack crack dealers have moved east, to a nice, shady corner next to an unoccupied building at Pearl -- but far enough away from Office Depot so that the rock-roasters don't mistake pencil-pushers for potential buyers.

The drinking hour comes early to Nob Hill Inn, where the alcohol starts flowing at 8 a.m. and doesn't stop 'til 2 a.m. This Colfax dive welcomes all comers -- from day laborers on their way to work to night-shifters knocking back a quick one before bed. But it has a strict zero-tolerance policy for those folks involved in the brisk Colfax street-drug trade, which is why it blasts classical music from a speaker system mounted on the tavern's outside wall. Though classical music has been shown to increase brain activity in young children, it's apparently a powerful weapon in the war on drugs. Forget DARE: Nob Hill fights rock with Bach -- and Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Chopin.

Do you believe in power centers? No, not factory-outlet shopping malls, but those magical spots where cosmic energies concentrate to inspire human beings to create meaningful monuments? And no, still not shopping malls -- think of Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Parthenon and the Louvre. To that storied list you can now add the Sensory Playground at E.B. Rains Jr. Park in Northglenn, which features equipment designed for children of all physical abilities. This playground builds bodies as it builds community -- and those low, wide swings even invite seniors to join in the fun. The playground's enlightened entertainment has proven so popular, it can be tough to find a spot to park in this park.

If, as some say, God is in the details -- then surely Christ must be in the coiffures. What living creature doesn't want to look sharp for the Second Coming? To prepare your hair, start at Peggy's Barber Shop, 4382 South Broadway in Englewood, where the storefront signage reminds us that "Jesus is lord...Prince of Peace." Hair peace, we presume. Then, down the street at Waggin Tails Fur Parlor, five-foot tall, hand-painted fluorescent letters promise that "Jesus Is the Answer." What's the question again? Never mind, you're looking marvelous.

RegretTheError.com, a website devoted to commemorating journalism's greatest mistakes, had plenty of worthy candidates to choose from when determining its correction of the year for 2005. In the end, however, the site's scolds couldn't resist saluting a simultaneously offensive and ridiculous item corrected in the July 27 edition of the Denver Daily News: "The Denver Daily News would like to offer a sincere apology for a typo in Wednesday's Town Talk regarding New Jersey's proposal to ban smoking in automobiles," the blurb read. "It was not the author's intention to call New Jersey 'Jew Jersey.'" Oy vey!

In a January piece about a town in which cell phones don't work, the Denver Post's Rich Tosches quoted a resident as follows: "Sometimes I actually forget that I even have a cell phone. It just (word meaning 'vacuum-like function')." Just what was that resident saying? That it just Hoovers? Just Eurekas? Dirt Devils? Such prudy-pants substitutions really suck.

Stephen Meade was once known as Willie B. Hung, and although he eventually dropped the last portion of this anatomical moniker, he still earned a reputation as the biggest dick on the Denver airwaves, thanks to a pair of criminal convictions a few years back (for participating in an ill-advised chicken toss and leading a four-wheel-drive excursion on private land). No one would have mistaken Willie for executive material back then, yet the folks at Clear Channel-Denver named him program director of KBPI anyhow -- and since assuming the post, he's kept up the ratings at his hard-rocking station without hitting the rocks himself. Hung is up, and likely to stay that way.

Steffan Tubbs was just a kid when he was hired by KOA back in 1994, and promptly earned a reputation for solid reporting and hunkiness that's uncommon in radio; a U.S. News & World Report scribe covering the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh dubbed him "the Brad Pitt of the courtroom." That kind of press translated into a gig as a national correspondent for ABC Radio and the opportunity to appear on major television stations in Los Angeles and New York City. Last year, though, Tubbs shocked his NYC colleagues by coming back to KOA as host of Colorado Morning News. Since his return, Tubbs's solid news judgment and willingness to get out of the studio have only improved the program; he spent much of March with U.S. forces in Iraq. Welcome home.

Public-access stations are disappearing across the country, thanks (or no thanks) to the greed of cable companies, which want to employ set-aside channels for commercial purposes, and government officials, who would rather use the outlets' funding for purposes other than providing a voice to citizen producers. In Denver, however, the public-access concept is being given one more chance, and Deproduction, the company charged with reviving it, is a worthy choice. The task won't be easy; the previous overseer, Denver Community Television, left a massive mess behind. But the Deproduction folks are experienced producers with an impressive educational background, and their passion and sincerity are infectious. If any group can succeed at this difficult mission, they can.

With rare exceptions, the TV dudes of Denver look a lot like second teamers for the Broncos: They wear the same helmets, anyway. No wonder entertainment reporter Kirk Montgomery scores over his more staid colleagues. He clearly understands the benefits of product, and he's bold enough to experiment with color, streaking his feathery top locks with blond highlights. He may be reporting from the Mile High City, but he's got Hollywood hair.

Ken Clark, who handles traffic chores on Channel 31's morning program, compensates for his bald pate with a trendy, Satan-style beard. And those whiskers are visually appropriate, since a lot of the road problems he describes are the equivalent of hell on earth.

Last year, Channel 4 seemed ready to give longtime ratings champ Channel 9 a run for its early-morning money, but it couldn't slow the 9News juggernaut. Today, with CBS 4 releasing sportscaster Mark McIntosh and planning to move weathercaster Ed Greene into prime time, Channel 9 lacks any real a.m. competition. Meteorologist Nick O'Kelly, sports enthusiast Susie Wargin and eye-in-the-sky Taunia Hottman are now comfortably ensconced in the on-air family led by TV parents Gary Shapiro and Kyle Dyer and wacky uncle/business boy Gregg Moss. A lineup this competent could quash all challengers for years to come.

Since the '70s, 9News has dominated the 10 p.m. ratings -- but Channel 4 finally appears ready to chip away at that station's nighttime lead. Veteran forecaster Larry Green's on the way out, but morning-sider Ed Greene should seamlessly fill his green-screen silhouette, and sportscaster Vic Lombardi, replacing outgoing Steve Atkinson, is a definite upgrade. They join solid anchor duo Jim Benemann and Molly Hughes and an impressive batch of reporters led by top investigator Brian Maass to form a crew that overflows with potential.

While Vic Lombardi is a sports communicator from the ESPN generation, he doesn't let shtick dominate his presentations. He can be a funny fellow, but he knows when to dial down the comedy in favor of reporting or perspective, and he leavens his wit with the enthusiasm of an unabashed fan. Belatedly named Channel 4's chief sportscaster (a position he's deserved for years), Lombardi's a hometown boy made good -- and getting better all the time.

Stations take up a lot of airtime touting their assorted weather gadgets, but the gear hasn't made one signal more accurate than the others. All of TV's predictors have about the same success/failure rate, so their differences have more to do with personality than prognostication abilities -- and by that measure, Angie Austin, who works the morning shift at Channel 2, clearly stands out. She's a lot sassier than her typically bland peers, with a sharp sense of humor that comes out in the entertainment segments she also helms. Austin earns her screen time, weather or not.

As top legal commentator for CBS, Andrew Cohen regularly jets to important trials and legal proceedings across the country. But because he lives in Denver, we get to hear more of his characteristically cogent on-the-scene reports and opinions than viewers nationwide, who usually have to settle for a sound bite or two on the CBS Evening News. Cohen frequently weighs in on matters of local concern, too, providing Channel 4 viewers with analysis that's accessible but never dumbed-down.

Commercial radio gets lamer with each passing year, which only makes Radio 1190 sound stronger by comparison. Because the station is staffed by students from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the turnover is continuous. Yet the outlet has maintained a high level of quality, thanks to the most eclectic playlist in town (one recent hour ranged from Mi and L'au to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass) and great specialty shows such as Under the Mattress, a Sunday show focusing on vintage rock. This is a commercial-free oasis in a desert of radio mediocrity.

DJ Chonz is a member of the Radio Bums, a collective devoted to promoting forward-looking hip-hop. Yet urban-music buffs in these parts know him best for his work at KS-107.5, where he brings an underground sensibility to the mainstream, presenting live mixes on weekdays and really getting the party started during Friday rush hour. Some Bum.

Back in the '90s, Kingdom was one of the area's top MCs. Nevertheless, the station that became KS-107.5 refused to play his music, turning a deaf ear to protests from both Kingdom and the rest of the local hip-hop community. But now the power's shifted -- and how. Today Kingdom appears regularly on the station's morning show, and as a co-host of The KS-107.5 Mix Tape Show, a Sunday-night program that co-stars DJ Chonz, he helps promote music by the Colorado rappers who've followed in his wake. Kingdom may not yet rule the airwaves, but give him time.

Like working folks everywhere, radio types love to dish about their jobs -- and fortunately for us voyeurs, jocks, hosts, board ops and other local pros are eager to do so in public, as long as they're protected by pseudonyms. DenverRadio.net has gone through many permutations over the years, but its "Comments & Rumors" section continues to offer unvarnished critiques, behind-the-scenes scoops and some of the most entertaining bitchiness available on either side of the dial.

For a relatively young man, Jim Sheeler certainly has a thing for death. As a freelancer, he wrote vivid, long-form obituaries for the Denver Post, the best of which will appear in a book, tentatively titled The Woman Who Outlived Her Tombstone, that's slated for publication later this year. After the Post foolishly cut him loose, Sheeler landed as a staffer at the Rocky Mountain News, where he's continued to explore the emotional territory on the far side of the river Styx. Last year's "Final Salute," detailing how the Marine Corps honors fallen soldiers, is his most epic, enlightening variation on the theme to date, and rumored to be a finalist in several contests. Many of Sheeler's subjects are lifeless, but his prose certainly isn't.

After most workers are let go, they're upset, not magnanimous -- which only makes the final farewell of former 9News anchor/ reporter Adam Resnik seem all the more remarkable. When his contract wasn't renewed, Resnik sent a 2,400-word e-mail to colleagues -- but instead of ripping into station execs for their shortsightedness, he offered complimentary remarks for more than 175 alphabetically listed co-workers ranging from the prominent ("Adele Arakawa, for your class and professionalism, and for always bringing tasty snacks into the meeting") to the obscure ("Johnny Wells, for making me smile widely every time the live truck rolls up with you behind the wheel"). Resnik's reportedly working in the financial-services field these days. If that doesn't take, he should consider politics.