People & Places

From its start 25 years ago in the Evergreen garage of James Jackson, a real-estate developer turned philanthropist, Project C.U.R.E. has grown into the world's largest distributor of donated medical supplies and equipment, distributing roughly $50 million of relief every year. Today the organization is run by Douglas Jackson and operates out of a 60,000-square-foot warehouse in Centennial. But C.U.R.E. doesn't just send supplies around the globe; it also sends volunteers, who quickly recognize that the cure for many of the world's ills starts right here in Colorado.

Readers' Choice: New Era Colorado

Number 18, you're not in Indiana anymore. You may be Denver's most famous newcomer, but you're a newcomer, nonetheless — and there are certain things that every newcomer needs to know about this city if they're going to not just survive, but thrive. If they're going to come to see Denver as the very best possible place to live, as we do. Over the previous 28 editions of the Best of Denver, we've celebrated just about everything that makes this city special for newcomers and natives alike. So for veterans, the following list of eighteen things every Denverite should know will be a refresher course — but for you, Peyton Manning, it's the playbook.

1. This city really is a Mile High. Remember to breathe — and hydrate. Also, be careful when you're out drinking — but any NFL quarterback already knows that, right? And just in case, the Broncos appear to have defense attorney Harvey Steinberg on speed-dial.

2. Want proof that this city is really a Mile High? There's a plaque outside the State Capitol that marks the exact step that's 5,280 feet above sea level (more or less; like you, Peyton, it's settled some). A line around the top of the mayor's office in City Hall does the same; John Hickenlooper put it there when he ran the city (as governor, his desk is naturally higher). At City Park, you can work out along the Mile High Loop, which follows the city's contour lines and points out the spots where you're a mile high. And it's surprisingly easy to join the Mile High Club.

3. The mountains — with 54 (by the Colorado Mountain Club count) peaks over 14,000 feet — are to the west. Dove Valley is to the south. Indianapolis is to the east.

4. The City of Denver has not just one, but two bison herds. Buffalo Bill, who is buried on Lookout Mountain, was once the most famous man in the world — but you could beat him if you bring Denver a Super Bowl.

5. Since you have year-old twins, you'll want to go to Casa Bonita at least once. And, yes, it's even weirder than it seems on South Park.

6. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, are from here. If they can make a blockbuster hit out of The Book of Mormon (coming to Denver in August), you can survive the fallout from the virgin sacrifice of Tim Tebow.

7. The Denver Mint, a top tourist attraction, is right downtown. And, yes, it prints money — though perhaps not enough to cover your contract.

8. Although the Barnes Dance — the engineering marvel that allowed pedestrians to cross streets on the diagonal — disappeared last year, Denver's other infamous traffic-control invention, the Denver Boot, is still going strong. Two unpaid parking tickets in town and you could get sacked.

9. That yellow thing in the sky is the sun. And although those much-touted 300 days of sunshine a year in Denver actually translate to 300 days with at least one hour of sunshine, according to the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University, that's still a big improvement over Indiana.

10. Medical marijuana is one of the city's biggest growth industries, which is why Thanksgiving is affectionately dubbed "Danksgiving" here. But at least you'll have no problem getting "medication" for your bad neck.

11. The other big growth industry on the Front Range is beer production, and we frequently clock in at number one for craft beer. And Colorado is certainly the only state whose governor got his start in the public eye as a bar owner.

12. The Tattered Cover. Any city is lucky to have an independent bookstore that cares about the intellectual health of the community: Denver has three Tattered Covers alone.

13. Green chile might have originated in New Mexico, but it reached its apotheosis in Denver, where breakfast-burrito vendors peddle their wares at office buildings each weekday morning, and you can enjoy a green-chile-smothered Mexican hamburger, a definite Denver creation (unlike the much-celebrated cheeseburger).

14. Speaking of cheeseburgers, last fall the metro area got its first Steak 'n Shake, the only thing you might miss about Indiana.

15. Denver offers every kind of free public-park option: dog parks, skate parks, bike parks, walking parks, grassy parks, gay parks, terrain parks at Winter Park..and, above all, Red Rocks.

16. Jack Kerouac got the inspiration for On the Road during a trip to Denver; a plaque at My Brother's Bar commemorates the tab that Neal Cassady rang up there when it was known as Paul's Place. And the beat still goes on for the arts in this town, which sell more tickets than sporting events.

17. Our football stadium is not indoors. And Broncos purists will always refer to it as Mile High.

18. Broncos are a lot more rambunctious than Colts — and so are their fans.

A part of the Breckenridge/Wynkoop restaurant empire that opened last spring, Ale House at Amato's has a rooftop patio with one of the best views in all of Denver. But the patio isn't the only place at Amato's that offers a scenic panorama of downtown, the Platte Valley and the mountains. The men's room upstairs has a small window above the urinal that also offers some, uh, relief from the boring blank walls, giving you a very private opportunity to ponder life in this great city.

Need to see a man about a horse? How about seeing that man about some artwork? You can find paintings by Tracy Weil, co-creator of the River North Arts District, on cultured walls around town. But you'll never find a better reason to linger in a privy than at Fuel, where a pair of pieces by Weil — whose own gallery/studio Weilworks is just a few blocks away — grace the walls. "Makes for a captive and contemplative audience," the artist says.

The LoDo and Ballpark neighborhoods have been fertile soil for breweries, so much so that at Great Divide Brewing, an entire tank farm has sprouted out of the ground, bringing with it the strong and heady aroma of steeping grain and boiling hops. But like bagels, burgers, coffee and cookies, beer smells almost as good as it tastes, making the air around the corner of 22nd and Arapahoe streets a living, breathing advertisement for delicious homemade brews.

In the very first Best of Denver, published in 1984, John Elway was a rookie quarterback who looked like he might, just might, have a promising career in Denver. But no one could have predicted that Elway's career — and his status as the state's number-one celebrity — would get new life once Number 7 had left the field. After dabbling in car dealerships, vodka deals, arena football and restaurants, last year Elway returned to the Broncos as an executive, hiring a new coach and dealing with a quarterback controversy. But he really came into his own when he acquired Peyton Manning for the team...and jettisoned Tim Tebow. But then, Elway has always been known for last-second saves.

Readers' Choice: Tim Tebow

In the very first Best of Denver, published in 1984, John Elway was a rookie quarterback who looked like he might, just might, have a promising career in Denver. But no one could have predicted that Elway's career — and his status as the state's number-one celebrity — would get new life once Number 7 had left the field. After dabbling in car dealerships, vodka deals, arena football and restaurants, last year Elway returned to the Broncos as an executive, hiring a new coach and dealing with a quarterback controversy. But he really came into his own when he acquired Peyton Manning for the team...and jettisoned Tim Tebow. But then, Elway has always been known for last-second saves.

With as many hit songs as he's written for his own band, OneRepublic, as well as a slew of other pop stars, including Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Jordan Sparks, Leona Lewis and Gym Class Heroes, it's surprising that Ryan Tedder didn't already have a mantel full of Grammys. But while he's been nominated before, Tedder couldn't claim a Grammy until now, when he won for his contribution to Adele's breakthrough album, 21, which all but owned the Grammys this year. Something tells us this is just the first of many to come for the Colorado musician.

You don't have to live in Hollywood to walk the red carpet. Back in 1997, Donna Dewey took the prize for Best Documentary, Short Subject, with A Story of Healing. And this year, Colorado-based filmmaker Daniel Junge, who focuses on stories of social justice, repeated that feat, winning an Oscar for Saving Face, his documentary about a doctor devoted to helping women scarred by acid attacks in Pakistan. In a surreal moment, the actresses from Bridesmaids presented the award to Junge and his co-director, Pakistani Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Long story short, it was a big win for social justice, for Junge — and for the Colorado film community.

Comic strips might be an endangered species, but "Spinadoodles," Sam Spina's incredibly endearing cartoon, makes the form seem very vibrant. The Xeric Foundation award-winning Denver cartoonist has been dutifully drawing his comic strip every day since April 2009, publishing it on his website as well as in the Colorado Daily. Spina has a knack for turning everyday happenings into sweet comic renderings; his artistic diary often chronicles things that his cat does, conversations with his girlfriend and happenings at his pizza-shop job. Draw, partner!

Denver International Airport has inspired many fine conspiracy theories — that it's a creation of the New World Order, that there are Martians living underground — but none as uplifting as the one exposed on The Colbert Report this fall. According to William Tapley, who calls himself both "Third Eagle of the Apocalypse" and "Co-Prophet of the End Times," DIA is full of phallic symbols — not surprising, since it's designed to look like a giant penis. We don't even want to think what role the new South Terminal will play in that scenario....

It's stripey! It's spiky! Her locks show as much spunk as Amy Stephens has as the House Majority Leader. The El Paso Republican may tout her conservative values, but there's nothing conservative about this 'do.

Nina Sparano, the technology reporter for Fox 31 and KWGN, has clearly figured out the mechanics of a perfect hairdo. Those brunette locks are downright luxurious, girl. 

Readers' Choice: Adele Arakawa

Ron Zappolo may have his own People on his Sunday-night talk show, but the Fox 31 anchor's mustache belongs to all of us. From beneath that lip sweater comes the most important news of the day, and that 'stache/silver tousle combo gives big stories the appropriate level of gravity. Zappolo has been a fixture on local TV for decades, delivering the news with hair that demands your attention. And respect.

Readers' Choice: Ron Zappolo

Noel Cunningham had the biggest heart in Denver...a heart so big that he didn't just worry about people in need here in town — where he hosted an annual Mother's Day brunch and numerous fundraisers at Strings, the restaurant he'd founded more than two decades ago — but people around the world. Many of Cunningham's good works were based in Ethiopia, which he and his wife, Tammy, had made the heart of their charitable efforts for close to a decade. But for all the help Cunningham gave to others, he could not ask his friends for help. That was the sad reality that former governor Bill Ritter, fresh from emergency surgery himself, shared in the heartfelt eulogy he delivered for Cunningham after the restaurateur committed suicide last fall. Cunningham may be gone, but his do-good spirit lives on.

Readers' Choice: Tim Tebow

These two polar bears are bonkers for each other. Before Lee came to the Denver Zoo last year, Cranbeary was a ten-year-old widow whose romance with Frosty was short-lived, since the bear had succumbed to liver cancer a month after Cranbeary arrived in Denver. But Lee, a handsome twelve-year-old from Detroit, seems to have filled that gap nicely. The two bears spend their days frolicking in the habitat's pool, Dirty Dancing style, and then shamelessly spooning in public.

Only twelve 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards were given out last year, each with a $10,000 grant, and Denver's PlatteForum won one of them. Feted for its artist-student mentoring work, the gallery/workshop on Platte Street was handed its award by Michelle Obama in November. "I always saw the world as gray until PlatteForum opened up my vision," said student participant Salvador Flores-Martinez, who joined PlatteForum director Judy Anderson and education director Meagan Terry on the trip to Washington, D.C., to pick up the honor. We're all seeing more clearly, thanks to PlatteForum.

Though it won't officially open until late April 2012, it's not too early to rate the urbane History Colorado Center a rousing architectural success. The 200,000-square-foot building was designed to house all the functions of the Colorado Historical Society — including offices, event facilities and a replacement for the thirty-year-old museum, whose former spot a block away is now part of the still-under-construction state justice center. The price tag on this stunner was over $110 million, but it got a jump start in 2010 with the issuance of Build America Bonds, part of the federal stimulus program to fund "shovel-ready" public projects. The sleek neo-modernist building, with its canted volumes and dramatic cantilevered cornice, is clad in dull limestone and detailed with shiny aluminum and even a touch of rusted steel. It's the crowning achievement of its designer, Tryba Architects (headed by David Tryba) — and, along with the nearby Wellington Webb building, the firm's second great contribution to the greater Civic Center.

Parker was once a small, rural town — but after the last few building booms, it's been completely subsumed by suburban sprawl that's spread developer housing, strip malls and gas stations across the area. But there's still a remnant of an old downtown on Main Street, and on a nearby ridge that rises above Sulphur Gulch, the town council, using a little over $20 million in existing funds, decided to build the Parker Arts, Culture and Events center, known as PACE. The facility, which opened last fall, includes a theater, an auditorium, a media lab, an art gallery and a dance studio. Done by Denver's Semple Brown Design, the smart-looking structure is made up of interlocking horizontal forms in concrete and brick that have been beautifully detailed. The pierced-metal wall is out of this world — and definitely outside the bland box that holds most of the rest of Parker's architecture.

As the mother of three and a practicing physician at Denver Health's Westside Family Health Center for two decades, Irene Aguilar had her hands full. Still, she found the time to run for Senate District 32 in the Colorado Legislature, and, since winning that election in 2010, has kept a dizzying pace both in the Capitol and out among her constituents. She's a whiz on health-care issues and has held numerous town meetings on that issue, among other topics. And every Monday, she invites a crew of University of Denver law students to her office to study the pros and cons of a potential piece of legislation. If people are tired of politics as usual, Aguilar could be just the tonic.

Readers' Choice: Michael Hancock

For fifty years, the Northwoods Inn served meat to the masses. It was a Colorado institution where it was okay to throw peanut shells on the floor and a ragtime piano player entertained diners while they gnawed steaks and savored the special seasoned cottage cheese. But the restaurant closed abruptly last year, replaced by a business that's another kind of meat market altogether. This address is now the new home of the Scarlet Ranch swingers' club, which left its old home on Broadway for the 'burbs . Here's to another fifty years of T-bones!

The Denver Department of Parks and Recreation had seven acres of underutilized, wilderness-like land at the edge of northwest Denver: the former Camp Rollandet, which the city had purchased from the Campfire Girls in 2005. The local branch of Outward Bound, a national organization that got its start in Marble fifty years ago, had long been headquartered in stuffy urban office spaces and was looking for a new home. The deal was a natural, and late last year, Outward Bound leased the Camp Rollandet site with the blessing of the Denver City Council. Kudos all around: A beautiful slice of nature is a terrible thing to waste.

Unlike many of those other city-ranking, hit-seeking Internet lists (which have cumulatively described Denver as "the manliest, drunkest city"), last November's accolade from the Brookings Institution had some real science behind it. Demographer William Frey, a senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program, parsed the numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and determined that from 2008 through 2010, even as the hopes for a quick comeback from the recession faded, young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 were high on Denver...and proved it by coming here in record numbers. Although Denver ranked a mediocre twelfth in Frey's last survey, which covered 2005 through 2007, since then it had pulled ahead of such previous hotspots as Phoenix and Atlanta, adding a chart-topping 10,429 new, young residents, to rank as the country's top cool city. "What we see from the migration data," Frey said, is that "Colorado and Denver are probably a part of the country that will survive and possibly prosper when the economy comes back." Cool!

Since the first wave of gold-hunters washed up on the banks of Cherry Creek, Denver has always attracted pioneers. In fact, Governor John Hickenlooper made this state's entrepreneurial spirit the focus of his State of the State speech this January. And no one better exemplifies that spirit than Hickenlooper, an East Coast-educated geologist who moved out to Colorado in the early '80s, was laid off in the middle of that decade's oil-and-gas bust, and joined with other adventurers to start Denver's first brewpub, the Wynkoop Brewing Company, which opened in 1988. Since then, of course, craft beer has become a major growth industry in Colorado...and Hickenlooper himself wound up using the bar as a launching pad for a political career that took him first to City Hall, then to the State Capitol. Although Hickenlooper is no longer involved with the Wynkoop, it remains a great place to get a taste of Denver's history, whether you're drinking its brews inside the renovated, Victorian-era warehouse or sitting on the Wynkoop-side patio, watching the sun set over the mountains...and the Union Station project, which will transform that piece of history into a futuristic, multi-modal transportation hub by 2014.

Readers' Choice: Red Rocks Amphitheatre

The boom in medical marijuana dispensaries has not only made Denver one of the most medicated places in the United States, but it's also made the Mile High one of the dankest-smelling cities in the nation. On some streets, you'll catch just a faint whiff over the other scents of a bustling urban area; at other corners, you'll wonder whether a skunk was hit by a car nearby. The most chronic corner in town, though, is at West Sixth Avenue and Kalamath Street, where the smell of ganja is pleasantly overwhelming.

Bret Saunders has earned several Best of Denver nods before, and for good reason. Of the seemingly endless options on the local airwaves in the mornings, he's still the best. Tuning in to Saunders is like checking in with a well-read friend who always proves to be good company. With a smart sense of humor, broad sensibilities and informed opinions, Saunders offers dependably intelligent quips and monologues with an amiable, low-key delivery, making him and Robbyn Hart, his trusted counterpart in the mornings, the ideal companions to help loosen the white-knuckle death grip of the daily commute.

Readers' choice: Nerf, Channel 93.3

Ryan Warner's even tone and talking-over-coffee volume — the loudest he gets is a hearty chuckle — is a daytime treat for cubicle dwellers and anyone within earshot of a radio. On his long-form interview program, Colorado Matters, which airs on Colorado Public Radio stations, Warner offers intelligent discussions of such important issues as juvenile crime, the environment, political corruption and — perhaps that most critical of journalistic topics — heartwarming animal tales.

Ross Kaminsky may be a conservative, but he takes a liberal approach to talk radio, discussing a wide range of subjects with common sense, smarts and humor. A professional derivatives trader for more than twenty years and a senior fellow with the Heartland Institute, he writes about current events on his own, excellently named Rossputin.com. But he really gets to sound off on his Sunday show on KOA, as well as the many fill-in gigs he does for the station. Talk may be cheap, but Kaminsky's opinions matter...and he values the views of his listeners, too.

Readers' Choice: Peter Boyles

Colorado has sent contestants to Survivor, The Bachelor, America's Got Talent; Denver's hosted The Real World. But Mondo Guerra's recent victory on Project Runway All Stars has this city looking very, very good. As a kid growing up here, Mondo would take thrift-store clothing and repurpose it for his own designs with scissors and a glue gun; he got more formal training at Denver School of the Arts and then the Community College of Denver, and started designing seriously in 1999. And thanks to designers like Mondo, the business of fashion has become serious indeed in Denver, with a lot of homegrown talent working hard to make the industry work here. This was Mondo's second stint on Project Runway; during his first run in 2010, he won fans not just with his designs, but also with his revelation that he's HIV-positive. Mondo not only makes us look good, but he does good, too; he's a shining All Star.

Readers' Choice: Mondo Guerra

When was the last time you heard a tenth-grader talking about nuclear proliferation or deep-space exploration? If your answer is "never," then you haven't been to a Denver Urban Debate League tournament. Launched in 2008, the program aims to bring an intensely intellectual activity usually reserved for affluent suburban high schools to inner-city schools such as Manual, West and Thomas Jefferson. And the results are nothing short of incredible. Think today's youth have never heard of Henry Kissinger and couldn't find North Korea on a map? Think they're not paying attention to the world? Think again.

The era of Ron Burgundy is long over. Those ultra-cushy teleprompter-reading gigs that come with hefty clothing allowances are a thing of the past for local talking heads. Which is why anchors like Jeremy Hubbard of Fox 31/KWGN/Channel 2 News are such a welcome sight in these days of shrinking news holes and budgets. Hubbard's a workhorse who's done some heavy lifting, both on-site at disaster scenes across America as a reporter for NewsOne (a service of ABC News), and here at home, where he still hustles to get stories. With his go-getter attitude and smooth delivery, Hubbard's earned some quality ass time in the anchor's chair. And there's no chance that he'll tell us to go fuck ourselves live on air.

Peoples' Choice: Kyle Dyer, Channel 9

"I always drink beer, and when I do, I prefer good beer," says the bottling-plant employee whose name tag reads "Bob" and who holds up a bottle of Breckenridge brew. The anti-big-beer-company beer commercial, produced by Breckenridge Brewery, managed to not only take stabs at the big boys, but spoof Dos Equis's "Most interesting man in the world" commercial as well. The spot — all part of a "Truth in Beervertising" campaign — ran on Super Bowl Sunday, although not during the game, and just locally on Fox 31. Still, it was plenty crafty.

Readers' Choice: Rocky's Auto

An hour-long digest of local news that's on at the right time for anyone who actually works for a living, KWGN's 7 p.m. newscast on Channel 2 provides the right mix of breaking local fare — fires! weather! sports! more fires! — with strong national pieces. In an information-flooded world, this local newscast helps keep Denver's head above water. 

Readers' Choice: Channel 9

Kathy Sabine has been on the air at Channel 9 since 1993, back when some of you couldn't get your boots on without help. And she's still the town's best bet for telling you which way the wind is blowing. While Sabine's perkiness may be a little annoying, she manages to sneak in those all-important forecast facts. Even when the management sticks her in that silly "9News backyard" outdoor set, she manages to keep a sunny disposition and outshine the competition.

Readers' Choice: Kathy Sabine

First elected to the Colorado House of Representatives from eastern Colorado Springs in 2000, Bill Cadman moved over to the Senate in 2007 when Ron May resigned. And after another resignation, that of Mike Kopp in 2011, he became the Senate Minority Leader. Although Cadman is a solid Republican, loyal to the core, he recognized that his new role called for leadership, not bickering and bomb-throwing. As a result, he's built a good relationship with Senate president Brandon Shaffer, elevated the overall level of discourse at the Capitol, and is now in a position to play a key role in the upcoming budgeting process.

Peoples' Choice: John Hickenlooper

When it comes to gas prices, what goes up is showing no signs of coming down. But Denverites can take heart in the fact that while filling your tank remains a wallet-popping proposition, gas is at least cheaper in this city than it is anywhere else in the country. For now.