Today is the last day for Valente’s Italian Restaurant. The northwest Denver mainstay got its start in 1964, when Ray Valente Sr. and Pat Aiello opened Jenny’s Pizzeria, named after Aeillo’s wife. (Aiello already had a restaurant named for him: Patsy’s, which is still going strong, although under different ownership,…
Burn, baby, burn. Panic globally, act locally. Maybe three decades will be enough time to figure out whether oil shale is really any answer to energy needs. The 28th Oil Shale Symposium kicks off today at the Colorado School of Mines — for information, go to www.mines.edu. On Tuesday, the…
Pouring out the memories. After eight years, Gallagher’s Steak House finally pulled up stakes in Denver last week. Landlord and longtime restaurateur Bruce Rahmani, who’d had the franchise deal with the small, eighty-year-old New York chain, has now leased the space at 1480 Arapahoe to J. Gonzales, who’s opened 5280…
Dear Readers: I don’t like to rerun columns, ’cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but as my column invades foreign terrain (Steamboat Springs!), I realize that new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the two most frequently asked questions about the Mexican’s…
Art or nuisance? You be the judge. The Obama mural on an alley fence behind a house at 303 Galapago Street has a new fan: the Los Angeles Times. Taking off from my column of last week, Times reporter Nicholas Riccardi describes how sixteen-year-old Paul Trujillo and two friends were…
Ringy-dingy. Several times a day, I’ll answer my direct line at the office, only to be told that the nonexistent warrantee on my vehicle is about to expire and I should press “1” if I want to extend it. At least once a day, I’ll answer my direct line at…
James Carville and Mary Matalin should have temperatures rising. With less than a month to the November 4 election, today is the very last day to register to vote in Colorado. If you’ve moved recently, or didn’t vote in the last presidential election, it’s not a bad idea to check…
“She said what?” Where are you watching tonight’s vice-presidential debate? The Denver Young Democrats, the Foreign Policy Professionals for Obama and the Young Lawyers for Obama are holding a debate-watching party at Sengers on the Fax, at 3014 East Colfax Avenue. The ACLU is hosting a watch party — free,…
Get out the vote. No, really. Grab a paintbrush and help erase the word “vote” from the mural of Barack Obama that’s transformed an alley fence behind Galapago Street into an urban gallery. Because that may be the only way the city will let this piece of art stay up…
¡Ask A Mexican! Dear Mexican: Representative Chris Cannon of Utah, also known as Mr. Amnesty, one of La Raza’s heroes, was trounced in the Utah primary by a relative unknown who is from the Tom Tancredo school of immigration reform. Poll data shows that Cannon’s immigration stance was a major…
Denver had to raise a lot of cash to put on the Democratic National Convention — close to $50 million, from donors big and small, gracious and petty — but no contribution was as artful as the one that Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee president Elbra Wedgeworth collected on Monday…
Get out your measuring tape. Even though Denver is at the center of a battleground state, so far the war of the words has yet to land on many front lawns. And the lack of political shout-outs is surprising, because this summer, the city quietly changed the rules to allow…
This morning at the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, a group is recapping the DNC’s Lean ‘N Green program, and starting the discussion on where the project goes from here. Among the talking points: “Lessons learned.” First lesson: Do not send a bossy press release announcing a Lean ‘N’…
Hitting the trail á la JibJab. Looking for proof that Colorado’s a battleground state? Barack Obama will be in the Denver area today, his wife Michelle is coming in Wednesday, and Sarah Palin is slated for an October 4 visit. And more evidence will arrive in your mailbox soon, since…
Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, was in town this week to tout his new book, Orange County: A Personal History, and since he’s a colleague, we wanted to take him out to eat. But since he’s also the food editor of the OC Weekly (and the hardest-working man…
Dear Mexican: What is an anchor baby? I am a 45-year-old male born in the USA. My mother was born in ex-Yugoslavia (now Serbia), and my father was also born in ex-Yugoslavia (now Croatia). My father arrived in this country via a green card about four years before I was…
Chipotle, the little homegrown company that got very big by selling big burritos, is looking for a new advertising agency. According to Ad Age, Chipotle only lasted nine months with New York’s DeVito/Verdi, and now wants to stuff its $15-to-$20 million account into some other company’s coffers. “We are looking…
FasTracks tries to get back on track, financially speaking. Four weeks ago today, the Democratic National Convention kicked off in town – and now, Denver’s post-party depression has given way to fears of a real depression. This week, it’s all about the money – yours, mine, and Joe Nacchio’s, with…
Dear Mexican: I am a chica struggling with the choice to come out to my parents about my sexual orientation. My family is Catholic, and my parents are old-school. While we are very close, I am scared of how badly this can go. My parents have been living in the…
Red alert. As promised, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s proposed budget for FY 2009 includes “increased funding for graffiti prevention and coordination efforts.” The suggested $250,000 line item is just a pittance in comparison to the $914 million total, but it could have a big impact on efforts to channel urban artists’…
Mary Smith as seen on Fox News during the Democratic National Convention. When last I saw Mary Smith, she was sitting on the patio outside Lime XS on Sixth Avenue, demonstrating how easy it is to imitate Sarah Palin with a borrowed pair of glasses, a ponytail and some lipstick…
No one’s in the driver’s seat. Last week, Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown reported that 38 of the hybrids donated for use during the Democratic National Convention were missing. He’d heard that from Paul Lhevine of the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee at a convention recap on Friday, September 5…
