Back in the early ’80s, before the bust, the crane was considered Denver’s official bird. And now the cranes are back — in a big way. From my LoHi kitchen window overlooking downtown (and yes, I-25), the sunrise glints off the windows of all the new buildings that have been…
A flood of craft-beer businesses came into Colorado last year, and they’ll keep coming in 2015. At least ten new breweries plan to open within Denver city limits this year alone, as Jonathan Shikes reported on Friday. But is that too much of a good thing? See also: Ten Breweries…
For years, nosy neighborhood groups, restaurant-industry insiders and food-and-beverage reporters have relied on the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses website, which features a page devoted to Liquor License Public Hearings. But for most of December, that page was blank. We contacted Stacie Loucks, head of the Excise and Licenses…
Colorado’s minimum wage went up 23 cents on January 1, to $8.23. Twenty-three pennies for your thoughts? While some activists are pushing for $15 — or $10 at the bare minimum — others say minimum wage has gone high enough. The reader who says that Westword is “part of the…
Close to 300 restaurants opened in metro Denver in 2014, and while some of them introduced new concepts to the areas, many relied on new versions of tried-and-true favorites: Chicken and waffles. Burgers. Mac and cheese. See also: Restaurant Roll Call for 2014 — Nearly 300 Restaurant Openings…
What food trends will you be happy to kiss goodbye in 2015? Jenn Wohletz offered her list of the top five fads that should die in 2015, including pretzel buns and fancy mac and cheese. Not surprisingly, some readers took issues with her hit list — while others offered their…
At this time of year, everyone gets in the prediction game — but it can be a risky business. New plans for the VC Hotel reminded us of an infamous chapter in the history of the building that started out as a Holiday Inn: It was once the hangout of…
UPDATE: After spending most of December 2014 down while the city completed an update to it, Denver’s liquor license public hearings page is up and running again. For years, nosy neighborhood groups, restaurant-industry insiders and food-and-beverage reporters have relied on the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses website, which features…
While the Nichols Partnership is looking to the future, turning the former Hotel VQ, right next to Sports Authority Field at Mile High, into 179 micro-apartments, we’ve been looking to the past of that building, whose circular design was once considered so cutting-edge. Out-of- this world, in fact, particularly when…
Baby, it’s cold outside — but a good plate of green chile could warm you up fast. Mark Antonation has been spooning up green chile all over town in this month’s Ethniche series, which most recently saw him at La Fuente, which makes a good green. By Colorado standards, at…
Almost every Friday for two decades, I’ve driven up Welton Street on my way to the Colorado Public Television studios. Welton Street cuts right through Five Points — in fact, it’s one of the streets that creates the actual points. The story of this historic neighborhood stretches back more than…
Just a few weeks ago, the most controversial thing about The Interview was actor/creator Seth Rogen’s invitation to come smoke pot with him at a special December 8 showing of the movie in Denver: “We are going to do a screening of #TheInterviewMovie in Colorado where I get baked with…
Sit, Guinness. Roll over, Merlot. As our news blog reported yesterday, a website called rover.com, which bills itself as “the nation’s Airbnb for dogs,” has released a survey of the most popular dog names in 2014, and Denver ranks in the top spot as the city with the most alcohol-related…
At dawn on November 29, on the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, more than 500 descendants of massacre survivors and other tribal members gathered on Monument Hill for private ceremonies commemorating their fallen ancestors. Meanwhile, down below at the headquarters of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site,…
The runners gathered just after dawn Sunday on Monument Hill. The day before, on the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, more than 500 descendents of the massacre and other tribal members had gathered here for private ceremonies on an unusually warm November morning; the good weather continued through…
I spent the weekend driving across the plains of Colorado, and it’s impossible to travel over that terrain without thinking of Kent Haruf, the author who captured both the land and the people who live there so well in his books, including Plainsong and Eventide. Now comes word from his…
Travel back in time tonight on Colorado Public Television, which will be reprising four of the Emmy Award-winning Time Machine shows that the crew behind Colorado Inside Out, the Friday night public affairs program, creates every year. The weekly, Friday night CIO usually focuses on current events; these Time Machine…
When you’re trying to right a 150-year-old wrong, you do not want to make another mistake. You do not want to add insult to grievous injury. That’s why the members of the University of Denver’s John Evans Study Committee took such care with their investigation of the connection between John…
The Colorado gubernatorial debate hosted by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation on October 8 at Infinity Park Events Center in Glendale wasn’t all that equal. While the organizers were bemoaning the current two-major-party system and decrying the failure of incumbent governor John Hickenlooper (Democrat) and two-time gubernatorial candidate Bob…
The stunning avalanche of action set in motion by the U.S. Supreme Court’s inaction on same-sex marriage last week shows just how quickly this country can change. So why, nearly fifty years after Colorado became the first state in the union to legalize abortion, have we not put this equally…
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts transformed this city’s cultural scene. But the DCPA, and arts in general, sustained two major blows last week: Randy Weeks, DCPA president, who would have been responsible for much of the future direction of the organization, passed away in London at the age…
References to the Sand Creek Massacre are everywhere these days, including page 55 of the new AP United States History course, one of the most controversial — if unread — documents in Colorado and the focus of the proposed curriculum review committee that a few members of the Jefferson County…
