In April, Paul Piciocchi announced that he was closing Tryst after six years and moving the concept to Playa del Carmen. Over the next week, he remodeled the space at 1512 Larimer Street, reopening it as Dive on Fifteenth. But now Dive has taken a dive, and the spot turned back into Tryst on July 23. "Everybody liked Tryst and missed it, so we went back to Tryst on their behalf," Piciocchi explains.
Some of the changes he made to the interior space for Dive will remain — it's a better layout, he says — but he's also prettied up the room with a paint job, glass tile bar face, more candles and a chandelier. He's also bringing in new promoters and DJs. "We've been swamped with opening other venues lately," Piciocchi admits, "so I kind of lost track of that one. So I had to refocus on it, look at it, and we decided to go back."
In addition to opening Rack & Rye, Mix Lounge and the Drink (all in the former Alto space, a block west of Tryst at 1320 15th Street) at the end of 2009, Piciocchi is also behind Chances (1135 Bannock Street), which opened in June in the former Wolfie's space, and Cactus Wheel, a Tex-Mex cantina that opens this week in downtown Louisville.
Club scout: Although Pre-Game Sports Bar & Grill is already up and running in the short-lived SportsBook space, at 1434 Blake Street (it was Lure before that), another month could pass before the upscale Boudoir 1434 opens upstairs. And you can say so long to Kadilak Nightclub, which opened in the former Heartthrob, at 10175 East Hampden Avenue, near the beginning of the year; that space is now for sale or lease. And the spot at 1209 East 13th Avenue that was home to the legendary Cricket on the Hill until it closed two years ago will soon be part of an expanded Nicolo's Pizza; that project should be done in September.
After attending the Westword Music Showcase awards ceremony two years ago, John Baxter moved to Hawaii. But now the man behind How Sad Am I Productions is back in Denver with ZetaKaye House, an independent artists' collective. Baxter and wife Kim Baxter, a local musician and host of KUVO's Jazz Odyssey, are also hosting "Don't Touch That Stereo!" DJ nights on Thursdays at the Squire Lounge (1800 East Colfax Avenue), spinning funk, soul and R&B from 1960-79.
