Mercury Cafe

For more than forty years, Marilyn Megenity hosted the town’s most eclectic party at the Mercury Cafe, her club/cafe/community gathering place. Although it’s now owned by entrepreneur Danny Newman, he’s vowed to keep the Merc instact as an institution known as much for its enlightening entertainment options – plays, poetry slams, tango parties – as it is for its healthy hippie fare. Whether vegan or carnivore, libertarian or commie, everyone feels at home at the Merc. A restaurant, dance club, music venue and speakeasy, the Mercury Cafe is in an orbit all its own, hosting everything from lindy-hop lessons to poetry readings, high teas to Green Party meetings. Rock-and-roll shows were axed years ago, but classical, jazz, avant-garde and singer-songwriter performances still go on in the three baroque rooms. Every cultural subset can find something at the Merc, the embodiment of Denver eclecticism.