Reader: The Mercury Was the Heart and Soul of This City

Over fifty years, the Mercury Cafe has gone through a lot of names and as many locations…but through it all, one thing remained constant: founder Marilyn Megenity. Although in 2021 she sold the business and building at 2199 California Street that she’d bought decades before, she remained the Merc’s North Star, a person who understood the importance of a place where people from all backgrounds could come together and celebrate as one community.

On April 1, the Mercury Cafe will become The Pearl; the new owners promise that they will keep the spirit of the Merc as well as much of the programming. In the meantime, the venue held one last open mike, where performers included Culture Editor Kristen Fiore.

Others have been sharing their experiences and memories of the Merc on the Westword Facebook page. Says Jill: 

There were too many amazing nights at the Mercury to share here. It was the heart and soul of the city. Thanks to Marilyn for creating a place where we could make these memories.

Recalls Nancy:

I used to run the People’s Fair and we held band auditions at the Pearl Street location. Running into Allen Ginsberg in the lobby.

Adds Elizabeth:

Running into Daryl Hannah in the bathroom.

Remembers Charlie:

Meeting John Sinclair at the Neal Cassady birthday bash.

Offers Jennifer:

Performing our high-school plays on stage there…the excitement of being backstage at Mercury getting makeup/costumes ready with friends, and endless nights with friends over coffee, tea and Dinah’s Tofu…

Recalls James:

I got married there and had The Foggy Mountain Fuckers play the reception. Good times.

Suggests Steve:

Being told by Marilyn that she “hates corporate rock,” but she was not going to tell us not to play the show the night our band was playing there around 1997. Funny thing was, we weren’t anywhere near corporate rock, but for whatever reason she had it stuck in her craw that we were.  Good times.

 Says John:

Feeling the dance floor move when they had punk & metal shows. Fun times!

Comments Michael:

Played a song there in the ’90s broadcast live on KTCL. Definitely a highlight.

Recalls Nancy:

Taking tango lessons with my late husband.

And then there’s this from Jack Mudry:

Thanks to Westword for your recent coverage of the sale of the Mercury Cafe. When I came to Denver in 1972, I first discovered Colfax Avenue, then the Common Market, a food coop. Later I heard about the Mercury Cafe. Soon, both institutions became centers of the counterculture in the Mile High City. The Merc was the place to be seen, where ideas were shared and movements started. Old friends and new friends would show up there for cultural and political celebrations and debates.

The Latin music scene – tango, salsa and Nueva Cancion – would inevitably find space there. My musical friends from Mexico City, Jorge Manuel and La Quinta Nota, formed a salsa band that would later go on to play at Blue Ice and La Rumba. We offered to play at the Merc on Saturday nights downstairs on the main floor. We were amateurs but showed promise, so Marilyn Megenity agreed and generously provided us with dinner and a glass of wine for our services. Plus, we offered to show new arrivals how to dance salsa. There was a $5 cover and the band would split whatever was collected at the door. Some weekends 25 people arrived, but on other Saturday nights there were only a few stragglers. We would pack up the instruments and leave by 1:30 a.m. The neighborhood was usually quiet, but one night I left by myself and some drunk high school kids who had just graduated drove by in a pickup laughing wildly and threw a half dozen eggs at me. That was their idea of fun, but my beat-up gray sportscoat would never be the same.

In April 2010, I turned sixty and my wife, Silvia, and her friend Luz organized a huge party to celebrate that momentous event. They approached Marilyn about reserving the club and she was enthusiastic. At the time, I was the host of KUVO’s Sunday morning program of Latin American music, La Nueva Voz. KUVO started broadcasting in 1985. Marilyn was a fan and she had the Merc radio tuned to 89.3 FM every Sunday morning. The night of my birthday party, ten different bands showed up, plus a troop of Bolivian folkloric dancers named Sambos Caporales with their unique Carnavalito style. Many of the KUVO staffers were there, and one of the many highlights of the music program was a jazz performance by Neil Bridge and Karen Lee. The entire building was packed that night with somewhere between 300-to-400 people (we stopped counting). The singing and dancing continued until after 3 a.m.

One final memory I will share is related to the Radical Information Bookstore Collective, which began a little earlier than the Mercury. In 1973, the Collective participated in many tumultuous marches in support of the Crusade for Justice, the American Indian Movement and against U.S. imperialism in Latin America. One of our members from the 1980s was Lowell May, a well-known and controversial figure in Denver’s “left” circles. Many of us were monitored by the Denver Police Department and FBI, later resulting in lawsuits and a series of articles published in Westword known as the Spy Files. Later, in December 2018, after suffering from a series of health issues, Lowell died unexpectedly. His friends and members of the RIP Collective organized a memorial at – where else? The Mercury Cafe.

The last time I saw Marilyn was in 2023, at the John Hand Theatre in Lowry. She is still going strong. Thank you, Marilyn, and the dedicated staff at the Merc for all those incredible memories.

Do you have memories of the Mercury? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.