Best Shop for Your First Tattoo 2017 | Ritual Tattoo & Gallery | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Shop for Your First Tattoo

Ritual Tattoo & Gallery

Ritual Tattoo & Gallery Facebook

If you're contemplating your first ink, there's nowhere better to get comfortable than Ritual Tattoo & Gallery. Owned by William Crandall and Sandi Calistro, this shop, hidden away on Jason Street in Sunnyside, boasts a roster of nine talented artists — Rochelle Marion, Rachel Paton, Sal Tino, Casey O, Jake Diamond and David Robinson among them — who all bring special points of view to tattoo designs. The space is decked out with original artwork by the artists, and a tiny pop-up of its witchy sister shop, RitualCravt, sits at the entrance, filled with talismans and charms that will help fortune smile on your new tat. Fair warning: Many of these artists, including Crandall and Calistro, are booked out six months in advance or more. But while you wait for your appointment to come up, you'll have plenty of time to decide on the perfect design. You can call for a consultation on that, too.

Readers' Choice: Black Voodoo Tattoo Parlour

Best Henna Artistry

Henna Luna

Henna Luna

Longing for a full hand sleeve tattoo, but don't have the pain tolerance to get one? Henna Luna to the rescue! She specializes in temporary, safe henna tattoos that are as intricate and intensely vivid as the real thing — but they hurt less and last only a week or two. Henna Luna can take any tattoo design and make it her own; her portfolio includes everything from traditional Indian wedding hand tattoos to mandalas, animals, sacred geometry, flowers, all-seeing eyes and more. Henna Luna can be found Monday through Thursday at All Sacred Tattoo in Edgewater; she does private parties, too.

720-612-7782
hennaluna.com

Best Tarot Card Reading

The Sacred Table

Lindsey Bartlett

We see a transformative psychic experience in your future, if you make a date with tarot-card reader, priestess, witch and spiritual guidance counselor Rory Lula McMahan. After nearly twenty years of tarot-card reading using the most classic form of cards, the Rider-Waite deck, McMahan will quickly tune in to your energy. Get a reading from her at Spirit Ways, RitualCravt or by scheduling a private appointment; she also runs Psychic Beauty, a metaphysical business that hosts classes on weekends.

720-218-5781
thesacredtable.com

Best Holdout on 13th Avenue

Wax Trax Records

Jon Solomon

Thirteenth Avenue — once a beacon for weirdos and a magnet for suburban teens aching to rub elbows with bona fide punks — has lost many of its eccentric tenants over the years, but Wax Trax remains. The record shop doesn't need to try hard to be cool: It embodies cool, with racks and rows of hand-picked albums, brand-new releases and collector's items expertly organized and resting comfortably in well-kept but ephemera-strewn rooms. Like any good music-selling institution, Wax Trax is staffed with knowledgeable, fairly approachable clerks, most of whom are in bands or were in bands (maybe even as an original member of your favorite band). Growth be damned: Wax Trax is a tried-and-true neighborhood record store that stays true to cool, despite the modernization all around it.

Best Old-School/New School Barber Shop

Steel & Lather Barber Co.

Steel & Lather Facebook

A welcoming atmosphere is perhaps the most understated yet crucial characteristic of a good barber shop, and Steel & Lather Barber Co. has achieved the perfect mix of comfort and coolness. The LoDo location definitely has a business-casual vibe, while the Capitol Hill space is a little more neighborly, but both treat customers like old friends. Patrons are treated to a cold brew while they wait, and the conversation is constantly flowing as Steel & Lather's classically trained barbers mix modern styles with time-honored looks. Owned and operated by brothers Moses and Michael Lucero and their good friend Sean Martinez — all born-and-raised Denverites and proud graduates of Emily Griffith's barber program — Steel & Lather stays on the cutting edge of style without being pretentious, maintaining a true local barber shop vibe. Still, this ain't your grandpa's barber shop: While walk-ins are welcome, appointments must be booked online.

Best Name for a Marijuana Dispensary

The Joint

When new owners took over an early dispensary in northwest Denver last year, it changed the name to something short and simple, something that perfectly captures the mission of the quaint storefront. The Joint isn't the kind you smoke — but it certainly sells plenty of these. The Joint was voted the number-one dispensary in Denver by Leafly in 2016; it has a friendly staff and a killer selection of bud. Be sure to try Voodoo, the signature strain, and ask a budtender for a look at the kaviar. Don't pass this Joint!

Readers' Choice: Fresh Baked

Best Concentrates Company

Olio

Olio was the brainchild of concentrates guru Wade Sanders, one of the founders of 710 Labs, who split off from the 710 brand last year and decided to create a new company. Based in Colorado and selling only small batches of its insanely high-quality concentrates — live resin, sauce or distillate — to select dispensaries, Olio has quickly gained momentum. The Olio team is dedicated to perfecting terpene flavor and achieving high THC percentages; try the products for yourself at Silver Stem, Colorado Next Buds, Good Chemistry and THC Boulder.

dabolio.com

Readers' Choice: NectarBee

Best Selection of Concentrates in a Dispensary

Frosted Leaf

Scott Lentz

Frosted Leaf has three locations in Denver, and all of them boast a huge selection of concentrates, with selections from Mahatma, O.pen and O.pen Craft Reserve, Rosin by Verde Natural, Rockin' Extracts Sugar Wax, Quest Concentrates, Pax Era pods from the Lab, Mary's Medicinals bootlegger CBD distillate, Harmony concentrates, GH Labs, Evolabs, moonrocks, kaviar, Craft Concentrates, Concentrate Supply Company and Chronic Creations. It's the largest selection in the city, and while Frosted Leaf might not have the cheapest prices, most things are well worth the cost. Besides, the stores will always have some kind of deal on three grams in addition to the most impressive wax lineup you may ever see.

frostedleaf.com

Readers' Choice: The Green Solution

Best Deals on Bud at a Dispensary

Colorado Harvest Company

Scott Lentz

Read it and reap: We haven't found better deals on flower in the Mile High City than the ones at Colorado Harvest Company. For the past year and a half, this dispensary has made a practice of picking a special strain out of a selection of up to twenty, then selling that strain for only $120 an ounce. And recently, Colorado Harvest made a good deal even better by dropping the price of these special strains to $109 an ounce. That's the same price that some places would charge for a quarter of an ounce, and it's an incredible bargain considering the quality of the bud, which is every bit as impressive as many of those on the top shelf.

Readers' Choice: The Green Solution

Best Deals on Concentrates in a Dispensary

Doctor's Orders

At its spot in northwest Denver, Doctor's Orders stocks an entire fridge full of products from such heavy-hitting companies as Craft, Chronic Creations, Viola, Cannabis Maximus and more, which typically provide Doctor's Orders with several different types of concentrates, including wax, shatter, live resin and even distillate. The staff is friendly and knowledgable, and all concentrates are $10 off if you get to the shop between 8 and 10 a.m. At Doctor's Orders, the early bird gets the dabs!

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