Art Cormier's Mr. Biggs could be in big trouble

Art Cormier's name has popped up plenty of times in Westword -- in our stories about the Regency Hotel ,and most recently in a post about Amazing Jake's, the funplex in Aurora where Cormier tried to revive the scene he had going in northwest Denver. Complaints from neighbors helped end...

By Patricia Calhoun

January 27, 2010

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Art Cormier's name has popped up plenty of times in Westword -- in our stories about the Regency Hotel ,and most recently in a post about Amazing Jake's, the funplex in Aurora where Cormier tried to revive the scene he had going in northwest Denver.

Complaints from neighbors helped end the party at Amazing Jake's, but soon the complaints were coming from another location: unincorporated Jefferson County, where Cormier now owns Mr. Biggs, a popular teen hangout and bowling alley (formerly known as FatzCity), which was recently cited by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department for what spokesman Mark Techmeyer describes as an aborted fashion show featuring topless models, some under the legal drinking age.

Back on December 18, Techmeyer explains, "Deputies were doing a normal, routine bar check and discovered there was a fashion show getting ready to take place there -- that's what they were referring to it as. But the models were in a state of partial undress, and they were using latex paint to cover their breasts, which was against county ordinances for their establishment and location" -- a space at roughly a midpoint between Chatfield High School and Columbine High School (and mere blocks from Ute Meadows Elementary School).

Mr. Biggs was cited for a liquor violation; there's a hearing on that citation February 4. "Be cool, do right," says Mr. Biggs's website.

And do it clothed.

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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