El Piñon Will Start Serving This Fall at the Renovated La Vista

El Piñon, a new cafe and bar coming from Weston Scott, the owner of Ephemeral Rotating Taproom, will soon open alongside the renovated La Vista Motel, an iconic, circa 1956 travel-lodge motel at 5500 East Colfax Avenue that’s getting a major makeover.

El Piñon will operate as a cafe in the early hours, serving local roaster Servant Coffee and breakfast burritos by neighboring Mexican spot Supreme Chicken Colfax, which will also offer food in the evening. That’s when the space will transform into a bar, which Scott hopes will appeal to both neighbors and guests of La Vista. The lineup will include wine, cocktails and a local-heavy beer list, as well as nonalcoholic drinks. “We will have simple cocktails done well,” promises Scott.

“We are trying to make it very approachable,” adds Nathan Beal, the Denver developer who is renovating La Vista. Beal also resurrected the former Ben’s Super Market at 2301 East 28th Avenue that Ephemeral moved into in June 2022, and he asked Scott to work with him on the motel project, too.

When it originally opened, La Vista was one of many motels that catered to cross-country travelers heading along U.S. Route 40, which overlapped with Colfax in the metro area. But when Interstate 70 was completed in the ’70s, this stretch went downhill and the motels fell into disrepair…or worse.

Beal is drawn to these older, sadder buildings. “I like to bring them back to life,” he says. He’s also renovating an old church in the Cole neighborhood, at 1618 East 38th Avenue, where Nowhere Coffee is slated to open a brick-and-mortar after years slinging shots out of a 1973 Airstream.

Beal bought the empty La Vista property in 2022 and originally considered creating apartments there; the motel project has been in the works since spring 2024. The motel’s entire interior was stripped to the studs, Beal says, as the place was a mess after years of neglect, criminal activity and vacancy. The bar is going into the former residence of the motel manager. It, along with the 23 renovated rooms, will have a colorful,1960s lodge vibe, with Xan Creative – which has also worked with Ginger Pig, Snooze and Steuben’s – doing the interior design. The bar will include two outdoor spaces: a covered patio on the first floor and a rooftop-like patio on the second.

The exterior is being renovated with the help of Boulder’s Sopher Sparn Architects, to ensure that the motel’s origins are preserved and more modern features are adjusted. “We’re taking it back to what it used to look like,” says Beal. Rejuvenation of the neon sign is in the works, and he’s already applied to put La Vista on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The goal is to get the property open early this fall, but the project should be worth the wait. Notes Scott: “These older spots have a character you can’t really buy or build.”

El Piñon will open this fall at La Vista at 5500 East Colfax Avenue; for updates, check lavistadenver.com.