Reader: So Happy El Rancho Is Coming Back to Life!

Patricia Calhoun May 27, 2015 7:59AM

El Rancho is making another comeback — this time as a brewpub. The iconic restaurant in the foothills got its start as a log cabin eatery in 1947; new owners took it over in the '50s, and expanded it into a major restaurant and conference center. In the '60s, it even got its own exit off brand-new I-70. But since El Rancho was sold in 1988, it's gone through a number of disappointing incarnations. Will a brewpub be the ticket to success? Says Erin:

So happy someone is bringing this fantastic place back to life! I worked there seventeen years ago and have always loved the building and the history of it! I'll be a regular when the doors reopen!

Adds Thomas:

Glad it's coming back. Sadly, the quirky Observatory Café across the street has been left to slowly disintegrate.

Warns Lawrence:

The state patrol and deputy sheriffs will be lined up to issue DUI citations.

Did you ever visit El Rancho? How about the Observatory? If El Rancho can make it as a brewpub, can the Observatory be saved?

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Patricia Calhoun co-founded Westword in 1977; she’s been the editor ever since. She’s a regular on the weekly CPT12 roundtable Colorado Inside Out, played a real journalist in John Sayles’s Silver City, once interviewed President Bill Clinton while wearing flip-flops, and has been honored with numerous national awards for her columns and feature-writing.

Contact: Patricia Calhoun

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