5280 Magazine February 2022

THE DENVER MAGAZINE

The smoked old fashioned at LoHi’s Wildflower

BEST BARS D E N V E R’S

26 Places To Sip Something Delicious Right Now! PAGE 38

THE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE OF ABORTION IN COLORADO FEBRUARY 2022 |

BY CIAR A O’ROURKE

5280.com

HOW TO ACTUALLY KEEP YOUR PANDEMIC RESOLUTIONS PAGE 48

FIVE POINTS’ ICONIC WELTON STREET CAFE MAKES ITS MOVE

BY LISA KENNEDY

Healthy breathing takes lungs, heart, science and care.

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NOTHING BUT FLY-OVER COUNTRY.

Some people regard Nebraska as a place you cross on the way to a more interesting place.

But over half a million sandhill cranes might disagree. Every March, they land here for a closer look at things. And flocks of humans swoop in to witness the awesomeness of a crane migration. There are those who will always think our state is strictly for the birds.

But you might disagree, so go to VisitNebraska.com for a free Travel Guide.

And a closer look at one very interesting place.

FEATURES

F E B R U A RY 2022

The rum-based Rainbow cocktail at the Tatarian in Berkeley

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Best In Class Enduring COVID-19-related hurdles has only made Denver’s watering holes more inventive than ever. Here, we award superlatives to this year’s most outstanding bars.

EDITED BY PATRICIA KAOWTHUMRONG

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Good Behavior For many of us, the grand goals we set during the pandemic remain fantasies.

Guided by research and those who actually managed to keep their resolutions, we outline how to achieve a new you in the new normal.

EDITED BY SPENCER CAMPBELL & LINDSEY B. KING

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The Past, Present, And Future Of Abortion Access In Colorado With Roe v. Wade in peril and surrounding states promising to restrict the procedure if the ruling falls, will Colorado remain a beacon of access for its residents and the region at large?

Sarah Banks

BY CIARA O’ROURKE

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OBELISCO COLLECTION

DEPTS.

B E H I N D T H E S T O R I ES 12

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D I N I N G G U I D E 62

COMPASS

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15 MUSIC

For Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band, life off the road made for a sweeter sound.

16 TASTEMAKER

Charlie Billingsley, the founder of the jubilant pop-up exhibition Museum for Black Girls, details the local spots that bring her joy.

EAT & DRINK

18 STYLE

25 WHAT’S HOT

Ditch overpriced bouquets in favor of Flouwer Co.’s flavorful, petal-speckled treats.

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26 COMMUNITY

20 ARTS

Five Points’ iconic Welton Street Cafe hopes to make a calculated move—one block north.

How Denver music star Neyla Pekarek is telling the tale of a legendary Colorado woman through a new musical.

BY LISA KENNEDY

COLUMN

22 OLYMPICS

For 25 years, Beaver Creek’s iconic Birds of Prey course has been a hunting ground for the world’s best skiers.

30 REAL ESTATE

A surge in van-lifers is forcing mountain towns to rewrite their rules—and rethink who gets to claim “resident” status.

BY KELLY BASTONE

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BACKSTORY 80 THE ULTIMATE

FEBRUARY GAME PLAN This year, Super Bowl Sunday is on Valentine’s Eve. We found back-toback celebrations that will please football lovers and those hoping to be struck by Cupid’s arrow alike.

ON THE COVER

Photograph by Sarah Banks

Jacob Berndt, head bartender at LoHi’s Wildflower

22 5280 (ISSN 10826815) is published monthly by 5280 Publishing, Inc., 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202. Subscriptions are $16 for one year (12 issues). Back issues are available for $5.99 plus tax and shipping by visiting shop.5280.com. Periodical postage paid at Denver, CO, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS (see DMM 707.4.12.5). NONPOSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to 5280 Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 37270, Boone, IA 50037-4270. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement No. #40065056 Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. 5280® is a federally registered trademark owned by 5280 Publishing, Inc. 5280 also owns trademark registrations for TOP OF THE TOWN, DENVER’S TOP DOCTORS, DENVER MAGAZINE, COLORADO PARENT, and COUTURE COLORADO. © 2022 5280 Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

Clockwise from top left: Sarah Banks; Jason Sinn; Sean Parsons (Source photos: Courtesy of Liza Nelson [Neyla Pekarek], Getty Images [snake, floor, musical notes]); Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images; Sarah Banks

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Kelly Bastone, Daliah Singer, Martin J. Smith EDITORIAL INTERNS

Angelina Dinsmore, Dorina Vida, Gia Yetikyel

DIGITAL DIGITAL EDITOR

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Laura Beausire, Christine DeOrio, Courtney Holden, Sarah Kuta, Jenny McCoy, Allyson Reedy, Meredith Sell, Andy Stein

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITOR

Charli Ornett DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR

Sean Parsons DEPUTY PHOTO EDITOR

Sarah Banks CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Harry Malt, Kevin Mohatt, Joni Schrantz, Jason Sinn, Dana Smith, Rachel Woolf, Jesse Zhang

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ROOM 217 IS CALLING MORAVEC & CAMPBELL’S

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING FEB. 26 | MAR. 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 2022 at the

ELLIE CAULKINS OPERA HOUSE

Based on Stephen King’s spine-chilling novel, The Shining comes to the Ellie Caulkins stage as an opera, written by Pulitzer Prizewinning composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell. Hoping for a fresh start, the Torrance family takes up the care of Colorado’s infamous Overlook Hotel. Little do they know that the isolation and the hotel’s corrupting spirits will spark an inevitable descent into madness.

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BEHIND THE STORIES SPOTLIGHT FROM THE EDITOR

I never wanted to have children.

As a young teenager, I realized I didn’t feel like I was mom material—and I was OK with that.

People said I’d feel differently when I got older, but my conviction has remained unwavering. Until recently, though, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about why I had always been so confident that I wouldn’t ever have to change my mind. That is, until the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block a prohibitive Texas abortion law in September and subsequently signaled it might uphold a restrictive law in Mississippi, a ruling that could essentially overturn Roe v. Wade and dismantle Americans’ right to an abortion.

Born in 1979—six years after the Roe ruling—I have only lived in a reality in which, should something unexpected happen, I would have the choice to continue being childless. As of September 1, 2021, people with uteruses in Texas no longer have that option. Texas’ Senate Bill 8 makes abortion illegal after a fetal heartbeat has been detected; that usually happens around six weeks of pregnancy, when many don’t even know they’re pregnant. Since the law only applies to those in the Lone Star State, its passage forces Texans with unwanted pregnancies to cross state lines for help. Many are coming to Colorado.

For this issue, Ciara O’Rourke not only explored how the Texas law has had an impact on Centennial State abortion providers’ abilities to care for an influx of patients, but she also looked at how our state’s long history of relatively liberal access to the procedure might inform decisions in the potentially post-Roe days to come. In “The Past, Present, And Future Of Abortion In Colorado” (page 56), O’Rourke reminds us that the rights we believe we are entitled to under the Constitution can be remarkably impermanent.

I’m past my prime childbearing years, so changes to abortion laws would be unlikely to affect me personally. Still, I think about all the young people out there who should be able to live their lives without fearing that an accidental pregnancy could derail who they do or do not want to be. Without fully realizing it, I wore that assurance like a suit of armor. In the coming months, it will be up to Coloradans to decide if we want to continue to protect that sense of security for our residents.

Lisa Kennedy Freelance Writer

Kennedy, a longtime film and theater critic, tackles a different kind of production in “Soul Survivor” (page 26): the inner workings of Five Points’ famous Welton Street Cafe.

STAR POWER

”Fathima Dickerson is really the face of the joint. Need proof? She’s got a mural [on Walnut Street] called ‘Queen Fathima’ by Jodie Herrera and Miles Toland.”

OUT WITH THE OLD

”It had been a while since I’d eaten there because the fried chicken dinner was just too easy to order.

Working on this piece, I discovered the jerk chicken. It’s my new fave.”

COOKING CLASSES

“My aunts, cousins, and I were just texting that we need a lesson in my grandmother Noveline Kennedy’s recipes—in particular, her yeast rolls and fried corn.”

ON 5280.COM

Love In The Lift Line

LINDSEY B. KING Email: lindsey@5280.com Twitter: @linzbking

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From midmountain meet-cutes to crushing on someone’s ability to crush it, 5280.com writer Courtney Holden celebrates Valentine’s Day by chronicling the ways Coloradans have fallen head over ski-booted heels for each other.

Clockwise from top left: Sarah Banks; John Leyba/Courtesy of Lisa Kennedy; David Trood/Getty Images

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TASTEMAKER STYLE ARTS OLYMPICS

Jake Cudek/Courtesy of Yonder Mountain String Band

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

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Picking Wisely

For Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band, life off the road made for a sweeter sound.

CoMPASS

From left: Ben Kaufmann, Dave Johnston, Allie Kral, Nick Piccinni, and Adam Aijala

Yonder Mountain String Band has been back to touring since the beginning of summer 2021 after a pandemic-induced hiatus that lasted more than a year. The break was quite an adjustment. Live shows are, after all, how the iconic Colorado bluegrass group—Ben Kaufmann (bass), Dave Johnston (banjo), Allie Kral (fiddle), Nick Piccinni (multi-instrumentalist), and Adam Aijala (guitar)—has made a living for the past 23 years.

But Kaufmann is clearly still reveling in one of the few upsides of the sabbatical: The time away from the stage allowed the band to work on new tunes in a way it never has before. “When you’re playing shows and on the bus and on to the next city, there’s little time for critical analysis,” Kaufmann says. “This time, we could go back and forth and actually preproduce for months.” The result, Kaufmann says, is a cohesive record that they made at Cinder Sound Studio in Longmont. Although the 46-year-old says fans will definitely notice new band member Piccinni’s contributions to Get Yourself Outside (on sale February 24), he also promises that Yonder Mountain’s progressive bluegrass sound is still there for die-hard aficionados. —LINDSEY B. KING

SEE THEM LIVE Yonder Mountain String Band plays February 25 to 27 at the WinterWonderGrass festival in Steamboat Springs.

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TASTEMAKER

BLACK GIRL MAGIC

Charlie Billingsley is debunking the narrative around Black women. “I want to share our celebratory side,” the 33-year-old Denverite says. That jubilation is evident in the Museum for Black Girls, an immersive pop-up exhibition the photographer debuted in 2019. Before the museum re-emerges this month in a surprise location—keep an eye on themuseumforblackgirls.com— Billingsley told us about the Colorado spots that bring her joy. —ANGELA UFHEIL

2. Balloon Pop Studio Some use paint to create art. Others turn to clay.

Aisha Glenn-Bracey’s medium? Balloons. The Colorado Springs event planner employs orbs of helium to craft elaborate sculptures for events such as weddings and parties. “I love that she found a way to transform something we’ve always used,” Billingsley says. “She makes them couture.”

3. Mimosas Busy museum founders need to take a break for brunch, too. Billingsley’s go-to eatery is Mimosas, a restaurant in Five Points where neon lights shaped like Champagne flutes adorn the walls. “Their fried green tomatoes and beignets are amazing,” she says.

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4. Blonc Virgin Hair Extensions Retail Boutique As a child, Billingsley got her hair styled in her grandmother’s kitchen. One of the museum’s recurring spaces, Grandma’s Kitchen, is an ode to that memory. Visitors pose in the golden salon chair at the center of the floral-wallpapered room. “So many of our visitors have the same story about sitting in the kitchen getting their hair done,” Billingsley says.

These days, she goes to Blonc, an online shop with a brick-and-mortar location in LoDo. “It’s no grandma’s kitchen,” she says, “but they do a good job.”

5. Coors Field mural Most of the artists featured in the Museum for Black Girls pop-ups are, well, Black girls. But Giovannie Dixon, a mile-high muralist who goes by the name Just, impressed Billingsley enough to make the lineup (his painting of Insecure star Issa Rae appeared in the museum in 2021). “He gets so much detail into black-and-white images just using spray paint,” Billingsley says. Find an example of his art on a building across Blake Street from Coors Field.

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Clockwise from top: Sarah Banks; Getty Images; Courtesy of Giovannie aka Just (@justcreatedit); Courtesy of Mimosas; Yvan Dube/Getty Images

1. The Source Hotel In addition to curating the Museum for Black Girls, Billingsley works as a fashion photographer—and her favorite muse is Black women. “My work is about capturing our vibrancy and beauty,” she says.

Billingsley likes to bring her subjects to the Source Hotel in RiNo to pose with the “cute, retro couches bathed in gorgeous light.”

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HERE ARE THREE COCKTAILS WITH INGREDIENTS COMMONLY FOUND IN YOUR CUPBOARDS: BERRY ELEVATED » 1 oz. Breckenridge Vodka » 1 oz. berry shrub* » Sparkling water Add shrub and Breckenridge Vodka into a Collins glass.

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TERIYAKI SOUR » 2 oz. Breckenridge Bourbon » ¾ oz. honey simple syrup* » ½ oz. lemon juice » ½ oz. lime juice » 1 egg white Dry shake ingredients (without ice). Add ice and shake for 50 more seconds. Double strain. Garnish: Teriyaki sauce and toasted sesame seeds. *Honey simple syrup: over medium heat combine 1 cup water, 4 oz. Colorado honey, 4 oz. sugar. Stir until dissolved. Let cool.

WHAT'S IN THE FRIDGE » 1 ½ oz. Breckenridge Vodka » ¾ oz. berry fruit spread shrub* » ¼ oz. lemon juice » Sparkling water Shake first 3 ingredients with ice. Strain over new ice. Top with sparkling water. Garnish: mint and lime. *Berry fruit spread shrub: over medium heat combine 1 cup water, 4 oz. fruit spread, 3 oz. sugar, ½ oz. cider vinegar and a pinch of sea salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Let rest for 2 hours. Cool then strain.

Main Photo by Liam Doran; Cocktail Photo by Brent Taylor

“The key to becoming a successful athome bartender is experimentation,” says Keithley. “Don't be afraid to try different ingredients, flavors and profiles of flavors. Remember the importance of balance and lastly, complement, not compete.”

STYLE

SWEET NOTHINGS

FOR A

LAUGH Shinesty’s mission is to “make the world take itself less seriously.” When its founders launched the company in 2014, that meant ridiculous, theme-party-ready suits.

Over the past couple of years, however, they’ve leaned into equally absurd—but surprisingly well-constructed—undergarments. Whether you choose the newfor-2022 design with whipped cream and a (strategically placed) cherry or a classic pattern, such as redand-black plaid, it’s easy to buy boxer briefs ($26) or bikini bottoms ($20) that match your partner’s. If that doesn’t elicit a giggle, Shinesty’s irreverent marketing copy will: The briefs’ patented Ball Hammock promises to “welcome you into the world of scrotal serenity.”

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As you embark on your Valentine’s Day shopping this year, skip the big-box stores, because we’re here to let you in on a secret of our own: These offerings from three Colorado companies are sure to elicit just the reaction you’re looking for from the object of your affection. —JESSICA LARUSSO

FOR A

PROPOSAL An elegant pair of socks from Tatiana’s Threads are perfect for warming up the cold feet of a soul mate in need of a little nudge.

Owner Tatiana Zaykovskaya also makes cute bralettes and underwear, but her stockings (from $20)—crafted from bits of lace, mesh, velvet, and even sequins—are her bestsellers. After graduating from fashion school in San Diego during the Great Recession, the Russia native started making lingerie using leftover pieces of fabric. More than a decade later, Zaykovskaya’s e-commerce success, mostly through Etsy, allowed her to make a pandemic move to Durango, where she now runs her one-woman operation.

FOR A

DALLIANCE Most undergarments are destined to hide under clothing. That would be a tragic fate for La Luna Intimates’ silk-and-lace bras ($100), panties ($69), and garter belts ($59). Denverite Hollis Hodges taught herself to sew bralettes and panties while recovering from a concussion in November 2020, and the experience inspired her to start selling the luxe lingerie she sources from Eastern Europe this past June. Hodges selects the colors, lace patterns, and materials used to create custom items like her Vixen collection, launched in October. Not only are the bras and garters adjustable, but the thongs also have straps with slides to ensure a perfect, confidence-boosting fit—and what’s sexier than that?

P H O T O G R A P H Y BY J A S O N S I N N

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Rattle ‘N’ Hum How one Denver music star is telling the tale of a legendary Colorado woman through a new musical.

When Rattlesnake Kate premieres at the Buell Theatre downtown on February 4, Centennial State history buffs will have Neyla Pekarek to thank for it. Pekarek (pictured), a former cellist and vocalist for folk rock band the Lumineers, developed the idea for the musical after a visit to the Greeley History Museum in 2008, when she was a student at the University of Northern Colorado. “I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of this woman,” Pekarek says of Coloradan Katherine McHale Slaughterback, who killed 140 rattlesnakes when she and her three-year-old son inadvertently walked into a viper migration just outside of Hudson in 1925. “Kate was an unconventional woman who said what she thought, and that felt inspiring for a person like me. I’m kind of a people pleaser.”

Between tours and recording sessions with her bandmates, Pekarek continued to research Kate’s life beyond the infamous snake incident. A year after Pekarek left the two-time Grammy-nominated Lumineers in 2018 to embark on a solo career, she released her debut album, Rattlesnake, which included songs about Kate and became the inspiration for the musical.

The show’s narrative, however, goes well beyond the story of a woman caught in a snake pit.

Karen Hartman, the project’s playwright, suggests the musical’s themes are a metaphor for a woman pursuing independence at all costs. “That spirit of rage in Kate that allowed her to fight those snakes and win is a kind of epic anger against the patriarchy,” says Hartman, a Brooklyn-based writer, Guggenheim fellow, and New York University instructor known for plays that focus on complicated narratives about race, class, gender, and sexuality.

Pekarek and Hartman’s project aligned serendipitously with Denver Center for the Performing Arts artistic director Chris Coleman’s vision for the nonprofit. Theatergoers might be surprised

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to see that Slaughterback will be portrayed at three different ages by three different women of color. Coleman believes this technique—successfully employed in the hit Broadway show Hamilton, in which nonwhite actors portray slaveholding Founding Fathers—provides an opportunity to complicate Western narratives that often render people of color invisible.

“Yes, [Rattlesnake Kate] is inspired by the particulars of a white lady in the early part of the 20th century and the battles she fought,” Coleman says. “But in that same period there were Chinese women on farms, and Japanese women, and Mexican women, and Black women, whose histories aren’t led with when you talk about pioneer days in Colorado.” That kind of creative representation holds a special meaning for Pekarek, who hasn’t been shy about the difficulties of being a woman in the music industry: In a 2013 interview with Rookie magazine, she described having to talk twice as loud and perform twice as hard—in heels.

On top of all that, Pekarek (who will play Kate’s horse, Brownie) is excited for audiences to experience the show in person, after COVID19-induced hiatuses. “I’m thrilled that we’re back in a safe place to be able to produce live theater,” Pekarek says. “But I also think these questions of feeling marginalized and living our most authentic selves—I think that’s more important than ever before.” —PHILIP CLAPHAM

Sean Parsons (Source photos: Courtesy of Liza Nelson [Neyla Pekarek], Getty Images [snake, floor, musical notes])

ARTS

OLYMPICS The Making Of Birds Of Prey When Vail Mountain Resort and Beaver Creek Resort hosted the 1999 Alpine World Ski Championships, Arnold Schwarzenegger was just one of the A-listers in attendance, but the undisputed star was Birds of Prey.

Laid out by famed Swiss designer Bernhard Russi for the ’99 contest, and completed two years earlier, the steep downhill racecourse has become one of the most beloved annual stops on the men’s World Cup. As the only U.S. venue on the circuit and the site of a U.S. Olympic qualifier for this month’s Winter Games, Birds of Prey has also become an important test for Olympic hopefuls. To celebrate its silver anniversary this year, we spoke with four people who helped shape the run into ski racing’s gold standard. —NICHOLAS HUNT

“When we built Birds of Prey, it was at the height of Austria’s downhill dominance, and it was a little frustrating because it felt like we had built a playground for the Austrians.

But once Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller started winning here, it felt like we had built a home course.”

—Ron Rupert, manager of competition services at Beaver Creek

“At the time, the Streif [in Hahnenkamm, Austria] was regarded as the most technical course on the World Cup circuit. Birds of Prey was built to compete with that. We started construction in the summer of 1997. I was a member of the trail crew, and I specifically remember running a small bulldozer down the Golden Eagle jump to the Abyss [two iconic course features]. My job was to remove any rock larger than a cantaloupe. It was an incredible challenge to install the snowmaking infrastructure, which involved welding pipe and digging trench on a 45-degree slope.”

—Gary Shimanowitz, vice president of mountain operations at Beaver Creek

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In 1989, Vail hosted America’s first Alpine World Ski Championships since 1950. A lot had changed by the time Vail, along with Beaver Creek, landed the competition again in 1999.

“We knew that the expectations of the quality of the event and the race venue were changing. We had to step up our game, and one of the most important things we did was build a new downhill course.”

—John Garnsey, former Vail Valley Foundation president, Beaver Creek COO, and copresident of Vail Resorts’ Mountain Division

In 2003, Daron Rahlves became the first American to win the event. The next year, he finished second to Bode Miller in the American men’s first onetwo podium in downhill.

“It was a showcase of domination on our home turf. That was our focus.

I won again [in 2005].

That was my last race down Birds of Prey before I retired—and a perfect ending. The beauty of this race hill is you need to deal with one feature after another. It’s a full-on mental, physical, tactical, skill set, and equipment challenge. You put those together, and you have a good proving ground for Olympic skiers.”

—Daron Rahlves, Olympian and two-time Birds of Prey winner

From left: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images; Courtesy of Ron Rupert; Courtesy of Gary Shimanowitz; Courtesy of Tom Boyd; Courtesy of Vail Valley Foundation

For 25 years, Beaver Creek’s iconic course has been a hunting ground for the world’s best skiers.

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When Theresa Halliburton moved to Kristen Kapoor’s Lakewood neighborhood in 2015, their friendship sprouted over a shared appreciation for charcuterie and florals. Halliburton, a passionate gardener and former owner of the Highland fragrance shop Uncommon Scents, and Kapoor, an avid entertainer, began crafting meat-and-cheese boards decorated with edible flowers by request for family and friends.

That hobby eventually blossomed into making petal-laced crackers, and four years later the duo founded Flouwer Co. (flouwerco.com). To create their complex, aromatic signature snacks—perfect for an at-home happy hour on February 14—they carefully layer cracker batter with medleys of marigold, rose, nasturtium, and cosmo petals and sprigs of dill, rosemary, and chives. In 2021, the friends released a line of dry, ready-tomuddle cocktail cubes that infuse libations with fragrant botanical flavors. Try crushing the orange blossom and marigold variety in a glass of bourbon; the bright citrus notes and the oak and honey make a flawless pairing—just like you and your sweetie.

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COMMUNITY

From top: Fathima Dickerson; comforting home-cooked fare at Welton Street Cafe

Soul Survivor

Late in the afternoon on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Welton Street Cafe didn’t feel like a place that had barely survived the throes of the pandemic. It was bustling.

A quick scan of Five Points’ beloved soul food restaurant revealed a young, bearded white man seated near the plate-glass window facing the Welton Street corridor, where the light rail runs. A quartet of smartly coiffed Black women sat in a booth along the restaurant’s sunny yellow wall, laughing and passing a smartphone among them. Later, a racially diverse foursome of businessmen claimed an adjacent booth. Those gathered in the 36-year-old cafe that day reflected the nuances of the ongoing demographic shifts in the historically Black neighborhood and epitomized how Welton Street Cafe has long been committed to being a community hub, stout in its Blackness yet welcoming to all.

That warm hospitality is what Mona and Flynn Dickerson envisioned in 1986 when they opened the restaurant and subsequently moved it to its current location at 2736 Welton Street in 1999. Over the past decade, four of their six children—Cenya, Chereka, Fathim, and Fathima—have continued that legacy of beckoning anyone and everyone into their space.

Jameka Lewis remembers well the greeting she received from Fathima after arriving in Denver five years ago for her job as a steward of Black history at the nearby Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. “I grabbed some lunch. I was another transplant that people always complain about disrupting the continuum,” Lewis says. “Fathima was the first community person I met who really embraced me. She never cared about [me being a

Five Points’ iconic Welton Street Cafe hopes to make a calculated move—one block north. BY LISA KENNEDY

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transplant]. She was just like, ‘Hey, sis, welcome.’ ” It’s interactions like the one Lewis encountered that those connected to Five Points were worried about losing when Welton Street Cafe looked like it wouldn’t survive the challenges of 2020 and 2021.

In addition to making its way through the pandemic (without any relief funds), the restaurant needed to upgrade an ailing HVAC system—one of the costly repairs that had been neglected over time by the property’s previous owners.

For many, the fear over the possible shuttering of the cafe wasn’t just about the deprivation of a friendly “hello” and a plate of fried catfish; it was about the casualty of another Black-owned business in a neighborhood that, at one time, embodied its moniker as the Harlem of the West. “For us as Black folks, our places and spaces are more than just brick and mortar. And our places and spaces aren’t as easily replaced as other places are,” Lewis says. “Welton Street has had hundreds of thousands of visitors, has catered to people of every single status you can imagine, of all ethnicities.

But it’s still super crucial and essential to Blackness in Denver. We have to think outside of it just being a restaurant.”

The Dickersons understand what their cafe means to the community. Despite the cost of rent and the challenges of securing small-business

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COMMUNITY financing, they announced in November their intention to relocate the eatery to a new, larger home a block north on Welton when their lease is up at the end of March. But given the hurdles erected by the pandemic, an overheated real estate market, and the continued gentrification of Denver’s communities of color, the success of the move is anything but guaranteed.

TALK OF WELTON STREET CAFE

among Denverites often Clockwise from top: Cafe centers on its place in the city’s Southern food firmament, but the staff and the Dickersons; menu is just as rooted in fare from the West Indies. This comes as Fathima; the new location no surprise to those who have taken the time to sample beyond the wings, whiting, and red beans and rice. The pate (pronounced pah-tay), a fried pastry that can be filled with chicken, seafood, or broccoli and cheese, and the well-seasoned jerk chicken speak to the Dickerson family’s own vital migration from one home to the next.

In the 1970s, Flynn and Mona moved from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Colorado Springs, where Flynn’s oldest brother lived. But the couple didn’t like the speed of the state’s secondlargest city, says Fathima, who was raised in the Whittier neighborhood after her parents moved to Denver and opened a restaurant, originally called the Caribbean, in Five Points.

Through the years, the name changed to Mona’s Wings and Tings and eventually to Welton Street Cafe, but one thing remained the same, at least in the early years. The eatery was located amid a strip of Black-owned businesses that suggested a community: barber and beauty shops, a dry cleaner, Minerva’s Hat Shop, Joe’s Shoe Repair. Most of those places closed years ago—many between the mid1990s and early 2000s—but the cafe has endured. “The first thing [my parents] did was offer beef pate and a Coke for a dollar,” says Chereka, noting that it was an inviting price for a dish few Black folks in Denver were familiar with.

Over the years, the restaurant has fulfilled a hankering for Southern-inflected soul food, but it has also catered to a deeper hunger, a cultural nostalgia. Welton Street Cafe lives in present-day Denver, but just as the taste of pates connects the Dickersons to their island home, the aroma of fried chicken connects many of the cafe’s devoted patrons—including soul food scholar and Denver native Adrian Miller, who has championed the restaurant for more than 15 years—to their pasts.

“Welton Street Cafe serves soul food staples like fried chicken, black-eyed peas, and greens that give a taste of home to Blacks who moved to Denver from the South during the Great Migration,” Miller says.

“Those same dishes remind us of a parent, grandparent, or caregiver who made a point of connecting us to our Southern roots.”

ON THAT SAME SATURDAY AFTERNOON in November, Fathima surveyed the restaurant from her perch at the register, a lifeguard making sure patrons and staff alike were having a smooth experience. Fathima has also stood watch over and served as the public face of the family business as it plans for the coming move, tentatively scheduled for late spring.

Each Monday, the Dickersons meet with the Holleran Group—a community-driven development firm working with the family on the project—to discuss the financing, marketing, and logistics of the relocation. While they were thrilled to see floor plans from local architecture firm Desibl in December, putting the necessary funding together has been a challenge. Estimates for the project hover around $1 million for the building’s renovation, furnishings, fixtures, and other equipment. “You just got to find lenders who will support your vision and support the history,” Fathima says. “You’re getting denied for not making enough or making too much or not having the right percentage of loss. Eligibility for a business loan or a grant or pandemic relief has been tricky. It has not been easy.”

As of early January, financing still hadn’t been secured. But Fathima, who earned a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Colorado Denver in December, knows uncertainty is the only certainty in running a small business. She wants the cafe to have enough in its bank account to ensure

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success—with a little assist from other Coloradans. When Denver7 reported on the restaurant’s HVAC woes for the station’s Gives program last spring, viewers donated more than $41,000 to cover the repair costs. The success of the fundraiser inspired the cafe to launch its own GoFundMe crowd-sourcing initiative in January to help with initial build-out expenses.

Financial concerns aside, they’re excited about the promise of 2883 Welton Street. At more than 3,000 square feet, the new space will have a larger, more modern kitchen and an expansive dining room, where Fathima envisions hosting more community gatherings. The family is still plotting what those will entail, but the same food and affability are a given. “We are here for family,” Fathima says.

“We are here for community.

That is the highlight of how this legacy will sustain itself.

This is why we’re here.” m

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Free Wheelin’

A surge in van-lifers is forcing mountain towns to rewrite their rules—and rethink who gets to claim “resident” status.

N

Maritza Wiedel and Wes Brown and Wiedel, who got married in September, ewlyweds Wes Brown and Maritza Wiedel Brown sometimes park, have to show up to their jobs in person, every day. never tire of the view from their bedroom with permission, at Soda Creek Elementary Brown is a paraprofessional who supports children window. They live in Steamboat Springs, in Steamboat Springs. with learning disabilities at Soda Creek Elementary where the summits glow pink at sunset and School. Wiedel works part time as an emergency the night sky shows off the Milky Way. And medical technician and volunteers on the Steamboat Ski Patrol for Brown and Wiedel, nature’s slideshow is always (to get the free ski pass) while studying occupational therapy changing: The couple sleep in a van they relocate every through Regis University.Those combined paychecks don’t cover couple of days. the cost of roof-and-walls housing in Steamboat Springs—at They’ve divvied up their white Ford Transit 350 van least, not without a gaggle of roommates. to approximate rooms in a house. There’s the “garage” “When we got married,” Brown says, “we wanted to have in back, where they store their climbing gear and a place of our own, but even studios cost $1,600 a month.” mountain bikes, and the “bedroom” above it, where That’s more than his monthly take-home pay as a paraprothey’ve positioned a mattress across an elevated platform. fessional. So the couple bought a 2016 van with an insulated The “closet” consists of one van-width wooden rod on which roof and a sleeping platform for $50,000; they pay $486 a the couple hang clothes, and the “kitchen” includes a threemonth on the loan. They then spent their $5,000 nest egg on burner stove, oven, and sink. a multisource heating and electrical system that runs on solar At a glance, Brown, 24, and Wiedel, 23, look just like the power, propane, and (when it’s available) a plug-in hookup to #vanlife vagabonds whom wistful desk jockeys can’t stop ogling on-grid electricity. They crossed the tailgate threshold in July on Instagram. Indeed, when the couple road-trip to Moab, 2021, before they’d officially tied the knot, and fell in love with they easily infiltrate the flock of modern-day nomads that their wheeled abode. The only problem was where to park it. commonly roosts at parking lots with public restrooms. But

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R E A L E S TAT E Like many mountain towns, Steamboat Springs prohibits overnight parking, in part because, in winter, plows need vehicle-free opportunities to clear snow from the streets and lots. Yet Brown and Wiedel are part of a growing number of Colorado workers who have decamped to vehicles because they can’t afford housing. In Steamboat Springs, the average rent for a one-bedroom unit now totals $2,100 per month—a 45 percent increase over last year’s figure. Other resort destinations are seeing similarly high rental rates; consequently, some workers end up sleeping in their cars out of necessity, not choice. Although Denver and other Front Range cities are also experiencing a rise in vehicle-dwellers, the boom is biggest in resort communities, where a subculture of rolling stones prioritizes adventure over housing—and the pools of affordable pads have all but dried up.

All told, this ballooning demographic is taking a toll on public lands and forcing municipalities to reckon with a new type of resident. For decades, wealthy vacation destinations have seen their workers commute from nearby towns because they can’t afford to live amid the mansions. Now, some of those workers are simply sleeping in their

cars—parking at trailheads, shopping centers, and public playgrounds with restrooms where they wash up alongside neighborhood toddlers. Such overnight stays are illegal, and some homeowners look askance at those they deem transients. But because these lawbreakers are also the workers who teach local kids and operate cash registers and drive ambulances, communities are starting to reconsider their attitudes toward housing and moving to legitimize the decision to live on wheels.

EVER SINCE THE FIRST ski bums arrived with their 200-centimeter Olin skis, Colorado resort communities have included at least a few van-lifers. “I moved here in 1992, and even then, I had friends who camped through the winter because they didn’t want to spend money on housing,” says Sarah Vaine, Summit County’s assistant manager. “They wanted to spend it on skiing and travel.”

Since then, mountain towns’play-hard-liveperipatetically demographic has only grown, possibly because of the #vanlife phenomenon that’s been playing out across social media for the past decade, or because the proliferation of overlanding gear now makes living in a vehicle more comfortable. Brown and Wiedel,

for example, have remote-controlled lighting and an exhaust fan to combat condensation.

Resort towns’ vehicle-dwelling populations have also diversified to include workers who have no romantic ideals about the freewheeling life: They simply hold jobs that don’t pay enough for them to afford housing. That demographic includes many people of color: In Eagle County, where food service represents the largest slice of the job pie (56.6 percent), nonwhite employees make up 32.4 percent of the workforce. “People are working two, three jobs and still can’t afford a place to live,” Vaine says. Diane Luellen, a Dillon resident who founded a faith-based service organization called the Summit County Interfaith Council, refers to this demographic as the working homeless.

With city and county ordinances prohibiting overnight parking, the Interfaith Council hashed out an experimental solution to give vehicle-dwellers a safe and legal place to sleep.

Starting in July 2019, the pilot project allowed as many as 10 vetted applicants to park at the Church at Agape Outpost, located on a secluded parcel of unincorporated county land.

After Summit County declared a housing emergency in June 2021, officials achieved a

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R E A L E S TAT E workaround to overnight parking prohibitions by issuing a temporary-use permit for the Agape Outpost lot. That legitimized the initiative (now known as the Summit Safe Parking Program) and paved the way for its expansion: This fall, a second overnight parking site started operating at the Breckenridge Justice Center.

“We have a lengthy set of rules,” Luellen says of the volunteer-managed initiative.

Each participant pays a $45 monthly fee that covers trash removal and portable toilets. The program teaches participants how to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning (a potential threat when occupants run their vehicles for heat) and has a no-cooking policy (doing so turns their parking into “camping,” which runs afoul of even more ordinances, so program enrollees eat at restaurants, buy grocery-store takeaway, and fuel up at free community meals). In return, residents are assured a safe, consistent place to take their rest.

“If you’re working as a fry cook or a liftie, you have to have a good night’s sleep or you can’t do your job. All kinds of accidents can happen,” Luellen says. Raychel Kelly, who worked housekeeping and screenprinting jobs in Breckenridge while sleeping in her

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Life is a tight fit for Wiedel and Brown.

car, agrees. As a beneficiary of the Interfaith Council’s safe parking program, Kelly attests she slept better—and felt more accepted as a member of the community. “People seeking this type of support [for sleeping in vehicles]

sometimes end up feeling like rebels, outcasts, unwanted, misunderstood,” she says. That’s particularly true in resort communities with reputations for being paradisial. One expects to glimpse poverty and homelessness in a mega-metropolis, not in idyllic mountain towns where wealthy residents and vacationers appear to be living their best lives.

In truth, Luellen says, resort communities contain both ends of the economic spectrum, and legitimizing the option to sleep in a vehicle can make the upper crust uncomfortable.

“I think sometimes the higher-end folks are not fully aware of what it takes to make this county work,” she says, “and how the lower-income folks do the heavy lifting in our tourist economy.”

The last thing deputies want to do is to criminalize that population, says Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons, who likes how the Summit Safe Parking Program decriminalizes the decision to sleep in a vehicle. “As home prices and rental costs have gone up and nightly rentals have taken away worker housing, we’ve pushed more people into homelessness,” he explains, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic only seems to have spiked the number of residents who

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R E A L E S TAT E need safe overnight parking. The Summit Safe Parking Program addresses that need, FitzSimons says, and has resulted in zero public safety issues so far.

That spotless record may embolden officials to approve similar allowances in other towns. In Gypsum, Matt Felser is requesting special permitting licenses that would allow overnight parking on land with commercial zoning. The move is both altruistic and selfserving—and born from experience. Before Felser co-founded vehicle outfitter Dave & Matt Vans in 2019, he built out his own van in the parking lot of Vail Mountain School, where he taught middle school Spanish. After leaving faculty housing, he lived in that van for six months before purchasing property.

His business partner, Dave Ramsay, has been living out of a van since 2016, when he left his hedge fund job in New York for mountain life in Eagle County. Both used the money they hadn’t spent on rent to improve their financial standings. And, as employers, they believe allowing people to live in vehicles would help local businesses attract and retain employees.

“Nine of our employees live in vehicles, and they are vibrant, thriving community members who you want to have here,” says

Rope and carabiners help with lack of cabinet space.

Felser, noting a recent survey in which 65 percent of Eagle County businesses identified housing as the biggest impediment to hiring the workers they need. So he’s asking Gypsum (and talking with Eagle County and the town

of Eagle) to approve public/private partnerships that would let businesses give workers the option of parking their vehicles on company property. If they don’t already have a van or a similarly livable vehicle, Felser envisions an employer-administered program that would let workers make installment payments to buy or rent vans from Dave & Matt.

“The way things work right now,van residents are, for the most part, freeloaders, because they use facilities [such as parking lots and public bathrooms] but don’t pay their fair share [in the form of property taxes],” Felser says. “We maintain that van residents would pay to have a regular place to park, and the income they’re not spending on lodging would be spent locally at shops and restaurants.” By funneling van occupants to existing parking lots and restrooms (employers would provide portable toilets or let workers use the businesses’ bathrooms), the program would reduce impacts on public lands: Workers boondocking around Eagle and other communities have contributed to landscape degradation.Those locations have also struggled with pollution from human waste.

Gypsum’s leadership has so far expressed tentative interest in Felser’s proposal, in part because of rising need. Municipalities

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across Colorado report a dramatic increase in the number of people living in vehicles.

And the initiative would cost very little, Felser says. “It’s a quick, potentially easy fix [to the housing and worker shortages] that doesn’t involve complicated rezoning or millions of dollars for affordable housing.”

Freed from the burden of a salary-sucking rent check, vehicle-dwellers could parlay their van time into a better life, Felser says. “Few people will see this as a lifetime endeavor, but many more people can use this as a bridge option that gives them a way to build their savings or start a business,” he explains. “We’re talking about a way to help people break out of the cycle of poverty.”

BY NOVEMBER 2021, Brown and Wiedel had readied their van for winter by insulating the body with wool and fitting quilted panels over the windows. They’d also lined up a network of about 15 local homeowners who let the couple park in their driveways. Some are part-time residents who exchange parking for snow removal. “They like that when they come for Christmas, they don’t have to tunnel through four feet of snow to get into the house,” Brown says. But the couple don’t typically access homes’ interiors, and each morning, they roll into the Old Town Hot Springs fitness center—where they’re paying members—to use the bathrooms.

Wiedel jokes that without a toilet of their own, they’re extra careful about what they eat so as to avoid bouts of nighttime diarrhea.

Still, they love the arrangement—for now.

Wiedel might seek job opportunities in other locations once she graduates from Regis, so the couple aren’t looking at the van to slingshot them into the local rental market or home ownership. But they agree that legitimizing vehicle living could help solve mountain towns’ workforce shortages, especially because much of that population includes childless young adults who are in a stage of their lives when van living is more viable.

“People assume that living in a van means you’re taking from society,” Brown says. Yet many of the least-paid workers are also the cogs that keep towns’ gears turning. “We give a lot to this community,” Brown says, and because salaries for teacher aides and medical responders don’t cover housing costs, he’d like to see resort destinations support alternate arrangements for those who want or need them. To reference Chris Farley’s famous Saturday Night Live skit, that might actually include living in a van down by the river. m

Kelly Bastone is a Steamboat Springs–based writer. Email feedback to letters@5280.com.

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ADVERTISMENT

Dr. Aristides K. Maniatis is honored to have been selected as a Top Doc for the 6th consecutive year (2016-2021). He leads an outstanding team at RMPE, including Dr. Michaela Koontz and Mako Sather, CPNP. Dr. Maniatis attended Harvard Medical School and completed his pediatrics residency and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Koontz completed her pediatrics residency and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital of Case Western Reserve University.

Both Dr. Maniatis and Dr. Koontz are double-board certified in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology. Mako Sather completed her post-master’s program at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC). She is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and insulin pump trainer.

Dr. Maniatis is an Associate Clinical Professor at UCHSC, serving as a clinical preceptor for physician assistant students. He is a national key opinion leader on growth disorders and has been the national spokesperson for Growth Awareness Week for the past 4 years (2018-2021). He also lectures and has published extensively.

PEDIAT R IC ENDO C R INO LO G Y

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGY ARISTIDES MANIATIS, MD, FAAP 6 5280 Top Doctor 2021 Member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Endocrine Society, Pediatric Endocrine Society, and American Diabetes Association

RMPE is also involved in clinical research including a type 1 diabetes epidemiology study, multiple phase 3 trials in longacting growth hormone, and a phase 4 trial in hypophosphatasia bone disease.

Partnering with the Colorado Department of Public Health, RMPE provides the initial consultation for all babies in Colorado and Wyoming with an abnormal newborn screen for congenital hypothyroidism.

To help accommodate families’ busy schedules, RMPE offers Saturday hours. RMPE sees inpatients at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, Sky Ridge, and Swedish, and the following languages are spoken fluently: Spanish, German, Japanese, and Greek.

7336 South Yosemite Street, Suite 200 Centennial, CO 80112 720.420.ENDO (3636) | WWW.RMPEDENDO.COM

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Enduring seemingly endless pandemic-related hurdles has only made the Mile High City’s watering holes more inventive and enticing than ever. Here, we’ve awarded superlatives to this year’s most outstanding bars.

EDITED BY PATRICIA KAOWTHUMRONG PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH BANKS

Biggest Flirt ROOM FOR MILLY

LoHi

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B est BA RS Biggest Flirt ROOM FOR MILLY LoHi

It’s impossible not to fall for nearly two-year-old Room for Milly, where every romantic touch hints at the adventures of a (potentially fictional) heroine named Milly Parker, who traveled the globe 100 years ago. Once you pass through the velvet curtains at the entryway, the soft glow of salon lights illuminates kaleidoscopic pastel wallpaper and a gallery of subtly sensual paintings, giving the whole place the feel of a sleek, 1920s New York City supper club. Fittingly, the gorgeous, expertly assembled cocktails have names and phrases that offer tantalizing glimpses into Parker’s life and personality.

For example, the Commander Manhattan—a potent blend of toasted sesame rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, oloroso (a sherry), Bénédictine, and celery bitters—is described as such: “Curls a soft, quiet smile then drops the straight flush.”

Whether or not the bar’s mysterious muse was a pokerfaced gambler, the menu of delectable dough-wrapped parcels from Denver’s Samosa Shop suggests Parker’s fondness for Indian food, a trait we find irresistible. —PK

Most Musical ESP HIFI Lincoln Park

ESP HiFi serves coffee, highballs, natural wines, and digestifs in a cozy singleroom space birthed this past September. But as the name (a reference to extra sensory perception and high fidelity) suggests, it’s the delights the Lincoln Park spot crafts for your ears that set the daytime cafe and self-described listening bar apart from other Denver venues spinning vinyl.

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Like your most aloof, hard-to-pindown friend, Cherry Creek’s B&GC takes a lot of work to get to know. You’ll have to text to coordinate a meetup and wait a couple of days to hear back. B&GC will eventually respond with two or three suggested times, and when you choose one the enigmatic speakeasy will send ambiguous directions to its location. When the day comes, you’ll wander through alleyways to an unmarked door with a small brass doorbell, the only indicator you’ve arrived. Ring it and follow your host through a maze of service hallways. Finally, you’ll emerge into an elegant, dimly lit bar, where you can settle in and order a cocktail like the Chartreuselaced Diamondback or a house creation like the scotch-heavy B&GC Sazerac. But don’t ask the bartenders about the meaning of B&GC’s name: Some secrets can never be revealed, no matter how well you think you know someone. —Riane Menardi Morrison

Most Mysterious B&GC Cherry Creek

Its soundtrack is meticulously curated for the energy of the room (think: atmospheric sounds in the morning; upbeat, energetic beats for the Friday night crowd). The concept, a nod to traditional Japanese jazz kissas (cafes) that serve tea and tunes, is an audiophile’s heaven, with vinyl-only sets—from jazz to disco—resonating through vintage Klipschorn speakers.

Take the music in from the custom-built bar, where your host—usually a music-savvy bartender—selects tracks from the 800-strong record collection. —RMM

Most Likely To Brighten Up Your Day HUDSON HILL Capitol Hill

For a pick-me-up morning, noon, or night, Hudson Hill is a plant-filled bar and cafe that selflessly gives its energy to anyone who might need it. Here, you can visit while the sun is high for a baristacrafted caffeine hit or shrug off your 9-to-5 worries with wine, beer, or a complex elixir, like the taste-bud-tingling Holy Molé made with tequila, mezcal, Averna, ancho chile, and chocolate. Grab a sweet or savory house-made pastry or a plate of creamy Brie, accompanied by toast and seasonal jam.

Then get comfy at a bar seat, couch, or cafe table (the roomy back patio is also lovely) to soak in the surrounding greenery’s life-giving oxygen and mood-boosting tunes, courtesy of records spun by the bubbly bar staff. —RMM

Most Congenial RAYBACK COLLECTIVE Boulder

A people pleaser at heart, Rayback Collective is one of those rare venues that is

B est BARS Most Likely To Never Be Single WILDFLOWER LoHi

perfect for nearly any occasion. The five-year-old beer garden, coffeeshop, food truck park, and live music venue has 30 ales, stouts, IPAs, porters, and Pilsners on tap—the majority of which are produced by local makers such as Broomfield’s 4 Noses and Golden’s Holidaily brewing companies—plus a variety of ciders, seltzers, and cocktails.

To ensure bellies are full of suds and sustenance, rotating mobile eateries dishing pizza, barbecue, gyros, and arepas encircle the expansive, picnictable-filled yard. There’s also seating inside a refurbished, industrial-chic building that housed Boulder’s historic Rayback Plumbing Supply for 60 years. Today, the spot’s varied food-and-drink inventory and come-one, come-all atmosphere impress both thirsty college students and families with kids and pups in tow. —PK

Most Likely To Drop Their Phone In The Toilet TRASHHAWK TAVERN Overland

TrashHawk Tavern, which opened this past October on South Broadway between East Florida and East Iowa avenues, is not a dive bar, but it is trying very hard to be one—and it does a pretty good job, for being just a few months old. True dives earn their status after years of accumulating dirt, grime, and stories of joy and regret.

TrashHawk, on the other hand, is a slick, newly renovated space with rustic wood throughout and carefully curated sports and Colorado ephemera on the walls.

You won’t find $15 bespoke cocktails, however. This tavern leans hard into mass-produced lagers, shots of a nasty, bitter liqueur called Jeppson’s Malört, and concoctions such

Wildflower’s Victorian elegance belies its Old West rough-and-tumble edge, which peeks out from behind heavy drapes and floral china just enough to make you aware that this well-heeled lady can hold her whiskey. It’s a good thing, too, because Wildflower—which opened in January 2021 inside the Life House Hotel—pours imaginative, often stiff cocktails alongside natural wines, Colorado beers and meads, and a veggie-forward menu. Whether you’re in the mood for something delicate, like the House Rose Vesper Martini spritzed with rose water from a perfume bottle, or something more reminiscent of the O.K. Corral, like the smoked old fashioned, the eight bar chairs are the best spots to experience the artistry of the sharply attired barkeeps. While you’re likely to fall in love with Wildflower, don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the only one: Get there early to snag a seat along the wood and make the acquaintance of this alluring damsel of LoHi. —Lindsey B. King

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Most Likely To Wear Their Letterman Jacket To The Bar PINDUSTRY Greenwood Village

This sprawling all-American barcade brings the fun (and competition) to the southern ’burbs in the form of camaraderie-inspiring games, pizza, and 20 rotating draft beers. The 54,500-squarefoot venue opened this past June with 23 bowling lanes (standard-issue and duckpin varieties); an AstroTurf-laden cornhole court; an array of pinball machines, SkeeBall lanes, and shuffleboard courts; table tennis and pool tables; and 8-bit games like Ms. Pac-Man. You can fuel up with Pindustry’s wood-fired pies, salads, and charcuterie, and instead of hitting the Gatorade cooler when you need to rehydrate, steal away to get something stronger.

The lower-level bar spans nearly the width of the place, or you can venture to the vast rooftop. Stay out past curfew to enjoy live music on the weekends. —RMM

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as the Pink Nasty, which consists of Smirnoff vanilla vodka and orange Fanta. TrashHawk has a back patio for when it’s warm and a room with a big, wooden table ideal for games of flip cup or beer pong, but we suggest hanging out in the front near the bar, ordering a Yellow Jacket (a well whiskey shot and a Coors Banquet), and reveling in the manufactured funk. —Geoff Van Dyke

Most Likely To Never Change GREEN RUSSELL LoDo

Eleven years after its debut, this subterranean drinkery— one of Denver’s first modernday speakeasies—still invites locals to descend into the underbelly of Larimer Square for impeccable Prohibitioninspired cocktails. As your eyes adjust to the darkness,

chat up a vest-sporting bartender to discover a classic you’ve never tried or rattle off your go-to spirits and flavor preferences to have a drink made just for your palate.

Either way, you can count on meticulously crafted house bitters and tonics, handcarved ice, and uninterrupted conversation, because the bar’s house rules insist you enter its telephone booth if you need to send a text. And when it’s time to decamp from your cozy, pomegranate red leather seat, head back to the surface knowing that when you return, Green Russell will be just the way you left it. —RMM

Most Spirited PEARL STREET PUB & CELLAR Boulder

This sage father of Boulder college bars, tucked among

B est BARS the Pearl Street Mall’s chic retail stores and restaurants, has been around since 1996.

Inside, burgundy and green walls are clad with framed images of buzzed regulars, and dim lighting encourages patrons to order another round without shame. Pop in after 10 p.m., when the rails of its two time-worn wooden bars are packed with boozehappy University of Colorado Boulder students downing heavy pours of well tequila and whiskey. COVID-19 may have canceled the ritual of kissing the taxidermic bison named Ralphie (what else?), a longtime rite of passage for Boulderites celebrating 21st birthdays, but you can take comfort in one thing the pandemic hasn’t changed: The Pearl Street Pub still offers a cheeseburger and fries for less than $12, a rare deal in a bougie part of town even postgrads can appreciate. —PK

Biggest Stoner MIDDLEMAN City Park

With its exposed ceilings, wraparound front patio, and bartenders slinging cans of Miller High Life—all to the tune of TVs playing Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting—Middleman has been a beloved, hipster-friendly hangout since 2018. But when Bo Porytko debuted Misfit Snackbar inside the East Colfax Avenue bar’s kitchen in late 2019, his imaginative, upscale riffs on pub grub made the neighborhood watering hole a haven for munchie-seekers of all stripes. The tousledhaired, T-shirt-wearing chef whips up an ever-changing menu of inventive bites, from char-siu-glazed eggplant steak to a sandwich layered with house-made bologna, deviled egg spread, and

Short for Moods, Beats, and Potions, this venue delivers all three with colorchanging gin and tonics, fall-off-the-bone lamb chop lollipops, and a disco- and hiphop-driven playlist that would make Dua Lipa jealous. Longtime Five Points residents Matthew and Priya Burkett wanted a dinner-jacket-worthy date spot within walking distance of their home and opened the finedining restaurant and bar (in partnership with local food and beverage group Pure Hospitality) this past June. The Burketts’ vision is to provide a progressive experience reminiscent of a first-rate gathering at your best friend’s abode: early evening cocktails and appetizers at the bar, a sit-down supper in the modern, red-leather-clad dining room, and late-night cocktails and dessert on the back patio. Matthew believes MBP brings new energy to the Welton Street corridor of Denver’s historically Black neighborhood— and he’s proud to host the party. —RMM

Life Of The Party MBP Five Points

potato chips. Veg out on a couch in the back and satisfy your cravings with a Palomalike Day Man and Misfit’s chips and dip: extra-crispy spud nuggets accompanied by the dunking sauce of the day (past iterations have included spicy green chile pimento cheese and smoky tomato chutney). —PK

Most Likely To Be In The Movies SLASHERS DENVER Hale

Colfax Avenue’s scary-moviethemed dive, called Horror Bar, closed suddenly in June 2021 when sexual harassment accusations against the owner emerged. But with new management and a slight rebrand, the spooky watering hole has made a comeback worthy of any starlet. Now, dedicated film buffs can find seats in the backroom theater for a 7 p.m. showing of a different movie each night, while those there to mingle can keep chatting in the front room, where blood spatters and light projections cover the walls (and the featured flick plays on smaller screens). The menu got a makeover, too, with seasonally changing cocktails—complete with creepy garnishes like plastic spiders and skull-stamped fruit peels—that are deliciously twisted. —Angela Ufheil

Most Likely To Live Abroad LA BOUCHE Uptown

A worldly addition to Denver’s bar scene, fivemonth-old La Bouche in Uptown impresses visitors with chandeliers, fine wines, and sophisticated plates. Seat yourself at one of the intimate, date-night-ready bistro tables or along the marble F E B RUA RY 2 0 2 2

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B est BA RS bar top, where you can listen to husband-and-wife owners Alexis and Alexandra Tréton chatter en français.

Friends from Colorado who visited them in their native Paris suburb persuaded the couple to move here to open their sun-kissed bar à vin, whose menu has thoughtfully selected wines from France and the United States as well as traditional French cocktails like pastis (an anise-flavored spirit mixed with water) and kir (white wine with a splash of crème de cassis). Complete your European rendezvous with a slice of quiche Lorraine or a croque monsieur with a side of warm Camembert brûlé—no passport required. —RMM

Most Outdoorsy

Every creation served at the nearly three-year-old Welton Room inside Five Points’ posh Lydian Apartments comes with an element of whimsy—a melting cloud of cotton candy, a crown of fluffy whipped coffee, a sprinkle of delicate flower petals—courtesy of owner-mixologist Chokedee “Champ” Buabucha. Many of his cocktails are bathed in a stream of liquid nitrogen, a technique that cools and enhances the aromatics of ingredients while producing a smoky effect that garners oohs and aahs both on social media and IRL. The contemporary, marble-backed bar, decorated with fresh bouquets and jars of dried fruits and herbs, makes a pretty backdrop for pics of the Paletas, a seasonally rotating libation studded with a full-size popsicle, or the Fruit De La Passion, a vodka and passion fruit martini that arrives at your table in a potion bottle that’s nestled into a seashellbejeweled fishbowl. —PK

THE RED BARBER Cole

Perched on the rooftop of the stylish Catbird Hotel, the six-month-old Red Barber’s indoor-outdoor, orangespeckled marble bar and surrounding seating area are a year-round playground where you can take in panoramic views of Denver’s skyline and the mountains beyond. On the patio (encased in translucent tents for winter), strips of AstroTurf serve as a lush base for cornhole sets, hammocks, and lawn chairs, while heaters and fire pits provide warmth on even the chilliest days. Enjoy a taste of summer in any season via the playful, backyard-barbecue-themed food-and-drink list, which has sips such as the Millennial Falcon—a bright blend of Ketel One Botanicals cucumber and mint vodka with strawberry syrup and watermelon seltzer—and bites like a sweet-and-savory sourdough grilled cheese sandwich flavored with honey and black pepper. The Red 44

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Barber also boasts buckets of pre-bottled cocktails, beer, or canned wine—crucial ingredients for a rollicking block party regardless of the forecast. —Barbara Urzua

Best Couple ATŌST Golden

Wine and liquor may seem like an odd pairing, but the unexpectedly blissful marriage thrives in Atōst’s pastel-tinted lineup of grapebased spirits. Cindy and Kyle Pressman, partners in business and life, opened Atōst’s petite, stylish tasting room in November 2020 with a suite of 21 percent ABV aperitivos (the highest limit for their location to be licensed as a winery rather than a distillery). Infused with fruit, herbs, and botanicals and cut with white wine, Atōst’s four distinct beauties—Bloom, Citrus, Roots, and Woods—are named for the terroir-reminiscent flavor profiles they evoke.

The resulting aperitifs are complex, fruit-forward sippers that have a light, herbal, and barely sweet finish and can be served on ice, with bubbles, or shaken into cocktails—providing endless ways to keep your taste buds guessing. —RMM

Most Likely To Travel The World ADRIFT Baker

Most Likely To Be Instafamous THE WELTON ROOM Five Points

The light-blocking curtains at decade-old Adrift’s entrance are the first indication you’re leaving gritty South Broadway behind.

This vagabond of a Tiki bar swiftly transports you to the tropics with a bamboo-filled interior and rum-scented embrace. Slink

B est BARS Best Dressed FORGET ME NOT Cherry Creek

into a semicircular leather booth and pick your potion: The menu’s skull icons indicate each drink’s degree of mind-numbing alcohol content. You can’t go wrong with a classic mai tai or Hurricane, but beware the Zombie, which is so potent there’s a two-per-customer limit. Counteract the buzz with a shareable dish such as seaweed-wrapped Spam musubi, crunchy-sweet coconut shrimp, or pork belly lettuce wraps. —RMM

Most Popular GHOST DONKEY LoDo

In May 2021, this New York–born concept debuted its fourth location in LoDo’s Coloradan, a condo building adjacent to Union Station’s train platform—an aptly buzzy home for the

agave-spirit-centric drink den. Dripping with stimulating lighting (Purple twinkly lights! Star projections!

Neon strips!) and figurines of its namesake animal, including a large white statue that watches over the bar, Ghost Donkey is the hip new spot your in-the-know friends won’t stop talking about. The abbreviated menu has nachos, chips and guac, and shrimp ceviche and more than 100 mezcals and tequilas you can knock back in one-ounce pours or in unusual cocktails such as the Burro Tropical: tequila, rum, passion fruit liquor, soda water, Calpis (an uncarbonated Japanese soft drink with yogurt), and essences of ginger and lemon.

Whether you start or end your night in the glow, Ghost Donkey should be on every trend-chasing bar hopper’s bucket list. —PK

The building that houses Forget Me Not references its former life as a flower shop with sophisticated flourishes inside and out: The picket-fence-protected patio sits under a mural of the bar’s eponymous flower by local artist Jeremiah Clark, while black-and-white-striped awnings cover the accordion windows like eyelashes.

Inside, oversize purple bar stools and maroon velvet banquettes flank a U-shaped bar, and ivory walls are accented with gold shelves that showcase trinkets and potted plants.

The cocktails are eye-catching masterpieces, too, featuring blooms, barks, roots, herbs, and spices—and accessories such as the tiny rubber duck that crowns the You’re the One (an azure mix of blanco tequila, blue curaçao, and pineapple juice capped with a tier of frothy egg white). Imbibing with a crowd? Splurge on the She’s Tropical, a $120 large-format stunner festooned with orchids that dispenses glasses of citrus-zinged paradise for 10 to 12 of your fanciest companions. —PK

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Most Likely To Play Hooky LADY NOMADA Arvada

Most Changed The fact that Lady Nomada is technically a restaurant makes it even more acceptable to slip into the sevenmonth-old, Baja-inspired joint across from the Olde Town Arvada light rail station for a beachy, boozy concoction any time of day. The elderflower prickly pear margarita with silver tequila and St. Germain is just sweet enough for solo midday sipping while you pretend to check your email but actually admire the coastal-chic decor.

(A woman surfs in a mural on one wall, a fish tank is projected on another, and succulents abound.) Stick around on a Friday or Saturday night to let the excellent house margarita with tequila, fresh lime juice, and orange liqueur—a steal at just $8—fuel your dance moves as the elevated seating area at the rear, backed by stacks of 200 vintage amps, becomes a stage for live music. —Jessica LaRusso

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DEVIATION DISTILLING LoDo

For Deviation Distilling’s fifth birthday, the booze-maker received a head-turning facelift, moving its tasting room from a bare-bones production facility in Baker to a swanky, 1,791-square-foot location in downtown’s bustling Dairy Block in August 2021. There, you can tipple seasonally rotating drinks made with Deviation’s gins and whiskeys in a two-story, glass-bedecked taproom or on plush couches beside fire pits out front. Let Deviation’s talented team take your palate on a journey with a guided tasting of its signature, botanically bright gins and coffee-flavored whiskeys, or try them in concoctions mixed with homemade syrups and tonics. (We’re partial to the silky-smooth chai old

fashioned, made with the distillery’s cinnamon- and vanilla-rich Aztec Whiskey, and the best-selling cucumber basil cocktail, a refresher featuring the rosemary- and sage-perfumed Mountain Herb gin.) Juniper-spirit skeptics, beware: Deviation has a reputation for converting gin haters to lovers in just one visit. —Madi Skahill

Most Likely To Succeed AWAKE Jefferson Park

For evidence that the sober movement is here to stay in the Mile High City, look no further than Awake, a coffeehouse, nonalcoholic bar, and bottle shop—the first of its kind in town. Owners Billy and Christy Wynne opened the establishment across from verdant Jefferson Park in May 2021

B est BARS to give alcohol-eschewing locals a dedicated space to gather. Instead of getting drowsy over alcoholic drinks, Awake’s patrons toast (until 10 p.m.

Wednesday through Saturday) with zero-proof beers, wines, and cocktails in a space accented with wood panels, floor-to-ceiling windows, and turquoise velvet-upholstered stools.

Live music encourages visitors to linger over booze-free variations of cult favorites like mimosas, espresso martinis, and margaritas or newfangled elixirs like its activatedcharcoal-infused daiquiri, but you can also take many of the libations home.

And, instead of spending the morning after your visit hungover, you’ll wake up feeling good about the fact that 10 percent of Awake’s profits go to local charities such as Recovery Rising and the Stout Street Foundation. —PK

Most Athletic TIGHT END BAR East Colfax

While Denver’s only gay sports bar has all the usual trappings of an athletics-centered watering hole—including nine big-screen TVs airing everything from the NBA playoffs to World Curling Federation matches—its approachable vibe makes it stand out in the whooping, heckling crowd. The ambience is driven by goodhumored bartenders who are happy to flip channels to the game of your choice and pour IPAs or rounds of vodka-forward Gaytorade shots. Tight End also hosts bingo nights led by local drag queens and karaoke on its dance floor, which is

A macadamia-nut-liqueur-zinged take on the gin fizz. Gold-accented wallpaper. Doting mixologists. Is there anything the Tatarian can’t do—and do well? The jewel-box spot, nestled on Tennyson Street since 2018, serves inventive cocktails in a space that—thanks to textured wood accents, elegant glassware, and a treebranch-like chandelier—manages to feel like both a posh mid-mod lounge and a snug mountain retreat. That aura carries over to the menu, with earthy touches woven into each offering: Maple-lapsang syrup infuses the bar’s eponymous signature drink, a take on the old fashioned, and hickory-smoked pineapple sits atop the pistachio- and fennel-laced Otavo, a Scotch-based cocktail. Of course, most prodigies can’t help but show off, as the Tatarian does in the seafoamhued Rainbow, a Tiki spectacle topped with a citrus cornucopia and infused with housemade coconut cream and orgeat. —AU

Most Talented THE TATARIAN Berkeley

crowned with a glimmering, football-shaped disco ball. On weekends, pair discounted pints and specialty drinks with brunch indulgences, such as breakfast pizza or the eggy, cheesy Tot C(ass)erole from the adjoining End Zone Pizzeria. —MS

Most Likely To Appear In A K-Pop Music Video THANK SOOL POCHA Aurora

“Butter” fans, rejoice: This snug pub situated between a sushi restaurant and an Ethiopian grocery store in a Havana Street strip mall is a mecca for lovers of intoxicating harmonies, rice liquor, and sizzling fare. Owner JW Lee has already introduced Coloradans to South Korean dining culture (via his nearby Seoul Korean BBQ, Sushi and Hot Pot and Mono Mono Korean Fried Chicken’s LoDo and Congress Park locations), and Thank Sool Pocha represents an effort to share a slice of the country’s vibrant nightlife. Every evening, BTS, Twice, and other K-pop groups gyrate in mesmerizing sync to infectious beats on TV screens as diners nurse glasses of soju (a low-ABV, vodkalike spirit) and cook their own slices of pork belly and baby octopus on tabletop hibachi grills.

The stews—pots of bubbling broth dancing with seafood, ramen noodles, Spam, and other hearty ingredients—are also excellent late-night fuel, particularly if you plan to belt out tunes with as many friends as you can fit into the restaurant’s $1-per-song karaoke booth. —PK m F E B RUA RY 2 0 2 2

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Good BEHAVIOR Did your sourdough starter die a quick death?

Were your marathon dreams tripped up before the starting line? Is your great American novel We all set grand goals durstill just fiction? ing the pandemic, but for many of us, they remain fantasies. It’s not entirely our fault: According to experts at the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the Anschutz Medical Campus, the anxiety that accompanied COVID-19 made it difficult for people to change their behaviors. Difficult...but not impossible.

Guided by the research of three CU Anschutz scientists as well as lessons from those who managed to keep their pandemic resolutions, we outline how to achieve a new you in the new normal.

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1 One way to change habits is to align behavior with perception.

Annie Caldwell’s daughter used to be obsessed with the Berenstain Bears, a collection of children’s books that revolved around a family of altruistic ursines. That was fine with Caldwell, a psychology researcher at the CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center who loved the fables’ morality lessons.

Once, for example, Brother Bear stole a pumpkin from Farmer Ben and felt guilty because that wasn’t the kind of bear he wanted to be. If it weren’t fiction, Brother Bear’s self-flagellation could be a case study in identity theory, a behavioral science concept (and Caldwell’s specialty) that says our actions are motivated by the types of people we think we are. “And so when we behave in ways that feel in line with that sense of identity and those standards of behavior,” Caldwell says, “it feels good.” The key is perception: making positive actions to fit your ideal character. Many women, for example, prioritize being a “good mom,” Caldwell says. They stop exercising (or doing book club or taking language classes) because time not focused on their children feels selfish. A better way forward is to believe that being active creates a positive standard for kids to model. You can even take them along on a walk, which shows them how exercising is healthy. The mind trick helps you make the best choices for being the person you want to be. —SC

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Altered Ego on february 27, 2020, I heard the three little words every 41-yearold woman with a history of injuries longs to hear: You are cleared.

I’d just spent 12 months recovering from a surgery that promised to restore my shoulder to the joint it had been before a lifetime of sports erased most vestiges of rotator cuff, labrum, and tendon. So when my physical therapist released me to climb, lift, run, and compete at beach volleyball again, I was ecstatic. I. Was. Back.

For two weeks.

Then COVID-19 arrived and shuttered gyms, courts, tournaments, and all other endorphin-infused environments where the virus might lurk. While the pragmatist in me understood, the competitor in me bristled. I’d spent most of 2019 watching other athletes get stronger, faster, and better as I sat on the sidelines. I wasn’t about to let some viral rival ruin my return to glory; I vowed to come out of the pandemic better than ever.

While many raided Costco for toilet paper and hand sanitizer, I unburdened Big 5 of its dumbbells, kettlebells, and mats. I installed a pull-up bar in our hallway.

I joined an online gym. I held myself to the same sixday workout schedule I had before my shoulder went the way of mass gatherings.

Except I wasn’t the same athlete. About the time Governor Jared Polis rolled back his stay-at-home mandate (day 46), I woke up to a knee so swollen (box jumps) none of my pants fit. I watched the elections unfold (days 237 to 240) while icing an inflamed elbow (pull-ups).

By the time rioters descended on the Capitol (day 301), I had started to wonder, Are you really an athlete if you’re always injured?

I started walking more and running less. I put down the heavy weights and picked up a mountain bike. I started my mornings with physical therapy. I got scrawny. I didn’t care (too much), because I also stopped waking up in pain.

Make no mistake: I still get the shakes if I go more I HAD STARTED than two days without sweating. But today (day 691), TO WONDER, the workouts look different. I still lift weights (not as ARE YOU REALLY heavy). I climb (not as hard). I play beach volleyball AN ATHLETE IF (not as well). And every morning, I do PT and try to YOU'RE ALWAYS accept wherever I am.

INJURED? The other day, I dusted off the pull-up bar to see how short I was of my early pandemic aspirations. I dropped down after one set, happy with the effort and lack of pain but relatively unimpressed with the result. Behind me, my husband was impressed.

“That PT is working,” he said. “Your butt looks really good.”

Turns out, I did emerge from COVID-19 better than ever. I just hadn’t properly defined the terms. —Kasey Cordell

Courtesy of Kasey Cordell

WHO ARE YOU?

GOOD B E H AV I O R

The Long Haul

Michael Müller-Czerniak/EyeEm/Getty Images

Imposter Syndrome, Begone among my circle of friends, I had always been thought of as the outdoors guy. I always thought of myself as a fraud.

Sure, I owned a mountain bike and went camping, but this was the mid-2010s and #vanlife was starting to fill my social feeds with people pushing their physical limits in the backcountry and their mental limits living in Mercedes-Benz Sprinters. I was jealous, of course, but I was also secretly scared that even if I had the time and money, I still wouldn’t have the courage to drop everything and just…go.

Then the pandemic hit, and I lost my job. Fueled by the resentment of being laid off, I packed my stuff into a storage unit in Seattle and headed east, planning to fly-fish my way across the country. The first night out, I promptly had a panic attack; the fear was so strong somewhere in the Idaho Panhandle that I almost headed back to Seattle without even setting up camp. What if I get lost? What if my friends don’t miss me? What if I’m derailing my career?

This was classic Nick. I have a knack for talking myself out of things, because if I don’t try, I can’t fail.

I made it through that first night by telling myself I could go home in the morning if I still wanted to. Nearly two months and 5,500 miles later, I’d only spoken to a half-dozen people, met a witch in the woods, lost my lucky hat and found it again on the side of a dirt road 1,000 miles later, and caught more trout than I could count. I was standing in a river deep in the Montana wilderness, having one of the best fishing days of my life, when I realized my trip was over. There was none of my usual indecisiveness. I’d become who I’d wanted to be, and who I wanted to be next was showered, well-fed, and asleep in a real bed. —Nicholas Hunt

for most of my life i’ve been a traveler.

Not a salesman or a ship captain but a writer who visits strange places (Albania!) to eat strange foods (narwhal skin!) and do strange things (ski in North Korea!). My travelogue includes seven continents, 80 countries, and every state but Michigan.

The pandemic shut that down, robbing me of a part of who I am. I’m an inquisitive person, and on the road there’s always something foreign to make familiar. Homebound, I was a battery without a toy—a polyglot reduced to changing his Netflix language settings to French.

My curiosity rebounded in a curious way.

During the pandemic, I purchased a 14-foot NRS whitewater raft. I couldn’t use it on rivers around my home, though, because I had no way to haul it. What I did have was an old snowmobile trailer I’d bought eons ago. The thing was a real piece of shit, with warped decking, frayed wires, and rubber-slicing bits of rusted metal around the perimeter. It needed an overhaul to be usable, but I’d never used a grinder, a welder, a soldering iron, or an impact driver before. Could the travel guy become the fix-it guy?

The challenge was exactly what I needed.

Just like before a trip, I spent days researching the job ahead, this time on YouTube and Mountain Buzz. The more I discovered, the more I needed to know. I repacked bearings and sunk Teks screws. I learned way too much about plywood. On one wonderful Friday night, I showered my driveway in sparks as I ground off bits and welded on others. It felt…magnifique.

None of the work is perfect. That’s OK. Hauling the raft out for a test run, I looked in the mirror and saw something I hadn’t seen in months: me. —Tim Neville

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CONTEXT CUES Finding a path to new, positive actions means recognizing the conditions that led to your old, unhealthy ones.

Decisions are not made in a vacuum, says Dr. Dan Bessesen, the director of the CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. The context of your life—your friends, work-related stress, your proximity to the office candy bowl—informs how you behave. Before you give your two weeks’ notice, though, try writing down the chain of events that led to an undesired end. Maybe the boss yelled at you, so when you got home you were anxious. There was a bag of cookies on the counter and, next thing you knew, you were down a sleeve of Oreos. By journaling the situation, you could spot the unhealthy connection between cookies and solace and replace the former with something more beneficial, such as learning to paint or dance. “The term for this is self-efficacy,” Bessesen says. “What we hope over time is that people can look at a situation and say, ‘I want this to change,’ and they can take it apart and see what’s really going on here.” —SC

The Best Version Of Me at 39, i had reached a state known in the yoga world as santosha, or contentment. I was happily single after a suffocating yearlong relationship, and my career as a freelance journalist had taken off: I was traveling to far-flung locales like Madagascar and Easter Island to report stories. While the globe-trotting was thrilling, however, it was also exhausting.

In need of a mini-sabbatical, in December 2019, I sublet my apartment in Boulder and rented a place in Maui, Hawaii, so I could slow down for a few months.

Love usually comes when you aren’t looking for it, and within my first week on the island a friend introduced me to a guy from Colorado who instantly charmed me with his intellect, athleticism, and wild travel tales. Overnight, contentment became bliss. We spent two months in an easy rhythm of farmers’ market trips followed by home-cooked meals, walks on the beach, and sunset surf sessions.

When I left for a weeklong ski trip in February, I felt so confident in myself—and in us—the possibility of infidelity didn’t enter my mind. Naturally, he cheated on me.

And not with just anyone. With a professional athlete a decade my junior. My 40th birthday just two weeks away, I fell into a spiral of self-doubt and heartache.

Unable to escape the island thanks to the pandemic, I threw myself a wine-soaked pity party— and cyberstalked the other woman.

She—let’s call her Madison*—was *Clearly not her real name.

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a strikingly beautiful Amazonian. But after the wine buzz wore off, I started to ask myself, What was so attractive about this other woman, beyond her good looks?

I found motivation in attributes that were admirable, like her work ethic and sense of adventure. Madison became my inspiration more than my rival.

I hired a trainer and did at-home workouts. I would wake at 4:30 for sunrise surfs. I kept a daily journal.

When I felt sluggish, I forced myself to ask: What Would Madison Do? Does that seem obsessive? Probably. Yet I emerged from lockdown not only in the best physical shape of my life but also with a novel sense of discipline. I’ve maintained that mantra of focusing on self-improvement back home in Colorado, and it’s empowered me to take on some of my most adventurous assignments ever, from ice climbing to heli-skiing.

More importantly, I’ve stopped following Madison on social media because I have renewed confidence that I’m my own best role model. —Jen Murphy

Credits Tk

2

GOOD B E H AV I O R

Off To The Races

From left: Getty Images; John Flickinger/WOW Photography/Courtesy of Denver Colfax Marathon

A New Religion for decades, i have struggled with anxiety brought on by childhood traumas, financial distress, and abandonment issues. But every time I considered seeing a therapist, my grandmother’s words would rattle through my mind: “We don’t need therapy, we got Jesus!”

The phrase has been uttered so often by the women in my family, it might as well be our official motto. I didn’t want to be seen as weak, so I suffered through feelings of dread and doom, getting high and drunk to try to Band-Aid over emotional bullet holes.

As the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on, however, I had to face the realization that I needed secular assistance. Not only was there a chance I wouldn’t make it through alive—the virus seemed to me to be targeting Black and brown folks—but also I lived by myself.

Without human connection, I languished in mental lockdown, alone with my unhealthy thoughts. Then, in June 2020, I May Destroy You premiered. Watching the HBO series, which centers on an incident of rape, my own half-forgotten memory of being sexually assaulted in high school jolted to the surface. I began looking for a therapist.

Finding the right one was more difficult than I expected. I wanted a Black female therapist, because I didn’t want to have to explain pieces of myself and my culture. (Only a Black woman would understand what it feels like to walk into every space knowing it wasn’t created for you.) Except the American Psychological Association reported that in 2015, 86 percent of psychologists in the country were white, while only four percent SHE HAS FACILITATED were Black. But after four months I A BEAUTIFUL AND finally found her.

PAINFUL VOYAGE The moment we spoke, she got THAT HAS HEALED me. She understood my “isms,” my facial expressions. She connected MY LIFE. current behaviors to past traumas.

From unpacking my body issues to addressing generational and ancestral traumas, she has facilitated a beautiful and painful voyage that has healed my life.

Ironically, before therapy—when my family’s words made me fear their judgment—my anxiety actually alienated me from the people I love most. I didn’t believe my character offered them anything of value, so I simply never showed up, physically or emotionally. Today, I am guided by a different adage: “You can’t pour from an empty cup.

What is in my cup is for me, and what overflows is for everyone else.”

Therapy helps fill my vessel. And I am brimming. —Joce Blake

The first winter of COVID-19 changed me, and not in a good way. I would wake up as late as possible every morning, typically just in time to walk 10 feet across my onebedroom apartment to log on for work by 9 a.m. After staring at a screen for at least eight hours, I would either stay in the same spot and listen to my friends talk over one another during a Zoom happy hour, or I’d sink into my recliner some five feet away to watch TV. Maybe it was the sad beard I grew, which pretty clearly signaled a lack of interest in good hygiene, or it could’ve been my struggle to squeeze into my pants, but after about three months, I came to the conclusion that I needed a goal that would jump-start a change

in my behavior: I decided I would run the Colfax Marathon the following October. My training started slowly, as I worked in threeto four-mile runs a couple of times a week throughout the spring. Over the summer, I would go for longer and longer runs, pushing myself to be in the best shape I’d ever been in.

It wasn’t easy. There were days I didn’t want to get out the door. Although I encountered some hurdles—cramps, leg pain—during the final stretch of training, I knew getting out and moving was better than melting back into my easy chair. I finished the race just in time for the cold weather to settle in again.

While I don’t have plans to conquer another long race in 2022, I am planning some ski days and maybe some yoga—anything to keep the beard at bay. —Shane Monaghan

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3 Small changes are easier to make when connected to big beliefs.

In 1946, Viktor Frankl published Man’s Search for Meaning, a memoir about his time in Nazi concentration camps. The Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist surmised that prisoners who held on to a sense of meaning had a better chance of surviving. “Our thinking was, ‘Maybe this is a way of helping people sustain behavior,’ ” says Kevin Masters, the director of clinical health psychology at the CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. Finding a link between “higher order constructs”—not just religion, but also things like family and politics—and behavior proved difficult. People only think about “purpose” at weddings and funerals; it doesn’t factor into daily decisions about whether to binge The Great British Baking Show or actually learn to bake. Recently, though, Masters and his colleagues have asked patients to rank what’s most important to them (it’s overwhelmingly personal relationships) and, through smartphone apps, have begun sending them daily prompts to help them focus on what they selected. The idea is to remind people that if, say, they want to be able to play in the park with their grandchildren, they need to eat right and exercise so their bodies will remain healthy as they age.

“Truthfully, I don’t know how well we will succeed with this, but I do think it’s worth a try,” Masters says. “And [subjects] who have been involved in our research seem to believe that we’re onto something.” —SC

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Family Time, Reinvented schools closed for covid-19 on Friday, March 13, 2020.

“Enjoy an extended spring break,” the official district email communiqué advised us. With the weekend upon us, my wife, an attorney, and I didn’t grasp the implications until Monday. I had two impending writing deadlines, and she was steeped in litigation matters. What at first had seemed like a rare gift—bonus hours with our kids—quickly morphed into what felt like a theft of time. How could we possibly work a normal day with our kids at home? Because COVID-19 had vaporized our childcare, we resorted to iPads as babysitters. While the kids binged on ninja anime and Dude Perfect, I slammed through my assignments. A week later, I got COVID-19.

It was an inauspicious start to a global pandemic. As spring inched toward summer, though, we knew we needed to make big decisions. Two full-time working parents without childcare was unsustainable. So I quit, a decision that came easily because we had that luxury—and because two decades of hustling for freelance gigs had left me feeling uninspired. A pandemic sabbatical to be a stay-at-home dad felt like a prudent career move.

With a sudden windfall of family time, making it purposeful became our priority. First, we ditched the iPads after remote school ended in May. In early June, the whole family departed for Utah for seven days of camping near Capitol Reef National Park. But when the prospect of returning to a 9-to-5 workday routine loomed, we added another week to our trip and began devising a scheme to keep our kids in the screen-free outdoors for at least the next few months.

After establishing a pod with another family whose kids were similar ages as ours, we camped and backpacked together throughout Colorado for much LIFE ON THE ROAD WAS GLORIOUSLY of the summer. Life on the road was gloriously SIMPLE. BY EARLY simple and also safer. In Utah, for example, we SEPTEMBER, OUR were boondocking on a scarcely populated plateau situated in a county that had, at that point, FAMILY HAD SPENT recorded zero cases of the virus. By early SepMORE THAN 40 DAYS tember, our family had spent more than 40 OFF THE GRID. days off the grid. My wife worked remotely from our five-year-old pop-up camper, seeking out Wi-Fi in nearby towns when necessary. When our daughter asked me, “Dad, can we do this every summer?” I knew we’d succeeded in creating something special that our kids would remember long after the virus relents. —Michael Behar

Courtesy of Michael Behar

PLUG INTO A HIGHER POWER

GOOD B E H AV I O R

Ag Living

Derek Cooper Photography Inc./Getty Images

A Meditation On Meditating “ooooohhhhkaaaaayyyy. Just…take your seat…and…close your eyes. And take a few deep breaths. And try to arrive, all at once, for the next 10 minutes.” Sam Harris, the man whose soothing voice visits me through my earbuds, had me until that phrase, “arrive, all at once.”

What does it mean to arrive somewhere when you’re sitting perfectly still? I wonder. Where am I arriving? How will I know when I get there?

Nearly two years into the practice of (almost) daily meditation, I’m still waiting for answers. I have not reached nirvana yet; I figure that’s because I can’t even get through 10 minutes of meditation without getting lost in thought about work, my teenage boys, my aging parents, and whether the wind speeds are optimal for a bike ride.

I’ve meditated sporadically since college, but it never really took—until I found Harris’ Waking Up app. I subscribed to the app about a month after Denver’s stay-at-home order commenced because, like so many others, I felt lost and out of control. I was searching for something more, something beyond the mundane existence we were living—so I decided to embark on a more regular meditation practice.

Turns out that’s not as easy as it may sound. Harris says things like, “Look for the looker” and “Recognize that consciousness is something that’s just appearing.” Sometimes, I feel like I’m growing. Other times, I get pissed at Harris’ vagaries. This, I will admit, is very un-Zen. But I keep meditating, because if this pandemic has taught me anything, it’s A) that our time here can be very short, B) there is more to life than Twitter, and C) meditation has actually helped me to be less reactive and calmer, at least some of the time. I keep at it because one day I hope that when Harris asks me to arrive, all at once, I will recognize that I’m already there. —Geoff Van Dyke

as a child, I was lactose intolerant. I eventually outgrew it, but I continue to love goat milk because, well, it tastes awesome. So when, in 2018, my family moved from Denver to a small farm north of the city, I started dabbling in goats—cheese making and stuff. I was bragging about my feta during a vacation to Napa Valley, California, the next year when one of my girlfriends dared me to live only off what I could grow on my farm for 12 months.

I had been drinking just enough wine that that sounded like a good idea.

The challenge itself would run from August 2020 to August 2021. As I was preparing, though, COVID-19 hit Colorado. My husband kept telling me that nobody would blame me if I delayed for a while. But during the pandemic I needed something to aspire to and something I could control. Whatever else was happening outside our farm’s fence, I could control what was happening inside it in a way that was super healthy to me.

It was hard, though. I went from six to eight cups of coffee a day to nothing. I’ve never done hard drugs, but I was in withdrawal. Then, one of my pigs figured out how to eat live chickens. That was stressful.

Making it through the year, however, was worth it. I’m 38. My entire life has been focused on politics, which I got into to try to change the world. The last few years, though, have ground anyone in politics into dust. By doing this challenge, I thought I could maybe recapture the spark of life. And when I sat down to milk my goats, it was thrilling. Seriously.

Part of this challenge was trying to claw back my own sense of values and internal relativism and recognize the millions of people lost to history who have gotten us to a place where we can take milk from a goat and turn it into cheese. It’s basically magic. It sounds kind of trite when I say it like that, right? But it’s amazing. —Kelly Maher, as told to SC m

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THE PAST, PRESENT, AND

FUTURE ABORTION

When the so-called “heartbeat bill” went into effect in Texas this past September, patients from the Lone Star State traveled to Colorado in droves for abortion services. With Roe v.

Wade in peril and surrounding states promising to restrict the procedure if the ruling falls, will the Centennial State be able to remain a beacon of access for its residents and the region at large?

BY CIARA O ’ROURKE

PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY DANA SMITH

OF

IN COLORADO

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THE PATIENTS

JUST KEP KEPTT COMIN COMINGG.

They were overwhelming the Planned Parenthood clinic that’s tucked between a craft brewery and a four-star hotel on the edge of Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood. One woman’s water had broken prematurely, long before a fetus could survive outside her uterus. Another called, panicked, because her flight had been delayed, and she had an abortion scheduled that afternoon. Others just got in their cars and drove—hundreds of miles, for hours—crossing two, possibly three, state lines. All of their stories were different, but they had one thing in common: None of them could access abortion services in Texas, where they lived, and they had looked to providers in Colorado for help.

On September 1, 2021, Senate Bill 8—sometimes called the “heartbeat bill”—took effect in the Lone Star State. The law bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, typically around six weeks into a pregnancy and before many people even realize they’re pregnant. That makes more than 80 percent of the approximately 56,000 abortions previously performed annually in the state illegal. The Texas statute is arguably one of the most restrictive in the country—there are no provisions for rape or incest—and it is unique in that it dispatches everyday citizens to enforce it by bringing suit against those who help women (and nonbinary and transgender people who can become pregnant) get abortions after cardiac activity is confirmed. Their potential reward? The promise of collecting at least $10,000 from the people they’ve sued if they win the case.

With SB 8 in effect, Texans in need of abortion services have had to look elsewhere, quietly. Whether family and friends taking care of the children of parents who flee the state to get an abortion could be sued under the new law is a vexing question and is just one of several hurdles for Texans who want to terminate their pregnancies.

Texas’ northernmost border comes within approximately 34 miles of the Colorado state line. But abortion-rights activists such as Laura Chapin, a consultant for Cobalt, a Denver nonprofit that advocates for abortion access and reproductive rights in Colorado, explain that asking some patients to get to Colorado is like asking them to fly to the moon. Money for the procedure—which can cost hundreds of dollars out of pocket—isn’t the only financial burden. Childcare. Transportation. A hotel stay. Missed days of work. It adds up quickly.

Amanda Carlson, director of the Cobalt Abortion Fund, an arm of Cobalt that provides financial assistance and support to people seeking abortions, recalls that years ago one woman who had traveled to Kentucky for the procedure was subsisting on free popcorn in a hotel lobby because she had spent all of her money on the appointment. To mitigate costs today, Carlson says, some women are trying to make out-of-state trips to obtain an abortion in Colorado in one day, flying out in the morning and back to Texas that night, sometimes boarding a plane for the first time in their lives or attempting to fly soon after the procedure even if they’d been sedated. It can be a dilemma for doctors trying to best care for their patients while realizing that some of them are unable to take two days off work. Their stories, says Dr. Kristina Tocce, vice president and medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, are “absolutely surreal.”

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Although the Park Hill clinic saw a 520 percent increase in Texas patients in September compared with August, and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains—which covers Colorado, New Mexico, southern Nevada, and Wyoming—says 29 percent of its New Mexico clients were from Texas in the first two weeks of September, abortion-rights advocates know that many people couldn’t access help and were left instead to carry their pregnancies to term. That was the intention of SB 8, and that, Tocce says, makes her profoundly sad. It’s also why she and other abortion-rights advocates in Colorado are keeping an eye not only on other nearby states but also on the U.S. Supreme Court.

After a decadeslong campaign to end abortion in America, anti-abortion activists have seen recent success with SB 8 as well as with a Mississippi law that restricts most abortions after 15 weeks. The Supreme Court is currently considering both statutes, but after hearing arguments on December 1 in the Mississippi case, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a majority of justices appeared inclined to uphold the law, which would very likely overturn Roe v. Wade—the only ruling that currently protects abortion services in Colorado.

ONCE, BEFORE ABORTIONS

were decriminalized in the United States and well before many people considered those protections settled law, there was a woman who moved to Colorado to ski. It was the early 1960s, and Susan Barnes, a recent Boston University graduate in her early 20s, got on a Denver-bound train dreaming of Aspen. When she arrived from Massachusetts, gaping at the sight of grown men wearing jeans on the train platform, she realized how far the mountain town was from the Mile High City and settled on the Front Range instead. She thought she would stay for the season, skiing at Winter Park Resort, and then continue on to San Francisco—to do what, she didn’t know. But she found work copy writing and ended up staying in Denver.

Barnes lived in an apartment on Capitol Hill with three other women. They skied and partied on weekends and generally took care of one another. That TLC did not disappear when one of Barnes’ roommates discovered she was unintentionally pregnant. The woman was frightened, and while her boyfriend gave her money for an abortion, he failed to offer emotional support. Her roommates tried to comfort her, and Barnes accompanied her to an appointment with her doctor. He would help, they thought. “We were very naive,” Barnes says.

ABORTION IN COLORADO Instead, he lectured his patient and admonished her for deigning to ask about an abortion. Barnes was indignant and suggested they call an attorney instead. The lawyer was kinder than the physician had been, but he didn’t provide any hope, either.

What they wanted was illegal. At the time, Colorado only allowed abortions in cases of rape or if the pregnancy severely threatened the mother’s physical health.

Still, Barnes’ roommate was able to connect with someone who performed abortions despite the law. She handed over the money her boyfriend had given her and endured the procedure alone. Barnes can’t remember some of the details of that time. “I think it was so painful that I’ve papered that over in my memory,” she says. What she does remember is when her roommate returned to their apartment after the procedure, she was bleeding heavily. Her friends hurried her to an emergency room; she survived, but physical damage from the abortion left her unable to have children. “She was just beside herself,” Barnes says. Barnes blamed the law, which she viewed as unfair and cruel.

She didn’t know it then, but she would have a chance to redress the situation in due time.

Map sources: Center for Reproductive Rights; Guttmacher Institute

THERE ARE PLENTY of places in Colorado that may as well be in Texas or Mississippi in terms of abortion

access—places like Durango, Cortez, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Montrose, and Craig. In fact, roughly 80 percent of Colorado counties don’t have health care clinics that provide abortions. There are only about a dozen clinics and/or practices in the state that will perform a surgical procedure to terminate a pregnancy.

Yet Colorado has long been thought of, by abortionrights and anti-abortion activists alike, as a haven for abortion access because of its relatively liberal laws.

There are three state-level restrictions: A minor’s parents must be notified before an abortion; public employees’ insurance cannot be used for most abortions; and public funding can only be used for abortions in certain instances. Significantly, Colorado is also one of only a handful of states that doesn’t limit at what point in a pregnancy an abortion can be performed.

At the same time, Colorado doesn’t have any laws that expressly protect the right to an abortion. Furthermore, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, state courts have yet to determine whether the state constitution actually protects the right. If Roe v. Wade falls this coming June despite nearly 50 years of legal precedent, 2022 could be a reckoning for the state, forcing it to determine the role it wants to continue to play in the abortion-access landscape.

Looking at a map of the Rocky Mountain West and western Midwest, the terrain appears treacherous for abortion-rights activists should Roe v. Wade be

U.S. ABORTION ACCESS IF ROE FALLS If the U.S. Supreme Court effectively rules to overturn the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade in June, the map for abortion access will likely look like this.

weakened or dismantled at the federal level. The Center for Reproductive Rights expects that, if that were to be the case, only Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Montana, and Nevada would continue to provide access in a 14-state region. Based on the influx of patients Colorado saw both when Texas Governor Greg Abbott briefly banned abortions as nonessential procedures during the pandemic and when SB 8 went into effect, providers here could be unable to keep up with demand if patients were also coming from Oklahoma, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Arizona.

Coloradans are already experiencing delays in care as Texans travel north. Texas is one of 12 states that has a “trigger law” that would ban all or nearly all abortions if Roe is overturned. How difficult would it be for Coloradans to access care in their own state, then? “We will do everything we can to serve the patients who are able to travel to us for the care they need,” says Neta Meltzer, strategic communications director for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, “but we can’t meet that need alone. That’s some really staggering patient volume that we can’t absorb ourselves.”

The state Legislature will likely consider enacting laws to codify protections to ensure providers would even be able to serve those in need.

And that can open the door to arguments—and concessions. “Anytime you draw a line, it makes it that much easier to move that line,” says Dr. Rebecca Cohen, an abortion provider in Denver. “Everything we put into law has the ability to be changed, and that is the challenge. How do we craft a policy that protects abortion rights in a safe and inclusive way and doesn’t become a target for people who are anti-abortion?”

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ABORTION IN COLORADO

of dissent that people championing abortion rights are concerned about.

Even those who support the right to choose sometimes believe choice has its limits. One Colorado provider, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity, says he supports restricting most elective abortions after a certain number of weeks.

The Women’s Health Protection Act, sponsored by Democrat Judy Chu of California and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in September in response to the Texas law, aims to protect a person’s right to an abortion. It would also prohibit abortion bans after fetal viability “when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

But while there’s wide support among abortion-rights advocates to send the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk and eliminate a patchwork of policies across the country, the legislation hasn’t made any progress in the Senate—and it’s unlikely to. That leaves state lawmakers and activists on both sides of the issue to fend for themselves.

Lauren Smith, an issue campaigns manager with New Era Colorado, an organization focused on youth civic engagement that, in part, works with students to fight abortion stigma and advocate for better

“I’M READY TO SEE THE ABORTION-RIGHTS MOVEMENT BE ON THE OFFENSIVE IN COLORADO.”

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policies, says it’s been exhausting to constantly be playing defense against efforts to roll back abortion access.

“I’m ready to see the abortion-rights movement be on the offensive in Colorado,” she says. In addition to codifying abortion protections, she wants to see lawmakers address access inequity across the state and allow public funds to pay for abortions. The current public funds ban—at both the federal and Colorado state levels—affects more than people insured through Medicaid. Teachers, bus drivers, city clerks, and everyone else who draws a government paycheck cannot use their insurance to cover the procedure in most cases.

There’s also broad concern among abortion-rights activists that low-income people and people of color will be disproportionately affected by any new abortion restrictions and other looming bans. “Abortion rights is racial justice,” Smith says. After SB 8 was enacted in Texas, where the 2020 census showed people of color made up nearly all of the state’s population growth in the previous decade and that the Latino population is now nearly as big as the non-Latino white population, some Coloradans in favor of abortion rights started to wonder if similar efforts to restrict access here could disproportionately affect Colorado’s communities of color, says Aurea Bolaños Perea, communications and policy manager at the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, or COLOR. “We’re not going to let that happen,” she says. “Colorado must be the state that protects the disenfranchised.”

Galvanized by the Texas ban and Supreme Court hearings, several Colorado lawmakers working with Cobalt and COLOR said in December they plan to introduce legislation in the current session that would consecrate abortion rights for Coloradans. “We really feel the moral imperative to act now,” says Representative Meg Froelich, a Democrat who is co-sponsoring the Reproductive Health Equity Act in the House.

She says the “lean and mean” bill will establish that people have a fundamental right to contraception and abortion and that fetuses don’t have independent rights under the laws of the state. Colorado occupies a unique position in the West, says state Senator Julie Gonzales, a Democrat and the bill’s Senate sponsor: “Our protections, in many ways, predated Roe v. Wade.”

SEVERAL YEARS AFTER moving to Denver, Susan Barnes applied and was accepted to a handful of law schools,

but she decided to stay in Colorado after the University of Denver offered her a full scholarship. She was in her final year in 1966 when she enrolled in a winter quarter seminar about drafting legislation. She was anxious to graduate that spring and begin her professional life, hopefully as a trial lawyer. But she remembers being intrigued by the assignment for their final project: writing a statute for the state of Colorado.

Harry Lawson, the adjunct professor who taught the seminar, told his students they should put themselves in the shoes of a legislator and pick an issue they felt passionately about. They would need to dig into the issue’s history, he said, and consider how politics would affect whether the hypothetical legislation would pass.

Barnes thought about her old roommate in Capitol Hill and decided to write a bill amending the state’s criminal law on abortion.

Barnes had recently married, but she found herself wondering whether she would seek an abortion if she had an unwanted pregnancy. She didn’t think she would; however, she knew that she would want to be able to make that choice for herself.

She was 28 by then, one of two women in a cohort of about 100 in the law school. She still liked to ski, but after growing up in the segregated South, in North Carolina, Barnes had also grown interested in civil rights, flying to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965 to march with Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and other Americans seeking racial justice in the United States. She was outgoing and idealistic. So were her friends Dick and Dottie Lamm, whom she met through the activist group Young Democrats. It was Dottie who had suggested Barnes date the man who would become her husband, floating his name one day as the women rode the chairlift up the mountain at Winter Park. Dick, meanwhile, had been elected to the state House of Representatives the previous year.

Barnes knew Dick had grown curious about Colorado’s abortion laws after a trip to Peru a few years earlier, where he and his wife had encountered a hospital ward full of women recovering from illegal or

self-induced abortions. She called to see if he happened to have a file of research on the issue that she could borrow for her project. “I’d be happy to give you my file, Susie,” he said, “if you will give me your bill.”

Barnes wrote the legislation, turned it in to her professor, and returned Lamm’s file with a copy of the faux statute tucked inside. She didn’t hear any more about it until Lawson handed her the graded assignment. She had received the highest mark in the class. But the professor also knew something she didn’t: Lamm had filed her bill at the Statehouse. “You were not required to introduce your legislation with 32 co-sponsors,” Lawson told Barnes wryly.

In the end, the number of co-sponsors was actually about twice that number. When the bill—put forward by Lamm and Republican John Bermingham—was signed in April 1967 by Governor John Love, another Republican, it was the first law in the country decriminalizing abortion restrictions so that the procedure would be allowed for reasons other than rape or an imminent threat to the woman’s physical health. Lamm and Bermingham’s bill was still relatively conservative by today’s standards.

Abortions had to be performed within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy in accredited hospitals and required the permission of a panel of three physicians. Wives needed their husbands’ sign-offs, and minors couldn’t get an abortion without their parents’ approval. The procedure was only allowed in cases where the pregnancy presented a severe threat to the mother’s mental or physical health, in cases of incest or rape, or if the child was likely to be born with a disability.

Before signing the bill, Love said it was “one of the more important and difficult decisions of my experience in office.” He had received some 5,000 letters and telegraphs, about half in favor of the legislation and half against. Opponents feared Colorado would become a so-called abortion mecca. But other states, like California and North Carolina, soon followed Colorado’s lead, and it wasn’t long before activists were calling for even less restrictive laws, questioning why patients needed the blessing of a panel, often made up of men, before they could terminate a pregnancy.

In 1973, the debate became moot, for the most part. The Supreme Court struck down several Texas laws that criminalized abortion in a decision that became a household name: Roe v. Wade said the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s right to end a pregnancy. Colorado lawmakers never passed another law explicitly protecting abortion because they didn’t think they had to. That may be about to change.

“HOLD A FINGER in the wind,” says Cobalt’s Laura Chapin, “and you can feel that Colorado is pro-choice.” But that doesn’t mean anti-abortion

forces haven’t tried to change the way the breezes blow.

Voters in 2000 rejected a proposition supported by Focus on the Family and the Colorado Pro-Life Alliance that would have required doctors to give women certain information—about adoption agencies, risks, and more—at least 24 hours before their abortions. Coloradans also voted down three measures, in 2008, 2010, and 2014, that would have defined a fetus as a person. In 2020, Proposition 115, the most recent challenge to abortion access, would have banned abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion-rights activists spent more than $9 million to fight the measure. Nearly 59 percent of voters rejected the proposition, and, perhaps surprisingly, they weren’t all left of the political center. In seven counties, a majority of voters cast a ballot for Donald Trump in the presidential election but also voted no on Prop 115.

What the anti-abortion movement has planned for the Centennial State in 2022 is unclear, though legislation criminalizing abortion is perennially on the docket. The Susan B. Anthony List, a Virginia-based anti-abortion group, is already planning its state-level campaigns as if CONTINUED ON PAGE 70 a “post-Roe” world is a fait accompli. And the F E B RUA RY 2 0 2 2

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Blackbelly

SYMBOL KEY Indicates a restaurant featured in 5280 for the first time (though not necessarily a restaurant that has just opened).

A $$$

Aurora /American Caroline Glover brings a warm dining experience to Stanley Marketplace. Enjoy a family-style menu featuring seasonal salads, toasts, and wood-grilled fare. Reservations accepted. Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., Ste. 108, Aurora.

720-710-9975. Dinner

Arabesque

$$

Boulder /Mediterranean Sip house-made chai tea while sampling Middle Eastern delights—such as hummus, shawarma wraps, and baba ghanoush—in this charming, sun-filled lunch spot. Reservations not accepted. 1634 Walnut St., 720-242-8623.

Breakfast, Lunch

Ash’Kara

Hampden South / Chinese This spot specializes in traditional Chinese fare. Try the Lanzhou handpulled noodles or the spicy Sichuan hot pot.

Reservations not accepted. 8101 E. Belleview Ave., 303-220-0577. Lunch, Dinner

Big Mac & Little Lu’s

$$

$$$

Westminster /Seafood Florida meets Colorado via freshly sourced seafood at this suburban spot. Go for a po’ boy sandwich or the mussels and fries. Reservations accepted. 2851 E. 120th Ave., Westminster, 303-404-2722. Lunch, Dinner

$$

Cracovia

$$

Globeville /International You’ll find family recipes from Latin America and Syria at this spot, which has a rotating menu and provides job training to local women. Reservations not accepted. 3455 Ringsby Ct., Ste. 105, 303-292-0770. Lunch

Westminster /Polish Traditional dishes are on the menu at this family-owned spot. Try the placki (fried potato and onion pancakes). Reservations accepted. 8121 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, 303-484-9388. Lunch, Dinner

$$$$

Daughter Thai Kitchen & Bar

Bar Max

Congress Park /Contemporary This European bistro offers a simple, curated menu. Pair the prosciutto, brie, and fig spread sandwich with a glass of prosecco. Reservations accepted. 2412 E. Colfax Ave., 303-333-0003. Dinner

Dio Mio

$$$$

$$$$

RiNo /Contemporary Chef Duncan Holmes brings an elevated, intimate dining experience to Larimer Street. The seasonal menu changes frequently. Reservations required. 2843 Larimer St., 303-749-0020. Dinner

$$$$

Highland /Thai This upscale Thai restaurant serves beautifully plated dishes and inventive cocktails with an elegant ambience to match. Reservations accepted. 1700 Platte St., Ste. 140, 720-6674652. Lunch, Dinner

$$

Cherry Creek /Italian Dedication to authenticity translates to the food and extensive wine menu at this elegant eatery, which is focused on the cuisines of northern Italy’s Tuscany and Piedmont regions.

Reservations accepted. 3030 E. Sixth Ave., 303-393-1040. Dinner

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Central Park /Italian Chef Elise Wiggins offers rustic, wood-fired Italian fare from a sprawling chef’s counter. Go for grilled oysters, pizzas, and fresh pastas.

Reservations accepted. 10195 E. 29th Dr., Ste. 110, 303-645-3779. Dinner

Boulder /Spanish Housed on the rooftop level of the Pearl West building, this elegant Spanish steak house offers stunning Flatiron views and fabulous cocktails and wines. Splurge on the Japanese wagyu or opt for a locally sourced steak. Reservations accepted. 1023 Walnut St., Ste. 400, Boulder, 303-444-1333. Dinner, Brunch

$$$

Beckon

Cattivella

Corrida

Highland /Middle Eastern Chef Daniel Asher offers a playful take on Middle Eastern cuisine at this plant-bedecked eatery. Don’t miss the silky hummus and earthy baba ghanoush. Also try the Boulder location. Reservations accepted. 2005 W. 33rd Ave., 303-537-4407. Dinner, Brunch

Barolo Grill

C

$$$

Boulder /American Chef Hosea Rosenberg’s menu features charcuterie, small plates, and daily butcher specials. Try the crispy pig ears with red pepper jelly.

Also check out the grab-and-go market next door.

Reservations accepted. 1606 Conestoga St., Boulder, 303-247-1000. Dinner

Blue Ocean

Annette

Visit our online listings at 5280.com/ restaurants.

REIMAGINED CLASSIC

This past August, Zuri Resendiz became executive chef at Shanahan’s Steakhouse in the Denver Tech Center, bringing new flavors to the 12-year-old spot’s red-meat-centric menu. While patrons can still order the restaurant’s signature filet mignon and porterhouse, Resendiz draws on his culinary experiences, including four years at Central Park’s Cattivella, to offer a selection of new, inventive dishes. Try the tender wagyu rib-eye satay drizzled with peanut dressing or the crab cake with sweet corn succotash and Creole lobster sauce.

$$

RiNo /Italian One thing you can count on at Alexander Figura, Spencer White, and Lulu Clair’s fast-casual Italian eatery: perfect pasta. Try the cacio e pepe or the squid ink fusilli with blue crab. The house-made sourdough is heavenly.

Reservations accepted for parties of eight or more.

3264 Larimer St., 303-562-1965. Dinner

Duo Restaurant

$$$

Highland /Contemporary This neighborhood restaurant combines simple food, a low-key ambience, and the hum of neighbors trading stories. The seasonal cuisine constantly surprises, and dessert is worth a visit in itself. Reservations accepted. 2413 W. 32nd Ave., 303-477-4141. Dinner, Brunch

Sarah Banks

PRICE KEY

(Average Entrée)

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FEB 4 5280 Top of the Town Ballot Polls open on February 4, 2022 Every year, 5280 searches for Denver’s top dining, shopping, people, and places. Make sure your voice is heard and vote for Denver’s best stuff!

Cast your ballot at 5280scene.com.

FEB 3 Guitar Sessions with Alicia ‘Bruce’ Trujillo Virtual Event | 7:00 p.m.

The Museum teams up with Indie 102.3 host Alicia "Bruce" Trujillo for conversation and music with local guitar greats. Reserve one or all four: Jan. 6, Anna Morsett; Feb. 3, Stevie Gunter; March 3, Jen Korte; April 14, Felix Fast4ward.

Information and tickets at dmns.mobi/guitar5280.

FEB 26 - MAR 6

MAR 11-20

Photo Credit: Leah McFadden

by Rachel Neville

Moravec & Campbell’s The Shining

Colorado Ballet Presents The Wizard of Oz

Ellie Caulkins Opera House

Ellie Caulkins Opera House

Based on Stephen King’s spine-chilling novel, The Shining brings the hopeful Torrance family to Colorado’s isolated Overlook Hotel. Little do they know that the Overlook’s spectral guests are determined to repeat the hotel’s grim history.

Septime Webre’s dazzling production returns, bringing Dorothy and a whirlwind of your favorite characters back down the Yellow Brick Road.

Webre's whimsical and timeless choreography showcases the athleticism of each dancer on their journey to Emerald City.

Information and tickets at operacolorado.org/shining.

Information and tickets at coloradoballet.org/The-Wizard-of-Oz.

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DINING GUIDE

E El Jefe

the chile relleno burrito. Reservations not accepted.

714 Santa Fe Dr., 303-623-3926. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner $$

Sunnyside /Mexican Farm-to-table Mexican fare will lure you to this welcoming Sunnyside haunt.

Don’t miss the organic mushroom tacos or the butcher steak fajitas. Reservations accepted.

2450 W. 44th Ave., 720-389-7615. Dinner

El Taco de Mexico

Lincoln Park /Mexican This Denver favorite serves Mexican food with an emphasis on authenticity. Try

F Farow

$

Federales

$

RiNo /Mexican The first Colorado outpost of the popular Chicago spot serves tacos and tequila in an airy, industrial setting. Try the citrusy pork and pineapple tacos or the satisfying mushroom variety, and wash everything down with a refreshing tequila rosé or spicy green-chile-infused margarita.

Reservations accepted. 2901 Larimer St., 303-317-6262. Dinner

$$$

Niwot /American Lisa and Patrick Balcom serve contemporary fare with ingredients sourced within 10 miles. Reservations accepted. 7916 Niwot Rd., Niwot, 303-827-3949. Breakfast, Dinner

Fire Restaurant

$$$$

Frasca Food and Wine

$$$$

Golden Triangle /American Located inside the Art, a Hotel, Fire Restaurant serves contemporary American dishes made with locally sourced ingredients, including a Colorado lamb chop.

Reservations accepted. 1201 Broadway, 720-709-4431. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Boulder /Italian Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey’s fine-dining mecca has racked up scores of accolades over the years (including nods from the James Beard Foundation). The elegant Friulano cuisine always wows.

Reservations accepted. 1738 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-442-6966. Dinner

G GQue BBQ

$$

Green Russell

$$

Westminster /Barbecue This fast-casual joint serves hickory-smoked pork, brisket, chicken wings, ribs, and more. Order the jalapeño-cheddar sausage.

Also try the Lone Tree location. Reservations not accepted. 5120 W. 120th Ave., Westminster, 303-379-9205. Lunch, Dinner

W H E N Y O U WA N T T O PA R E N T

Smarter PA R E N T L I K E A P R O

Downtown /Pub This underground cocktail bar offers a variety of small plates and libations.

Reservations not accepted. 1422 Larimer St., 303-893-6505. Dinner

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ Dining

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Downtown /Japanese This Japanese-based chain boasts table-centered grills on which diners cook proteins like Harami skirt steak. There are also noodles and rice dishes, and appetizers such as tuna poke nachos. Reservations required. 1998 18th St., 720-726-4068. Lunch, Dinner

H Hasu Sushi & Grill

$$$

Hop Alley

$$$

Cherry Creek /Asian Try the aptly named Amazing Roll, which comes with fatty tuna, cucumber, and scallion on the inside; avocado, crispy kani, eel, and special sauce on the outside. Reservations accepted. 250 Steele St., Ste. 104, 303-7229968. Lunch, Dinner RiNo /Chinese From Tommy Lee of Uncle, this neighborhood hangout serves dishes rooted in Chinese tradition with a touch of distinctive flair. Try the dan dan mian. Reservations accepted. 3500 Larimer St., 720-379-8340. Dinner

DINING GUIDE

I India’s Restaurant

L $$$

Hampden /Indian This spot serves flavorful dishes like tandoori chicken. Try the cinnamon bread pudding or the pistachio kulfi ice cream. Reservations accepted. 8921 E. Hampden Ave., 303-755-4284. Lunch, Dinner

Istanbul Bakery & Cafe

$$$

Washington Virginia Vale /Middle Eastern Owner Ismet Yilmaz prepares authentic Turkish pastries from this spot inside a shopping center. Try the pistachio baklava. 850 S. Monaco Pkwy., Ste. 9, 720-5365455. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Izakaya Den

$$

Platt Park /Japanese Ultra-fresh sushi, sashimi, and creative small plates are on the menu at this local favorite. Reservations accepted. 1487-A S. Pearl St., 303-777-0691. Lunch, Dinner

Latke Love

Little Anita’s New Mexican Food

$$

Littleton /American Chef-owners Steve and Tina Shander serve eclectic versions of the traditional potato cakes out of a refurbished house in the south suburbs. Look for satisfying and comforting toppings like pulled pork slathered with Carolina barbecue sauce or slow-braised beef brisket with roasted carrots and gravy. Reservations not accepted. 699 W. Littleton Blvd., Littleton, 303-995-9708.

Lunch, Brunch

$

Virginia Village / Latin American This popular neighborhood spot is known for its great New Mexican fare. The breakfast burritos are divine.

Multiple locations. Reservations not accepted. 1550 S. Colorado Blvd., #103, 303-691-3337. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Lucy’s Burger Bar

$$

Berkeley /American Belly up to the burger bar at this 1,000-square-foot space for a Minneapolisstyle Juicy Lucy, a cheese-filled burger with an oozing interior. Reservations not accepted. 4018 Tennyson St., 720-379-6311. Dinner

CENTRAL PARK LOCATION NOW OPEN!

J Jamaican Grille

$$

Lincoln Park /Jamaican This restaurant serves classic dishes like jerk chicken and fried plantains. Also try the Jamaican Mini Grille and International Jerk Market in Lakewood. Reservations accepted. 709 W. Eighth Ave., 303-623-0013. Lunch, Dinner

Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar

$$$

Jovanina’s Broken Italian

$$$

Downtown /Seafood Enjoy sustainable seafood at this Union Station spot. Specialties include the raw oyster bar and seasonally composed plates. Multiple locations. Reservations accepted. 1539 17th St., 303-292-5767. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch Downtown /Italian This gorgeous LoDo eatery expands on traditional Italian fare by incorporating unexpected, seasonal ingredients. Reservations accepted. 1520 Blake St., 720-541-7721. Dinner

K Kahlo’s Restaurant

$$

Westwood /Mexican Enjoy mole and enchiladas verdes, as well as almost 30 different juices and smoothies, in a space decorated with the art of Frida Kahlo. Reservations accepted. 3735 Morrison Rd., 303-936-0758. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Katsu Ramen

Come and experience why everyone has fallen in love with our food “BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT” - 5280, EVERY YEAR SINCE 2002

“BEST INDIAN & LUNCH BUFFET” - WESTWORD, PAST 17 CONSECUTIVE YEARS

$$

Aurora /Japanese Satisfy a ramen craving with one of the traditional styles offered at this cozy spot.

Reservations not accepted. 1930 S. Havana St., Aurora, 303-751-2222. Lunch, Dinner

★

Kobe An

$$$

Cherry Creek /Asian Everything is traditional at this Japanese restaurant, including the seating. The menu features Japanese favorites, such as tempura, gyoza, and yakisoba. Reservations accepted. 231 Milwaukee St., 303-989-5907. Lunch, Dinner

ESTABLISHED 1998

★

Takeout, Catering & Delivery Available | Gluten Free Menu LITTLEINDIAOFDENVER.COM

FOLLOW OUR FOOD TRUCK!

Your Neighborhood Restaurant of Choice proudly serving you for 23 years 330 E. 6TH AVE. | 303-871-9777 2390 S. DOWNING | 303-298-1939 3496 W. 32ND AVE. | 303-561-2855 7352 29TH AVE. | 303-665-7070

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M Mercantile Dining & Provision

O $$$

Downtown /New American Award-winning chef Alex Seidel offers contemporary farm-to-table fare, including pasta dishes and family-style plates for the table. Mercantile also features counter-service dining for lunch, as well as a marketplace of locally sourced foodstuffs. Reservations accepted for dinner.

Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop St., Ste. 155, 720-460-3733. Lunch, Dinner

Mercury Cafe

$$$

Five Points /Contemporary Enjoy live music and plenty of vegetarian options, as well as pasta dishes, Colorado fish, and grass-fed bison, lamb, and beef.

Reservations accepted. 2199 California St., 303-294-9281. Dinner, Brunch

Mono Mono Korean Fried Chicken

$$$

Baker /American Located inside Trve Brewing Co., this spot serves fiery variations of hot chicken, including green chile, Nashville hot, and a scorching “flammable solid” (the highest heat level).

Reservations not accepted. 227 Broadway, #101, 303-357-1141. Dinner

N Nest Café & Bar

$$

West Highland /American This counter-service eatery inside Nurture marketplace offers an extensive menu of smoothies, coffee, salads, tartines, dosas, and other wholesome fare. Don’t miss the bar’s refreshing cocktails (including free-spirited options), which are prepared with fresh, natural ingredients. Reservations not accepted. 2949 Federal Blvd., 303-390-1252. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

NOLA Voodoo Tavern and Perks

$$

Cole /Southern New Orleans native and owner Henry Batiste serves up gumbo, po’ boys, hush puppies, étoufée, muffalettas, and much more at this Louisiana-inspired spot. Lean into comfort with the array of fried appetizers like okra, chicken gizzards, and green tomatoes. Reservations not accepted. 3321 Bruce Randolph Ave., 720-3899544. Dinner

North County

$$$

Lowry Field /Mexican With a beach bar atmosphere in a landlocked state, this San Diego–inspired taqueria boasts a daily catch of grilled fish tacos and a bar full of tequila libations and spiked sodas batched and bottled in-house.

Reservations not accepted. 94 Rampart Way, 720-532-0106. Dinner

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Olive & Finch

$$

City Park West /International Discover wholesome, inspired meals at this restaurant, bakery, and juice bar, where you’ll find a full coffee bar, artisan sandwiches, hearty soups, tasty salads, house-made pastries, and daily happy hour specials. Also try the location in Cherry Creek. Reservations not accepted.

1552 E. 17th Ave., 303-832-8663. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Onefold

Que Bueno Suerte

$$$

Platt Park /Latin American The menu at this vibrant restaurant offers familiar items like tacos and fajitas as well as upscale, regionally inspired Mexican fare.

Reservations accepted. 1518 S. Pearl St., 720-6427322. Dinner

R

Palenque Cocina Y Agaveria

$$

Roaming Buffalo Bar-B-Que

$$

$

Littleton /Mexican Sip on more than 100 varieties of mezcal and snack on shrimp and mango ceviche at this sultry neighborhood restaurant on Main Street in Historic Downtown Littleton. Reservations accepted. 2609 W. Main Street, Littleton, 720-245-0195. Lunch, Dinner

Park Burger

Platt Park /American This neighborhood eatery serves up top-notch burgers, such as the Croque, topped with Swiss, a fried egg, and a slice of ham.

Add a milkshake or root beer float. Multiple locations. Reservations not accepted. 1890 S. Pearl St., 720-242-9951. Lunch, Dinner

Pizza Republica

Reggae Pot Jamaican Grill

Centennial /Caribbean Montego Bay native Tamara Nisbeth crafts Jamaican specialties like stewed oxtails and jerk chicken with sides like plantains and fried dumplings. Reservations not accepted.

7562 S. University Blvd., Unit C, Centennial, 303-997-5623. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

P

$$$

Plates by the Pound BBQ

$$

Aurora /Barbecue Chef-owner Aaron Gonerway sells tender ribs, juicy pulled pork, and plump kielbasa in a takeout-only storefront in Aurora. Arrive early to take home one of his specialties. Reservations not accepted. 11601 E. Montview Blvd., Aurora, 720-697-0082. Lunch, Dinner

Q $$$

City Park /Chinese Enjoy a modern take on Chinese cuisine executed by chef Christopher Lin, an alum of Momofuku in New York City, in this hip, casual restaurant. Don’t miss the braised pork rice or the salt and pepper, head-on shrimp.

Reservations accepted. 3421 E. Colfax Ave., 720-729-8887. Dinner

Rosedale /Barbecue House-smoked Colorado barbecue is the specialty at this laid-back joint. Innovative meats like bison short ribs are available by the pound. Reservations not accepted. 2387 S. Downing St., 303-722-2226. Lunch, Dinner

$

Greenwood Village /Pizza This neighborhood favorite serves delicious Italian fare made from scratch. Try a starter from the antipasti menu, like Italian crab cakes or mussels arrabiata. Reservations accepted. 5375 Landmark Pl., Greenwood Village, 720-489-2030. Lunch, Dinner

Q House

$$$$

Cherry Creek /Steak House This upscale spot serves a smart mix of steak house fare and American-Italian favorites. Try the spicy lobster rigatoni and end your meal with a salted caramel tiramisù.

Reservations accepted. 241 Columbine St., 303-532-8888. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

$$$

City Park West /Contemporary This eatery does early-day dining justice. Pair the bacon fried rice with house-made bone broth, Vietnamese iced coffee, or a local IPA. Reservations not accepted.

1420 E. 18th Ave., 303-954-0877. Breakfast, Dinner, Brunch

$$

Downtown /Korean Savor tender and crispy Korean fried chicken wings along with sides like kimchi and pickled daikon and starters like gochujang-slathered spicy rice cakes at this industrial eatery. Also try the Congress Park location. Reservations not accepted. 1550 Blake St., 720-379-6567.

Lunch, Dinner

Music City Hot Chicken

Quality Italian

S Safta

$$$

RiNo /Mediterranean Acclaimed chef Alon Shaya brings his modern Israeli fare to Denver. Start with the creamy hummus and pillowy wood-oven pita before moving on to tabbouleh salad, charred cabbage, and halloumi. Reservations accepted. The Source Hotel & Market Hall, 3330 Brighton Blvd., 720-408-2444. Lunch, Dinner

Shanahan’s Steakhouse

$$$$

Hampden South /Steak House Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan’s steak house serves aged beef and fresh seafood. Try the wagyu rib-eye satay with peanut dressing. Reservations accepted. 5085 S. Syracuse St., 303-770-3600. Dinner

Spuntino

$$$

Super Mega Bien

$$$

Highland /Italian Enjoy the locally sourced menu at this Italian-inspired, husband-and-wife-owned spot.

Try the seasonal pasta or any dish with Southern Indian influences. Don’t miss the house-made gelato for dessert. Reservations accepted. 2639 W. 32nd Ave., 303-433-0949. Dinner

RiNo /Latin American Chef Dana Rodriguez offers a combo of large-format, shareable items and Pan-Latin small plates, the latter served from roving dim-sum-style carts. Try the tender braised lamb with savory grilled cactus salad. Reservations not accepted. The Ramble Hotel, 1260 25th St., 720-269-4695. Dinner

DINING GUIDE

T Tavernetta

Ultreia

$$$$

Downtown /Italian The team behind Boulder’s acclaimed Frasca Food and Wine offers the same attention to detail and hospitality at this more casual Denver restaurant. The charming space is home to dishes from across Italy and a deep wine list. Reservations accepted. 1889 16th St., 720-605-1889. Lunch, Dinner Three Saints Revival

Downtown /Mediterranean Take a tour of the Mediterranean via a menu of small plates like charcuterie, flatbreads, croquettas, and crudo at this colorful eatery from restaurateur Robert Thompson of Punch Bowl Social. Reservations accepted.

1801 Wewatta St., 720-707-3500. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

U Uchi Denver

Curtis Park /Japanese James Beard Award– winning chef Tyson Cole combines unexpected flavors for his unique take on Japanese food.

Try the sake toro aburi or the foie gras sushi.

Reservations accepted. 2500 Lawrence St., 303-444-1922. Dinner

Unravel Coffee

$$$$

$

Virginia Village /Cafe House-roasted beans lead to stellar espresso drinks at this Virginia Vale coffee shop. Also try toasts, grain bowls, salads, and smoothies. Reservations not accepted. 1441 S. Holly St., 303-884-2380. Breakfast, Lunch

$$

W

$$$

Downtown /Spanish Chef Jennifer Jasinski brings Iberian fare to Union Station. Reservations not accepted. Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop St., 303-534-1970. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

V Viewhouse

$$

Ballpark /American Enjoy a variety of bar bites, from burgers and hot dogs to steak. Watch your favorite sports team while enjoying a draft beer and a plate of nachos, or catch a view of the city from the rooftop bar. Also try the Littleton location. Reservations accepted. 2015 Market St., 720-282-1555.

Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Vital Root

Welton Street Cafe

$$

Williams & Graham

$$$

Five Points /Southern Enjoy soul food with a dash of Caribbean flair at this Five Points cafe owned by the Dickerson family since 1986. Don’t miss the fried chicken, which is some of the best in Denver. Reservations not accepted. 2736 Welton St., 303-296-6602. Lunch, Dinner

Highland /American Disguised as a bookstore, Sean Kenyon’s Denver speakeasy is one of the city’s best cocktail destinations. Sip a seasonal cocktail and nosh on small plates, such as roasted bone marrow with bacon jam. Reservations accepted.

3160 Tejon St., 303-997-8886. Dinner

The Wolf’s Tailor

$$$$

Sunnyside /Contemporary Chef Kelly Whitaker fuses Asian and Italian techniques and ingredients at this hip Sunnyside eatery. Try the 7X brisket braised in dashi and red wine and house-extruded mafaldine pasta with koji tomatoes. Reservations accepted.

4058 Tejon St., 720-456-6507. Dinner

$

Berkeley /American Justin Cucci’s fourth eatery focuses on quick, healthy food. Grab a seat in the airy space and nosh on creative, wholesome fare such as chilled carrot-ginger soup or a veggie dosa.

Reservations not accepted. 3915 Tennyson St., 303-474-4131. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Wooden Spoon Cafe & Bakery

$

Highland /American Start your morning with hot drinks, fresh baked goods, and pastries. Or, stop in for a hearty sandwich at lunchtime. Reservations not accepted. 2418 W. 32nd Ave., 303-999-0327.

Breakfast, Lunch

Colorado Garden & Home Show February 12 – 20

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F E B RUA RY 2 0 2 2

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DINING GUIDE

X

Providing Personal Service Since 1965

Xicamiti La Taquería S I LV E R

GOLD

P L AT I N U M

Hand Wrought Custom Design Polishing of Flatware and Silver Service

Golden /Mexican Dine on cooked-to-order burritos, quesadillas, and tacos made with recipes inspired by Walter Meza’s childhood in Mexico. Reservations not accepted. 715 Washington Ave., Golden, 303-215-3436.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

$$

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Ideas and inspiration

Yak and Yeti

$$

Yard House

$$$

Arvada /Indian Look for Indian and Nepalese favorites like lamb vindaloo and Tibetan momos at this neighborhood favorite. Multiple locations. Reservations accepted. 9000 Yukon St., Arvada, 303-426-1976. Lunch, Dinner

Downtown /Fusion A fun and casual American eatery which features a center island bar and classic rock tunes. Try the porcini crusted halibut or the ahi crunchy salad. Also try the Lakewood location.

Reservations not accepted. 1555 Court Place, 303-572-9273. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Yazoo Barbeque Co.

$

Five Points /Barbecue This barbecue joint offers a Deep South menu, featuring slow-smoked pork ribs and brisket. Also try the Greenwood Village location.

Reservations not accepted. 2150 Broadway, 303-296-3334. Lunch, Dinner

Z

for your next home project.

Zocalito Latin Bistro

$$$

Downtown /Latin American Formerly located in Aspen, chef/owner Michael Beary’s upscale Oaxacan eatery found a home in the heart of Denver. Try the pork tenderloin with red mole sauce. Reservations accepted. 999 18th St., Ste. 107, 970-920-1991. Lunch, Dinner

Zoe Ma Ma

$

Downtown /Chinese This cozy counter-service spot offers Chinese and Taiwanese home-style cooking.

Order the braised beef noodle soup, which features house-made noodles. Also try the Boulder location.

Reservations not accepted. 1625 Wynkoop St., 303-545-6262. Lunch, Dinner

Zorba’s

$$

Congress Park /Greek Zorba’s has served American and Greek fare—burgers, salads, sandwiches, and classic breakfast dishes—in the Congress Park neighborhood since 1979. Don’t miss the gyro sandwich. Reservations not accepted. 2626 E. 12th Ave., 303-321-0091. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Photo by David Lauer

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 These listings are in no way related to advertising in 5280. If you find that a restaurant differs significantly from the information in its listing or your favorite restaurant is missing from the Dining Guide, please let us know. Write us at 5280 Publishing, Inc., 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202 or dining@5280.com.

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same day Democratic state lawmakers said they intended to protect abortion rights in Colorado, Republican U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs introduced a bill that would scrub the word “fetus” from federal code and replace it instead with “unborn child.” “Every human life must be legally protected at every stage of biological development, from fertilization through natural death, no exceptions,” says Leslie Hanks, president of American Right to Life. “Although that goal seems daunting at this time in Colorado…the effort to educate Coloradans about the infinite value of every human being is an extremely rewarding endeavor.”

Fawn Bolak isn’t so sure anti-abortion advocates value every human being, especially those who experience unplanned pregnancies. Bolak, who, as a reproductive rights activist has spoken publicly about her abortion many times, says she’s been frustrated with the vilification of doctors and of patients. The Lakewood resident is also irritated with the notion that women feel forced to talk about why they ended their pregnancies. “No one should feel the need to explain themselves to anyone,” Bolak says, adding that people somehow feel entitled to an explanation, as if they will decide whose situation is worthy—and whose isn’t.

Bolak says she struggled with her emotions as she listened to oral arguments when the Supreme Court considered the Texas law this past November. Every time a new abortion ban is introduced, every time she hears political leaders talking about it, she thinks about her own experience: realizing that her morning coffee was making her nauseated, that her body felt different, and then discovering that her birth control had failed and she was already six weeks pregnant. Her partner, her family, and her friends all supported her. Still, she felt uneasy. “I think that’s an important piece of my story,” she says.

“That goes to show you how culturally rooted abortion stigma is. As someone working in the movement for a few years, I had so much love and support surrounding me in this decision—even my colleagues are very supportive—and still I experienced internalized shame.”

Colorado abortion providers may not experience the same brand of self-reproof, but they certainly endure the vitriol. Some would not speak on the record for this article due to fear of retaliation. Others commented but did not want to use their names. Still, they are a devoted bunch. “I am an abortionist,” says the doctor who requested anonymity, “and I am pro-life.

And I find nothing wrong with that, because the life I’m trying to save is the quality of life of the mother.”

That physician was semi-retired when SB 8 was enacted, spending the summer and the start of fall in another state, but he was ready to return to work “should the numbers increase and the need become more apparent,” he says. “I told myself, and my wife, if the need for abortion goes up, I’m there.”

Since the initial surge of Texas patients going to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains’ clinics, the number of patients traveling to Colorado, New Mexico, southern Nevada, and Wyoming for care has remained consistent. Before SB 8 went into effect, anywhere between five and 15 Texans sought abortions in the Rocky Mountain region in any given week. By the end of 2021, it was “consistently in the mid- to high 30s,” Meltzer, of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, says.

Planned Parenthood has been preparing for several years to expand services to meet the needs of patients, both from Colorado and other states, like Texas. That includes increasing telehealth services—including telehealth medical abortions, in which a prescription drug ends the pregnancy, usually up to 11 weeks of gestation—and considering opening new health centers.

They might also need to hire more providers. There’s still so much to do, Tocce says. “We’re analyzing infrastructure and expanding services as fast as possible,” she says. “Unfortunately, that’s something that’s not happening overnight, and this ban feels like it happened overnight.”

The attacks on abortion access have been a long time coming, though—“constant,” Cohen says. The Denver doctor thinks about providers in states with restrictive abortion policies and how some must face the prospect of criminal charges for providing their patients with care. “I hope every day I don’t have to make that choice,” she says. It’s difficult to work under that constant specter of threat. But, she says, she wants to be clear: “We are committed.” m Ciara O’Rourke is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Email feedback to letters@5280.com.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Featuring

COLORADO HOMES The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Affiliated real estate agents are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2022 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

DENVER | $2,250,000 This luxury 4 bedroom, 4 bath townhome located in the Heart of Cherry Creek North features four lovely outside living spaces, a large, finished basement, & is flooded with sunlight. The elegant primary suite offers a sitting area, fireplace, balcony & luxurious 5-piece bath with heated floors, soaking tub & large shower.

Located near great dining, galleries, shopping, & Bromwell Elementary School.

Mena Moran 303.322.1117 mena.moran@cbrealty.com | MenaMoran.cbintouch.com

LAKEWOOD | $1,249,000 Move in, new turnkey 6BR/5BA home has low maintenance featuring plantation shutters, glass French doors, surround sound & tall ceilings. Open floor plan w/plenty of natural light. Kitchen features ss appliances, granite counters & tile backsplash. Home office. Finished walk out basement w/wet bar. Primary bedroom w/5pc bath w/rain forest shower & walk-in closet. New sod & stamped concrete patio.

Derrek Patrick 720.987.5271 derrek.patrick@coloradohomes.com

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guiding you home since 1906

DENVER | $1,895,000 Beautiful Cherry Creek 3BR/5BA townhome with main floor primary suite. Rich walnut floors, exposed stone walls, wainscoting, plantation shutters & quartz island. Features include a Sub-Zero fridge, 2 steam showers, 2 fireplaces & a wine fridge.

DENVER | $1,675,000 3br/4ba home w/over 3,500 sq ft and an open layout. Kitchen w/stainless appliances, granite, glass tile and custom cabinetry.

Primary suite w/in-floor radiant heat and bonus room. Finished lower level w/a bedroom. Complete w/an outdoor living space.

Kathryn Hollister 724.968.9637 kathryn.hollister@cbrealty.com

P.J. Farrell 303.884.5368 pj.farrell@devonshirehomes.com | PJFarrell.cbintouch.com

DENVER | $1,200,000 Infinity 4BR/4BA in Central Park. Open floor plan, upgraded gourmet kitchen, family room w/fireplace, dining area, and study. Upstairs has inviting loft & master bedroom suite. Fully finished basement w/rec room. Expanded Patio & storage in backyard.

INDIAN HILLS | $1,200,000 Hidden 5BR/6BA gem on 2 acres! Family room w/high ceilings, natural light, fireplace & dining area. Modern kitchen w/SS appliances, granite counters, custom cabinets & opens to a deck. Master suite overlooks the mountains! Finished walk-out basement.

Lane Lyon Denver Home News Team 303.667.0309 lane@DenverHomeNews.com | DenverHomeNews.com

Nita Kolarsick 303.250.8280 nita@nitahome.com | NitaHome.com

HENDERSON | $1,000,000 6br/3.25ba home on 2.3 acres w/an open floor plan. Kitchen w/nook area and direct access to the living room and dining area. Primary bedroom w/gas fireplace, 5-piece bath and walk-in closet. Complete w/basement, 8-car garage and 1,560 sq.ft. workshop.

COLORADO SPRINGS | $950,000 5br/4ba home w/upgrades from top to bottom. Great room w/wall of windows and fireplace. Kitchen w/Alderwood cabinetry, high end appliances and pantry. Primary bedroom w/fireplace, walk-in closet & 5-piece bath. Complete w/basement and composite deck.

Terra DeLockroy 303.681.1518 terra.delockroy@coloradohomes.com | TerraDeLockroy.cbintouch.com

Jeanine Alexander 719.964.6801 jeanine.alexander@coloradohomes.com

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COLORADO SPRINGS | $925,000 4,987 SQFT Peregrine walk-out 4BR/3BA rancher includes a vaulted entry foyer, formal dining room & kitchen w/42" knotty wood kitchen cabinets, slab granite counters, island & butler's serving space. Lower level w/wet bar, fireplace, rec room & more.

DENVER | $895,500 East-facing 3BR/4BA townhome offers a living room w/fireplace, formal dining room & remodeled kitchen w/plenty of counterspace, double oven & center island. Bay window overlooks an enclosed patio.

Finished 886 square foot basement w/family room.

Rob Thompson 719.337.7254 rob.thompson@coloradohomes.com | RobThompsonHomes.com

Mena Moran 303.322.1117 mena.moran@cbrealty.com | MenaMoran.cbintouch.com

DENVER | $700,000 Two-year-old 3BR/3BA home offers a fabulous open floorplan with main floor bedrooms & a finished basement. Kitchen features a center island & adjacent dining room with sliding glass doors to patio & an expansive side yard. Attached two-car garage.

AURORA | $680,000 4br/3ba home w/open floor plan. Great room opens to formal dining and kitchen with breakfast nook. Main level primary suite w/dual walk-in closets and bath. Upper level w/3 bedrooms, bath, and loft space. Complete w/basement, views, and large yard.

Gail Wheeler 303.726.7202 Gail@GailWheeler.com | GailWheeler.com

Garth Criswell 303.669.0252 Garth.Criswell@coloradohomes.com | GarthCriswell.com

CENTENNIAL | $675,000 Gorgeous 4BR/3BA ranch style home features a primary bedroom w/remodeled primary bath & walk-in closet, updated kitchen w/white cabinets, ss appliances & quartz counters, fully finished basement w/fireplace & family room & covered flagstone patio.

THORNTON | $595,000 Spacious 5BR/4BA home backs to a meadow w/mountain views!

Open floor plan offers a kitchen w/new granite counters, family room w/fireplace, dining room & living room. Primary bedroom w/5pc bathroom & walk-in closet. Walk-out finished basement.

Jeff Lewis 970.443.2224 jeff@corepropertygroupre.com

Fabiola Roll 720.364.7300 fabiola.roll@cbrealty.com | FabiolaRoll.com

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guiding you home since 1906

LAKEWOOD | $565,000 3br/3ba Updated Lakewood home w/open floor plan. Bamboo floors, gas fireplace, solar panels, and newer roof. Spacious owners retreat w/a walk-in closet and a 3/4 bath. Enjoy the xeriscaped backyard w/a deck, and a garden area! Oversized 2 car garage.

AURORA | $560,000 Beautifully updated home features fresh interior paint, refinished hardwood flooring & new carpet. Updated kitchen w/granite counters & custom backsplash. Family room w/fireplace. Primary suite w/walk in closet & 5pc bath. Finished basement.

Kelly Redpath 303.548.4058 Kelly@kellyredpath.com | KellyRedpath.com

Colleen Teitelbaum 303.668.8186 teitelbaumcolleen@gmail.com | CocoTeitel.com

THORNTON | Price Upon Request Fantastic 4BR/3BA home offers a full finished basement. Brand new flooring, fresh interior & exterior paint & newer roof & HVAC. Wonderful back yard with an enormous shed. Located in a quiet & conveniently located neighborhood.

COLORADO SPRINGS | $550,000 5br/4ba home w/an open concept kitchen/eating/living room w/a gas fireplace and a walk out to a spacious deck. Amazing mountain views.

Large primary suite, finished basement, a covered patio and a 3-car tandem garage.

Kris Hansen 303.956.6068 kris.hansen@coloradohomes.com | KrisHansenRealEstate.com

Anna Fish 719.650.9300 anna.fish@cbrealty.com

THORNTON | $535,000 4BR/3BA open floor plan w/high ceilings, lots of windows, main floor study & eat-in kitchen w/granite count ers, newer SS appliances & pantry. Primary suite w/vaulted ceilings, updated shower & walk-in closet. Finished basement. Huge, covered deck.

BAILEY | $465,000 Great mountain views on 1.2 acres w/flat usable lot. 2BR/2BA raised ranch home boasts 1,300 SQFT of natural light & wood burning fireplace in the living room w/kitchen adjacent. Pellet stove in the lower level. Deck, dog run & 1-car oversized garage.

The Cybyske Home Team 303.635.1100 Lisa@cybyske.com | Cybyske.com

Walter Huber 720.300.8071 walter.huber@coloradohomes.com | WalterHuber.cbintouch.com

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

PINE | $465,000 Charming 2BR/1BA home with Amazing Views! Open floorplan, vaulted ceilings w/wood beams, hardwood floors, brand new wood burning stove, lots of windows. Full, unfinished walkout basement.

Large, wraparound deck.

DENVER | $460,000 4BR/2BA home featuring an extra bonus/family room in the basement!

2,236 SQFT home w/newly remodeled kitchen & second kitchen area in the basement w/antique stove! Fully fenced backyard, 2-car garage and plenty of additional room for parking.

Jill Nurse 303.241.4915 Jill@TheNurseSellsDenver.com | TheNurseSellsDenver.com

Kristen Janney 970.618.4940 kristen.janney@cbrealty.com | KristenJanney.cbintouch.com

COMMERCE CITY | $430,000 Belle Creek 3BR/2BA beauty located in a cute neighborhood. Cherry hardwood floors on the main level. Backyard opens to a greenbelt, complete with mountain views. Kitchen includes new SS appliances, tile floors, island & plenty of cabinet space.

AURORA | $425,000 Fantastic 4BR/3BA ranch home is situated on a larger lot w/mature landscaping, open floor plan, fireplace & updated kitchen w/newer appliances & cabinets. Spacious owner's suite w/attached 3/4 bath.

Private backyard w/new fencing. Finished basement.

Phoenix Rain 303.884.9489 phoenix.rain@coloradohomes.com | 5280RealEstate.com

Shannon Byerly 303.919.2611 shannon@yourfreshstartrealtor.com | YourFreshStartRealtor.com

DENVER | $265,000 Updated 2BR/1BA top floor condo overlooks park! Wood wall accents, vaulted ceilings, skylight & wood burning fireplace. Kitchen w/updated maple cabinets, granite tile counters, tile floors & black & SS appliances.

Newer furnace, water heater & W/D.

DENVER | $195,000 1br/1ba condo in the heart of the city w/an open floor plan. The backyard patio is a common area for the building, can be used to grill and entertain. Close access to Downtown, Botanical Gardens, City Park, Zoo, Denver Museum and Cherry Creek North.

Jill Nurse 303.241.4915 Jill@TheNurseSellsDenver.com | TheNurseSellsDenver.com

Michael Fuhrmann 303.709.5570 michael.fuhrmann@coloradohomes.com | SellItForYou.House

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

guiding you home since 1906

DENVER | $1,100,000

LITTLETON | $550,000

3br/3.5ba townhome. Kitchen w/stainless appliances opens to the Graceful brick 4BR/4BA home, built in 1939, sits on over 7,060 SQFT family room. Primary suite w/5-piece bath and dual walk-in closets. lot. Finished basement w/bedroom & bath. Original Kitchen, and Complete w/finished basement, 2-car garage and patio. dining room flows to patio w/private back yard.

DENVER | $1,999,999

4br/4ba home. Living room w/a wood fireplace. Kitchen w/new white shaker cabinets, SS appliances and quartz countertops. Primary bedroom w/en suite. Complete w/a basement and backyard.

P.J. Farrell 303.884.5368

Mena Moran 303.322.1117

Stephanie Ryan 303.725.8901

WESTMINSTER | $530,000

THORNTON | $525,000

BOULDER | $525,000

3br/2ba home w/open floor plan, a wood-burning fireplace, new hardwood floors and new carpet. Kitchen w/stainless appliances and custom shelving. Complete w/2-car garage and large yard.

4BR/4BA corner lot home in Skylake Ranch offers newer flooring & family room that flows to the kitchen w/granite countertops & tile floor. All appliances included & new garage door.

Amazing views @7,200 feet. 16.28 acres 11 miles from Boulder featuring forests, rock formations & natural springs. 4 gold mining claims included. Mineral rights transfer with sale.

P.J. Farrell 303.884.5368

Scott Brown 720.989.8841

Cory Cutting 720.602.6419

FREDERICK | $515,000

THORNTON | $469,900

EVERGREEN | $465,000

This stunning ranch-style beauty is Energy Star-certified and offers three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, an open kitchen and great room layout and amazing views of the Rocky Mountains.

Updated tri-level with newer stainless appliances, new exterior/interior paint, new flooring plus 2 remodeled bathrooms.

Wonderful yard has in-ground pool, hot tub and firepit.

Great investment opportunity in Evergreen for an urban renewal project. Located 1/2 mile east of HWY 74. Flat lot w/1 water tap & electricity connected to a cabin has been surveyed.

Anissa Figueroa 805.570.8952

Cathy Schuster 303.478.6364

Kim Herfurt 303.746.4872 Terry Robinson 303.898.3658

DENVER | $450,000

COLORADO SPRINGS | Price Upon Request

AURORA | $450,000

Beautiful 3BR/2BA tri-level includes a living room with vaulted ceilings & laminate flooring, kitchen with breakfast bar, dining area, family room with fireplace & finished basement.

3br/3ba home. Kitchen w/SS appliances and pantry. Main level primary bedroom w/5-piece bath and walk-in closet. Upper level w/2 bedrooms and a dual bath. Complete w/unfinished basement.

Stone Ridge Park 4BR/2BA home features a kitchen w/maple cabinets, GE SS Appliances & eat-in area, finished basement, two-car garage & spacious yard. Close to Buckley Air Force Base.

Nita Kolarsick 303.250.8280

Camellia Coray 719.359.0014

Stephanie Ryan 303.725.8901

ColdwellBankerHomes.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

DENVER | $410,000

ENGLEWOOD | $399,303

Heart of downtown Denver on the 23rd floor, 2BR/2BA home boasts unobstructed views all along the Rockies. Hardwoods, large kitchen & an open floor plan.

3br/1ba home. Kitchen w/quartz countertops, stainless appliances, Incredible location with FLATIRON VIEWS! 1BR/1BA condo directly new cabinets, breakfast bar and gas stove. Primary bed w/great across from CU. Amenities include swimming pool & storage unit in closet space. Complete w/carport and off-street parking. lower level. 1 reserved parking space. Open rooftop.

Robb Green 303.885.2924

Nita Kolarsick 303.250.8280

FOUNTAIN | $370,000 SOLD - Beautiful corner lot 4BR/2BA ranch features an open and spacious living room w/gas fireplace, kitchen w/custom backsplash & newly refinished cabinets & finished basement.

Jillian Fowler 303.884.2032

HIGHLANDS RANCH | $325,000

AURORA | $239,000

2br/2ba condo. Kitchen w/granite counters, stainless appliances, gas stove, a pantry and dining area. Primary bedroom w/a walk-in closet and full bath! Complete w/a designated carport.

Cozy 2BR/1BA condo w/main floor living featuring an open floor plan, updated bath, new carpet, double sided fireplace, patio, 2 parking spaces & community pool. Excellent location.

Nita Kolarsick

Deborah Joseph 303.842.8331 David Treece 303.204.1880

Raul Andino 719.649.0536

GUIDING YOU TO THE PLACE WHERE THE BEST GETAWAYS ARE STAYS RIGHT HERE

Guiding you home since 1906.

ColdwellBankerHomes.com

BOULDER | $375,000

303.250.8280

BACKSTORY THE ULTIMATE FEBRUARY GAME PLAN

If you adore both football and romance, February 2022 should be quite a treat for you: Super Bowl Sunday happens to be on Valentine’s Eve. But there’s no need to call an audible on your plans this year. Here, our picks for back-to-back celebrations that will certainly please pigskin lovers and those hoping to be struck by Cupid’s arrow alike. —COURTNEY HOLDEN FOR FANCY COUPLES

FOR SOCIAL BUTTERFLIES

Super Bowl Sunday: Take a pregame dip in one of the Westin Riverfront’s three infinity hot tubs before heading to Maya. The Avon hotel’s restaurant will feature cuisine from the competing teams’ regions on game day.

Super Bowl Sunday: Friends all vaxxed up? Catch the action at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center’s Mountain Pass Sports Bar near DIA in Aurora. With its 75-foot flatpanel TV, which Gaylord claims is the state’s largest, everyone gets the best seat in the house.

Valentine’s Day: Get the kinks worked out of your neck—and perhaps your relationship—with a couples massage at the Westin’s Spa Anjali before relishing complimentary glasses of Mionetto Prosecco and Chocolove bars.

Valentine’s Day: Head to Colorado’s own Sweetheart City and shout a collective “I do” with around 50 other couples at Loveland’s annual Valentine’s Day group wedding and vow renewal ceremony, held outdoors in front of the city’s famous “Love” sculpture.

FOR BRONCOS FANS Super Bowl Sunday: Book an overnight stay in the luxury-meets-log-cabin charm of Silverthorne’s Triple C Ranch, the part-time home of the Denver Broncos’ mascot, Thunder.

Split the $14,375 nightly rate among 16 guests for a relative bargain compared with even the cheapest Super Bowl tickets. Bonus: dinner cooked by a private chef instead of overpriced, mediocre nachos at Southern California’s SoFi Stadium, host of Super Bowl LVI. Valentine’s Day: Leave the other lovers behind and head out on horseback with your date for a tour of the ranch’s 250 acres. Mosey your trusty steeds on over to one of the conifer groves and toast Cupid—and Colorado—with cans of Breckenridge Brewery’s Broncos Country Hoppy Pale Ale.

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FOR FOOD LOVERS Super Bowl Sunday: Care more about what’s on the menu than what’s on the field? Snag a seat on the Original’s wraparound patio and enjoy its elevated everyday fare (green chile mac and cheese? Yes, please) while catching highlights on McGregor Square’s 66-by-20-foot LED TV. FOR BEER GEEKS Super Bowl Sunday: Craft beer connoisseurs have options aplenty at Stanley Beer Hall, where 51 pour-your-own taps await. Stanley’s 14 TVs will mostly be dedicated to the football game—though the Puppy Bowl’s tail-wagging doggos will earn airtime, too.

Valentine’s Day: Couples can find Shangri-La(ger) in the Crawford Hotel’s partnership with the Beer Spa. The package includes a 90-minute, malt- and hopsinfused beer bath hydrotherapy treatment and an in-room welcome gift of seasonal beers and keepsake tumblers.

Valentine’s Day: Spice up your V-Day celebration with bold flavors such as duck confit and rich chocolate at Cook Street School of Culinary Arts’ Cooking with Cupid classes.

Offered each evening from February 10 to 14, with a brunch option on February 13, the lesson will almost certainly add a dash of romance to your regular kitchen routine.

I L L U S T R AT I O N S BY H A R RY M A LT

NATUR AL ELEMENTS MASTERFULLY COMBINED. NATUR AL ELEMENTS NATUR AL ELEMENTS MASTERFULLY COMBINED. NATUR AL ELEMENTS MASTERFULLY COMBINED. MASTERFULLY COMBINED.

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THE PERFECT WAY TO ENJOY PATRÓN IS RESPONSIBLY. ©2021. PATRÓN, ITS TRADE DRESS, AND THE BEE LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS. HANDCRAFTED IN MEXICO. IMPORTED BY THE PATRÓN SPIRITS COMPANY, CORAL GABLES, FL. TEQUILA – 40% ALC. BY VOL.

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