Opinion & Commentary

I have some fond memories of the Wellshire Inn. Decades ago, the Tudor building on the city-owned Wellshire Golf Course hosted a wild party for a local gal who’d just become a Playboy Playmate of the month. And then there was my lunch with then-Congressman Tom Tancredo and talk-show host…

In a day of bad news, yesterday had one bright spot: a neighbor notified us that our petition for residential parking permits had been approved. This is a pretty live-and-let live (or park) neighborhood, and we were reluctant to go the official root. But like so many other neighborhoods, this one…

Now that Michael Bennet has been named to take over for Ken Salazar in the U.S. Senate (no cowboy hat required), Colorado pols can get back to the business of running the state (at least until it’s time to start running for whatever seat may be in play in 2010). Today,…

I dropped by Gaetano’s last night for a Tasty Treat (a sausage and green chili strips baked in a pizza crust) and a taste of history. Wynkoop Holdings bought this classic joint back in 2005, taking over a restaurant that started as Ralph and Mamie Smaldone’s Tejon Street Cafe back…

Yesterday afternoon, I posted a note from Marcus Pachner, informing members of the CBHD — the stakeholders’ group working with Shea Properties on its redevelopment of the former University of Colorado Health Sciences campus — that Denver City Council’s public hearing to consider landmark status for two buildings on the site has…

Next Monday’s public hearing before Denver City Council to decide the fate of two historic Hornbein and White buildings on the old University of Colorado campus has been postponed. “Shea has been working closely with Councilwoman Robb and Councilwoman Johnson on the historic designation applications,” wrote Marcus Pachner, a consultant…

Flying back into Denver Sunday, I looked for the wreckage of the Continental Airlines flight that had veered off a runway, careened down a hill and landed in a ravine, where it caught fire. That was back on December 20 — and the plane is still there, clearly visible to…

Denver’s fireworks display won’t officially start until 9 p.m. December 31 (with a repeat performance at midnight), but there have already been plenty of explosive discussions over who, exactly, Governor Bill Ritter should nominate to fill Ken Salazar’s soon-to-be-empty Senate seat — and what coveted slot might then be empty…

The names have been spinning through cyberspace since the first rumor that Ken Salazar might be headed to Barack Obama’s cabinet, leaving a U.S. Senate seat open: John Hickenlooper, John Salazar, Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter, Andrew Romanoff, Tom Strickland. Even Federico Peña’s name floated up — until he pulled it…

“You’re a hard lady to get a hold of,” the caller said. “I’ve been trying to find out why you let your Rocky Mountain News subscription expire.” I stared at the receiver. Um, it seems that the future of the News might be a little uncertain, I said. “Oh, it’s…

The holidays push most action off the public calendar this week. Tonight at 5:30 p.m., Denver City Council will start the process of stuffing someone’s stocking with coal: Over the next few weeks, councilmembers will decide whether to grant landmark status to two, ’60s-era Hornbein and White buildings on the old University…

‘Tis a pleasure to drink in Colorado. On Saturday morning, I awoke with visions of sugerplums — and whipped cream, and gingerbread, and chocolate sprinkles — still dancing in my head. Just a few hours earlier, I’d sampled the last of sixteen entrees in the 2008 Holiday Cocktail Competition. I…

A few weeks ago, Diana DeGette, Colorado’s representative for the 1st Congressional District, had lunch with Ken Salazar, the Colorado senator who’d early on been rumored to be in the running for a position in the Barack Obama cabinet. “No, it’s not going to happen,” he told her. Yesterday, it…

At parties and openings, all the talk is about who’s going to take Ken Salazar’s seat in the U.S. Senate — it’s a lot more fun than talking about the economy — and what spot might then open up. If outgoing Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff gets the nod,…

On Monday, Governor Bill Ritter offered Colorado journalists an advance look at what we can expect from the next legislative session: belt-tightening. But there’s one sure, if risky, way to fill Colorado’s coffers: Sell the Senate seat that could soon be vacated when Senator Ken Salazar moves to a Secretary of…

While the Obama cabinet carousel — Ritter! Salazar (Ken)! Salazar (John)! Michael Bennet! Salazar (Ken, again)! — continues to go ’round, with a name thrown out each week (although now, with Ken Salazar back in the ring for Interior, we’re on repeats) — Colorado’s top Dems will gather at the Governor’s…

      Since 1951, Gennaro’s Lounge has been a landmark on South Broadway. Joe Gennaro opened the place; his son, Leonard, ran it for decades. And when Jason Sheehan visited Gennaro’s last year, he found it a classic example of the kind of neighborhood Italian joint that you find across…

Denver’s 150th birthday is turning out to be a bust, with the financial crisis the major party pooper. Civic leaders have been brainstorming how to keep Colorado’s economy from falling any further. Yesterday, they gathered with Mayor John Hickenlooper and Governor Bill Ritter at the Denver City & County Building…

One of the last vestiges of Fred Kummer’s reign as a Denver hotelier disappeared yesterday. The two mammoth horse sculptures that had reared their ugly heads in the lobby of the former Adam’s Mark Hotel for years were hauled out of the building (and not easily — they each weigh…