Police officials attribute the policy change to a need to control crowds and prevent violent incidents after bars and nightclubs let out. But food truck operators and advocates question any attempt to correlate people hawking hot dogs and crime.

“This ban doesn’t even make any sense,” said Justin Pearson, an attorney at the Virginia-based nonprofit Institute for Justice, which rallied against a similar Denver police policy in 2022. “Research shows food trucks make neighborhoods safer… (and) they’re taking away options for people to sober up before they head home. That is a horrible idea.”

Starting this week, food trucks are prohibited from parking along Blake, Market and Larimer streets, between 18th and 21st streets, and on 21st, between Market and Larimer, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Establishments inside the prohibited zone include Viewhouse Ballpark, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, Tap Fourteen and the 1up Arcade Bar.

Police alerted food truck operators to the change last weekend by passing out fliers, though officials acknowledged to The Denver Post on Wednesday that those leaflets contained an error: They mistakenly said the restrictions were also in place Thursday nights.

“The restricted area of operation is intended to help reduce the number of ‘bump into’ fights and incidents that escalate to gun violence occurring among crowds during these nights and hours, and to encourage people to leave the LoDo area soon after the bars and nightclubs shut down,” the Denver Police Department said in a statement.

Violent crime, however, is down this year in that area, according to data posted by the Denver Police Department.

The part of LoDo where food trucks now are prohibited on late weekend nights straddles the Union Station and Five Points neighborhoods. Denver police data shows reported violent crime is down 17% so far in 2024 over the three-year average in the Union Station neighborhood and down 1% over the three-year average in Five Points — though the latter neighborhood is much larger and features other distinct nightlife areas.

The city does intend to create two or three designated zones for food trucks to operate in the area, but details are still being fleshed out, police said. “This is a pilot program and DPD will evaluate the initiative and results moving forward to determine whether adjustments are needed,” the department’s statement said.

In addition to the food truck restrictions, Denver police said they also implemented rideshare pick-up zones in July, increased officer staffing, improved lighting and increased outreach to bars and clubs in the area to address late-night safety.

Police officials declined to answer any further questions from The Post about what new events prompted the food truck restrictions.

In the summer of 2022, food trucks first were barred from operating in LoDo for about a month following a mass shooting in which Denver police wounded an armed man and six bystanders, though city officials denied a connection between that shooting and the ban.

David Sevcik, owner of Food Truck Avenue, which oversees operations for several Colorado food trucks including Mac N’ Noodles and Mile High Cheesteaks, said his trucks haven’t catered to downtown Denver nightlife for years because dealing with city regulations is so difficult.

“If we’re afraid of having a crowd in any environment, why are we serving food at sports arenas then?” Sevcik said. “Denver metro is becoming anti-food truck.”

Denver police’s statement said the department recognizes the impact on food truck businesses and “minimized the footprint of the restricted area to the greatest extent possible to achieve the intended goals.”

“DPD wants the food truck operators to be successful and for the area to be as safe as possible,” the statement said.

John Jaramillo, co-founder of the local Hispanic Restaurant Association, said food trucks have previously called on him to advocate on their behalf against the city’s restrictions. He said he understands officials are dealing with complex, nuanced issues but does not understand how food trucks contribute to violence.

“I don’t see how a person trying to make a living out of a legitimate business is a crime issue,” Jaramillo said. “That’s more of a structural city issue — homelessness, gangs.”

Two years ago, Pearson — the Institute for Justice attorney — questioned whether Denver’s food truck ban was unconstitutional. Now he said the new restrictions are “outrageous.”

“Everyone knows food trucks aren’t a problem here,” he said. “The police department shouldn’t be able to have this power to begin with and in most cities they don’t.”

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Until recently, NA offerings weren’t widely available at bars. But that’s changing both in response to shifts in consumers’ drinking habits and broader education about no- and low-ABV products, categories that continue to grow. Gone are the days when folks who wanted a sober beverage needed to settle for something from the soda gun. Bars and restaurants, including fine dining establishments, now offer robust menus of NA cocktails, alcohol-free beers that stand up to the real thing, and even tasting menus that substitute traditional wine pairings for NA beverages.

“The thing you’re seeing and that is overdue is more sophisticated versions of non-alcoholic drinks. So rather than calling everything a virgin-something, we’re really starting to see the craft cocktail movement embrace non-alc,” said Jump, a celebrated local mixologist who served as the bar manager at the local Death & Co. in Denver for four years.

Jump is a leader in this space. This summer, she was named the Best U.S. Bar Mentor at the Spirited Awards, part of the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans, for her “unwavering efforts to prioritize health and wellness in the hospitality industry.”

Jump does that, in part, through Focus on Health, an organization she co-founded in 2020 that offers services to help enrich the lives of hospitality workers, from mentorship and scholarship programs to harm reduction training, non-alcoholic beverage consulting and even run clubs.

One of its initiatives is the Low/No Tour, a traveling pop-up series that educates bartenders on non-alcoholic products, how they’re made, and how they work in recipes. Education also gets put into practice in each city when the pop-up opens to the public and serves original no- and low-ABV cocktails. Proceeds from the events support other nonprofits in the space.

Started in 2023, inspiration for the No/Low Tour came from Jump and her partners’ desire to create more inclusive spaces within the hospitality sector – and not just for customers. The tour annually travels to about a half-dozen U.S. cities and coincides with other industry events, like Tales of Cocktail and Portland Cocktail Week, offering professionals an alternative to boozy bacchanalia.

“There are people in our industry who do not drink or do not want to drink as much, and we’re not creating opportunities for them to thrive when doing these big events,” Jump said.

Plus, the more bartenders become knowledgeable about non-alcoholic spirits and RTDs, the more options customers will have when they belly up. One that’s trending as of late is the multi-course tasting menu paired non-alcoholic beverages instead of wine.

In May, Jump collaborated with Denver restaurant Koko Ni on a seven-course dinner in which each dish featured a pairing from one of three different NA brands. For example, the restaurant served a flatiron steak and mushroom entree with a cocktail blending Three Spirit Nightcap NA elixir, marigold, chicory and beet. The asparagus appetizer came alongside a libation made with sencha tea, yuzu and Mahala, a botanical NA spirit.

Hansel Morales, Koko Ni’s beverage manager, and Jarmel Doss, beverage director for its parent company FAM Hospitality, developed the recipes for the non-alcoholic pairings. Much like a wine pairing, they sought to create profiles that both complemented and contrasted the food. They also wanted to hit flavors and textures that represented the ingenuity of alcoholic cocktails.

“We also had this intention that non-alcoholic (drinks) are not just sodas and juices. People want something that is lower sugar content, that feels more sophisticated and more elegant,” Morales said.

Koko Ni often partners with local breweries and distilleries on dinner pairings, and Morales hopes to do more NA ones soon, too. The demand is clearly there. Most stats point to Gen Z, which drinks less than its predecessors, but Jump said the majority of people who indulge in NA offerings also still consume alcoholic beverages — as much as 78%, she said citing proprietary data collected for the NA brand Ritual.

“If you’re a tasting restaurant and you’re offering pairings, but not non-alcoholic pairings, you’re just leaving money on the table,” Jump said.

While fine dining restaurants and upscale bars are currently leading the way, she hopes to see non-alcoholic drinks become menu mainstays because it makes good business sense. With an ever-growing inventory of products to choose from, including ready-to-drink cocktails, it’s never been easier to integrate into a bar program.

“Fifteen years ago, you couldn’t go to every bar and ask for a Last Word,” she said about the gin-based cocktail that has become popular in recent years. “You could argue 10 years from now, you go in anywhere and ask for a non-alcoholic Last Word.”

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Instead, I left that decision to a service called Timeleft, which aims to build relationships within a group of strangers matched through a personality algorithm over a shared meal.

Although Timeleft only held its first dinner in Denver on June 26, its reach has spread around the world since it launched last year in Portugal. It now operates in 49 countries and 185 cities, as of Aug. 15, and the U.S. counts as its largest market in terms of size.

“I didn’t expect this to be needed on the global scale,” cofounder and CEO Maxime Barbier told The Denver Post. “We forget how to talk to strangers. We forget how to connect with strangers.”

The need for social networks has never been more pronounced for Americans in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy referred to society’s feelings of loneliness and isolation as “an underappreciated public health crisis.” These emotions can result in tangible repercussions like rising risks of stroke and heart disease, alongside mental health issues.

In Denver, other efforts to bring people together have taken place, such as nonprofit Longer Tables’ The 528 Table, which brought 528 diners to a 528-foot table in Civic Center Park last month. It was the predecessor for next summer’s Mile-Long Table, with a plan to have 5,280 people sitting at it.

Barbier says what makes Timeleft successful is that it’s “for every age, but also for every agenda.” As an example, his 72-year-old father regularly attends dinners to socialize. In the future, Barbier plans to market the service to seniors suffering from loneliness.

Other usual suspects at the tables include recent divorcees, foodies, adventurous personalities, newcomers to cities and people in search of friendship, Barbier said.

The majority of participants are women, who represent around 70% of users, but Barbier cautions that the service isn’t a dating app.

“With Timeleft, in one click, you guarantee you’re going to meet people,” Barbier said. “That’s kind of the recipe of our success.”

A first-timer’s take on Timeleft

I learned about Timeleft through an advertisement on my Instagram feed. Intrigued, I checked out the profile, which touts: “We fight big-city loneliness. One dinner at a time.”

Soon, I was signed up for a dinner on Wednesday, Aug. 21. I chose between Denver’s two zones: Capitol Hill/Cheesman/City Park and Highland/RiNo/LoDo. No information was initially provided about the restaurant or the five fellow diners, and that’s intentional — those would be revealed later.

Details about the strangers’ zodiac signs and industries trickled in. Upon waking the morning of, I received my instructions: Group 1 at Sweet Ginger Asian Bistro&Sushi at 2710 E. 3rd Ave.

As I readied myself for the event, my parents detailed their concerns over speakerphone. Mom asked if it was a dating app — a valid question, given my committed relationship status. Dad worried about my safety. What if I was sitting down to eat with cold-blooded killers?

So, on a dark and stormy night (as the cliché goes), my heels clacked along the kempt Cherry Creek sidewalks, all the way to the restaurant’s host stand. For the past few weeks, Sweet Ginger Asian Bistro&Sushi has kept several tables reserved for Timeleft groups on Wednesdays.

Manager Yuki Lin says it’s giving her a slight boost in business by providing the restaurant with more diners, on top of the usual takeout orders. “Dining with strange people — oh, it sounds interesting,” she added before escorting me to my seat.

I had arrived first. With a few butterflies fluttering around my empty stomach, I overheard other Timeleft diners making introductions at nearby tables.

Then, Sam Smiley slid into the booth across from me, and we were off to the races. I quickly got acquainted with them: a Wisconsinite with a Leo star sign, who recently moved to Denver from Chicago to pursue their PhD in physics.

“I haven’t started my (school) program yet, so I don’t have a lot of community,” Smiley said. “I was just looking to meet new people and do something fun.”

The other three diners followed shortly thereafter, with just one no-show, whom we nicknamed “Casper.”

It was that old joke turned reality: A materials engineer, a journalist, a student, a graphic designer and an occupational therapist walk into a bar…

Our group got to work determining our similarities and differences. We all fell within the age range of mid-to-late twenties and shared an interest in art. Beyond that, variations abounded at our table, made up of one man, three women and one nonbinary person.

Three of us fell into several of the same categories: Timeleft first-timers, Denver residents, Colorado transplants and extroverts. The other two considered themselves introverted, but they committed to three-month service subscriptions after their initial dinners — even if that meant driving to the big city from their respective homes in Aurora and Parker. They’re also Colorado born and bred.

“It just feels intimidating to go to a club or to a bar or to a social event where you’re like, ‘I’m not going to know anybody,'” said Noa Baumgarten, a diner who’s used Timeleft before. “This made it feel less intimidating to know it’s just five people.”

She’s even planning a wine and craft night with women she met at another dinner.

Over sushi and Thai curry, we asked icebreaker questions that Timeleft offered as a game at the start of dinner. They gradually grew more intense. In turn, awkward pauses gave way to monologues about future hopes and past mistakes.

Jenna Sparacio found the prompts especially helpful to keep the conversation flowing. After an hour and a half, the air had lightened.

To keep the party going, Timeleft finished the night by pointing users to a neighborhood bar for an after party to meet others in the community.

We weren’t strangers anymore, and we weren’t friends yet — but acquaintances with a deeper appreciation of the humans around them.

Tavis McMahan compared the experience to childhood summer camps.

“You put a bunch of people in a room together, and you’re gonna find friends,” McMahan said. “Nobody does that anymore, right? So, that’s why I wanted this experience.”

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So, when Braam decided to add a few shareable sippers to the menu to showcase the distillery’s key spirits and the bar’s housemade syrups and juices, she started by sourcing an array of beautiful glass punch bowls from the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall and local thrift stores.

Everyone raise a glass: Large-format convivial cocktails are officially back, with a handful of Front Range bars inviting groups to gather around a punch bowl.

Large-format cocktails run the gamut, from the kitschy “fish bowls” at Wally’s Wisconsin Tavern (1417 Market St.) that are jazzed up with Swedish Fish candies and blinking LED ice cubes, to the classic tiki cocktails like Mai Tais and Zombies at Jungle (2018 10th St., Boulder) that can be ordered in a medium format with five drinks to a large size with 13 drinks.

The Family Jones Spirit House’s large-format cocktails now include The Bikini Bottom, with Family Jones vodka, pineapple, mint demerara and angostura bitters (which will transport you to the islands), and The Porch Swing, a blend of Ella Jones Bourbon, peach tea and syrup and lemon (which tastes like “you’re in Georgia, drinking sweet tea on a porch swing,” Braam said).

Family Jones’ Captain Planet is gin-forward (maybe even a little healthy) with cucumber, celery juice, tangerine, and lime. Each drink comes with a ladle so guests can serve themselves and drink out of their own glasses. A tiny taster is often added to the punch bowl for those who are celebrating birthdays, graduations or other milestones.

Big sippers are also popular at Forget Me Not in Cherry Creek (227 Clayton St.), where four large-format cocktails are on the menu ranging from a firebird with tequila, ancho reyes, guava, sparkling wine and citrus to the bourbon-centric Prospector’s Payoff with honey, pineapple, ginger, lemon and bubbles.

“We focus on approachable spirits that many guests enjoy and make sure that they are super Instagrammable — think fire, think elaborate garnishes. You can even go blue with a rubber duck on top,” said Nicole Lebedevitch, beverage director at Forget Me Not. “The idea is to have fun and share an experience with the group you came with.”

To avoid shared straws, Forget Me Not delivers its large-format drinks in a glass decanter with a spigot and individual glasses.

And over on South Broadway, Adrift Tiki Bar (218 S. Broadway) has punch bowls that can serve two to four, plus a showstopper: The $150 Hono Nui Bowl that is limited to parties of six or more. It’s inspired by the Tortuga, a tiki classic with a rum blend, cacao, dry curaçao, housemade grenadine, lemon, orange and a whole bottle of champagne.

We know what you’re wondering: Dare we wander back to buffet lines, blow out birthday candles, and share punch bowls?

I posed the question to microbiologist Jason Tetro, author of “The Germ Code” and “The Germ Files” and host of the “Super Awesome Science Show” podcast.

In theory, if everyone has his or her own straw and avoids backwashing of any kind, then there should be no problem, Tetro said. At most bars, you’re ladling your drink into glasses, but even shared punch bowls with individual straws don’t pose too much of a risk.

“But in order to do that, you would need to suck into the straw, lift the straw from the shared liquid, and let it drain into your mouth,” Tetro said. “Not the easiest thing to do, although it could be a pretty fun game.”

All that being said, if you are sharing a drink with others, there is a greater chance of being infected through close contact with a sick individual, Tetro explained.

“So, while the drink may pose a threat, being so close to someone during those laughs, and shouts, and coughs and sneezes may end up being even more risky,” he said.

With that disclaimer out of the way: Go big! Then go home (in an Uber!)

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Yacht Club won the Spirited Award for the Best U.S. Cocktail Bar from the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation. The bar, owned by Mary Allison Wright and McLain Hedges, got its start at The Source food hall before the pandemic and then opened its own location at 3701 Williams St. in 2021. It specializes in serving high-brow cocktails and hot dogs in a low-key setting.

Alex Jump, a longtime bartender at Death & Co. in Denver who now runs her own cocktail consulting business, won Best U.S. Bar Mentor.

The awards, which began in 2007, recognize “beverage professionals, products, and establishments across every facet of the spirits and cocktail community on a global scale.”

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Earthy and herbaceous, and sometimes kissed with smoke, the desert spirit actually dates back 800 years to Chihuahua, Mexico, where sotol plants were roasted in cooking holes, and the juice was fermented and then served like beer. Today, it’s distilled and, while sotol draws comparisons to tequila and mezcal, it’s made from plants in the dasylirion genus rather than agave.

Cocktail connoisseurs in Denver love sotol for its versatility. It can be used in tandem with other spirits for split-base cocktails or it can sub in for tequilas and gins in drinks while also appealing to whiskey drinkers.

So why is this ancient spirit now in the spotlight?

Agave spirits as well as ancestral ones have been on the rise, said McLain Hedges, co-owner of Yacht Club, an award-winning, neighborhood-style bar in Denver’s Cole neighborhood.

Tequila has been the fastest-growing category for some time now mezcal is catching up. In 2023, tequila and mezcal sales were up nearly 8% totaling $6.5 billion, gaining ground on vodka, the top spirit, which had sales totaling $7.2 billion, but nearly flat growth, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

“It’s about due time that people are finally seeing and tasting the other amazing distillates being crafted in Mexico,” Hedges said.

Small producers are making some great bottles of the spirit, helping to drive interest, he added. “We saw this happen, and continue to see it, with tequila and mezcal, and now that people’s minds have opened, they’re ready to learn and take a deep dive into what else has been and is being created in Mexico.

Evan Flynn, bar lead at Death & Co Denver, explained that sotol bears a taxonomic relation to agave in that both are members of the asparagus family and because it is often processed with similar methods used to produce tequila and mezcal.

“While it can often depend on various factors of production from producer to producer, for me, sotol is rich in green, herbal flavors like mint and celery, with a touch of minerality or earth, as well,” Flynn said.

Due to its bright flavor and robust proof, it works really well in cocktails and can stand up to a variety of flavors you throw at it, he said.

For all those who celebrate, “National Tequila Day” is July 24. But for your next round, here are five spots in and around Denver where you can also sample sotol in a cocktail.

Yacht Club

Cutting Grass is made with sotol, a dry riesling, tomatillo, and savory herbs.  It’s verdant, bright, and garden-like, Hedges said.

“It’s textural and herbaceous on the palate with a thirst-quenching quality,” he said. “Sotol itself is grassy, peppery, fresh, and vibrant and works well in this drink, with all the ingredients coming together to lift each other up.”

3701 N. Williams St.; yachtclubbar.com

Death & Co

Currently, Death & Co is using sotol in its Pistolero, a variation on a margarita that showcases the spirit’s earthy, vegetal qualities by pairing it with other commonly found ingredients in a Mexican pantry, like cinnamon, pasilla chiles, cacao, and passionfruit, Flynn said. It’s refreshing, spiced and perfect for these unrelenting hot summer days, he said.

1280 25th St.; deathandcompany.com/location/death-and-company-denver

Lady Jane

At Lady Jane, a neighborhood cocktail bar in LoHi, general manager Stuart Weaver and the bar team have been experimenting with sotol for the past few years. He likes that it’s akin to mezcal, but a “bit brighter and greener.” The current sotol cocktail on the menu is called Petit Prince, a riff on Martinique’s national cocktail, Ti’Punch, that’s also built with Family Jones gin, La Cigarrera Manzanilla Sherry, and an English pea syrup. “It’s a very adventurous spirit,” Weaver said.

2021 W. 32nd Ave, Denver; ladyjanedenver.com

Super Mega Bien

Sotol has a knack for evoking the desert landscape where it is cultivated, capturing the essence of its terroir in the Chihuahuan Desert in northern Mexico, said George Nuñez, bar manager at Super Mega Bien. The restaurant’s Mezcal Old Fashioned is a nuanced cocktail made with smoky mezcal, a reposado tequila that imparts subtle woody notes, plus sotol to make it bold and earthy. It’s balanced with sugar and bitters.

1260 25th St.; supermegabien.com

Centro Mexican Kitchen

Move over spicy margs. On the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Centro Mexican Kitchen’s El Diablo is crafted with Desert Door sotol, Grove Street orange and Hatch chile liqueurs, habanero, jalapeño, agave and Tajín. “Desert Door Sotol, known for its smoothness and distinct agave-like flavor profile, forms the backbone of the El Diablo,” said Zach Fishburn, Centro’s beverage director. The green chile liqueur gives it a subtle savory heat punched up with the house-made habanero tincture and muddled jalapeño.

950 Pearl St., Boulder; centromexican.com

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“I worked at Sputnik for 10 years and I’d stayed in contact with (owners) Matt LaBarge and Alison Housely,” said Joe Phillips, who’s buying Sputnik, 3 S. Broadway, with former Sputnik manager Spencer Madison. “I knew they were thinking about selling so I went up to them and said, ‘Before you consider any offers, think of me.’ ”

The conversation, which started earlier this year, was geared toward retaining the bar’s character and culture, Phillips said. Phillips co-owns Fellow Traveler in Englewood, where Madison also works, but plans to keep the staff and culture separate at his businesses — although both are known for their vegan menus and drinks — and preserve Sputnik’s “raw” appeal.

He declined to share a purchase price, but said he received a good deal and will be taking over the lease. He and Madison will officially take ownership the first or second week of August, he said.

Selling the bar is bittersweet, said current co-owner and co-founder LaBarge. But the pandemic’s devastating effect on mom-and-pop businesses, shifting nightlife tastes, and other factors prompted him to envision a future without it.

“It was important to us with the sale that it didn’t just go to some corporate entity,” LaBarge said. “Instead it’s with people who truly like the place and are looking to improve on it.”

Opened in 2003, Sputnik was at first a sister bar to the Hi-Dive rock venue, right next door at 7 S. Broadway. When Labarge sold the Hi-Dive a decade ago to a new ownership group (of former Hi-Dive employees, it must be noted) Sputnik officially split off. But it has retained its close relationship with the Hi-Dive, given that employees first worked at both places for years after it opened.

Phillips plans to keep the same 15 or so staff members at Sputnik, he said, but shave down its menu for the sake of efficiency. He won’t get rid of “sacred cows” such as the hand-dipped corn dogs, the Cubano, and poutine, he said. Sputnik has long been a popular pre- and post-concert stop on South Broadway, as well as a brunch favorite and social hub for The Underground Music Showcase, which returns this weekend (July 26-28).

Phillips’ longtime passion for Sputnik prompted him to move from Capitol Hill to the Baker neighborhood, he said, and it remains his favorite bar.

“Sputnik took a hit during COVID just like everyone else, and they’ve been dealing with a huge change in habits,” he said. “People aren’t staying out as late or drinking as much. So these are challenges that they’ve faced, and that we’ll face as well.”

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The Denver Fire Department responded Monday to a report of a fire outside the south side of the building, which moved inside the bar before firefighters could put it out. Firefighters are still investigating the cause and have not made a ruling, according to Capt. JD Chism.

The fire began along an exterior wall at 2060 Champa St., but damage revealed a long-hidden brick doorway, said bartender and manager Rich Granville, who did not know it existed until he arrived on the scene Monday. A quick response prevented the fire from spreading too much inside the structure, he said.

A photo posted on Facebook by Granville shows a blackened hole with brick and other debris piled at its foot.

“Somebody burned her. They burned our bar,” Granville wrote in the post. He added that he didn’t know “if or when it can be fixed.” He said firefighters on the scene told an employee that it looked like arson, although Chism said he would not use that term, as it’s too early to tell what the cause was.

“It’s a complicated thing to prove (the cause) with a bunch of burnt-up evidence, so it does take a lot of steps and due diligence,” said Chism, a firefighter for the last 17 years.

The bar has an interior security camera but not an outside camera, Granville told The Denver Post, so any footage will likely not be helpful to investigators. He said he was not aware of any threats made against the bar or its staff.

Firefighters used forced entry on the doors, leading to some structural damage. Granville, who plays in the bands Poison Politics and Drink Drink Punk, spent Monday and part of Tuesday retrieving undamaged amplifiers, microphones, cables and other music gear out of a storage room. He said all alcohol stock had been removed from the bar, and that firefighters had boarded up the windows.

Once he gets a repair estimate, Granville said he’s going to launch a crowdfunding page that will raise the money to fix the structure.

“I don’t know what will have to be fixed up, what will have to get back up to code, based on the age of building, and how we’re going to go about those repairs,” he said. “I don’t know if it’ll be $2,500 or $25,000 or more. We really don’t have the capital for this.”

However, Granville said social media responses and news coverage have helped draw attention to the fire, and he’s confident that if there’s any way he and his employees can reopen, they will.

“We’ll rely on community support, and run some benefit shows at other locations,” said Granville, whose Poison Politics band last week released a new single and had been considering an international tour. “There’s no quit in our crew.”

The Post in February reported that Bar Bar had apparently closed, following damage from a broken pipe that flooded the bar during January’s deep freeze. The Post corrected that information after Granville confirmed the closure was only temporary, and that Google’s business listing showing it as “permanently closed” was inaccurate.

Granville said at the time he didn’t know why Google listed the bar as permanently closed and speculated that “trimming a lot of hours this winter” may have contributed to the error. (The listing has since been updated.)

Long known in the DIY art and music scene as Bar Bar, Carioca Cafe is one of central Denver’s last historic, free-standing bars, following the demolition of the 114-year-old building housing Shelby’s Bar and Grill in downtown Denver. Haunts slightly further afield, such as East Colfax Avenue’s Knob Hill, and the nearby Ballpark neighborhood’s Herb’s, have never carried the same punk-rock reputation as Carioca Cafe.

The bar had been experiencing troubles and battling with the city over licensing for the last two years. In March 2022, a Denver Police Department sting netted a violation for underage alcohol sales at the bar. Two months later, and citing new licensing requirements, the bar’s staff launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at shoring up finances.

“We’ve scraped by through COVID shutdowns without a fundraiser, but now we really need your help,” wrote Granville, the organizer of the $10,000 GoFundMe campaign, at the time. However, that drive fell short, only raising $7,080 of its goal.

Despite being an infamous touring stop for underground acts and a safe space for local punks, the bar never carried a cabaret license until recently. The city requires cabaret licenses for businesses that sell alcohol for on-site consumption but also feature live performances, according to the Department of Excise and Licenses.

Carioca Cafe at one point late last year was also surrounded by unhoused people in tents, which were moved during a city clearing and replaced with high chain-link fences — which have also since been removed. The aging, one-story bar sits in a building erected in 1890. It started as a saloon and brothel in downtown Denver, according to Bar Bar’s website.

“While appreciated by its community, it did little to stop the police from raiding the establishment in 1903 for the grave crime of selling alcohol to women (which was illegal at the time),” owners wrote. “Shortly after (the owner) renamed his club to the ‘Carioca Cafe’ to help change his bar’s image. However he wasn’t given much time before prohibition kicked in forcing him to close his saloon once more.”

The bar then converted into a union meeting center, and reopened as a watering hole after prohibition was repealed in 1933. Since then, it’s technically been named New Carioca Cafe.

UPDATE: Granville shared a GoFundMe link that seeks to raise $25,000: gofundme.com/f/help-restore-denvers-beloved-barbar

Denver developer Nathan Beal bought the shuttered La Vista Motel with the idea of reviving the business, which was built in 1956. He plans to restore the motel and add a cocktail bar and coffee shop.

The goal is to finish La Vista’s transformation by the spring of 2025 and open it by June. The two-level building is blocked off by a fence, its faded red exterior barely visible and its windows and doors boarded up.

Postcards from the 1950s and ’60s that Beal found show a brightly colored building with a row of flags flying and cars in the parking lot. In later years, La Vista was among rundown motels along East Colfax that provided temporary lodging for people but also became hot spots for crime.

“When I bought the motel, the city had shut it down because of safety concerns. It sounded like rampant drug use and crime,” Beal said.

A review on Yelp from 2018 was by a lodger who said he returned to his room at night to find a stranger running out of it. A man two doors down offered him shelter in return for buying drugs from him. A visitor in 2017 wrote about a bug-infested bed.

Beal bought the motel in 2022 for about $2.8 million. He figures the renovation will cost around $4.3 million. He is working with the architecture firm SopherSparn, branding experts at Studio Mast and with Xan Creative on design and finishes.

La Vista is the first hospitality project Beal has worked on, but his other developments have included adapting old buildings to new uses. His recent projects include turning a historic grocery store in Denver into a small apartment building with commercial space on the ground floor.

“I like getting into the old buildings and trying to figure out how to put them back together, make them work a little bit better and bring them back their original glory,” Beal said.

He was drawn to the La Vista Motel at 5500 E. Colfax Ave because of its proximity to downtown and such nearby attractions as the Bluebird Theater, which opened in 1914 as a movie house and is now a well-known music hall.

“I hope La Vista will be a nice motel for people to use when coming to see concerts in Denver or visiting friends and family in the neighborhood,” Beal said.

Colfax Avenue, part of U.S. 40, runs east/west and is one of the Denver area’s major thoroughfares. At about 27 miles, it is considered to be the longest continuous commercial street in the country.

Once home to some of Denver’s more upper-income homes, Colfax has evolved through the years. The street runs through Aurora, Denver, Lakewood and Golden and features popular restaurants and bars, well-known dives, used car lots, fast-food spots, music venues, abandoned buildings and a diversity of neighborhoods.

“I’ve always been interested in Colfax because it does seem to be a little bit of an anomaly in Denver,” Beal said. “Colfax is oftentimes the rough side of the neighborhood, but on either side of it it’s really nice. I feel like there’s some opportunity to do something nice on Colfax.”

Ryan Goold with SopherSparn said he’s excited about an opportunity to reinvigorate an old building “and provide a sort of catalyst and nexus for the neighborhood.” The design will evoke mid-20th-century America mixed with modern touches.

The original plan was to convert the motel into apartments.

“But we found it quite challenging once we got into the city permitting process with the change of use,” Beal said. “The things they asked us to do just made it not feasible.”

Beal believes keeping La Vista as a motel will help draw people and visitors to local businesses in the neighborhood. The motel will have 23 rooms, two of which will be suites.

And the vintage neon sign, which is missing most of its letters, will be restored. Beal said the sign’s script will be used in the motel’s branding and other features of the building.

“We’ll still try to offer it at more of a budget-friendly price,” Beal said.

The motel operator will set the prices, but Beal said initial projections put the cost of an overnight stay from about $150 to $185 for the larger rooms.

Two of the quickest — and tastiest — ways to get to know the local scene are by attending annual foodie extravaganzas The Big Eat, taking place July 18 at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, and the Denver Food + Wine Festival’s Grand Tasting, on the Auraria campus on Sept. 7.

At both events, you’ll find everything from the hottest food trucks, in-the-know holes in the wall, and up-and-coming chefs to fine dining spots, James Beard-nominated mainstays and glitzy newcomers. And you’ll be able to sample as many dishes as your stomach will allow.

The Big Eat

Produced by EatDenver, a nonprofit supporting independent local businesses, The Big Eat includes 70 food and beverage concepts in Colorado. Held outdoors in the Denver Performing Arts Complex’s Galleria space, the summer foodie party also features live music.

Who’s on the list? Some of the names include Aloy Modern Thai, Blackbelly, Carboy Winery, CD’s Wings, La Diabla Pozole Y Mezcal, Lucina Eatery & Bar, MAKfam, Pho King Rapidos, Ratio Beerworks, Restaurant Olivia, Stem Ciders, Tavernetta and The Block Distilling.

Why go? “I have been planning my dish for some time now,” said Linda Hampsten Fox, the chef/owner of The Bindery, in a statement. “I love to offer something exciting, seasonal and unusual to entice guests to come see us in LoHi and to throw it down with the other chefs.

“Having so many restaurants all at one venue is the opportunity of the year and the atmosphere reminds me of open-air street fairs from around the world,” she added. “The music, the food and the drinks all contribute to what is one of the best summer celebrations of dining in Denver.”

The Big Eat, Thursday, July 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. For tickets and the list of restaurants bars and beverage makers, go to eatdenver.com/the-big-eat.

Denver Food + Wine Festival Grand Tasting

The culmination of four days of foodie-focused culinary education and tasting events hosted by the Colorado Restaurant Foundation, the 2,500-person Grand Tasting on the Auraria campus showcases more than 50 carefully curated restaurants along with hundreds of wines and spirits. In addition, there are tasting seminars, games and music at this outdoor fiesta.

A few of the participants this year include: American Elm, Ash’Kara, Bodega, Blackbelly, Camp Pickle, Coperta, Fruition, Local Jones, Lucina, MAKfam, Mercantile, Pho King Rapidos, Right Cream, Samosa Shop, Smok, Toro Denver, Wild Taco.

Early-bird general admission tickets to the grand tasting, from 1 to 4 p.m., are currently $95. Other ticket packages, including early entry VIP, are more.

In the week leading up the Grand Tasting, the CRF will also host two other events, the Riedel Wine Glass Seminar on Wednesday, Sept. 4, from 6 to 7 p.m.; and the Shake + Brake Showdown food truck party on Thursday, Sept. 5, from 7 to 10 p.m. Proceeds from all events benefit the foundation’s “efforts to help restaurant industry employees advance and thrive through workforce development, training, and health-and-wellness programming.”

And there will also be an online auction with online bidding during August for events, experiences at places like Sap Sua, Frasca, Sunday Vinyl, Xiquita, Ace Eat Serve, and Hop Alley.

The DF+WF Grand Tasting (held rain or shine), is sponsored by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, and takes place at the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus, 1000 Larimer St., Denver) on Sept. 7, 2024. VIP entry at noon. GA entry at 1 p.m. Tickets and information at denverfoodandwine.com.

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