ROCKY MOUNTAIN STATES
Denver, Colorado, more than a conventional choice
Host to the Democratic National Convention, Colorado's capital is a notable partying platform for delegate and non-delegate alike.
Denver, Colorado sights & scenes
U.S. hotels with a political past
Update: Jack A. Weil, who is quoted in this story, died at his home on Aug. 13. He is survived by a daughter, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Denver, Colorado
Greetings, superdelegates, standard delegates, compromised Floridians, miffed Michiganders, would-be VPs and all-access VIPs. As you and the other Democrats convene here Aug. 25 to formally choose a presidential candidate at last, you will be wined, dined, wooed, spun, schmoozed, queried, denounced and perhaps bamboozled by all manner of unreliable operatives, members of the press and, of course, one another.
Don't trust those people. Trust me.
For instance, if, over a welcome cocktail, one of the locals seems to be inviting you to partake in some Dazbog with Hickenlooper, your drink has not been drugged and this is not a Justice Department sting. Dazbog is a popular local coffee brand. John Hickenlooper is Denver's mayor. And Denver, for the record, is a city of 570,000 at the eastern edge of the Front Range.
It's a mile high, as you may have heard. More to the point, it's the capital of Colorado, one of several Western states that leaned slightly right in 2004. Had they leaned slightly left,
Once you're here, you may encounter either a Dazbog or a Hickenlooper in LoHi or SoCo, which is what some people call the Lower Highlands and South-of-Colfax neighborhoods. Nearby lies LoDo, which stands for Lower Downtown.
A word to those of you who backed presumptive nominee
The delegate floor will be a few miles away at the Pepsi Center, which holds more seats and houses Denver's pro basketball and hockey teams (the Nuggets and the Avalanche, respectively). In fact, this convention could be a bit like those hockey games: Though hip-checking, high-sticking and nose-punching are officially discouraged, legions will be rooting for just that, and ratings may depend on it.
A note to those of you whose hearts remain with
During the convention, about three-fourths of the 1,225 rooms upstairs will be occupied by the California and New York delegations -- which means that in three days, more liberal opinions will be heard at the Sheraton's Supreme Court than have been heard at the other one in the last three decades.
Even when there aren't lobbyists throwing around fistfuls of money -- as they surely will during the convention's run Aug. 25 to 28 -- it's easy to have fun here.
Since its first gold rush in the 1850s, Denver has been a boom-and-bust town neighbored by an embarrassment of outdoor temptations, including skiing in the Rockies and hiking, running and biking in the foothills.
To this mix, the convention will add as many as 50,000 delegates, media and hangers-on. The Democratic leadership controls the schedule (sessions will probably run from about 3 to about 9 p.m., Mountain time) and about 17,000 of the area's 38,000 hotel rooms, so those people will decide not only when everyone gets to sleep but also where.
In other words, if you're not a superdelegate and your next Denver visit will not be during the convention, you're in a better position to use some of this advice.
Newer attractions
The last two decades of high-tech industry growth have been good for Denver, as evidenced by the Pepsi Center (opened 1999); the 1,100-room Hyatt Regency Denver (opened 2005); the Colorado Convention Center (opened 2004); the $110-million Hamilton building at the Denver Art Museum (an addition that opened in 2006); and the 202-room Ritz-Carlton (opened January), which, beginning in about 2010, is to be rivaled by a new Four Seasons hotel.
For a bird's-eye glimpse of these and other wonders (yes, those buses on the 16th Street Mall are free public transportation), step right up to the Hyatt (convention headquarters) and take the express elevator to the 27th-floor Peaks Lounge. There you'll get a floor-to-ceiling view full of Rocky Mountains and skyscrapers, with the twinkling city at your feet.
If your hosts want to wow you with steak and Wild West atmosphere, someone may suggest the Buckhorn Exchange, said to be the oldest restaurant in town: It's been dishing out buffalo, rattlesnake and such since 1893.
Some flesh-eating locals prefer Elway's (owned by John, the former Broncos quarterback), either the original one in the Cherry Creek area (about three miles southeast of downtown) or the new one in the Ritz-Carlton downtown, which features a dining room full of blown-glass in fiery hues and a power table (eight chairs, round) that's half-encircled by stacks of wine bottles. It's called the wine-tower table.
Or, to eat in a notably green way, head 45 minutes up the freeway to Pearl Street in Boulder and pull up a chair at the Kitchen. Its electricity comes from wind power. Ingredients come from nearby growers, straws are biodegradable, scraps go to compost, uncooked food goes home with staffers and wine corks get recycled into tiles. Sunset magazine calls this the greenest restaurant in the West. The food tastes good too.
No charge
Don't be impressed when some usually frugal committee chair offers you a tour of the state Capitol building, a prowl through the natural wonders at Red Rocks Park or Dinosaur Ridge, or tasting tours of the Celestial Seasonings tea headquarters in Boulder or the Coors brewery in Golden. Everybody gets in those places free.
No doubt some proud locals will drag you to the shiny, pointy Daniel Libeskind-designed new building of the Denver Art Museum, and I suppose you'll have to be polite. It does look great from outside, a playful complement to the public library next door by
But think about the difficulty of displaying art in a building with so few straight-standing walls. If presidential contenders were as hostile to constituents as Libeskind's museum building is to the display of art, they'd still be scheming for positions on their local Effluent Oversight Boards.
Amid so much shiny newness, you will be tempted to sneak off for a drink at some place that has a little grit or history or both. This could be My Brother's Bar, a signless, TV-free watering hole at 2376 15th St. (at Platte), in business since 1873, making it the oldest saloon in town. In the 1940s and '50s,
You'll know you've found the place when you hear violins. The speakers play classical music nonstop, apparently because some long-ago bartender was also a classical DJ.
For some place less beat and more sleek, head for the Oxford Hotel's Cruise Room, which is full of '30s touches that were actually applied in the '30s. The entire bar is suffused with a racy red glow and appears to have been smuggled off the Queen Mary when dockside security wasn't looking.
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