Just another Mile High Monday

Nov. 19 – Denver, CO

If the American West had a capital, it would surely be Denver. Like Washington, D.C. in miniature, the Colorado State Capitol sits at the eastern end of an axial landscaped mall, with the City and County Building (for Denver is both at once) at the opposite end. Surrounding the mall, in much the same Beaux-Arts style as is found along the Potomac, are memorials, museums, the public library, and the United States Mint, one of many federal agencies having their western offices in Denver. But stretching northwest from the Capitol, a different kind of mall leads to a different kind of style, for fifteen blocks and seven Starbucks away, down the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall, Art Deco is alive and well in LoDo.

"LoDo" stands for Lower Downtown, and it's a neighborhood of groovy people and places anchored by Union Station, another name shared by Washington, D.C. (and dozens of other North American cities). While this edifice, too, is in the Beaux-Arts style, it's emblazoned in red neon with the encouragement "Travel by Train", as you might well have seen on the cover of a railway timetable circa 1933. And while we're in that year, the Cruise Room Bar at the nearby Oxford Hotel is bathed in red and blue neon and festooned with original Deco bas-reliefs (except for one featuring Hitler, which did not outlive his popularity in America and was not restored).

At the fringe of Lower Downtown is El Chapultepec, which sounds like a greasy taquería across the border from Harlingen, Texas, but is actually one of the best-loved jazz clubs in Denver. Here a quartet played, looking about as unassuming as the venue itself. I can't say they rivaled Austin or Bourbon Street, but then again it was a Monday. Outside the club, I tried deftly to evade the swarm of panhandlers that made Little Rock seem like a millionaire's convention by comparison. Still, as we headed back down 16th Street, this time in one of the fleet of free buses that are the only motorized traffic allowed on the mall, I marveled at what a livable place Denver seemed, and we had not even ventured out of the center city.

Because we had the evening off, several from our group had gone to a Broncos game (they played the Tennessee Titans, the home team for many in our company). My friend from Buffalo, who has seen his share of Bills games, was astounded by the cleanliness of the stadium and the civility of the fans in their celebration of the Broncos' win. I said it must have to do with an awareness of one's environment that comes with living in Denver. One of the great American metropolises, Denver lies at the intersection of mountain and plain, of drought and blizzard, of Beaux-Arts grandeur and Art Deco whimsy. With concerns ranging from urban blight and poverty to the management of land and water resources, combined with the majestic cityscape and natural setting, I think that a respect for one's surroundings must be unavoidable here, and that respect extends to city, land and people alike. Coloradans live in a world they cannot ignore, and that world is not only physical, but also human.

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Postscript:

I couldn't decide on an acceptable plural for "Starbucks"; apparently I'm not alone. I leave the question unsolved for your rumination.