14 APRIL 4-10, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC & VENUES | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | SHOPPING & SERVICES | CONTENTS | W estword’s Best of Denver issues are a time machine that capture the evolution of Denver’s social, cultural, po- litical and business scenes, year after year. Thumbing through the very fi rst Best of Denver, published in June 1984, is an amaz- ing, nostalgic look at a city that was thriving but evolving. Although many winners may now be gone, some are still with us, forty years later. As Westword’s fi rst Mu- sic/Culture Editor, I worked on that inaugural Best of Denver issue, and on many editions after that. Pulling together that first Best Of was like a license to be a know-it-all; we knew what we liked about the city, and this was our chance to share it with awards created for the very best people, places and things we’d found in Denver. The results were crammed in a huge (for the time) issue of 88 pages, with a fantastic full-color cover illustration by Buddy Hickerson of a classy cow in a tux holding a wine glass, looming over Denver’s skyline. At the time, many city boosters were worried that Denver was still regarded as a cowtown — and we decided that the best way to fi ght that image, and to tick off some city boosters in the meantime, was to em- brace the cow as our Best of Denver mascot. It still is today, but you can teach an old cowtown new tricks. The Best Suburb award in 1984 went to Arvada; today, I live there. The issue also had nods to the Best Comic Book Store, the Best Bank Lobby, the Best Laundromat (RIP, Smiley’s) and the Best Book Store (yes, the Tattered Cover, which is still around — but could soon start another chapter). The Best Movie Theater With No Lines was the long- gone Target Village II at Sheridan and Evans, where I saw Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong kung fu fi lms when I was in high school. The Best Jazz Club, of course, was El Chapultepec. And then, as now, the Best Record Store was Wax Trax. La Fiesta got the nod for Best Chile Relleno in 1984; four decades later, it’s still ladling up that sense-searing green chile (while it took a ten-week break after a pipe burst earlier this year, it reopened on March 30, just in time to sustain some of the crew working on this issue). Many of the other food win- ners disappeared decades ago, including the groundbreaking Cafe Giovanni, winner of Best Restaurant — Price No Object. The big shocker was that My Brother’s Bar only won Readers’ Choice honors in 1984: Fudd- ruckers, a national chain that’s no longer in Colorado, won out. Maybe Denver was still a cowtown at the time after all. — GIL ASAKAWA In the Beginning... Word Without End T he Best of Denver is not for beginners. Over the past forty years, we’ve given awards to all the usual suspects — some- times more than once, sometimes more times than we want to count. (Here’s look- ing at you, Casa Bonita.) Still, we want every new edition to focus on fresh, unusual fi nds in this ever-evolving city. But even though the Best of Denver is not for beginners, there are some basics that we consider essential to enjoying life in Denver. So in honor of our fortieth-anniversary issue (and avoiding any repetition with awards in the pages that follow), here are forty things that every newcomer to Denver must do. Soon. 1. After you land at Denver International Airport, look around for the Martians ru- mored to live there. 2. Stare into the fi ery pits of Blucifer’s soul and recognize that “Mustang” is not blue because of the Broncos. 3. Run through the fountain in front of Union Station. 4. Visit Confluence Park, where Denver got its start after gold was found there in 1858. 5. Laugh at the holiday display on the steps of the City and County Building...which stays up into late January. 6. Join the Mile High Club without leaving the ground (the Colorado Capitol has convenient markers showing where the elevation is 5,280 feet). 7. Walk from the Capitol a few blocks east on Colfax Avenue to get every sight (and smell) that Denver offers. 8. Have a drink at the Satire, where Bob Dylan once sang. 9. Have a shot and get a rose (if you’re a lady) at PS Lounge. 10. Eat at Pete’s Kitchen at 4 a.m. some Sat- urday night. 11. Take in the view from the west steps of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. 12. Take in the view of the Continental Divide from the Genesee bridge over In- terstate 70. 13. See Denver’s own bison herd at Gen- esee Park. 14. Watch the Stock Show Parade in Janu- ary. 15. Shop at Rockmount Ranch Wear. 16. Catch a sunrise at Red Rocks, then re- turn for a show. 17. Walk all 71 miles of the High Line Canal. 18. Kayak on the South Platte River. 19. Tube in Boulder Creek. 20. Pedal a swan around Ferril Lake. 21. Ice skate on Evergreen Lake. 22. Climb the Manitou Incline. 23. Eat a doughnut (they’re famous) at the top of Pikes Peak. 24. Party in the A-basin parking lot (while you can). 25. Bike through Mount Falcon Park. 26. Sing John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” at a karaoke night and get booed off the stage. 27. Join the crowd at First Friday in Den- ver’s Art District on Santa Fe Drive. 28. Visit the Clyfford Still Museum, and wonder how the hell Denver became home to this great collection. 29. Sit in the Rockpile at Coors Field. 30. Tailgate before a Denver Broncos game. 31. Drink craft beer at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., Den- ver’s first brewpub (now-Senator John Hickenlooper was a co-founder). 32. Go on the Coors Brewery tour. 33. Get Mexican or Asian food on South Federal Boulevard. 34. Eat some wild game at the Buckhorn Exchange while sitting under your entree’s taxidermied ancestor. 35. Have a burger at My Brother’s Bar. 36. Have a crispy chile relleno at La Fiesta. 37. Have a sugar steak at Bastien’s. 38. Have a martini at the Cruise Room, 39. Read the graffiti in the City, O’ City bathrooms. 40. Burn one at Civic Center Park (on 4/20 or not). Bonus: Tell us what we forgot to include! Finished checking off this list of the top forty? Good. Now go ahead and read the Best of Denver 2024. — PATRICIA CALHOUN
