4 MAY 14-20, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 7 JOIN THE CLUB How Denver scored one of the country’s great public golf courses, 100-year-old Wellshire. BY DAVID DUBERSTEIN 12 CLEAR THINKING Watkins Stained Glass has created and restored some of Colorado’s fi nest stained glass for over a century. BY KRISTEN FIORE 15 SPRING FEVER What to order at Denver restaurants right now. BY ANTONY BRUNO 17 BASS BLASTOFF Meow Wolf welcomes legendary local EDM label Sub.mission for a Danceportation takeover. BY JUSTIN CRIADO 12 Culture 15 Cafe 17 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 18 27 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 23 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 37 MAY 14-20, 2026 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Antony Bruno Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Sage Kelley, Hannah Metzger Senior Contributors Brendan Joel Kelley, Alan Prendergast, Michael Roberts Contributors Gil Asakawa, Teague Bohlen, Justin Criado, Audrey Ferrer, Nick Hutchinson, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Skyler McKinley, Abigail Nueve, Ryan Pachmayer, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Amber Taufen, Toni Tresca, Kastle Waserman Music Listings Matthew Jones Cover Designer Monika Swiderski Editorial Intern July Ramirez P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Michael Wilson Assistant Production Manager Erin Kirk Graphic Designers Caleigh Gearheart, Tori O’Connor C R E A T I V E S E R V I C E S Senior Graphic Designer Allie Seidel A D V E R T I S I N G Senior Multimedia Account Executives Amy Camera, Aaron Lembke Multimedia Account Executives Remy Diamond, Rachel Gilmore, Keith Gordon, Trey Konsella, Kirby Quick, Dalton Wilson, Allison Wissink Operations Manager Carver Hodgkiss Digital Sales Coordinator Anne-Grace Hartman Director of Digital Sales Alan Heath C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Ty Koepke B U S I N E S S Director of Business and Operations Russell Breiter Financial Accountant Robert Scribner AR Coordinator Stacy Phillips IT Systems Manager Kris Robinson Receptionist Cindy Perez Associate Publisher Tracy Kontrelos Publisher Scott Tobias V O I C E M E D I A G R O U P Executive Editor Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek Editorial Operations Director Bridget Thomason Director of Membership and Community Development Jennifer Robinson Digital Operations & Audience Strategist Allison Stephenson Audience Strategist Lauren Antonoff Hart Corporate Controller Beth Cook Legal Counsel Steve Suskin Chief Financial Offi cer Jeff Mars Chief Executive Offi cer Scott Tobias V M G N A T I O N A L National Advertising: 1-888-278-9866, www.voicemediagroup.com Senior Vice President of Sales Operations Joe Larkin D I S T R I B U T I O N Westword is available free of charge. 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PHOTO OF LAUREN MCCOY BY JASON DEWITT G R U N T W O R K Denver made a surprise appearance on the May 9 episode of “Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me,” which took a question from a Westword story by Hannah Metzger. Midway through the NPR quiz show, host Peter Sagal tossed this to writer/comedian Hari Kondabolu: “Hari, a gym in Denver is being sued by owners of condos in the building above the gym. They say the gym has hurt their property values because of the what?” Kondoabolu fi rst tried “the stench,” then “the water from the shower,” and fi nally threw out “the sound.” What sound? “Oh, grunting.” Responded Sagal: “They say that their property values are diminished because of the constant grunting from the gym. The Denver gym – that’s a gym with weight ma- chines, treadmills, diced ham, green pepper and cheddar cheese [pause for laughter in response to bad Denver omelet joke] has faced constant complaints from the tenants above it since it opened two years ago. Now residents are suing the owners of the gym. They say, ‘weightlifters groaning, yelling and struggling to lift weights.’ That last one sounds suspiciously less like a complaint and more like a sick burn....Residents say they’re ‘unable to sleep, enjoy dinner or work from home,’ be- cause of the noise, while the weightlifters say, one more, you got this. [Groaning.] Unquote.” The question riffed on Hannah Metzger’s story about three residents of the Beauvallon, who last month fi led a lawsuit against Sum- mit Strong, a gym located on the second fl oor of the still-controversial twenty-year-old condo building at 925 Lincoln Street. Since the gym opened in 2024, noise from work- outs there has disturbed the Beauvallon’s third-fl oor tenants, according to the suit. “It is operating a loud powerlifting gym beneath a residential fl oor,” the lawsuit reads. “Sum- mit willingly allows its customers and/or staff to cause and emit unreasonably loud weightlifting-related noises without setting reasonable parameters.” The suit specifi cally takes issue with the sounds of dropping heavy weights on the fl oor, banging pieces of metal equipment against each other, and “weightlifters groan- ing, yelling and struggling to lift weights.” The plaintiffs are seeking a court order re- quiring that Summit Strong not open before 9 a.m. and cease “excessive noise and other disturbing vibrations.” S O B E R I N G T H O U G H T S The Department of Licensing and Con- sumer Protection is changing the licensing process for Denver venues, and its policy proposal includes allowing nightclubs to stay open until 4 a.m...while holding to the current 2 a.m. cutoff for liquor sales. While the draft proposal is massive, the line referring to the 4 a.m. extension is at- tracting the most attention, as well as ques- tions from people wondering why venue owners would want to stay open an extra two hours without being able to sell any more alcoholic beverages. Working through the entire proposal has been a major undertaking, according to Molly Duplechian, the department’s ex- ecutive director, who notes that licensing hasn’t been changed in forty years. “A lot has changed about Denver’s nightlife industry and nightlife scenes since these regulations were created,” she says, “and so we really have been wanting to update them for quite some time now.” The proposal is a “full repeal” of cabaret and amusement licenses, she says. Taking feedback from venues, neighborhood or- ganizations and nonprofi t ONE Denver into account, the second draft of the proposal will be released on May 18, with a virtual feedback session from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Find the full stories and more at west- word.com. THOMAS MITCHELL The controversial Beauvallon at 925 Lincoln Street.
