4 AUGUST 8-14, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 8 ’FAX CHECK Traveling the old Golden Road into downtown... and Denver’s future. BY KARL CHRISTIAN KRUMPHOLZ 12 PERMANENT MEMORIES Denver artist Piper gives an inside look at tattooing in prison in his new book, American InkSlinger. BY JOHN FLATHMAN 15 KITCHEN COMEBACK It’s a second act for Ace Eat Serve and its new chef. BY MOLLY MARTIN 19 MAKING HISTORY This summer marks the fi ftieth anniversary of John Lennon and Elton John recording at Caribou Ranch. BY NICK HUTCHINSON 12 Culture 15 Cafe 19 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 30 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 30 ASK A STONER ......................................... 32 VOLUME 47 NUMBER 50 AUGUST 8-14, 2024 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun Editorial Operations Manager Jane R. 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PHOTOGRAPH BY EVAN SEMÓN “THAT BITES!,” MICHAEL ROBERTS, JULY 18 B U G O U T First we had to worry about the plague. Then it was avian fl u. Now I see that Colorado has the worst rate of West Nile virus in the country! Guess the great outdoors isn’t that great after all. Fred Moyer Denver With the news that mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have now been found in Denver, I went back and read Michael Roberts’s story about Rick Enstrom. What an inspirational piece! I hope he is doing better every day. Joie Powell Denver “TICK TOCK,” TEAGUE BOHLEN, AUGUST 1 T O W E R I N G A M B I T I O N The city needs to clean up the mess in the Clocktower Cabaret, and then it needs to clean up all that construction mess on the 16th Street Mall. Downtown needs to get back to business, and people just aren’t going to go there until the streets are functioning again. Roger McDonald Denver Thanks for the article on the mess in the Clocktower Cabaret in the D&F Tower. I am a docent for Historic Denver and give tours in the tower and on Larimer Square. The tour down from the twentieth fl oor in the tower ends when we exit the elevator in the lobby. Then there’s always a question about the downstairs facility that isn’t open during the day. On one tour, as I was explaining what it was, Selene Arca greeted us and invited us downstairs to tour the cabaret. I am saddened that Selene and Jefferson have not been compensated by the city for the damage the construction crews caused to the cabaret. The cabaret is a fun entertain- ment venue…and a much-needed one on the mall. Tours to the tower are still on, but the mall construction has certainly not helped encourage people to take them. I encourage people to continue to tour the tower during the day and enjoy shows in the Cabaret in the evening...in spite of the construction mess. I am hoping the city will see the value in having the cabaret in the D&F Tower on the mall and do what’s right by the Arcas. Ginny Gelback Denver I enjoyed reading the article on the D&F Tower and all its history along with the unfortunate sewage spill in the Clocktower Cabaret in the lower level. The author did a great job of bringing us up to date on the current owners and the many transitions over the years. I have fond memories of our family visiting the tower and viewing Denver in the 1950s as a young lad. One clarifi cation regarding “the clock employed the same mechanics as London’s Big Ben”: Yes, they were both weight-driven by heavy weights and a long pendulum, but different makers. The D&F Tower clock was manufactured in 1911 by the Seth Thomas Clock Company of Thomaston, Connecticut, at a cost of $8,000. Originally installed on the eighteenth fl oor, 250 feet above street level, the striking and mechanical movement for the clock was powered by heavy weights on two cables wound around separate drums. These weights were wound twice per week by hand to keep the clock running. David French hired Wes Van Every to clean and restore the clock shortly after he purchased the tower in 1979. Several years later, with looming fi nancial challenges and ownership/management changes, the Seth Thomas movement was disassembled and relocated to the lobby, where it was visible to the public. A re- quired elevator addition to comply with the American Disabilities Act of 1990 took up the space, so the restored mechanism now sits behind the marble private door entry for stairwell access just off the lobby, hidden from the public. The tower’s four clockfaces are now powered electrically (with the help of human volunteers), and the 5,000-pound McShane Company bell is now rung with a new solenoid-driven clapper, all controlled by a central computer. Terry Jones Denver
