7 AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Driven by a desire to archive sites with deep historical recognition, Lippard con- tinues to document Denver’s shifting land- scape. His new body of city scenes, featuring local staples like Bastien’s, My Brother’s Bar, the Edgewater Inn and the Berkeley Inn, will be unveiled at his annual solo show at Next Gallery in the 40 West Art Hub, opening Nov. 13. If Steck and Lippard evoke Colorado’s past through wearable logos and dream- like streetscapes, fi ne artist Austin Baskett preserves the state’s mid-century neon signs on paper. For Baskett, it all started on a quiet after- noon in Boulder. He was sitting in his car at the Ideal Broadway Shops on Baseline, and was struck when he glanced up at the shop- ping center’s sign framed against the sky. “I’ve always been fascinated by architec- ture and typography, and I’ve always drawn,” Baskett recalls. “Looking at it from that angle, I thought, ‘Man, that is so dramatic and cool. I wonder if I could draw that.’ So I snapped a picture with my phone.” That one sign took him about 100 hours to fi nish, and it kicked off what turned into a genuine calling. With some encouragement from his wife, he started drawing other clas- sic signs. In 2020, while driving part-time for Via Mobility Services, he crisscrossed the metro area, spotting and photographing old roadside emblems to add to his list, including the Aristocrat Motor Hotel off West Colfax, which has since been torn down. Why do these old neon signs have such a hold on people? Baskett thinks it’s because they add a whole extra layer to the land- scape. “In Colorado, in particular, you have stretches like Colfax, where these signs were everywhere, but now they’re disappearing,” he explains. The emotional pull of these pieces runs deep. Baskett remembers a man who ap- proached him at the Pearl Street Arts Festi- val in Boulder, visibly moved by his drawing of the demolished Circle Motel sign in Lafayette. Turns out the man had lived in that motel as a kid with his single mother. Although she was struggling to get by, the sign held nothing but warm childhood memories for him. The man had since done well for himself, and he bought the drawing to hang in his new home as a daily re- minder of where he came from and to always stay humble. Baskett’s to-draw list now sits at nearly 100 signs, the Bonnie Brae Tavern among them. And he doesn’t really think of the fi n- ished pieces as his. If he were to pass away tomorrow, he says, his drawings “really belong to the public history,” and should go to History Colorado, or another museum, for posterity. Photographer Jamie Rog- ers comes at Colorado’s history from a different angle, literally. His work explores the interplay between old structures and the ever-taller modern skyline, Through Captain Colorado Pho- tography, he tries to capture the soul of the classics. “Photogra- phy is about style and capturing things from a unique perspective. ... I’m always looking for another angle I haven’t seen the build- ing from or adding unique fore- ground items to give the photo more depth,” he shares. Rogers has taken some stun- ners over the years, including his drone shot of downtown’s Wells Fargo Building (aka the Cash Register building) at sunrise, but his all-time favorite Denver sub- ject is the historic Union Station, thanks to its architecture, trains and constant flow of people through it. When he’s after pure personal nostalgia, though, Rogers heads to the iconic Brown Palace Hotel, which has been standing since 1892. “The Palace Arms and Ship Tavern inside the hotel will defi - nitely transport you back to an- other time,” Rogers says. “If you haven’t been there, you need to add it to your list now!” See It for Yourself Want to go all-in on the mid- century Rocky Mountain West? Head to History Colorado in downtown Denver. The muse- um’s long-standing exhibition, “Forty Years on the ‘Fax,” covers 1926 to 1966 and gives visitors a ticket down “America’s Main Street,” the 26-mile stretch of Colfax running from Lakewood through Denver and into Aurora. From the moment it was des- ignated as US Highway 40 in 1926 until Interstate 70 diverted traffi c in the 1960s, Colfax Av- enue was the place to eat, drink and be entertained. The exhibi- tion, guest curated by Jonny “the Velvet Elvis” Barber, founder of the Colfax Museum, gathers an incredible collection of physi- cal relics from that era. When a devastating fl ood forced Barber’s original museum to close in 2018, History Colorado stepped up to give his treasures a new home. The “Forty Years on the ‘Fax” exhibition spotlights the 1950s and ’60s, when Colfax was a culinary des- tination that had something for everyone. Classic menus, matchbooks, place settings and other memorabilia will remind visitors of legendary spots like Lande’s at Steele Street, which proclaimed itself “A restaurant for the discriminating.” The exhibition has highlights from res- taurants, diverse and varied, but all part of Colfax’s very unique fabric and history. They include places like Eddie Bohn’s Pig’N Whistle barbecue at Wolff Street, the Yucca, El Rancho, the Apple Tree Shanty, the Chicken Box Drive Inn, Gus Schwalb’s Chat and Chew, the Denver Drumstick, Nob Hill Inn, “and too many more to name all along the ‘Fax,” Jason Hanson, Chief Creative Of- fi cer for History Colorado, says. For any Coloradan feeling the sting of all this change, these creators, artists and historians give us a sanctuary. So bust out that vintage Celebrity Sports Center tee. Hang a Pete’s Kitchen drawing in your liv- ing room. Pull up a sunrise photo of Union Station, or spend an afternoon wandering the storied halls of the Brown Palace. Colo- rado’s nostalgia isn’t going anywhere. It’s alive, it’s vibrant, and it’s waiting for you to come fi nd it. Email the author at [email protected]. Austin Baskett preserves the state’s mid-century neon signs on paper. PHOTO BY JOANNA BASKETT Rob Steck is the founder of the apparel brand Native303. COURTESY OF ROB STECK
