Read More
+
City Hall Nightclub
City Hall is the premier live music venue that everyone is raving about in Denver. This music venue has hosted some of the best musical acts in the industry today. From The Game to Katy Perry, City Hall covers all musical genres. With a historical look and feel, this spacious venue makes room for some great music to bounce from open wall to open wall.
Read More
+
Denver: A Sports Fan’s Dream City
Denver is a sports fan's dream, but this time of year is really the best. If you’re a sports fan, the Mile High City is the place you want to be. Denver is home to no less than seven professional sports teams that thrill sold out crowds year-round. Basketball, baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, rugby – Denver’s got it all, with some of the world’s best athletes on the rosters.
The Colorado Avalanche of the NHL are playing at The Pepsi Center, against their Western Conference rivals, Please visit avalanche.nhl.com for more information.
The NBA's Denver Nuggets are one of the younger teams in the league. Check out their exciting games at the Pepsi Center. Click here or more information.
The Colorado Rapids represent Major League Soccer, and play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City. Visit coloradorapids.com for more information.
And the Major League Baseball season will be starting soon, and the Colorado Rockies have been very exciting to watch in recent seasons and this season should be no different. The Rockies play at Coors Field in the LoDo area. Click here for more information.
Read More
+
Denver Art museum
The Denver Art Museum is a private, non-profit, educational resource for Colorado. The mission of the museum is to enrich the lives of Colorado and Rocky Mountain residents through the acquisition, preservation, and presentation of art works in both the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, and by supporting these works with exemplary educational and scholarly programs.
Since its beginnings in the 1890s as the Denver Artists’ Club, the Denver Art Museum has had a number of temporary homes, from the public library and a downtown mansion to a portion of the Denver City and County Building.
Read More
+
Black America West Museum
While famous for telling the story of Black cowboys, they are broader than this with interests in the stories of all those early Blacks who came west and performed as miners, soldiers, homesteaders, ranchers, blacksmiths, schoolteachers, lawmen, and every other profession needed to build up the West. In fact, the Museum itself is in the home of Dr. Justina Ford, Colorado's first Black woman doctor!
The Museum is broken into many diverse exhibits such as our homestead exhibit. There is an exhibit primarily dedicated to the town of Dearfield, Colorado. Dearfield was a Black pioneer town founded by O.T. Jackson in 1910 just east of Greeley, Colorado. It was a bustling town of approximately 500 residents founded on the principles of Booker T. Washington. It was successful until the 1930s when depression, drought and dust storms forced most of the residents back to the cities. In the early 1940s, the town dwindled to about a dozen full time residents and finally ended shortly thereafter. The town is now a ghost town and the Museum owns many of the city lots. Click here for more information.
Read More
+
Newman Center for the Performing Arts: Eclectic, Electric Entertainment
Read More
+
Cherry Creek State Park: The Great Outdoors in the Big City
Read More
+
Dixie’s Tupperware Party
Read More
+
Paramount Theatre: Downtown Denver’s Performance Palace
Read More
+
Bovine Metropolis Theater: Moooving You to Tears of Laughter
Read More
+
Wild Ivories: Tickling the Keys and the Karaoke Crowd
Read More
+
Denver Bouldering Club: Peak Experience
Read More
+
Go Wild at the Denver Zoo
Spanning more than 80 acres in Denver’s historic City Park and home to numerous endangered species, the Denver Zoo is itself a rare bird among animal parks. With Bear Mountain, it was the first in the nation to create a naturalistic habitat; since then it has gone on to build Predator Ridge for African wildlife, the world’s largest Komodo dragon exhibit, and various other sanctuaries for the threatened likes of Andean condors, Pallas’s cats and Bactrian camels. But there’s nothing like Mshindi—a rhinoceros who paints with a brush and whose works are on permanent display in the Pachyderm House.
Read More
+
Beauty & Rock ‘n Roll at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
The Red Rocks Amphitheatre is not only a concert venue, its unique geological formations make it one of nature’s wonders where the seating is carved from Colorado's stunning red rocks. Catch up on the history of the red rocks at the visitor’s center and discover ancient dinosaur trails in the surrounding area. And of course, check the event listings at Red Rocks where bands like The Fray perform for thousands. This is a unique venue for concerts under the stars as well as breathtaking, natural views.
Read More
+
Starz Film Center: A Cinephile’s Sanctuary
For more than 30 years, the Denver Film Society has been hosting the Starz Denver Film Festival, acclaimed as the region’s best. Its cinematheque in the historic Tivoli—a onetime brewery turned student union on the UC–Denver campus—gives locals a year-round glimpse of the bold programming the organization is known for, especially when it comes to documentaries and cult discoveries: take series like DocNight, The Watching Hour—which Westword named the city’s best this year—and Mile-High Sci Fi, a live version of Mystery Science Theater 3000. All that and a full bar at the concession stand make the Starz Film Center a haunt for the city’s hippest cinephiles.
Read More
+
Colorado Ballet: Still En Pointe After 50 Years
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010, Colorado Ballet is perhaps the biggest jewel in the crown of the Denver Performing Arts Complex (most performances are held at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House). Though classics like Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, Swan Lake, and of course The Nutcracker are its bread and butter, the company’s been known to bring wilder stuff to the stage as well—including hoots like Great Galloping Gottschalk and Buffalo Bill’s Saloon (complete with line dancing). It’s also known for its international makeup: the dancers hail from countries as far-flung as Japan, Russia, and Cuba—while the artistic director himself, Gil Boggs, has performed around the world in his stints working with every big name in ballet from Mark Morris to Merce Cunningham.
Insider’s Tip: Make a sumptuous night of it with dinner at Restaurant Kevin Taylor, just across the street, before the show.
Read More
+
Giggles and Gasps at Buntport Theater Company
The locally acclaimed Buntport Theater Company will make you think again. This six-person troupe collaborates and hosts a variety of different projects, from original plays to monthly themed open mic nights—The Most Worthless Thing I Own, for instance—almost all of which are marked by the writer-director-actors’ characteristic brand of risky and borderline absurd wit (as the titles of recent productions Realism: The Mythical Brontosaurus and Kafka on Ice suggest). That’s not to say the Buntport Theater Company doesn't do serious, heart wrenching work; it's just that the company never forgets to have fun with the audience, including pint-sized playgoers (the seasonal family series tRUNks brings comic books to life).
Read More
+
An Urban Oasis at the Denver Botanic Gardens
Looking for a little peace and quiet from the sounds of the city? The 23-acre urban oasis that is the hip, wi-fi equipped Denver Botanic Gardens at York Street is a great place to think, write, read, and enjoy spectacular plants, flowers, and shrubs from all over the world.
Despite the mile high climate, altitude and geography presenting unique challenges to the horticulturists, the Denver Botanic Gardens is one of the top-ranked gardens in the United States. There are innovative designs with drought tolerant plants that showcase native and adapted plants. Highlights include the city's first publicly accessible green roof, where visitors can literally stand on top of the future of innovation in green energy.
Whether it's roses or chrysanthemums that tickle your nose, the Denver Botanic Gardens has three sites and changing events and exhibits that keep people coming back through the seasons.
Read More
+
From Mummies to Meteors: Denver Museum of Nature and Science
as the million-plus artifacts and specimens it displays (including the original Folsom point).
Located at the same City Park address since 1908, it has expanded over the decades to include a planetarium and an IMAX theater among its exhibitions of Native American culture, dinosaurs, gems and minerals, Egyptian mummies, and more (to ensure you’ve got the energy for it all, there’s a café on site as well).
And just as the Discovery Zone provides an interactive wonderland for the kiddies, the Science Lounge caters strictly to adults with a monthly series of lectures and happy-hour cocktails.
Read More
+
Pirouettes & Prima Donnas at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House
the Ellie, as Denverites call the home of Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet, is a world-class venue through and through. The crown jewel in the Denver Performing Arts Complex spans four levels from orchestra to balcony, ringed by a soaring foyer spangled with modern art (including a spectacular Dale Chihuly chandelier). And while the main attractions occur inside the lyric auditorium—from Tosca and La Bohème to Romeo and Juliet and the annual run of The Nutcracker—pre-theater dining at Kevin Taylor’s downstairs makes for a sumptuous sideshow.
Read More
+
Screamers Among the Skyscrapers: Elitch Gardens
Not many city skylines boast a Ferris wheel and roller coaster amid the spires and office towers. Thanks to Elitch Gardens, downtown Denver does. Moving to its current site alongside the Platte River basin from its original location in 1995, the 120-year-old theme park presents a kaleidoscope of classic thrill rides—from the Mind Eraser with its double corkscrew turns to the Tower of Doom, which drops daredevils groundward from 200 feet in the air. For the tots, old-time favorites abound: there’s a carousel, tilt-a-whirl, and teacup ride, as well as the Island Kingdom Water Park with a high dive, wave pool, and array of slides. Kicking off in May, the season ends with a spooky bang during October’s Fright Fest—a boo-filled blast of haunted houses and trick-or-treat trails.
Read More
+
The Bluebird Theater’s Still Singing After All These Years
From the Fillmore Auditorium to the Ogden Theatre, East Colfax Avenue is bejeweled with historic concert venues. But the Bluebird Theater, at almost 100 years old, is the crown gem.
Like the infamous neighborhood itself, the location has had its ups and downs—including a run as a porn house—but since 1994 it’s been welcoming the nation’s coolest up-and-comers (and even some of its more beloved down-and-outers) from a wide range of musical genres. Neither the main floor nor the balcony has seating (though both have bars), so sport comfortable footwear—unless, of course, you’d rather put on your dancing shoes, a must on New Year’s Eve when the local legends of Slim Cessna’s Auto Club return to town.
Read More
+
Vita: Eat. Drink. Listen.
An early bloom in the blossoming East Highlands, Vita has endured in the light of its special perks. Funky and arty with the works of local painters, it boasts one of the city’s few rooftop terraces, thronged on warm evenings with couples taking in a stellar view of downtown at sunset; inside, jazz combos keep the mood cool several nights a week.
Despite the Italian name, the menu skews contemporary American, with an emphasis on entree-worthy small plates like seven-hour pork braised with cherry peppers and a mini-osso buco over blue cheese polenta, many of which go for $5 or less during happy hour. Speaking of deals, bargain-bin buffs take note: the entire selection of wines by the bottle is offered at half-price on Tuesdays.
Read More
+
Boots, Buckles, Booze at Grizzly Rose
thrives. Voted Country Club of America by the Country Music Association, Grizzly Rose is its headquarters.
The sprawling honkytonk has it all: a roster of concerts ranging from Grammy darlings like Taylor Swift to venerable old-timers like The Bellamy Brothers (along with the occasional ’80s hair band), a mechanical bull, cheap (and sometimes even free) beer, line dancing and two-stepping—as well as free weekly classes for the slickers.
On top of all of Grizzly's activities, there's some of the greatest people-watching in the city: nowhere else are you likely to find cowboys whooping it up with hipsters and confused but gung-ho tourists.
Read More
+
Jazzed by Dazzle
The yin to El Chapultepec’s yang, Dazzle is Denver’s other most esteemed jazz venue—and every bit as amenity-oriented as The Pec is no-frills. While its nightly lineup of both local and national talent—swing, bebop, fusion, et cetera—has won it numerous awards from both local and national media (including Downbeat), the club also gets its audience into the act via fascinating interactive programs like First Monday Art Talks and Jeff Jenkins’ Piano Conversations.
Moreover, it’s made fans, even among non-enthusiasts, with its freewheeling happy hour and the Friday Lunch Club—both featuring live music and a $5 menu—as well as the famed Sunday Urban Brunch, a sprawling all-you-can-eat affair complete with a bottomless bloody mary and mimosa bar.
Read More
+
Rock-and-Rolling with the Punches: Denver Roller Derby
For a 21st-century cosmopolis, Denver still hasn’t lost its rough-and-tumble Wild West edge. Case in point: the super-popularity of roller derby. The city supports not one, but two leagues, the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls and the Denver Roller Dolls—sponsored by none other than good old PBR.
Whether taking place at the Fillmore Auditorium or the new 1STBANK Center, bouts between teams with names like the Dooms Daisies and the Green Barrettes can get deliciously fierce—and the surprisingly mixed crowd, from hipsters to families, loves it, cheering on the likes of Aphromighty and Fonda Payne. But the fun doesn’t stop or even start at the rink: take the RMRG’s Party Bus, and you’ll be whisked to the match, piled with free beer, and returned to the afterparty at the Skylark Lounge.
Read More
+
The DAM Bursts with Surprises
You don’t even have to step inside to see the art of the Denver Art Museum (a.k.a. the DAM): its ultramodern, extra-angular two-building exterior is a masterwork in itself, designed by world-famous architects Gio Ponti and Daniel Libeskind, respectively.
But once you do, you’ll discover a collection that’s remarkable for a mid-sized metropolis. While it runs the standard gamut from European painting to pre-Columbian artifacts, it’s especially strong in some unexpected areas, namely American Indian art and American graphic design.
But the biggest artistic surprise awaits in the bathroom: when you wash your hands, you’ll be treated to a round of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” courtesy of Jim Green’s notorious automatic singing sinks.
Read More
+
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver: From Mixed Media to Mixed Taste
Eschewing a permanent collection, it stages ever-rotating, often highly provocative exhibitions that interrogate postmodern society and our place in it: existentially inclined short films by Yang Fudong, the wacky soundscapes of local artist Jim Green, even Damien Hirst’s famed mixed media installations.
And following a merger with The Lab, it now hosts some of the city’s most eye-opening programs—above all Mixed Taste, a seasonal series of lectures each comprised of two unrelated topics: imagine (if you can) the Human Genome and Leadbelly or Absinthe and Arctic Ice Caps.
Read More
+
All the City’s a Stage at the Curious Theatre Company
munity theaters, and then there are professional theaters that deeply engage their community. The Curious Theatre proudly falls in the latter category, often staging works by Denver-area scribes.
The company also offers annual playwriting workshops for young talent and hosts a unique fundraiser called Denver Stories—a gala performance of four plays, each inspired and co-written by some of the city’s most illustrious residents, from political figures like Governor Bill Ritter to sports heroes such as former Broncos star Reggie Rivers.
True to the notion that the personal is the political, it tends toward edgy, socially conscious productions that have won over many a local critic: Curious (as it's known) has won the Denver Post’s Ovation Award for Best Year by a Company five years in a row!
Read More
+
On the Road Redux: The Beat Poetry Driving Tour
surprise to fans of Kerouac, Cassady, Ginsberg, and Burroughs that the Beat Poetry Driving Tour isn’t officially instituted; like the mid-century literary movement itself, it’s DIY. But since Denver (along with Boulder) was a temporary or permanent home to many of the Beats’ brightest lights, the city government has created a thoroughly engaging webguide to all the signficant sites in their lives, from parks and baseball diamonds to Larimer Square (Skid Row in Kerouac’s day, it now boasts some of Denver’s best dining and shopping).
Quick tip: save Stop 2, The Colburn Hotel, for the end of your tour so you can wind down with a drink at historic piano bar Charlie Brown’s.
Read More
+
Breathtaking Garden of the Gods
me: think breathtaking views of 300 spectacular sandstone formations against a clear blue sky and snow capped mountains. The Garden of the Gods is so incredible it is a registered National Natural Landmark and is the most visited attraction in the region.
For the adventurous, this free park offers a plethora of activities like rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking or horseback riding. There are always many special activities or simple guided tours that cater to each level of fitness or serenity.
When you've run out of energy, the glassed Pikes Peak cafe always you to replenish on delicious dishes, while taking in the incredible views from another level.
Read More
+
Small on Size, Big on Surprise: Denver’s Downtown Aquarium
, far more pleasant surprises.
Aside from all the tropical fish, sharks, eels, otters, and turtles you’d expect, there are also stingrays in a petting tank, birds, reptiles, and, of all incongruous but exciting things, a tiger exhibit.
Best of all, due to its relatively late hours (not to mention its cocktail lounge), it’s the setting of many a quirky date night long past the kiddies' bedtime.
Read More
+
More than Hoops and Hockey Pucks at the Pepsi Center
Nuggets and the Avalanche, the 5-story, 20,000-seat Pepsi Center is no mere sports venue. Located at the edge of downtown, the site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention also hosts concerts (think Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga), ice shows, and family fare galore (the Harlem Globetrotters regularly perform here). What’s more, amenities abound—from a full-service restaurant, the Blue Sky Grill, and a merchandise outlet to private event suites and even a state-of-the-art business center and meeting space. If it weren’t for the thunderous crowds cheering on Carmelo Anthony and Chris “Birdman” Anthony, you could practically mistake the place for a grand hotel.
Read More
+
A Slice of the Lush Life at El Chapultepec
The smoke that hung thickly for decades has cleared, but that’s about the only difference between the El Chapultepec of yesteryear and the Pec, as it’s affectionately known, of today.
Tiny, dark, and frankly pretty dumpy, this legendary club at the edge of downtown nonetheless shines white-hot with live jazz and blues nightly, just as it has since the 1930s.
Along the way, everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Stan Getz to the Marsalis brothers has played the Pec—but musical magic seems to happen no matter who’s onstage. And the fact that there’s no cover—just a one-drink minimum—only sweetens the good vibe.
Read More
+
Pop Art & Graffiti at Andenken Gallery
Read More
+
Meet The Pioneering Heroes of The Black American West Museum
-school textbook lets on. It comes to life at the Black American West Museum, one of Denver’s most undersung treasures. Set in a handsome Five Points two-story building that was once home to the state’s first female black doctor, the exhibits cover surprising ground: from the open range where black cowboys roamed to the battlefields of the Buffalo Soldiers to Dearfield, an early-twentieth-century all-black settlement that’s now a genuine Colorado ghost town.
Bonus: the museum’s just about a lasso’s toss away from Tom’s Home Cookin,’ a long-standing lunchtime favorite for soul food.
Read More
+
Glitz and Giggles at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret
ars as Patsy DeCline in a hearty send-up of country music—the spotlight shines on a variety of acts Denverites hold dear, from the Demented Divas to Naughty Pierre’s Burlesque and Comedy Extravaganza; risqué as they are, their real appeal’s due to their surprisingly strong talent.
If your taste runs toward subtler stuff, however, you’re still in luck, as nationally touring torch singers, jazz combos, and blues crews also regularly book stops here.
Read More
+
You Gotta Hear It to Believe It: Jim Green
least for the fact that you can’t actually see his work. What you can do is hear it: take a ride (or two) on his Laughing Escalator at the Colorado Convention Center; wash your hands in his Singing Sinks at the Denver Art Museum; pace the intersection of 15th and Curtis until you hear the whistles and hoofbeats of his Soundwalk rising up from the pavement grates.
Green’s recorded installations defamiliarize the mundane environment through which we usually move so thoughtlessly, startling us into laughter—and his exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, continuing through January 3, 2010, is no different, centering as it does on whoopee cushions.
Read More
+
The Lowdown On The Hi-Dive
venues in a town that knows indie music.
Small and dingy, it nonethless draws the idiosyncratic likes of string maestro Anni Rossi; Dengue Fever, influenced above all by old Cambodian pop and surf rock; and neo-psychedelic groovers Starlight Mints.
And when you get your fill of tunes, you can load up in turn on suds and grub like the famous sweet potato fries at Sputnik, the hi-dive’s adjacent sibling.
Read More
+
MACC: So Much Art in So Few Words
nver Children's Theatre, and the Jewish Film Festival all under its belt, The Mizel Arts & Culture Center, or MACC, is one of the Rocky Mountain's premier arts organizations.
Located on the campus of the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center, the Center’s mission is to draw attention to the many artistic achievements of the Jewish community as well as the Denver community at large.
Each one of its many arms is prized performance venue that features high quality and new work from the area. There's always a new show or new exhibit that's completely unique to Denver going on at the MACC.
Read More
+
Spooky, Yet Serene Cheeseman Park
Read More
+
The All-Encompassing Denver Center for the Performing Arts