Page 228 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2021 DISCOVERING SANTA FE

sells hats, belts and vests – in 1948 and it was a of the building because he believed people would
revolutionary place,” he said. “You can hardly name want to live downtown, Grant said.
any famous person who hasn’t been in the store. “People thought he was crazy, but he succeeded
Every other building in LoDo has been repurposed, and that was one of the sparks that lit the revital-
but Rockmount is the same as it was long ago.” ization of LoDo,” Grant said. Hickenlooper, a pe-
Then it was on to Larimer Square, which was the troleum geologist by training, proved a popular
first section of LoDo to be restored and another fellow and went on to become Denver’s mayor
Dana Crawford project. After that, we visited the from 2003 to 2011 and then governor of Colorado
Dairy Block, a former dairy that is now filled with from 2011 to 2019. He was elected to the U.S.
restaurants on the first floor. We also strolled Senate last year.
through an alley filled with stalls that reminded “The Wynkoop was the game changer for the
me of the medina (old quarter) in Marakesh, Mo- modern era of LoDo,” Grant added. “There was
rocco. nothing much within five or more blocks when it
No trip to LoDo would be complete, however, opened. Now, within a six block radius, there are
without stopping in at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., 100 restaurants and bars.”
which Grant told us was Colorado’s original brew- But the Wynkoop was special, Grant said, some-
pub. It was started by John Hickenlooper and what akin to Rick’s Cafe in the Humphrey Bogart,
three friends back in 1988, when the area was still Ingrid Bergman movie “Casablanca.” “If you came
considered skid row. Hickenlooper had been to to Denver, you made your way to the Wynkoop. I
California, experienced brewpubs there and met writer Kurt Vonegut and other luminaries
brought the concept back to Colorado. there.”

As much as I enjoyed Lodo, the highlight of the
The brewery/restaurant in the old J.S. Brown trip for me was Union Station itself. In addition to
Mercantile Building did well. Hickenlooper then breakfast at the Snooze and ice cream cones at the
added condos and apartments to the upper floors Milkbox Ice Creamery, Lafferty and I also had din-

228 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2021