Lion's Lair

Colfax.  It's embedded in the Denver psyche as a relic of its past as a watering hole on the way west, a destination for trouble, the dirty bits.  Like a junky in a halfway house, though, it's pulling itself up and dusting off the 70's.  You can now go there to find a juxtaposition of trendy hipster joints and coffee houses down the block from used car lots, dirt cheap taco stands, and purveyors of all things green and leafy.  And a juxtaposition of a street is a perfect spot for a place like the Lion's Lair.   

It is tough to pin the Lion's Lair down, as from entry you're receiving conflicting signals.  Cover charge is $5.  By sheer principle a dive shouldn't charge a cover, so you're left a bit salty.  Then, of course, as this is the Lion's Lair, you're awarded with some live music for your 5 hard-earned which takes away the sting a bit.  The Atomic Americans proceed to take the stage, which is cozily jammed up in the front corner of the smallish velvet covered room (complete with Velvet Elvis; solid) that is the Lair, and they're led by a guy with a keytar.  A frickin keytar?  I fought the urge to ask for my cover charge back and ordered a beverage.  

Every Girl's Dream: A Keytar Devo Doll

After that the 180s kept coming:  Beer options covered Old Style cans all the way through to Fat Tire bottles.  A bright shiny ATM sat in the corner looking respectable, respectable until you noticed that it is from 'Metropolitan Trust', or some such obviously made up bank.  Pictures of the Lion ranged from one sultry looking porn kitty to the ferocious version that adorned the hard rockin t-shirt that I scored for $10.  And the bartender's attempt at getting me to take my shirt off in order to try on the house t-shirt ('What? I can't hear you with your shirt on!') left me feeling scared and turned on at the same time. 

Hopefully you get the picture.  The Lion's Lair is well situated on Colfax, the battle of pleasant seediness versus gentrification that is going on before our eyes, as it'll cover whatever you're in for: a cheap can of anything cold, a craft brew, or five bucks worth of live music.  And if you're in for the music, don't be dismayed if the band's sporting a keytar - the one I saw kicked ass (even though the rest of the band was only average).

You can disturb the Lion's Lair at 2022 East Colfax.

Dreaming of Dives

Ever wonder what 4 years of writing about dives looks like?  It looks like a cloud of neon graffiti, shining brightly through blackness of a seldom travelled back street, somewhere off Colfax.