Last week I had the chance to wander around the South Gaylord Street neighborhood of Denver’s Washington Park East during a weekday lunch break. I travel through Washington Park often, but rarely make it into this hidden jewel of a street.

Founded in 1924 South Gaylord Street is one of the oldest retail districts in Denver outside of the central downtown area. Local businesses including a movie theater moved in through the 20s and 30s to serve the community, and when the car culture of the 50s and 60s arrived the district stayed alive and became an eclectic artist community with independent retail and restaurants - to which it still is today. If you’re visiting the area of Cherry Creek, Washington Park, or DU (University of Denver,) it’s worth checking out South Gaylord for the variety of food, sports, art, and good friendly people.

Business list and map Picture below - two bike shops of course. The Singletrack Factory Bike Skate and Snowboard Shop, and Tandem Cycle Works of Colorado. (Tandem’s site definitely makes tandem biking look sexy.) Above: Devil’s Food Bakery and Coffee Shop.

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From the Onion News Network

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It’s nice to see that the U.S. isn’t the only country with an active nanny patrol eager to overprotect their citizens. This Guardian article, which I read in the Budget Travel blog, makes us aware of the apparent controversy of nudity on Mt. Everest. Which must be tearing apart Nepal at the seams. No they don’t want to establish a nudist camp on the mountain, they just plan to prohibit climbers from disrobing en route or at summit in order to protect themselves from frostbite. Or perhaps children who failed to become traumatized by sexy movies aboard Delta Airlines. Who exactly will be on-site to enforce this?

The Broomfield Colorado company “A Bash in a Bag“ started by party planner Sarah Edgar was featured in the Rocky Mountain News today. These kits contain all the necessary accoutrements to throw yourself or a friend a party of a specific theme - plus eight to 16 guests. Among the kits are “Girls Night In,” “New Homeowner,” “Divorced Divas,” and “Golf Gurus.” Kits run between $60 and $200. Hey no “Retirement Party” Bash? p.s. Congratulations Mom!

R.I.P. Cinderella Twin Drive in Movie Theater. I took these photos a year ago while biking near the area. Now this ground that’s held so many memories for a generation of Denver locals will now… become… apartments. Sigh…. Lucky us.

More discussion here

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Yes it’s true:  The movie King Kong poses a threat to your children.   (I really didn’t want to post a picture of kids toting around guns, but there are plenty on Flickr.)

Lacking something better to do Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina is sponsoring a bill that would ban violent and sexually suggestive movies from U.S. airlines.  Never mind that in-flight movies are already selected from the pile deemed LEAST offensive,  but then they’re usually edited down further to the point of being unwatchable for most adults.  That’s right, adults.  I prefer to live in a society where the demarcation line of culture and behavioral norms doesn’t fall right above a kindergarten class.  That doesn’t mean that every public space should be a red light district, but do you really want public spaces to be dumbed down to a Chuck E. Cheese level for ALL citizens?

Another busybody, Jesse Kalisher, of Chapel Hill, started the site www.kidsafefilms.com to encourage bored and/or outraged parents to become involved.  In addition to a bitchy petition letter and horror stories of children almost joining gangs or becoming gay upon deplaning after viewing movies like King Kong, this poster actually writes something we can both agree on!

I no longer fly with my children because of the coarseness of in-flight entertainment.
— Marta McGrath

Right on Marta!  Airlines are having enough problems simply taking off and landing at their destinations in a timely manner, if they make it there at all, without needing to worry if “50 First Dates” will traumatize children.  Get congress and government out of such trivial concerns.  Senators and congressmen:  WHY do you let such stupid groups push you around?  YOU know this isn’t an important issue!  If enough parents believe this is truly a problem they will stop flying with “A” airline, and “B” airline will step in and fill their need.  In fact this crazy free market concept already exists in the nascent of air travel:  Southwest is known for goofiness and frivolity, JetBlue is known for upscale budget with personal video screens - hear that angry moms?  There’s “Smintair” in Germany which caters to smokers, and we had Hooters Air for a while in the U.S. for those perpetually horny travelers.  See?  Where there’s a need, the market will provide.

Cranky Flier had further analysis and this to say:

A bunch of passengers suffer without in-flight entertainment just because a couple of parents can’t prevent their kid from watching the movie. Give ‘em a blindfold or some baby Ambien (or something else that doesn’t exist just in fantasy land). Or better yet, just don’t fly on planes with overhead screens. This doesn’t impact flights with personal screens because you can turn those off yourself, so there are plenty of options for parents who really care about this.

I’ve said it before: Regulations and laws should exist to protect people from the dangers of plummeting elevators, defective airbags, and tainted peanut butter. Government doesn’t need to be involved in the mundane, trivial, and compartmentalized aspects of consumerism.  But if they do, how about controlling something more obnoxious:  The blaring news channels above every other airport gate.  I find noise pollution much more intrusive then quasi-adult movies with the sound off, and I lost my TV-B-Gone.

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Despite an interruption mid show caused by a 10 minute long audio problem the Chemical Brothers put on a tremendously rocking and fun show at the Fillmore Auditorium last night.

Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons took the show after opener The Faint performed a 45 minute set. Opening with “Galvanize” the duo worked the crowd throughout the night and seamlessly blended in two of my other favorites “It began in Afrika” and “Leave Home.” Their metallic set and interwoven chain video screen gave an industrial vibe to the normally cozy feeling Fillmore, and the crowd of all ages, styles, and backgrounds at it all up.

Thanks to my professional photographer friend M.P. for these photos. He’ll be happy to sell you some wall size prints if you like.

If you’re headed to the Fillmore Auditorum in Denver and care to libate yourself before the show - you’d be best served by visiting the Red Room a few blocks down or Dulcinea’s next door. I discovered during last night’s visit a beer and vodka/soda on site now costs MORE than economy parking at the airport.

This weekend the Chemical Brothers will be headlining the Annual Nocturnal Wonderland Festival in downtown Los Angeles.

Jump for two more pics

(more…)

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Somehow I wound up on the iRobot e-mail list, which I really don’t mind as I enjoy reading about their new products and developments. iRobot produces the “Roomba” self propelled floor vacuum series, the “Roomba Scooba” wet mop, and also creates tactical robots for military and government. With our constant fears of the lone backpacks sitting on the park bench I’m sure those are selling like hot cakes with. Combined with the Roomba 500 series I recently featured this company seems as intelligent as their products.

Now just in time for fall: The iRobot Looj. A self propelled gutter cleaner to keep them free of leaves, debris, dead squirrels, or whatever else haunts your eaves.

Starting at $99 it’s not a bad price if you don’t feel quite nimble enough to skirt around the edge of your roof for hours, but then again I would probably just give the neighbor kid 20 bucks for the job. But on second second thought his mom might sue me when HE falls, which makes the little Looj pictured below seem like a pretty good idea.

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For lunch today I dined at Max Gill and Grill, one of the most popular restaurants of the Old South Gaylord retail district in Denver’s East Washington Park. This location was formerly known as “Hemingway’s,” with a nautical themed design that barely skirted Jimmy Buffet’s copyright holdings. (Complete with wooden planks and fishing nets strewn about the walls of course.)  The atmosphere at Max Gill and Grill is more refined and upscale with a simple yet comprehensive seafood menu, a tranquil ambiance, and comfortable furnishings including beautiful teak tables out on the patio.

Being located in a somewhat hidden residential area it doesn’t garner the big business power lunches, so Tuesday’s mid day crowd was quite light. Max Gill caters mostly to evening diners from Washington Park and surrounding enclaves. The staff was pleasant and attentive, and they fired up the patio heat lamps for us this mild fall day.

We had the sampler which included ribs, fried tomatoes, and calamari, and I had the healthy Sashimi Salad: a blend of fresh tuna, rice noodles, honey soy vinaigrette, and bell peppers.

Max Gill and Grill is located at 1052 South Gaylord, just a few blocks west of University between Tennessee and Mississippi. More info and their menu online at Maxgillandgrill.com And after dinner you can walk off your food exploring the two block long stretch of Old South Gaylord street - a wonderful historic Denver neighborhood crammed with shops and small stores of all flavors.

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Over the weekend I read several news stories about Sao Paulo’s new ban on outdoor advertising. In recent years outdoor advertising has run amok in Sao Paulo. In order to earn extra money property owners drape enormous ads on building fronts, covering up historic structures and modern highrises alike. Led by Regina Monteiro, Sao Paulo’s director of environment and urban landscape, the cityscape is slowly revealing the old edifices. Depending on your view of profit versus aesthetics this is a positive project for the city, or will have a negative impact on business and economics.

I consider myself middle of the road, although definitely leaning more to a city’s right to control the aesthetics and appearance. I don’t care for garish and over the top signs and banners, and like most I find advertising as litter disgusting: i.e. street spam and “work from home” ads tacked on telephone poles. But I understand in big cities like New York and L.A.’s westside vertical real estate is at a premium and can command a high dollar.

When you drive down a commercial corridor with little restrictions everyone thinks “yuck” in their heads, even subconsciously. Then visit a small town or neighborhood where local leaders and residents care about it’s appearance and take initiatives to do so and you’ll have a much more favorable impression of the city.

This doesn’t affect ALL outdoor advertising. It mainly targets the disproportionate oversize signs, as well has highlights design specification for storefronts and retail. Here’s a few stories:

Christian Science Monitor

The first phase of the program, dubbed the Clean City law, was designed to rid South America’s biggest metropolis of its ubiquitous advertising. Owners of apartment complexes rented space on the sides of their buildings to companies hawking underwear with 150-foot-high posters. Shops plastered their name in mega letters above the door. And drivers sped along highways lined with signs for everything from TV programs to cold meats to universities.

Ad executives said the billboards created jobs and helped fuel the city’s economy – and brought a splash of color to the overwhelmingly gray panorama. But city officials argued it had gone too far, creating “visual pollution.” The strict new code is backed with minimum fines of 10,000 reais ($5,000) for noncompliance.

Under the new law, all oversized ads must come down. Signage standards are shrinking, too. Stores with a shop front exceeding 100 meters (328 feet) in length are allowed two signs, but each smaller than 10 square meters (33 square feet). Smaller stores can have one sign no bigger than 4 meters (13 feet) square.

Of course Business Weekly had a more fiscal view…

Others predicted that the city would look even worse with the ads removed, a bland concrete jungle replacing the chaos of the present. North Korea and communist Eastern Europe were cited as indicative of what was to come. “I think this city will become a sadder, duller place,” Dalton Silvano, the only city councillor to vote against the laws and (not entirely coincidentally) an ad executive, was quoted as saying in the International Herald Tribune. “Advertising is both an art form and, when you’re in your car, or alone on foot, a form of entertainment that helps relieve solitude and boredom,” he claimed.

There was also much questioning of whether there weren’t, in fact, far greater eyesores in the city—such as the thousands of homeless people, the poor condition of the roads and the notorious favelas: wouldn’t Kassab’s time be better spent removing these problems than persecuting taxi drivers and shop owners? Legal challenges followed while, in an almost comical scenario, advertising executives followed marches by the city’s students and its bin men by driving their cars up and down in front of city hall in protest.

World Changing posted this response by Erik Assadourian when questioned on whether other city issues should take precedence:

Such laws are important for a perhaps less obvious reason: combating global warming. “It’s not simply greenhouse gases that cause climate change–it’s our consumer lifestyle that causes the greenhouse gases that cause climate change,” he notes. “Until we end consumerism and the rampant advertising that drives it, we will not solve the climate crisis.”

I say good for Sao Paulo. It certainly will make the city more beautiful and more livable, and encourage more to visit the frenetic bustling metropolis. Houston, are you listening?

Photo from Flickr.

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Can you accept that fact that a car is expendable?   Lynn Hanley opines in this Guardian article from August the British mentality regarding public transit, Britain’s perception of it, and it’s potential future.

As a lifelong pedestrian and user of public transport, the only trouble I tend to experience in getting from A to B is having to listen to people who usually drive describe pleasant, speedy journeys as “a bloody shambles”. Methinks they protest too much, mindful that to be caught sharing transport with other people is to show the world what a loser you are. Anyway, these serial complainers have presumably never been in a traffic jam, or been subject to roadworks.

Every day I meet people, living a short walk from reliable, regular, late-running forms of public transport, who insist that having a car is “necessary” to their lives and who can’t understand how our household is capable of functioning without one. The lack of bottom-up will to reduce car and plane use is staggering. While the aims of this week’s climate camp outside Heathrow are commendable, and many will agree in principle, millions more will see the environmentalists’ demand that we stop flying as an act of moral snobbery aimed at making people’s lives harder.

Gay Football World Cup in Buenos Aires   The 17th annual event will be held in South America’s most exotic city.  (Or second most exotic for those who have their heart in Rio.)  Kudos to Buenos Aires for supporting this event.  The city has an excellent reputation among gay travelers as a welcoming and accepting place to visit.   And someday I’ll return…

Check out the history of the games at the International Gay Football Association site.

Best Buy shamed into confession.   Best Buy was recently exposed for having “secret” in-store websites, which much to the dismay and irritation of shoppers displayed HIGHER prices than what shoppers would view on the regular Best Buy site.  Now their in-store web kiosks have a disclaimer noting so. Read up at the Consumerist.

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I’m enjoying an almost 90 degree day in the city, yet writing the first ski post of the season and anxious for some soft powder and my first day on the slopes.

Early season snowriders who will be in the central/southwestern Colorado area this fall - check out Crested Butte’s “Ski for Free” promotion.

The promotion details? Actually that’s pretty much it! Nothing more. From November 25th through December 15th Crested Butte will allow free access to all open trails! In addition they’re offering lodging and instruction specials during the promotion as well.

Their season opens November 17th. More info here, and at Crested Butte’s official site.

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Blake Street Glass Studio is having an open house.   Have you ever wondered how designs like these are created?  Now for an evening or afternoon you can watch talented glass artisans at work in searing heat as they morph shapes and mold ideas into the physical.

The team of Blake Street Glass, detailed here, consists of Denver local Kit Karbler, his partner Dimitri Rudenko, plus three young and skilled craftsmen with varying backgrounds and experience.

The exhibit is Friday October 5th from 6pm to 10pm, then Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 3pm.

More at Blakestreetglass.com

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I often peruse the site Lifehacker.com   It’s a site devoted to computer tips, tricks, the office environment, gadgetry, health, and collections of articles to make your work and home life more productive.  Sometimes the posts are a tad simplistic, but overall it’s fun to read, and it’s popularity results in many comments and discussions.

A recent topic was “Show us your go-bag,”  in which readers sent in photos of their briefcases, messenger bags, man purses, or other totes.   We see how our online friends organize their stuff, what they carry, and what tech gear they use.  This fun and healthy voyeuristic topic resulted in two more “Show us your go-bags” and a follow up “Show us your desktop.”

However I think we’re straining a bit with today’s “Show us your system tray” post, but hey it’s Friday. So in the same spirit I propose Lifehacker take over my idea of “Show us your keyboard leavin’s.”  

Simply put:  Turn over your keyboard, give it a good two or three “THUNKS” then take a picture of your desk.  We want to see it!  The staples, paperclips, sunflower seeds, donut crumbs, toothpicks, cereal crumbs, and fingernails too. 

I do my best to maintain a tidy and clean workspace, but like most folks when something falls into the deep crevices between R, T, and F, you just move on and forget the expedition to retrieve it.

I’ll start this glorious and disgusting endeavor. Of course my beige desk doesn’t lend well to contrast, so I scraped them onto a blank white paper.   Guess who snacked on Golden Grahams this morning?  Let’s see yours!

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I’ve been testing the newest member of the iPod family, the big-screen iPod Touch.  The iTouch will be released September 28th, but I was able to try it out at home a week in advance!  It’s a close cousin of the iPhone in that it connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi wireless networking, and replaces the famous iPod click wheel with a touch screen.

Like earlier iPods, the Touch is elegant and capable, and interacts smoothly with Apple’s free iTunes software for Windows and Macintosh PCs, as well as with it’s computer-based online iTunes Store which sells far more downloadable songs and TV shows than any other legal outlet. Not only that, but the Touch introduces a mobile version of the iTunes store. It’s called the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and it allows you to buy, via the iPod, any of six million songs for the same price you’d pay on a computer. This portable store will soon be made available on the iPhone as well.

In my experience the music and video playback went perfectly, as did viewing photos. The Wi-Fi functions, including the Web browser, a YouTube video viewer and the new mobile store, also worked perfectly.

Apple’s new iPod touch is a great media player, and the iPod remains the best end-to-end portable solution for playing and purchasing music and video.

It’s available in 8GB and 16GB.  More info at Apple.com, including a video demo.

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Erik Caves is profiled by the OC Register. Is it possible for a family to live without a car in car dependent southern California?:

And what he’s doing is remarkable in a nation of 220 million adults owning 247 million registered vehicles. A nation so dependent on those vehicles that, according to Jane Holtz Kay’s book “Asphalt Nation,” by the time you finish this sentence, they will have traveled another “60,000 miles, used up 3,000 gallons of petroleum (products) and added 60,000 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.”

Jess started taking the bus to work. Erick started biking Rachel to tutoring lessons and to the park to play. All three of them bike to Target and the beach. They’ve discovered new restaurants. Met new people. Rediscovered their own neighborhood. Within two months they paid off two credit cards. No car meant no car bills. It also meant no quick trips to Taco Bell. No morning jolt of Starbucks. No impulse buys of jeans or toys at Target.

Excellent examples of living simply and reaping the rewards. But why is it difficult to find a Starbucks?

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is promoting cycling initiatives including bike lanes, parking stations, and awareness. This video by the way highlights some of the worst cycling methods. The cyclist doesn’t take his lane, he filters up to red lights (perhaps filtering for bikes and motorcycles is legal in Mass,) and he weaves in and out of lanes. I can’t say I’m always innocent of these errors, but I wouldn’t a video of it much less make it a promo video.

Anyway good for Boston. Check out the story and video.

Stung by national criticism and hoping to take a bite out of traffic and air pollution, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is vowing to change that. A newly converted cyclist himself, Menino will announce today the hiring of a bike czar, former Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman, and a first phase of improvements to include 250 new bike racks across Boston and an online map system.

“Boston has unbelievable potential,” Freedman said. “We’re a compact city, we’re flat, we have a young population and lots of tourists. If we do this correctly, we have the potential to be one of the best bike cities in the country. In three years, I think we will see some very dramatic changes.”

Also from the Boston Globe: Fall activities in the Aspen / Roaring Fork area.. If any Bostonians are traveling this way don’t forget to breakfast at Marion’s of the Rockies in Idaho Springs on your way up. You’ll find me there any Saturday or Sunday that I’m headed west :)

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From the Rocky Mountain News: A-Basin steps up it’s marketing and size.  I’ve always recommended A-Basin as a low key destination for those visiting and skiing in Summit County.  It’s relatively small compared to the large resorts of Keystone and Breckenridge.  It’s close to all other Summit County resorts with local bus service, and it’s easy to get from street to slopes without being bogged down by shops, remote parking, and masses of people trundling along with you.

As A-Basin prepares to almost double in size this winter, ski area officials here hope the $3 million expansion will raise the area’s profile among out-of-state visitors and address some of the crowding it has experienced as it becomes more popular among local residents.

“More and more people are discovering Arapahoe,” said Alan Henceroth, chief operating officer of the 61-year-old ski area. “But if you go out of state, people don’t really know about us.”  With 400 acres of new trails on the backside of its summit, the area could prove an even stronger draw this season for Front Range residents. Its location on the western side of Loveland Pass makes it one of the closest ski areas to Denver.

From CNN Travel:  The Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis brings a chic look to the frosty midwest metropolis.  Following the lead of Kimpton’s chain, the Chambers bring a fresh look and vibe to the downtown Minneapolis area.  I would definitely stay here when hitting the Twin Cities.  But no mini rooftop swimming pool ala Yucatan’s Hotel Basico?  Just a thought for those muggy summer nights…

As much a local haunt as a business hub, the hotel’s airy lobby lures a crowd of twentysomethings in screen-printed T-shirts, glammed-up theatergoers, and after-work suits. Come night, they hit the clubby rooftop bar and courtyard fire pit next to Angus Fairhurst’s one-armed gorilla sculpture.

website at chambersminneapolis.com

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Fall is here, and each morning as I check the outdoor thermometer before my daily bike ride to work I see it downticking more and more.   It’s not cold enough to break out the Gore-Tex gloves, and my cheap liners I picked up last year didn’t make it through the winter without some fingers poking through.   I saw these gloves (pictured right) by Descente at a local bike shop and picked them up in order to give me a comfy start to the approaching cold season.

They’re a local Boulder company, and have a wide selection of apparel for cycling and running, as well as buckets of cool accessories.  Their “Element” jacket is a perfect all season light yet waterproof and highly insulated jacket which is perfect for winter biking, hiking, and skiing, or use as a liner on those really really cold days. 

They’re sold at REI and local bike stores around the country.  Descenteathletic.com

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Next fall the Democratic National Convention will be held in our fine fair city bringing media coverage, commerce, clout, and light to issues important to the Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions of the country.   

Another plus, thankfully, is that attention will be focused on something other than hypocritical gay church leaders and theocratically ruled political action groups in Colorado Springs, some 70 miles south of our enlightened thinkers in the beautiful, leafy, more culturally balanced neighborhoods surrounding Denver and Boulder.

The DNC is calling on local residents from all walks of life to show their stuff and be potential bloggers during the event. You’ll have your own homepage on  08DNC.com to explain how the election affects you and how politics relate to your life and your home in Colorado.

Are you an outspoken and opinionated Denver resident?  More info here.   Why yes of course I did!  I certainly fall into a few of the below categories.  Although I’m not entirely sure what an “Obama Girl” is.  Here’s what they’re looking for:

A high school student
A college student
An active Republican
An active Democrat
A Legislator
A Union member
A DNC Committee insider
People from the gay and lesbian community
Artist
Writer
A Governor – if you have time!
Business person
A video blogger
Christian
Muslim
Medical Professional
Restaurant owner
Media person (of course you can push your own gig/media)
Obama girl
Law Enforcement
Old/young/whatever race you want to “represent”
Soccer moms/stay-at-home dads
Taxi driver
Immigrants – legal or illegal, we don’t care
A person with the name John Hickenlooper   - edit semi inside joke.  That’s our mayor
Opinionated, well read, has something to say person…

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