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Letters: Casa Bonita no longer family budget-friendly

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

Casa Bonita changes not so budget-friendlyRe: “Eatery defies norm, eliminates tipping,” June 28 news storyThe current rage over the newly remodeled Casa Bonita is quite interesting and comical. The new owners have put in place a very questionable “no tipping” policy and have increased the hourly wage of the workers to $30 an hour. The menu prices reflect this compensation.When our children were small, we would take them to Casa Bonita for fair food and corny entertainment. I hope this hype and price structure will be short-lived because, as it is now, a middle-income family will not be able to afford this type of pricing. As time goes on, the fad will wear off, and maybe Casa Bonita will evaluate their business structure.Michael Hult, Arvada Both sides celebrate successRe: “In Aldean’s Macon hometown, they’re trying everything,” Aug. 9 commentaryIn the commentary about Macon, Ga., the author illustrates a solution consisting of differing ways to c...

Draw! A trio of summer exhibitions will change how you think about the world’s oldest form of visual art

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

Of course you can draw a picture with a pencil, or a pen, pastels, charcoal, or even a crayon, as every kid learns early. But what about drawing with metal wire or vinyl tape, laser-cut wood, wax, thread, computer cords or sand? It all works, and often engagingly, as three exhibits running concurrently at the Arvada Center galleries prove again and again.Taken in together — and they should be, before they close on Aug. 27 — the exhibits go a long way toward expanding how we think about the act of drawing, an art practice that goes back to the earliest humans, and which gets a refreshing update by the center’s curators.Like everything produced at the Arvada Center, the exhibits –“The Big Draw,” “Drawn from the Source” and a solo show by local artist Ramón Bonilla — are sprawling. The center has 10,000 square feet of gallery space and regularly produces jumbo-sized spectacles that can fill it.These shows have a whopping 79 artists between them, all from Colorado, who contr...

Boulder mom breaks world record for running while pushing a stroller

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

When Neely Spence Gracey discovered there was a world record to be held for the fastest mile run while pushing a stroller (with a child inside), she relished the prospect of chasing it. As a lifelong professional runner and mother to two young sons, goal-setting was second nature – and she was pretty sure she had already beaten the record anyway.“Last summer, I saw someone had broken the men’s stroller mile record, and out of curiosity … I looked up (the women’s),” Gracey said. “I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure I’ve already done that, just running around my neighborhood with my kids.’”She made it official on June 30 at Englewood High School, with her helmeted son Rome riding, breaking the previous mark — held by Sally Onn of the U.K — by over 30 seconds. Her new record is 5 minutes and 24.17 seconds. But the actual process of applying for and verifying a Guinness World Record is a lengthy one. It required plenty of paperwork, the presence of USA Track & Field...

“Trust,” “The Deep Sky” and more short book reviews from Denver readers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this new series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].“Trust,” by Hernan Diaz (Riverhead Books)This is a multi-layered, spellbinding story of wealth, reputation, secrets and appearances, set in the 1920s in New York City. The more the different layers of history and truth are pulled away, each revelation leaves the reader less sure which reality is the true one. (This novel won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in fiction.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver“So Far from Spring: A Novel of the American West,” by Peggy Simson Curry (WestW...

Parking lot popcorn stand got the boot as Casa Bonita’s reopening drew near

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

In the weeks leading up to Casa Bonita’s much-vaunted reopening in June, Don Thwaites was told to pack up the kettle corn and Sno-Kones he sold out of a converted shipping container stationed in the parking lot of the iconic Mexican eatery and leave.The sudden and unceremonious end to the carnival treat business he had operated for nearly two years in the shadow of the restaurant’s famous pink tower came as a shock to the 66-year-old Lakewood resident. Not even three months prior, the owner of the shopping center in which Casa Bonita is located had asked Thwaites if he wanted to extend his stay there.“And then it just went downhill,” he said. “I lost my income, I lost my business.”While he’s not sure why his relationship with shopping center owner Broad Street Realty soured so quickly, Thwaites has his suspicions: A Colorado dining destination that marks its 50th birthday next year was about to relaunch with much fanfare and adoring media co...

Peña Boulevard is clogged, but the A-Line runs alongside it. What’s the best transportation fix?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

Just after noon, the taillights ahead warn of another sudden midday slowdown. It’s not even rush hour — it’s just a typical weekday on Peña Boulevard.Congestion now builds at more times of the day as Peña, the original access road to Denver International Airport, struggles to keep up with two engines of growth: the airport itself, which is charting record passenger traffic, and the once-sparsely populated plains along Peña that have seen an explosion of housing and jobs over the nearly three decades since DIA opened.But as DIA and city leaders work out plans for a likely road expansion later this decade, what seems to some nearby residents like a measured fix has sparked fierce debate, not least because more capacity usually means more tailpipe emissions.What to do about Peña also has raised unique questions — over how to serve both DIA passengers and local commuters, the difficulty of improving transit connection gaps in the largely suburban neighborhoods ne...

Breckenridge Brewery returns to “craft” category after sale to Tilray

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

Breckenridge Brewery has not been considered a “craft” operation, per the definitions set by the Brewers Association and the Colorado Brewers Guild, since 2015 when beverage giant Anheuser Busch InBev acquired the stalwart local beer maker in a deal that sent waves throughout the industry. But that’s poised to change following Breckenridge’s sale to global cannabis company, Tilray Brands, which was announced last week.The cash deal — valued at $85 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — includes eight AB InBev brands: Shock Top, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Blue Point Brewing Co., Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Co., HiBall Energy and Breckenridge. They will join Tilray’s already robust beer portfolio.The acquisition is expected to close later this year and when it does, the Brewers Association, the Boulder-based national trade group representing craft beer, will begin reporting production data from all of T...

Why Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis are both itching to debate each other

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

By Edward-Isaac Dovere and Steve Contorno | CNNWashington — Joe Biden’s aides and Sean Hannity agree on this: They both would like to see Gavin Newsom debate Ron DeSantis.Everyone involved knows how odd it would be to have the California governor, who is seen as a potential future Democratic presidential candidate but is very adamantly not one currently, debating the Florida governor, who launched his Republican presidential run in the spring with the air of a front-runner but has seen his campaign stall through the summer months.DeSantis has gone from starting out as a worrisome contrast for some Biden aides to a monthlong campaign reboot, with his own advisers fretting they may not be able to turn his political fortunes around and looking for high-profile opportunities for him to stand out. Newsom has gone from inspiring eye rolls and suspicion from many in and around the White House a year ago to coordinating with Biden aides as he attempts to goad the Republican into more proble...

49ers’ one-sided loss to Raiders? Much ado about nothing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

Let’s dive headlong into the significant things that happened aside from quarterbacks Trey Lance and Sam Darnold Sunday afternoon when the Raiders reserves beat up the 49ers reserves 34-7 at Allegiant Stadium.Rookie Jake Moody, whom the 49ers selected in the third round of the NFL Draft to replace Robbie Gould, missed his first two field goal attempts from distances of 40 and 58 yards.Thus concludes your review of what really mattered, and coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t seem too concerned about Moody.Exhibition football is a sham. It’s a way for NFL teams to line their pockets with extra cash through high-priced tickets and everything that goes with the experience of attending a game in person.According to the web site TickPick, the 49ers-Raiders game had the highest price of the week with a “get in” price of $120 and an average ticket price of $185.At least there are only three of them, even if that is three too many. One can only hope the NFL can someday...

Travel Troubleshooter: Southwest refunds flight to Princess, but Princess won’t pay up

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:57 GMT

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: My family and I recently took a Princess cruise, and I booked my airline tickets through the cruise line’s EZair program. Our return flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Denver was on Southwest Airlines, which was in December during the airline’s service debacle. Southwest canceled our flight. so we had to return on another airline.Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter Southwest refunded Princess in early January for all four tickets, but I have not received the money yet. I’ve sent emails to the vice president of guest relations, the director of customer service and the president of the cruise line, but have received no reply. Can you help us get our $983 back?— Julie Schumer, Aurora, ColoradoANSWER: Princess should have refunded you promptly for the Southwest flights. After all, the airline had fully refunded the cruise line after its service meltdown at the end of last year. (You contacted me in late April to a...