We’re No. 1! For now.
John S. Stewart Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1 at 955 Bannock St. holds bragging rights as the oldest and first VFW post in America. And it’s about to close its doors.
Post commander George Caulkins, 40, confirms that the building is for sale for $1.4 million. The Golden Triangle spot is suddenly valuable.
He expects a deal before the end of the year. And that means the venerable VFW bar will shut down, too. Not that it’s the hottest joint in town. I stopped in the other day to find one guy at the bar and manager Bo Vikstrom reading the paper at the end of the bar.
“You put a ‘VFW’ sign on the door and it’s like a padlock,” says Vikstrom. “People consider it a place where a couple of World War II vets drink and talk about the war and watch John Wayne movies.”
Well, there are fewer and fewer of those vets. And recent vets are not hanging out at the VFW. Commander Caulkins, son ofthe Opera House’s Ellie Caulkins and a vet of the first Gulf War, says even Vietnam vets are getting up there. And the new generations don’t join associations like they did once.
Caulkins says the bar has lost money for 15 to 20 years, so he’s not sad to see it go. “Our mission is to serve veterans, not sell cheap drinks and subsidize local barflies.”
After the post closes on Bannock, Caulkins says it may move to a spot on Capitol Hill, a place where its museum can be mounted and members could meet. A bar? Probably not. “I took (the post) over for historical reasons,” says Caulkins. “You can’t let Post No. 1 just go away.”
Birthday boy
Chef Rolland Wesen is prepping to open Summit at the Broadmoor. The hotel has high hopes for the high-design American brasserie, planning a campaign to get the guy lotsa national attention.
It doesn’t hurt that he’s married to Claudine Pepin, daughter of Jacques Pepin, one of the first celeb chefs.
The restaurant will open very softly in November, with a gala opening in January. In between, on Dec. 22, Rolland and Claudine will host a 70th birthday party for Jacques at Summit. It’ll be wild. Look for lots of old friends and fellow celeb chefs, if they can pull themselves away from various stoves, TV shows and book tours.
Homegirl
“Desperate Housewife” Felicity Huffman was feeling at home at the recent Aspen Film Fest. She told people she got the acting bug watching Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the town’s Isis theatre. Seems Huffman grew up in Woody Creek, just outside of Aspen, the youngest of seven daughters of Grace Huffman. She first acted in plays at the Aspen Community School.
City spirit
FYI: North and Bloom restaurants donated 100 percent of profits to Dine out to Help Out – not 100 percent of sales, as I reported here earlier, as the result of a communications mix-up … Three Medal of Honor recipients (Drew Dix, Peter Lemon and George Sakato) will be at the Oct. 22 Western Fantasy gala … Sez who: “I’ve known what it’s like to be hungry, and I always went right to a restaurant.” Ring Lardner
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears on Fox 31 News. You can reach him at 303-820-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com.