It never fails. When Denver newcomers go looking for the crumbling slums found in most American metro areas, the best they can do is identify Colfax Avenue as the Mile High City’s take on skid row. Sure, Playboy magazine once dubbed this 26-mile strip from Golden to Aurora “the longest, wickedest street in America.” And it is chockablock with seedy bars, check-cashing joints, thrift stores, car dealerships, head shops, flophouses, porn theaters and the people who haunt them. But U.S. 40 is also home to a daily parade of diverse humanity. So here’s a challenge: Do some holiday shopping along the boulevard renamed for Schuyler Colfax, the country’s 17th vice president. You’ll uncover bargains galore, along with a taste of the “cul-cha” that makes Denver special.
Getting around: Colfax runs through the heart of downtown Denver, and there’s a surprise on nearly every corner of the street local wisenheimers call Cold-Facts Avenue (a term coined by Denver Post editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe in 1984). We’ve wrapped up a few places to begin your holiday-stuff hunt in this map, which starts at about Simms Street on the west and runs east to Tower Road.
