Heidi Hemmat is looking at a good 2007. The longtime Denver TV reporter this week landed the job as 6-9 a.m. anchor on Fox 31’s “Good Day Colorado.”
And she also got engaged just before Christmas on a lift in Winter Park. She and Jason Stone, a physical therapist/consultant she’s been dating for the past year and a half, plan on September nups in the hills.
It is not lost on her that she gets a job that’ll wake her up at 3 a.m., right after she hooks up with Stone.
“Now I’m getting up at the same time I used to get home!” says Hemmat. She’s acclimating. She cooks dinner at 4 p.m.
Mel’s
Mel Master relaxed for a few years on Long Island, but there’s no rest for him now that he’s back in Denver.
His new restaurant, Montecito, is swimming along nicely with the help of wife Janie and son Charles.
His original Mel’s Bar & Grill in Cherry Creek has been winning awards and fans for years – but it might be in for a change. The building, 235 Fillmore St., has reportedly been bought by Christian Anschutz (who is buying up much of Fillmore Street). Plans for the building are unknown, but it’s pretty dilapidated. Figure that Mel will either go into Anschutz’s new North Creek development or move back into a new improved 235 Fillmore.
In the meantime, Mel has signed a letter of intent for a restaurant space in Greenwood Village at Orchard Road and Holly Street. If he decides to follow through, it’ll be “like a low-key version of Mel’s,” he says. And it would be called Melvino’s, a nickname Mel is fond of, along with “Melvis,” but only when he’s singing karaoke.
Road trip
Dr. Jeff Baier is the husband of Angela Baier, Cherry Creek Shopping Center’s new Herzlich. The vet just drove to Denver from Watertown, N.Y., with the family pets. The Nissan Xterra was jamming with Jeff, Tex the big tortoise, Parker the small tortoise, Dustin the golden retriever, Snaky Junior the snake, and Dot, Spot, Mokey and Kiki the cats.
The dog traveled in the passenger seat, the snake and tortoises relaxed in their tubs – but Spot the cat meowed the entire trip. She stayed way in the back.
Jeff and the menagerie made one hotel stop along the way, a Holiday Inn. “I asked if they took pets, they said ‘Yes,’ and that’s where I ended the conversation.”
City spirit
Get used to seeing Seal and Heidi Klum in Aspen. USA Today reports they’re spending six weeks there on vacation … Singer Marc Cohn was shot in the head in an attempted carjacking in Denver after a Botanic Gardens concert in 2005. He wasn’t critically injured and was soon back home with wife Elizabeth Vargas. Now he’s actually coming back to Colorado – but not Denver. Cohn is booked to play the Boulder Theater Feb. 7 … Tony Orlando will play Latin American Educational Foundation’s Gala on March 10, Cindy Peña chairs the fete … Sez who: “I’m not codependent, myself, but aren’t they great to have around?” Betsy Salkind
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Husted also appears Tuesdays and Fridays on “Good Day Colorado” on Fox 31. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at denverpostbloghouse.com/husted.
