Samantha Castilla is a self-proclaimed shoe nut. That’s why the wife of former Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla has opened Shooz – a very uptown women’s shoe store at 226 Steele St. in Cherry Creek North.
She and Vinny and their three boys live down south in the Polo Reserve, but Cherry Creek was the spot for the store. “It was a perfect fit,” she says. “For these kinds of designers, it was the only place I could picture it.”
Shoe groupies will appreciate the array of clod hoppers from Sigerson Morrison, Loeffler Randall, Casadei, Claudia Ciuti and others – all from Italy except for one vendor from France. The shoes and boots run from $296 to $895.
The store opened Monday – and a lot of people have stopped in. But not many people figure out she’s Vinny’s wife, even though “Samantha Castilla” is on the sign. “I’ve had a great response,” she says. “People seem so excited. They seem so curious.”
The family has lived in Denver since Vinny first joined the Rockies in ’93. “We’ve been traded all over, but we never left our home here. Now that he’s retired, it’s nice to be in one spot.”
So the shoe fits.
Oceans
In the last scene of “Oceans 13,” Brad Pitt is saying so-long to George Clooney. Just behind them, in focus even, is a TV with the famous mug of Norm Clarke on it.
Clarke, who was a sports and gossip columnist in Denver before he fled to tattle for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is clearly seen on the tube, but it’s kind of a miracle that he’s in “Oceans 13” at all.
Seems he was lined up and signed up to appear in the 2001 remake of “Oceans 11.” Clarke was to be with other Vegas icons (Siegfried & Roy, Mayor Oscar Goodman and Wayne Newton) ringside in a boxing match. But just days before his scheduled shoot, Normie got hold of a script of “Oceans 11” and spilled all the beans of the plot in his daily column. Goodbye, cameo.
“My first responsibility is to the reader, right?” Norm says.
Always the pro.
Start your engines
“Fast Cars and Superstars” premiered Friday at 12:06 a.m. on KMGH-Channel 7. It was bounced to late night because of the NBA Finals – so you had to stay up to see John Elway rev it up and circle the track with the likes of Tony Hawk, Krista Allen, Ty Murray, John Salley, John Cena, Serena Williams and Gabrielle Reece.
It’s probably not giving too much away to tell you that Elway doesn’t win – but he doesn’t embarrass us either.
If you want to catch the action, here’s the confusing sked: 6 tonight; 12:06 a.m. Wednesday; 12:06 a.m. Friday; 6 p.m. June 17; 7 p.m. or later June 19 (depending on the NBA Finals); and 6 p.m. June 24.
City spirit
Grammy winner Dianne Reeves was in Thursday’s opening night audience of “Sistas and Storytellers” at the Denver Civic. It’s the new locally created musical starring Hazel Miller … Le Central French restaurant is 27 years old. That’s a lotta bearnaise … Sez who: “I was high on life, but eventually I built up a tolerance.” Arj Barker
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 bhusted@denverpost.com.
