Twenty-five years ago today, on Nov. 2, 1983, former Denver Post columnist Dick Kreck coined the expression LoDo. And it stuck.
He was dating Vicky Gits at the time, who later graduated to become his wife. She was studying at Columbia in New York City and told Kreck how charming she found all the neighborhood names there, like SoHo and Tribeca.
They started thinking about naming Lower Downtown. In a flash of genius, Gits came up with ABEWA for “Area Below Wazee.”
Kreck wasn’t impressed — and came up with LoDo when writing a column about two stores opening in Larimer Square. Although Larimer Square is not in the official boundaries of LoDo (which are the alley between Larimer and Market streets to Wewatta Street, and Cherry Creek to 20th streets), Kreck is sticking to his story.
“I just wish I had trademarked it so I’d get 25 cents every time somebody used it,” he says. “No one paid much attention when I first wrote it, then I started seeing it in press releases.”
I was a columnist at the Rocky in those days, and the copy desk wouldn’t allow the use of LoDo. I appealed to an editor. His solution: quote people saying “LoDo” regularly and the copy editors would get used to it. They did. And so did everyone else.
30 days has November.
9News gives away tens of thousands of “Buddy Check 9” calendars each year at Safe way. It reminds women to give themselves breast self-exams on the 9th of every month — and to remind a buddy to do the same. It’s a great program.
But the 2008 calendar had one problem. It gave November 31 days, which made it a little wrong and a little long. And it made December a total mess.
9News talked about it on the air — and it put out its 2009 calendar last month so people could toss the incorrect datekeeper before they showed up on Christmas a day late.
Another festival.
AEG’s music man Chuck Morris, the guy who brought us the Mile High Music Festival, is planning on adding a second event in 2010. Morris tells me it’s “on the drawing board” to add the second throwdown the week before or after the Mile High Music Festival — in a very different musical genre. AEG already does this with its Coachella Festival, which is followed the next weekend by Stagecoach, a country music festival. Morris won’t say what will come down in Denver.
Morris will be at Texas de Brazil at 6 p.m. Thursday to help promote Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime charity. It makes dreams come true for seniors — see a grandchild, take a college course, get lessons from athletes and artists. No charge for the gathering; check it out.
City spirit.
Tom Green turned 50 last week, and Sunny Browstein turned, uh, 39 with a party at the Palm . . . The Flobots, Yohannes Gebregeorgis of Ethiopia Reads and Terry Greenblatt of Urgent Action Fund are honored at Seeking Common Ground’s breakfast Nov. 14 . . . Mizuna, Frasca, Fruition and Sushi Den top the list of Denver-area restaurants in Zagat’s 2009 America’s Top Restaurants . . . Sez who: “The whole world is about three drinks behind.” Humphrey Bogart
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears Tuesdays and Fridays on “Good Day Colorado” on Fox 31. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@ . Take a peek at Husted’s next column at . /husted.
