You can find pretty much anything along the tattooed upper arm of East Colfax Avenue.
Frequently backhanded as the wickedest street in America (a quote once attributed to Playboy Magazine), Colfax is also allegedly the country’s longest continuous commercial strip. Recent gentrification has (fortunately) failed to scrub East Colfax clean of its gritty character, but it has injected new businesses and ideas into the vein.
Among the successes, the half-mile between Columbine and Monroe streets has experienced a particular renaissance, its City Park-adjacent shops diverse but united in their mission to feed, clothe, entertain and otherwise service the edge-of-downtowners.
“I’ve seen nothing but good over the past five years,” said Drew Shader, owner of the Atomic Cowboy bar. “Very few businesses have left, and a lot more have come in.”
Consider this an invitation if you don’t know the area, or a refresher on what’s happening there now if you do.
