BAR: CORRIDOR 44
Corridor 44, at 1433 Larimer St., is Denver’s premier champagne bar. It is two rooms separated by a corridor that’s, you guessed it, 44 feet long. Most of the action stays in the front bar and its six tables that hold about 85 people. One hundred twelve bottles of bubbly come in a variety of colors, flavors and prices — $30 to $600 a bottle, $6 to $20 a glass. Plus you can get flights of champagne, 18 champagne cocktails or 15 champagne martinis. The quote printed on the bar mirror says it all: “Come quickly, I’m drinking stars!” said the monk Dom Perignon upon first tasting champagne.
GRILLED: ROXANNE THURMAN
Roxanne Thurman, 59, opened Cry Baby Ranch 20 years ago on Larimer Square, where it sits a few doors down from Corridor 44. What was to be a one-time holiday gift store became one of Denver’s iconic retail shops celebrating the Wild West. Step inside, and you enter an urban corral of cowpokes and cow-jokes. At the back of the store, written on the wall, is a song from Waylon Jennings that begins: “Ladies love outlaws like babies love stray dogs . . . Outlaws touch a lady somewhere deep down in her soul. . . .” Thurman was raised in West Texas, and is married with two grown children. She lives near Conifer, an hour each way on a good day, but likes the countryside. She orders a michelada — cold beer on ice with lime and a salted rim.
BH: Where did you find that drink?
Thurman: In Texas, but I refined it in Mexico.
BH: You’re such a cowgirl.
Thurman: Only in my mind.
BH: How’d you end up in Colorado?
Thurman: We used to come to Colorado in the summer. My dad would fish. I just loved Colorado.
BH: I have always loved your store.
Thurman: We’re on the city tour, and I love that. And Larimer works for us, I wouldn’t be anyplace else.
BH: Do you have a Cry Baby Ranch philosophy?
Thurman: I try not to buy anything that I wouldn’t want to wear or to hang on to. It’s been an evolution. Twenty years later here I am, and I don’t know how this happened, but I love it.
BH: It’s very playful.
Thurman: Life is hard enough without a little humor thrown in. It’s just a reflection of my take on life and growing up in the ’50s in West Texas. And I love everything that went along with that. Taco hats and pointy boots. And it has a lot of Hispanic influence because that’s how I grew up. My first real playmate was one of the children of the migrant workers who came in the summer. I couldn’t speak Spanish, she couldn’t speak English.
BH: Your West — and your store — seems like a combination of James Dean and Roy Rogers.
Thurman: A lot of people who are very Western wouldn’t consider the store authentic. They would consider it whimsical. Some people walk in here and they turn around and walk right out.
BH: Does the store make you happy?
Thurman: Yes, it does. Some days I am happier than others. I mean, it’s a business, and I work a lot of hours, but I don’t dread going to work.
BH: What is it with you and the West?
Thurman: The humor, the honesty, the integrity, the code of the West. There is something incredibly enduring about the cowboy. It’s that cowboy/outlaw thing. It’s someone you love and want to trust, but can’t. What I don’t love about the West are the sandstorms and tornados in West Texas.
BH: What are your favorite Western movies?
Thurman: “Giant.” And I loved “Lonesome Dove.”
BH: How about the old serials? Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy? Sky King?
Thurman: Sky King! Imagine. A cowboy with an airplane. And Penny’s outfits were superb.
BH: Music?
Thurman: I have very diverse tastes in music. Some vintage, but I am very fond of Dwight Yoakam. And Rufus Wainwright.
BH: You have an iPod?
Thurman: Yes, but I don’t know how to use it.
BH: Where would you like to live?
Thurman: On Ralph Lauren’s ranch in Ridgway.
BH: Who’s your favorite Western actor?
Thurman: Tommy Lee Jones.
BH: Foods?
Thurman: Chicken-fried everything.
BH: What fault in others are you most tolerant of?
Thurman: Dishonesty.
BH: I said most tolerant.
Thurman: I know. I am tolerant of people who are dishonest. It’s curious to me because it’s so much easier to tell the truth. But I never call people on it.
BH: Were you a hippie?
Thurman: A hippie with false eyelashes.
BH: How do you describe your personal style?
Thurman: Boots, jeans and jewelry. Occasionally a top.
BH: Do you want to die with your boots on?
Thurman: Not really. But I don’t own any shoes. I just have boots, sneakers and flip-flops.
BH: What’s your current state of mind?
Thurman: Delirious.
BH: What makes you cry?
Thurman: So many things. Beauty pageants.
BH: Books?
Thurman: I’m reading “Catcher in the Rye” right now. I just didn’t remember it. And “Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy.” My favorite author is Gabriel García Márquez.
BH: Car?
Thurman: I have a Honda Insight Hybrid. It looks like a Dr. No car.
BH: I thought you’d have a red pickup with a broom in the back.
Thurman: Then your perception of me is way off.
BH: Ambitions?
Thurman: I don’t think I’ll ever be able to retire. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, being a participant in life and accomplishing things and being a goodwill ambassador of the West.
BH: What do you want on your tombstone?
Thurman: “Good Ride.”
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Bill Husted: 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com.
