BAR: THE WALNUT ROOM
The Walnut Room, 3131 Walnut St., was born by accident in 2005. Owner John Burr was building a small concert hall called The Live Room when he figured he might as well open a bar and restaurant in the front. “It was never my goal to have a bar,” he says. He admits he was a little early in this transforming downtown neighborhood, but the Walnut Room was a quick hit, known for its pizza, happy hours and live music and a cover charge usually about $8. The bar up front holds about 60 people — and usually does. A big patio beckons in fair weather. Two-hundred can fit into the Live Room, mostly standing, to hear music three to five nights a week, from rock to indy to blues to bluegrass. The Trashcan Sinatras one night, Y La Bamba the next.
GRILLED: JOHN BELDOCK
John Beldock, 45, runs Erico Motorsports at 2855 Walnut St. He’s been in the two-wheeler business since 1993, selling European cycles and scooters: Triumphs, Ducatis, Moto Guzzis, Vespas, Piaggios. He moved to Denver when he was 5, went to Place Middle School, Northglenn High, then a two-year stint at CU-Boulder. He’s married to Tai Beldock, and they live in Five Points with their 10-year-old daughter, Penn, and Viva, their dog. He’s proud of the shop, his family, his Jewish heritage. He orders a Glenfiddich scotch with two ice cubes.
BH: So why did you drop out of college after two years?
Beldock: I was planning to be an architect, but motorcycles just got in the way. College just wasn’t going fast enough for me. I didn’t understand why college was such a big deal.
BH: How is the motorcycle/scooter business these days?
Beldock: The past couple of years stunk, but we’re back on track. In ’08 when gas was four bucks, we couldn’t buy enough scooters. It costs us more to get them here, but we sell them like mad. We’re one of the largest Vespa dealers in the country.
BH: What do motorcycles mean to America?
Beldock: Motorcycling really got its modern start in post-war Europe. There were more than 1,000 motorcycle manufacturers in Italy. It was the ’50s and the rebuilding of the human spirit. I think there is just something to being on a motorcycle on your own, letting the wind go through you.
BH: And you race motorcycles.
Beldock: I just got back into it after 12 years.
BH: How fast do you go?
Beldock: I have gone 176 mph on a racetrack. I know my bike is probably good for 185, maybe 190.
BH: Doesn’t that scare you?
Beldock: I’m not really a speed guy. I am really comfortable going up to 120 in any vehicle, but above that I get freaked out.
BH: Then why do you do it?
Beldock: Stress release. I can go out to the racetrack and go my 176 mph and riding at that kind of speed, going around corners at 100 with my feet dragging on the ground and people are right next to me, there is not even one split second to think about the mortgage or the payroll or whatever else is going on in my life. So if I am in my helmet for a 15-minute race my synapses are totally cued in on what’s going on. I have to pay attention to every little thing. It’s like rebooting a computer.
BH: Do you always wear a helmet?
Beldock: Oh yeah. With full leathers, full everything. But that’s where Tai and I differ. She thinks there should be a helmet law. Personally, I like it the way it is. I think nobody should be able to tell me I have to wear a helmet. However, I would be an idiot not to make the choice myself to wear a helmet. There are all kinds of arguments out there, but I have yet to find anybody to give me a compelling argument against a helmet.
BH: Do you listen to music when you ride?
Beldock: Only if I am on a road trip and I have to burn up some highway miles. But my typical road trip means no interstates and no corporate food. During the day. I’m not crazy about driving at night.
BH: I never drive at night.
Beldock: I have seen too much happen at night on a motorcycle. You have to give the road to the animals at night.
BH: Would you have had more success selling motorcycles in another town?
Beldock: I did it here because this is where I live and this is what I do. My CPA has begged me for years to get out of this business, but this is what I am. And everybody thinks this is a winter state, but Denver isn’t. And to ride the mountains in Colorado, well, it’s the best. The roads are perfect. It’s amazing.
BH: What about the bad-boy image with bikers?
Beldock: The industry as a whole owes Harley-Davidson a lot. The Harley bad-boy bikers put their burly biker arms around everybody and said, “Hey man, you can be cool if you ride this Harley and you get a tattoo and you get a black leather cap and the jacket, and you can hang out with us and drink beer.” I think that introduced people to the escapism of riding. Harleys were like the bad-boy gateway drug. And then they saw there was a lot more to motorcycling and that there were better quality motorcycles and better ways to enjoy the sport. And now you see this huge resurgence of European brands.
BH: Can you go to Sturgis on a European bike?
Beldock: You can go anywhere because a Triumph is cool and a Ducati is cool and a Moto Guzzi is cool. You can ride them with any crowd.
BH: What are you riding today?
Beldock: A Triumph Bonneville 900.
BH: Do you have a tattoo?
Beldock: For me, it’s just not right. My wife has no tattoos, and my kid will never have a tattoo. We’re Jewish, and it’s a desecration of the body.
BH: Are you Orthodox?
Beldock: No, but being Jewish is very meaningful to me, and I do a lot of studying and thinking about it. There are not a lot of motorcycle shops with mezuzahs on the doors, and my rabbi has put them on our doors.
BH: What’s your idea of happiness?
Beldock: My life is perfect.
BH: What’s your greatest fear?
Beldock: I am afraid of making the wrong choices, not being present enough.
BH: What trait don’t you like in yourself?
Beldock: Indecisiveness. I think.
BH: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Beldock: My whole lifestyle is a bit of an extravagance.
BH: What’s your current state of mind?
Beldock: Deliriously optimistic.
BH: What do you consider an overrated virtue?
Beldock: Being green.
BH: What don’t you like about your appearance?
Beldock: I’d like bigger arms, but I am not willing to work for them.
BH: What do you value most in your friends?
Beldock: Talkin’ about old times.
BH: Who are your favorite writers?
Beldock: Alan Furst, Ken Follett, Jennifer Weiner. A friend just gave me some Charles Bukowski, and it’s freaking me out.
BH: What do you most admire in a woman?
Beldock: True self-confidence and great hair.
BH: When and where were you happiest?
Beldock: When I carved out of a turn while snowboarding, to glance over and watch Penn right next to me.
BH: What’s your favorite thing to do?
Beldock: Working in my store on Saturdays. It’s like I’m the host at a party.
BH: What wouldn’t you eat, even to be polite?
Beldock: Liver repulses me. My mom used to make chopped liver, and it made me want to throw up. I am such a bad Jew.
BH: What food do you like?
Beldock: I can go out and eat sushi three-times-a-day.
BH: What’s your favorite motorcycle movie?
Beldock: “The World’s Fastest Indian.”
BH: Who is your hero in fiction?
Beldock: Batman.
BH: Who is your hero in real life?
Beldock: My grandmother. She came to America from Poland in the 1920s, as a teenager. She started a grocery store in Brooklyn and raised my dad and his brother and squirreled away money to get her brothers and sisters to the United States.
BH: What is it you most dislike?
Beldock: My biggest frustration is with “The Machine.” I am infuriated by the way time and money is squandered by entities that get to oversee my life.
BH: Motto?
Beldock: You go where you look.
BH: How would you like to die?
Beldock: Old and ready.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Bill Husted: 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com.
