Denver, Colorado – As a GenXer, growing up in Denver, Colorado during the 1980s and 1990s was a glorious experience. Before urban renewal projects and neighborhoods like RiNo and LoDo, Denver was smaller and there was old, boarded-up and decaying remnants of the city abound that was the Queen City of the Plains.
From warehouses to abandoned brick buildings, the city was filled with locals only and had a gritty grit after-hours. Downtown was different in the dark. Aside from the bar-scene, the offerings for youth were varied.
The times were simpler. There were no bags of dog poop left on hiking trails. Transplants from California or Texas was not in the minds of residents. There was a brown cloud of pollution and inefficient highways like the Valley Highway before the T-REX transportation expansion project.
Denver has a grand connection to the Beat Generation, stemming from Neal Cassady's youth there. He significantly impacted Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who then experienced the city with him.
There were dance clubs like Rock Island, The Deadbeat Club and The Church. A short jaunt up the road there was Pogo’s/Ground Zero in Boulder.
And there were the many coffee houses; oft connected to vintage bookstores, superior refuges for those of the underground or youth, compared to mainstream businesses like Village Inn or Denny’s. Havens to hang out for hours ($2 minimum!), drink coffee and smoke cigarettes until the wee hours of the morning.
Paris on the Platte, at 1553 Platte St, was such a coffee house, wine bar, music
