
"Neal Cassady's father died in Denver in 1963, and Neal returned to
handle the funeral. Neal was able to make the drive between San
Francisco and Denver in a 24 hour run (there’s no telling how many times
he did it), but he was back for the last time in 1968 shortly before
his death. Getting out of his car to embrace an old friend in front of
the Heart of Denver Motel on Colfax at 10 AM a beer can rolled out after
him." - Denver Historian, Tom Christopher
The Heart O'Denver Motor Hotel, complete with Tiki Bar, was once located at 1150 E. Colfax Avenue (Colfax and Downing).
The
Tiki Lounge was designed by Eli Hedley (The Original Beachcomber). Eli
did design and created decor for the Don the Beachcomber chain,
Disneyland, and many other tiki bars. This location later reopened as
Tiki Boyd's in the late 1990's and lasted about a year.
Today the location is a Ramada Inn. (courtesy The Denver Eye)
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThis hotel was gorgeous,staff was amiable,certainly an incredible value and adored the feel of the whole place.We stayed for a romantic night and it was the ideal option.The suites were open,the staff was useful,the breakfast was superior to anything most Homewood Suite breakfasts.@Bonnie Jenkins.
ReplyDeleteI have an eternal grudge against the Heart o' Denver. As a child in the early fifties, I spent many happy hours in my great-grandparents' huge, beautiful, tudor style home on Marion Street behind the Safeway on the corner of Colfax. Then, suddenly they were expropriated, the house was destroyed to make place for the Heart o' Denver's parking lot. To make things worse, when I was back in Denver in 1963, the hotel had become quite trashy. I am happy to see that now the the city planners are trying to take into account Denver's real heritage. But we will never have that gorgeous house back!
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