Retro Colfax: El Patio Motel

El Patio Motel, no longer standing at 8400 East Colfax.

Retro Colfax: La Vista Motel

The La Vista Motel is at 5500 E. Colfax Avenue and is still standing today.

East Tincup on West Colfax Avenue in Golden

Pete Smythe

Pete Smythe was a well-known Denver radio and TV personality in the 1950s and 60s, and a better-than-average piano player. His show -- "Pete Smythe's General Store" -- was a kind of Prairie Home Companion of its day, set in the fictitious town of East Tincup, Colorado, and broadcasting over the "bobwire" network. 

East Tincup was a mythical creation patterned after an old Colorado mining town, and used as the setting for Smythe’s show. The site of the town was 18195 W. Colfax Avenue, 12 miles west of Denver and one-half mile east of the multi-million dollar Magic Mountain, which was under construction at that time. 

The "town" of East Tincup, Colorado

An entire town of 1880 vintage was set up on the site and admission was charged. The town included Centennial Village, a Colorado Centennial Celebration attraction formerly located in Denver’s Civic Center Park, now relocated to the East Tincup site, and a three-story recreation of the city’s famed, old-time Windsor Hotel. The upper floors of the hotel were made into a museum.

You could pan for gold, there was a miniature mechanized farm layout with small figures with a man chopping wood, etc, and a room where the water ran uphill!

30 Miles of Crazy: A Walk Down West Colfax

By the amazingly talented Karl Christian Krumpholz

Lincoln Park Homes: One of Denver's Earliest Public Housing Projects

Photo by Clayton B Fraser

The Lincoln Park Homes complex, at the corner of West Colfax Avenue and Mariposa Street, is one of Colorado's earliest public housing projects. One of three such projects planned by the Denver Housing Authority soon after the agency's formation in 1938, the Homes represent a period in Denver's History when the defense industry was hitting its peak and government subsidization of public housing was just beginning in the state. The Homes are a product of New Deal efforts to revitalize the economic and moral fiber of the nation. What was once an innovative solution to the public housing needs of Depression-era Denver is now a sobering reminder of the ongoing problems associated with providing for the poor and rehabilitating deteriorating neighborhoods. There are now unoccupied, in preparation for demolition. The Homes are also significant for their place in the lengthy and prolific career of Denver architect Temple Buell. Certainly not one of his more memorable projects, the Lincoln Park Homes represent a transition in Buell's work, from his Depression-era to World War II-era projects.

Save the Signs: The Westerner Motel

The Westerner Motel is at 8405 East Colfax Avenue. Photo courtesy Save the Signs.

Colfax is Proud to Host the AFC Champion Broncos!

If it isn't enough that the 2016 AFC Champion Denver Broncos play at Sports Authority Field at Mile High located along World Famous Colfax Avenue, now defensive end DeMarcus Ware appears as the Incredible Hulk on Colfax & Williams!