More than a decade before the gates of Coors Field first opened to enthusiastic Rockies fans, the dark and dormant blocks of Denver’s old warehouse district already were preparing, slowly, for a rebirth.
In the 1980s, artists, gallery owners, graphic designers and startup entrepreneurs who were among Lower Downtown’s urban pioneers pried the boards off warehouse windows and doors. Long-surviving establishments, from El Chapultepec jazz club on 20th Street to the Wazee Supper Club on 15th — beneath a rickety overhead viaduct — gave the place a blinkering pulse.
That persistence dovetailed with a years-long preservation fight, risks taken by developers and forward-looking — sometimes controversial — decisions made by city leaders, including a young new mayor who had taken an interest in revitalizing that part of downtown.