The Highlander

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Feature

Tennyson is just a few minutes away from campus. With great restaurants and unique shops, Tennyson has a lot of offer.

Albert Stewart, owner of Green Door Furniture, wishes to maintain Tennyson's historic atmosphere. He feels some of new condos and apartments don't fit the area.

Frank Rangel has always welcomed Regis students to Elitch Lanes. "We're in a community," he said.

Yankee Trader's, located on Tennyson, has unique antique pieces that can be viewed easily by the store's front windows.

Jon and Erik Rieger, pictured above, are two of the three brothers that own the Lapis Design and Build Company.

Helen Kort (left) and daughter-in-law Holly (right) pretend to buy some "nuts and bolts" from Tennyson Hardware. Holly, along with her husband Larry, now own the business, of which they inherited from Larry's parents, Helen and Wayne Kort.

Young couples, older couples, families with young children, girlfriends, guy friends, joggers, dog-walkers. All are typical partakers of a casual Saturday stroll down Tennyson Terrace, the five block stretch on Tennyson Street, between W. 38th and W. 44th Avenues.

A diverse cultural district in the heart of the Berkeley neighborhood, the terrace boasts a rich history that is rooted as far back as the late 1800's.

Comparable to an outdoor mall, Tennyson Terrace houses nearly a hundred different properties, including various restaurants, furniture and hardware stores, art galleries, boutiques, hair salons, yoga centers, antique stores, a bowling alley, a dance studio and even residential homes and condos.

While preserving the nostalgia of historic Berkeley past, the street also bustles with rejuvenation. As Erik Rieger, owner of the Lapis Design and Build Gallery, describes the terrace, "[It is a] Mayberry in the heart of Denver…with an arty twist."

The icons of Tennyson Terrace

Tennyson Terrace can certainly draw many similarities to Mayberry, the imaginary, old-fashioned town in which the Andy Griffith Show took place. With a rich history of commercial prominence in the midst of a growing community, Tennyson Terrace stands as a diverse mix of retail and residential dwellings that have been host to a number of different inhabitants over the past century and a half.

The very beginnings of Tennyson Terrace can be traced to the Alcott Post Office, which according to Ruth Eloise Wiberg, author of Rediscovering Northwest Denver, moved to the street in 1896. With the post office in service on the street, a commercial district quickly emerged. At the time, the area of Berkeley housed a mere 450 inhabitants who relied on the street for groceries, dry goods, coal and ultimately any other commercial service they needed. Along side the Alcott Post Office in 1896 sat what is the current day Green Door Furniture Store. Owner Albert Stewart inherited the business from his parents in 1955. The store, which expanded to occupy three different fronts, was originally a single building built in 1881 by Stewart's great-grandfather and grandfather.

Al explains that his great grandfather and grandfather were the money behind the building, but were much too busy to run a business on the street. "We've always had the farms in Nebraska [and in Frederick, Colorado]. So chances are dad and grandpa were busy worrying about the farms," said Al.

With a family history rich in merchants, Albert maintains that his grandfather rented out the store front to a number of different family businesses through out the twentieth century. One such business was his cousin Colburn's haberdashery store, which specialized in sale of men's shoes.

Old Denver Householder's Directories reveal that the Colburn store stayed in business on the terrace until the mid-1930s, and along with its sister store fronts, was then replaced by a lineage of different retailers including jewelers, locksmiths, cleaners, a music store, a bicycle store and even a beauty parlor.

Ownership of the original, central store front was assumed by Albert's uncle in 1941 and then became the Grimsley Furniture Company. By the 1950's, Al's parents had assumed the store. Under their ownership, the three store fronts were combined into one large furniture store, said Al. He also mentioned that he changed to the name to the Green Door Furniture Store after inheriting full ownership of the three store fronts during the mid-sixties.

Less than a block south from the Green Door Furniture store sits the family-owned and operated Flesher-Hinton Music store, in business on the terrace since the mid-1960s. Located at 3936 Tennyson Street, the music store occupies a building that was also among the first establishments on the street.
The building was originally an old-fashioned theater, said Herv Flesher, owner of Flesher-Hinton Music store. Known as the Alcott Theatre, the venue ran different performances until shut down in the thirties during the Great Depression, as revealed by the Denver Householder's Directory for 1931.

An old Denver Householder's Directory also reveals that the theatre had become Miller's Groceteria Co. by 1935 and, as future directories revealed, the building remained so until 1940 when it was listed as vacant until the year, 1945. The building then became the North Denver Furniture Company, which remained in business on the terrace until falling into the hands of the store's present day owner, the Flesher-Hinton family, in 1965.

The original architecture of the building is still in tact today, and the impressions of an old-fashioned ticket booth can be seen on the building near the front entrance of the music store.

Also of notable historic interest on the street, is the Tennyson Hardware Store, described by a Denver Householder's Directory as having been a family hardware store on Tennyson as far back as the early 1920's. In original form, the hardware store was called Clark & Son's Hardware and was run by a father-son duo until sold to the current owners, the Kort family.

"[It's been in the family for] 35 years," described Holly Kort, co-owner of the store.

"My husband, his dad and mom took it over in 1973, and it was Clark's Hardware then. His mother is still here…. His mother is actually the owner, and then my husband and then me. So I'm kind of third in line," said Kort.

The hardware store, while still under the ownership of the Kort family, changed its name to Tennyson Hardware in the mid-eighties, and has stayed in business on the terrace under the same name since.

The New that Replaced the Old

Sequential editions of the Denver Householder's Directory reveal that the Terrace houses a number of other present day properties that were also once home to various old-fashioned businesses. Parisi, for example, was home to the Berkeley Grocery Company for at least a half century. It wasn't until 1973 that the grocery store gave way to a Janet Lee second hand clothing shop. The building remained as such until Parisi claimed ownership in 2003, said Christine Parisi, co-owner of the restaurant.

The Irish pub Patrick Carroll's and its next door neighbor, The Big Hoss, were once a single building that housed the historic Eaker's clothing shop for many years. The householder's directories document that the establishment had become a pool hall under the name of Colfax Billiards by 1995.

According to Wiberg in Rediscovering Northwest Denver, the small park that sits on the west corner of W. 41st Avenue and Tennyson Street was, for many years, the Louisa M. Alcott school, an elementary school built for the town of Berkeley in 1892. "The night of March 25, 1976, Alcott School was destroyed by an arson-set fire, the day it was to fall to the wrecker's ball," Wiberg writes of the final days of the Alcott School. The remaining patch of land that the school left behind did not become a park until years later.

Also, the present day Yankee Trader antique store, located next door to the original Alcott Theater, was built in 1933 as a Ben Franklin Five and Dime store (a popular old-fashion department store). Editions of the Denver Householder's Directory reveal that the store remained a "Ben Franklin Five and Dime" through out the fifties, then being replaced with "Ewings," a paint and wallpaper store.

Although third in line, the Yankee Trader has been in business at 4000 Tennyson Street since 1990, said Sherilyn Thompson, owner of the antique store. "We've seen a lot of businesses come and go," she added.


The tramway that ran through town

Appearing as far back as the first Denver Householder's Directory in 1924, the present day Elitch Lanes bowling alley occupies the spot that was once the property of what is listed as Denver & Inter Mtn RR Barns, with the subtitle of Leyden Coal Co. Frank Rangel, previous owner and current manager of the bowling alley, said about the property: "Before it was a bowling center it was a coal barn. They used to keep it full of coal, and deliver coal to people's houses. That's how people used to keep their houses warm."

Authors Kenton Forest and Charles Albi write about the connection between Denver's Tramway system and the Leyden Coal Company in their book, Denver's Railroads. "The Tramway controlled the Leyden Coal Company and to get coal from the mine to the power plant and sell it at a profit an electric line was built called the Denver & Northwestern," said the authors.

"On June 6, 1901, the needed papers were filed and construction soon began at the end of the Berkeley car line near Lakeside Amusement Park," added Forest and Albi.

The line was extended northwestern toward the town of Arvada, and was so successful, that it was built western toward Golden as well, wrote Forest and Albi. The line was taken over by the Denver & Intermountain rail line in 1914, but was still commonly referred to as the Denver & Northwestern, said the authors.

The Denver Householder's Directory from 1931 maintains that the property now housing Elitch Lanes had also become a freight depot for the Denver Tramway Corporation, who ran different coal, freight and passenger streetcars through the area, according to the website for the Library of Congress, Memory of America. As pictures from the website reveal, the Tramway ran through north Denver and up and down Tennyson Street as early as 1900.

Likewise, authors, Don Robertson and Rev. W. Morris Cafky, reveal in their book, Denver's Street Railways, that the Denver Tramway Company had 33 different streetcar lines operating in 1901. Route number 16 was titled Berkeley-Elitch's and ran from the central loop, located downtown, to Tennyson street, turning around in a loop located at Berkeley Park.

The streetcars remained a popular outlet of transportation for Denver and its surrounding neighborhoods until the 1940's. The city then experienced the conversion to trolley coaches, said authors Robertson and Cafky. The trolley coaches, which were large buses powered by overhead wiring, were an instant hit among the people of Denver, wrote the authors.

"Patience was growing thin for many Denver residents with the Tramway's ancient streetcars. Compared with the sleek, new trolley coaches replete with comfortable seats, rapid acceleration and curbside service, the old wooden cars, some dating back to 1903, seemed to be almost an embarrassment for some residents of the city," said Robertson and Cafky.

The previous street car route for W. 38th Avenue was combined with that of 13th Avenue and both were converted into a single route for trolley coaches in 1940, added the authors.

After the death of the tramway streetcars in the 1940's, the land that was once Berkley's freight depot, became a bowling ally when it was built by Elitch's Gardens in 1952, said previous owner of the bowling ally, Frank Rangel.

The Old Elitch's Gardens
Of substantial influence on the early days of the terrace, was the old Elitch's Gardens, previously located at the far south end of the Tennyson Street commercial district, namely at the intersection of W. 38th Avenue and Tennyson Street. The land now houses a recently developed community of mixed-used housing named Highland's Garden Village.

Once a popular rural destination, Wiberg of Rediscovering Northwest Denver writes that Mary and her husband John Elitch opened the gates of Elitch's Gardens on May 1st, 1890.

The Gardens were originally just that, botanical gardens; but after the tragic death of her husband in 1891, Mary carried out their dream of creating a wholesome family resort, writes Wiberg. She incorporated a zoo and other amusements into the Gardens. Wiberg also writes of Mary:

"She provided pony rides, a merry-go-round, the smallest train in the world in which the children could ride, playgrounds, free dancing classes…. There were picnic spots in the orchard, vaudeville performances, jugglers, a bicycle loop-the-lop, [and] the famous Ivy Baldwin to do aerial acrobatics and balloon ascensions."

In 1916, the Gardens were sold to John M. Mulvihill who maintained many of the popular attractions of the amusement park, with the exception of the zoo. He also expanded upon the park adding a dance hall. Wiberg writes, "The Trocadero was built about 1922. A gray stucco building, quite cavernous, it had open arches on all sides which brought the magic of the Gardens in and sent the beguiling music across the park…. During the days of the big bands in the 30's and 40's the Troc was packed every night."

Likewise, Erik Rieger, owner of the Lapis Design and Build Gallery said about the street during this time,

"You know you have to remember in the 40's and 50's this street was just bustling. On a Friday night in the summer it wouldn't be unheard of to see Tommy Dorsey, [the famous jazz musician], walking down the street…. Grace Kelly held an apartment across the street. You would, you know, see numerous starlets. This place was just hopping."

The old Elitch Gardens radiated a character that carried over into the livelihood of the early days of Tennyson Street. Residents from all over the surrounding areas came by steam train and tramway to enjoy the pastoral pleasures of the Gardens, writes Wiberg. As a popular destination spot, Tennyson Street likely drew many customers from Elitch's Gardens frequent visitors. According to the Denver Householder's Directories, Elitch Gardens, featured creameries, bakeries, grocery and dry goods stores, as well as hardware and furniture stores. There were also tailors and dry cleaners, barbers and beauty shops, physicians and pharmacies.

Later editions of the household directories show that Tennyson, between W. 38th and W. 44th Avenues, grew from 88 properties in 1926 to had grown to house over 130 properties in 1950.

Residential blends with commercial

As Tennyson Street became a prominent commercial district for the city of North Denver, Berkeley neighborhood was also growing in population. Tennyson Street gained more and more residential properties.

Between 1924 and approximately 1940, an increasing number of names associated with residential dwellings appeared on the north end of the street. between the cross streets of W. 41st and W. 44th Avenues.

The residential dwellings then either remained as they were, or were converted to occupy different businesses, as shown by the directories. Today, a number of residential houses can still be seen on the street, and consistent with history, the majority of the houses occupy the north end.

Angela Butz, owner of the Honey Comb Salon describes Tennyson Terrace as, kitschy, funky, and residential. Butz describes occasional tensions between the residents of the street and the business owners of the terrace.

"That's the one thing that a lot of the business owners have a hard time with is that there is a house in between [each business]…. And so the homes will get a little angry because you're parking in front of their houses…. So it's definitely a residential street, it's not just businesses," said Angela.

In addition to the older homes of Tennyson Street, residential lofts and condos have either been built on the street in the last five years, or are presently being built. There are varying views as to whether or not these new residential developments are positive for Tennyson Street.

Green Door Furniture Store owner Albert Stewart believes that the lofts and condos, built in 2003 on the southwest corner of W. 44th Avenue, don't fit the area.

"I think it's horrible because the architectural planning that they use…they use stock, stark, modern in a Victorian era. If they would build properties to fit the architecture of the neighborhood, that would be another story; but they won't." Albert added, moments later,

"But then again, I'm 80-years-old and my thoughts don't jive with the 20 and 30 year-olds that are moving in."

Twenty and thirty-somethings move in

Although originally contributing to the growth of the area, the old Elitch Gardens became somewhat of a hindrance to the street in future decades. John Aguilar documented this demise in his 2003 Denver Business Journal article, "Touting Tennyson."

"In the 1970s and '80s, the character of the Berkeley area began a steady decline after many single-family homes were put on the rental market, said Larry Kort, owner of Tennyson Hardware. Moreover, the old Elitch's amusement park on 38th Avenue was attracting enough cruisers and drunks to scare away potential business, he said."

The decline of the area caught the attention of the local government, which stepped in the 1980's. A economic development grant funded the remodeling of the sidewalks, said Erik Rieger of the Lapis Gallery. The street, from W. 39th to W. 41st Avenues, was installed with brick sidewalks, as well as matching benches and lamp posts, and was also dubbed the name Tennyson Terrace.

The face-lift, however, was not entirely successful at first. "I don't think much changed during the eighties. Well you know, Denver was going through…the United States was going through a recession, a housing recession. There were a lot of hut homes up here; Elitch's was on its last legs…. Like everything in the late 80's, energy went elsewhere," said Rieger.

So what changed? When Elitch Gardens moved to its present downtown location in 1994, developed Chuck Perry proposed that the space be used for a mixed-use housing development, known as Highland's Garden Village. According to the village website, after a two year public process, the City of Denver. In 1998 approved the 27-acre site, in 1998, to be rezoned as a Planned Unit Development (PUD)."

The PUD regulations allow for more creative and imaginative land development than is normally possible under the current city district zoning regulations, said the website.

The website also explains that the Highland's Garden Village was built to include a variety of for-sale, mixed-income single-family homes, town homes and co-housing, as well as affordable senior and multi-family rental-apartments.

The village has been recognized for its adherence to the principles of new urbanism, described by newurbanism.org as walkability, connectivity, mixed-use and diversity, mixed-housing, increased density, smart transportation, sustainability, and quality of life, among others.

Highland's Garden Village, located adjacent from the thriving commercial district of Tennyson Street demonstrates many of these new urbanism principles. The influx of new residents to the area has also helped to revive Tennyson Street.

Frank Rangel of Elitch Lanes describes the days of Tennyson Street before Highland's Garden Village. "The amusement park across the street was always packed. Tennyson Street itself wasn't a big merchant shopping area like it is now. There were quieter streets back then….Back then it seemed to be like there were more retirees--older people--living in the area than there are now. He later added,

"I think the development [Highland's Garden Village] has been going really well…. It's more vibrant, it brings more people to the area; and in our business, more people means more business."

The new 32nd and Lowell

With a growing community now in the place of the old Elitch Garden's, Tennyson Terrace is beginning to take on a more vibrant aura, as it once boasted in the early 20th century.

"The neighborhood's all new. So many people are buying into this neighborhood; Berkeley has just really turned around. So there are a lot of new faces," said Angela Butz, owner of the Honeycomb Salon.

The Honeycomb Salon was originally opened on W. 32nd Avenue and Mead Street in the Highlands cultural district of 32nd and Lowell, said Butz. In her nine years on W. 32nd Avenue, Butz says that she saw the cultural district of Highlands come to life. Now having occupied the Tennyson Street location for four years, Butz declares,

"I imagine [Tennyson Street] will be a lot like 32nd and Lowell in five years."

With the recent arrival of independent boutiques, coffee shops, art galleries and restaurants, Tennyson Terrace draws a close comparison to it's sister cultural district of Highlands. Holly Kort of Tennyson Hardware said about 32nd and Lowell,

"They're kind of like another Tennyson Street," but joked,

"We're better…. They have more restaurants and things like that…and we have more shopping."

If there is one characteristic that Tennyson Street has maintained throughout history, it is that of it's prominence as a shopping district. "We've got some of the best stores in Denver that are in The Best of Denver and Westword and 5280, said Butz of the Honeycomb Salon. Butz also said that a shopper can find just about anything they need on Tennyson Street, without having to go to a mall. However, she also adds: "But a lot of people don't know about it. They're like, Tennyson? Where's Tennyson?"

We called a meeting and assembled about 12 stores together, pulling a collection of money to spend toward advertising the street, said Jon.

Jon also said that the merchant's association they created grew to include 15 different members and operated for some seven and a half years. The association, however, fell apart after Jon's family began to grow.

"He's got two babies right now, a baby girl and a baby boy and so he just doesn't have the time to do it. We handed the reigns to a couple people but nobody's really stepped up to the plate to take it over, which is kind of a shame," said his brother, Erik Riegel.

Although the attempt to maintain a merchant's association failed, the Riegel brother's other creation, The "First Friday Art Walk, Dine & Shop," which occurs the first Friday of each month, has continued to grow as a tradition on the street since it's creation in the late 1990's.

The first Art Walk included a small crowd, comprised of mostly Lapis friends and family members, with only a few other merchants involved, explained Erik. However, the event has grown tremendously over the past ten years. "[Now], on the average art walk we'll get anywhere from 1100 to 2000 people through the door. So, just from a marketing standpoint, it's huge," he said

With growing participation in the art walks, more and more businesses on the terrace, realizing the exposure to be gained by staying open a little bit later on each first Friday, started to partake in the festivities, said Erik.

"We encouraged some of the merchants to stay open and do a little sidewalk sale…or something. And they did…some of them better than others," he added.

The future of the street

With lively community events, such as the First Friday Art Walks, Tennyson Street is well along the path to rejuvenation. Many business owners hope that the street will continue to progress.

"I just hope the development that has been going on, continues. The nicer it is, the more coherent the strip is, the more of a destination it will be for people, said Jason Stallings, co-owner of the newly opened DJ's Berkeley Cafe.

Likewise, Corrie Thompson, of Corrie's Pet Grooming, said that her hope for Tennyson Street is that it, "Just keep, you know, developing. Keep the money over here, and [keep] businesses staying alive."

For Tennyson Street to continue to develop, however, there needs to be a more coherent co-operative among the merchants, said Christine Parisi, co-owner of the Italian Restaurant, Parisi, located on the northwest corner of W. 44th Avenue and Tennyson Street.

"It's definitely old meets new," Parisi said. "There are a lot of the old-school folks that are around here still, that are kind of gripping on to the older-style businesses….Which I think lends a hand to the character of the neighborhood. But, we also want to move forward, progress as a whole neighborhood," she said. However, these things require tax dollars, in which not every merchant on the street is on board to pay at this time, Parisi added.

Whether or not the street is on a productive path to a full-fledged revival, many merchants maintain that the street is still a vibrant area, as well as a great place to run a business.

"It's just a slow process. For now, you know, lots of great small mom and pop type shops [are] up and down the street. It's really a nice place to be, in comparison to some of the other neighborhoods in town. Some of them, I'm envious of; I think they've got much more unity than we do. And then there's others where they just can't seem to get anything going…you know, so I feel like Tennyson is definitely a nice place to be," said Parisi.

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