Miniso Comes to Belmar

Asian pop-up stores are, well, popping up everywhere, and one of the biggest retailers is Miniso, with some 7,000 stores world wide. Just last summer, my family dragged me into the Miniso on the Champs-Èlysées in Paris on our way back from the Arc de Triomphe.

Now Lakewood's own Champs-Èlysées (that's W. Alaska Drive, in case you were wondering) has a Miniso, and it's just as weird and wonderful as the one in Paris.

For starters, it's a literal beacon. Walk by anytime--day or night--and you'll find yourself drawn to the brightly-lit rows of blind boxes, plushies, backpacks and other assorted plastic knick-knacks, all neatly stacked under the store's take-no-prisoners interior lighting. Really, I dare you to try and walk by and ignore the place.

Inside, Miniso carries absolutely nothing that appeals to me (except for maybe the bags of shrimp-flavored corn puffs, which remind me of the two years I spent teaching in South Korea, drinking in seedy bars where a basket of these shrimp puffs were served with every round). Otherwise it's all manga blind-boxes, Hello Kitty plushies, and hair ties.

However, I'm not Miniso's target demographic. What I do see is lots of people walking around Belmar with their bright red Miniso bags, grinning with excitement, which is great to see. Will the novelty wear off, though? Miniso is expanding at a break-neck pace, with at least four stores in the Denver metro area already. 

One thing you won't find at Miniso are Lububu, which are sold exclusively at rival retailer Pop Mart, which does not yet have any locations in Colorado.

Mason's Dumpling Shop: Another Promising New Belmar Restaurant

Another promising new restaurant opened recently in downtown Lakewood's Belmar neighborhood. Mason's Dumpling Shop serves handmade boiled, steamed and pan-fried dumplings. The owners are restaurateurs from Los Angeles and the Belmar Mason's is their third Colorado location. 

Now, I wouldn't call myself a dumpling expert, but I have eaten a lot of dumplings over the years, including at restaurants that are often hyped as the best of the best--specifically, Din Tai Fung and Goubuli Dumpling--so I was excited to try Mason's.

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwan-based chain that makes some of the best soup dumplings you can get. When you walk into their Seattle location, you walk past a glass window showing the kitchen crew hard at work rolling out and filling an enormous number of dumplings. The amount of dumplings that location makes in a day must be incredible, and it shows in the amazing freshness of the dumplings they serve. The dumplings I ate there were about as perfect as any I've ever eaten.

Meanwhile, dumpling aficionados know Goubuli Dumpling (狗不理包) is a restaurant in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin that is world-famous for its dumplings and buns. Rather like Din Tai Fung, Goubuli Dumpling serves their signature dish in astonishing quantities, and their sprawling, labyrinthine location is always packed. I'm sure there are debates about whether Goubuli Dumpling is too touristy, but I found their dumplings tasty and absolutely perfectly-prepared.

What do I consider tasty? Basically, I like dumplings when they're served hot and evenly cooked--not too doughy but also not too chewy (or crispy, if pan-fried). Cooking dumplings like that is something I suspect takes a lot of practice, because over the years I've had a lot of dumplings that were pretty mediocre, even at otherwise really top-notch restaurants. These places didn't specialize in dumplings, and it showed. 

On the day I went to Mason's, they were advertising that they were in a "soft opening" and still working to get everything just right. 

As we went in, I was impressed with the remodel of the location from its previous incarnation as a seafood-slash-sports bar (Seafood Empire), and I was glad to see the annoying big screen TVs gone. (I hate restaurants with televisions in them, but that's another story). Mason's isn't fancy, but it's clean and comfortable. Vibe-wise, it reminds me of a typical dumpling house you might wander into in Los Angeles' Monterey Park neighborhood. (Side note: if you're ever in Monterey Park, Mama Lu's Dumpling House is worth the long lines.)

At Mason's, we ordered six or seven dishes off the menu. First up were the pan-fried pork dumplings, and I was blown away at how perfectly they were cooked. Really, they were that outstanding. They were so good that we immediately ordered a second plate. Unfortunately, the dumplings in that second round were alternately too doughy on one side and too crisp on the other. The cook, it was clear, had rushed the second order and not paid enough attention to getting them just right.

Next we tried the soup dumplings. I find these way too doughy at places like Star Kitchen (really, they just never seem to get them the way I like them), so I was pleased to find Mason's soup dumplings cooked perfectly. To round things out, we ordered the pan fried beef, cheese and onion dumplings and several steamed buns--the stewed Angus beef and stewed pork belly. These were well-received by my party, with the light fluffiness of the buns and the savory stewed beef as the standouts.

Overall, it was a fun, tasty meal and I absolutely recommend you go by and try the place. Certainly I'll be back again to see how things have progressed once they're fully open. If they can make every order of pan-fried pork dumplings as good as that first plate we received, Mason's Dumpling House is going to be a hit.

   

Mono Gogo's Korean Fried Chicken is Excellent

You may have noticed that hot chicken restaurant Mono Gogo recently took over the space next to the Belmar Century 16 theater that was formerly Menya Noodle Bar. Menya's noodles were good but not great, while Mono Gogo serves up some of the best hot chicken right now in Denver. End of story. 

Except, it's actually more complicated than that. 

Mono Gogo and Menya are both owned by Denver restauranteur JW Lee, whose Seoul Hospitality Group also owns Belmar's Wasabi Sushi Bar and a whole bevy of other restaurants in other Denver-area locations. 

Lee specializes in a range of Korean restaurants. Some serve what I would consider more traditional Korean recipes (I'm basing this on the two years I lived in South Korea), while others are delightfully Americanized (Bulgogi nachos, anyone?) He's always trying something interesting. And he has so many new restaurants that I'm only now learning about some I've got to try, like his dumpling-focused restaurant Seoul ManDoo, and his Hawaiian-Japanese style donut shop Mochinut. 

Right now, however, I want to give another shout-out to Downtown Lakewood's Mono Gogo. The joint serves some seriously good food. Specifically, Mono Gogo needs to be your go-to place for hot wings. I like the soy garlic and the hot spicy, but there are a couple of other flavors as well--all of them light and crispy and absolutely delicious. You can even wash them down with Mono Gogo's own rice lager, made at the Mono Mono Brewery in Longmont. 

It's not elegant dining. Everything comes served in baskets or paper boxes. There's a napkin dispenser on each table, and far too many flat screen TVs playing spammy adverts. But it does remind me a bit of the fried chicken restaurant on my block when I lived in Busan back in the 1990s. That place wasn't fine dining either. It was a quick place to grab take-out on the way home from work, tasty and hot. 

The difference is I never had fried chicken in South Korea that was even half as good as the birds served up by Mono Gogo. So the next time you're in Belmar, drop in and order some soy garlic wings and a beer and pretend you're still a young English teacher in South Korea on your way back home after a long day at work. That's what I do.

Change Is Good, Mostly.

Change is good. Mostly. I think. Or at least, it's good on balance. 

What change am I talking about? New businesses. New landlords. 

I'm excited by the soon-to-open Lady Nomada, because I live in Downtown Lakewood, and what I really want is a patio to go and have drinks on in the summer (if it's ever going to be summer again, which is a different topic altogether). At the same time, I'm sad to see Sur La Tabla gone, along with Baker Street.

Actually, it doesn't matter what I think, change is happening. The pandemic closed a lot of businesses. Others retrenched. The old ownership structure of Belmar in Downtown Lakewood went belly-up and Bridge 33 bought the property with the goal of finishing the project.

Bridge 33 has been aggressively trying to fill empty storefronts, and that work is starting to bear fruit. A Lululemon pop-up has filled the space vacated by Guess at the corner of Teller and Alaska. Directly across from the Lululemon pop-up is Garage Sale Vintage, a pop-up thrift store/bar. 

As I mentioned above, Arvada-based Mexican restaurant Lady Nomada is renovating the space that was previously the Italian joint Brodo. And the old Sur La Table location on Teller has become...a Fidelity brokerage??? Well, as I said, change is good on balance, but perhaps not in every detail.

It's also been a busy few years for me personally, and I haven't had a much time to write this blog. I'm still busy, but I'm going to try and post more regularly, now that Belmar and Downtown Lakewood have come out of their pandemic lull.

So yeah, change is good, mostly. Let's see what the year brings.

 

Yes, We Need Multifamily Housing at 451 S. Teller St.

After a number of failed starts, it seems we're getting closer to seeing the vacant lot at 451 S. Teller St. sprout much-needed multifamily housing.

This space, located between the Belmar Plaza Residences and the Belmar Square Park, has been a temporary parking lot ever since the old Villa Italia Mall was demolished. Building on it is essential to realizing the promise of Belmar as a true "Downtown Lakewood," a space defined by mid-rise city blocks, a mix of retail and residential, a walking culture, and an active street life.  

The latest plans for 451 S. Teller St. involve multi-family apartments built and managed by Doran Properties, a Minnesota-based firm. The proposal calls for a 194 unit mid-rise structure on the 1.76 acre lot with resident parking, an outdoor pool, a club room, and co-working spaces. Studio, one, two, and three bedroom units would be available for rent.

There's so much to like about this project. For example, the presence of three bedroom apartments makes it appealing to families, not just young singles. That's a huge plus in my book. In addition, the site's ample parking will be hidden from view, with one level of parking underground and two more above ground in an internal parking structure. This is important because it means residents will have dedicated parking and their vehicles won't add to parking demand elsewhere in Belmar. Finally, the fact that this will be housing, rather than retail, is really, really good. Lakewood as a whole has way too much retail space and no where near enough housing. So what's not to like?

From my view, nothing. The project, however, has been slowed by opposition from residents of the neighboring Belmar Plaza Residences. Their complaint? The proposed project is too tall and will take away their views. 

Sigh.

This kind of NIMBYism is depressingly common, but I've heard the Lakewood planning commission is working to accommodate their concerns by adjusting the height and footprint of the new building. I hope the situation gets resolved soon and the project breaks ground, as the rest of us have had to live with the ugly parking lot at 451 S. Teller St. far too long.

Bridge 33 Hosts Fun, Festive "Boo-mar" Event for Belmar Residents

Bridge 33, the new owners of the Belmar commercial district, put on a private "Boo-mar" Halloween event last Thursday in the Belmar Plaza for local residents. Their goal was to solicit community input about the future of the commercial district. (This is probably a good place to note that Bridge 33 only owns the main commercial district in Belmar, and not the private residential areas or rental apartments within the borders of the larger Belmar development).

Since completing their purchase, Bridge 33 has been quite active in the community, attending community business forums. This latest event, however, was an attempt to reach out to the broader community. To that end, "Boo-mar" featured a costume contest, free craft beers and ciders from local taprooms, and music by local band Guerrilla Fanfare.

Jack Hechinger, Bridge 33's VP of Acquisitions, was there, along with Philip Knott, who is Belmar's new General Manager, and Alberta Davidson, Belmar's new Director of Marketing. Together, they spent the evening listening and answering questions, while residents quaffed beers from Locust Cider and 6 and 40 Brewery. 

It was also a chance to imagine a future where the Belmar Plaza-- arguably the heart of the entire New Urbanist development-- is a bustling, fun place to mix, mingle and relax every night, not just on nights when there are special events. I asked Philip Knott what it would take to make this happen. "It's a chicken and egg problem," he told me. "Take the idea of more restaurants and bars here on the plaza. These kinds of places bring in more foot traffic, but restaurateurs don't want to sign leases until the foot traffic is already there. That's what I mean by a chicken and egg problem." Bridge 33's answer in other markets, he said, has been to create bustle with fun, interesting pop-up spaces that bring people in and showcase the area's potential. "Belmar happened too soon for the west side of Denver," Jack Hechinger told me, but that he feels the thinking and the demographics have caught up. "We're excited to be here.

I'm excited too, as someone who believes in urban spaces and walkable neighborhoods enough to make my home in one. And in the next few weeks I'm going to start posting my top 5 ideas for how Bridge 33 should move forward with revitalizing Belmar as the pandemic begins to recede. 

Bridge 33 Buys Belmar Shopping District

At last, some really great news for Belmar!

Seattle-based firm Bridge 33 has bought the shopping district portion of the development, which had entered foreclosure under the management of Starwood Capitol. Starwood reportedly will maintain control of Belmar's rental apartments. 

Starwood's tenure owning Belmar was fairly disastrous, coinciding with the worst of the coronavirus pandemic (see my posts here and here). But Starwood also never really understood what Belmar was (not another mall, but Lakewood's long promised downtown). The final nail in the coffin was Starwood's inability to maintain Belmar's commercial district, which had begun to look run down even before the pnademic. 

Part of problem was that Starwood was simply too big, and Belmar was lost in their massive real estate portfolio. This will be the opposite with Bridge 33: Bought for $113 million, Belmar will be the largest, highest-profile property in their portfolio. 

Of course, the proof's in the pudding, but so far, Bridge 33's Jack Hechinger (Vice-President of Acquisitions) has been very active in the Belmar community, reading out to neighborhood and business associations. In particular, he's promised a big investment to fix up the property (including the Belmar Plaza) and get new, class A tenants into vacant storefronts.

I don't know if anyone from Bridge 33 reads this blog, but I'll be posting some of my suggestions soon for what I'd like to see happen at Belmar.

Plans on Paper: Belmar Residence Inn and Belmar Block 6 Multifamily Residence

As 2020 draws to a close, downtown Lakewood has begun to see signs of life after a long and dreadful year. A handful of new freestanding stores will soon be opening at 100 S. Wadsworth, including a Living Water Car Wash and a Sherwin-Williams paint store. This strip of undeveloped land between Wadsworth Blvd. and The Villas residential neighborhood has seen a number of proposed development plans appear on paper over the last ten years, including townhomes, a gas station, and an In-and-Out Burger. None got past the planning stage until now.

Another project that currently exists only on paper is one to build a Residence Inn at 470 S. Teller St. This undeveloped parcel is located in the heart of Belmar and was previously under consideration for development as an office building. This is a key parcel in Belmar, and I'd be very happy to see a hotel there, as it would bring in guests who would be likely to shop and eat in downtown Lakewood. How likely is this project to actually happen? I don't know. The city of Lakewood's Planning Department was looking at it as early as last March, so it may be frozen in place until the pandemic wanes and the hotel industry figures out what travel looks like post-pandemic.

A plan was also submitted this year too develop 7221 W Virginia Pl. as a multifamily residence. The undeveloped parcel also sits in the center of Belmar, between Target and the proposed Residence Inn. For a while there was talk of developing this site as an upscale retirement home, but that plan appears to have fallen through.

I'd love to see both these parcels developed, as filling in these parking lots would complete much of the original vision of Belmar. For example, a pair of 3+ story buildings on these parcels would complete the street wall around Belmar Square, defining the park's boundaries and giving it a sort of "hidden gem" feeling that's common to parks in European cities, where you can be walking one minute in a dense urban district, only the next to come unexpectedly upon a neat and orderly oasis of green.

Again, we'll just have to see if any of this goes from a mere plan on paper to actual construction.

Bare Shelves in Downtown Lakewood

Well, folks, paper towels, tissues, bleach, wipes and, yes, toilet paper are completely gone from everywhere, including our local Target and King Soopers. Along with canned goods, meat, milk, and other staples.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention-- panic buying first hit Hong Kong and Singapore over a month ago, and Italy two weeks ago.

Still, it seems like a lot of America has fallen prey to the phenomenon known as normalcy bias, the tendency for people to believe the status quo is forever, and therefore to underestimate the likelihood of a disaster and its consequences. As a result, instead of buying a bit extra each week for the last few weeks (as epidemiologists have been recommending since late February), everyone ran out at once and stocked up in anticipation of mandatory stay at home orders.


The good news is that I saw lots of stocking going on yesterday at Target when (while carefully maintaining the CDC's recommended six feet of distance from other people) I was shopping for eggs and bacon. Maybe someday soon there will even be toilet paper to buy.

The Gathering Storm

I started this blog in April of 2011, with the intention of documenting life in the newly coined "Downtown Lakewood." As the economic crisis of 2008 faded, Belmar saw a flurry of new construction, new stores, new restaurants. Many of my hopes as a new homeowner in the area were realized, from the opening of grocery stores and cafes, to public art, festivals and concerts.

The last few years have been harder, as Lakewood became polarized between pro and anti-growth factions. Important tax measures that would have improved schools and roads have failed. Across the country, the retail apocalypse has hit cities hard, and Lakewood has been no exception. Belmar has done better than most shopping districts because it serves residents and because a walkable downtown is a social experience that can't be replaced by an Amazon order. Still, the change of ownership from Continuum to Starwood has resulted in an absentee owner who doesn't quite get Belmar, and a disturbing number of empty storefronts have recently appeared.

The sudden rise of a worldwide pandemic is now going to test Lakewood like nothing in its history. Will businesses that provide face-to-face services be able to survive with their customers sheltering in place? Will residents be able to pay their bills if their place of employment closes? Will the city's homeless population be left to fend for themselves?

And once the pandemic finally passes, how long will it take to restart the economy? What will happen to city and state tax revenue in Colorado, where the TABOR amendment has dangerously straightjacketed finances after every previous recession?

I guess we're going to find out.

First Take: Menya Noodle Bar

Well, it's here-- Belmar's first ramen joint, Menya.

I've spent a good portion of my adult life looking for a really good bowl of ramen. For a couple of years in my twenties, I roamed the streets of Pusan, South Korea, looking for spicy ramen with lots of kimchi. This was street ramen, served up in thin metal bowls outside the university gates, cheap and filling.

Later I got to try the ramen in Japan, where the dish has a more subtle broth and the noodles are garnished with colorful vegetables topped with pork belly. The best was at a little noodle shop in Nagasaki, whose name I couldn't even read, where the bowls were slurped by lunchtime patrons seated at creaky wooden stools in front of a long, linoleum counter.

And can I talk about all the great ramen in Hawaii? I've gotten to eat at high-end concept ramen joints like Lucky Belly and local favorites like Kiwami Ramen.

So when I moved back to Denver, it was only natural that I started looking for ramen here, too. For years, the only place I liked was Oshima Ramen, the Denver franchise of the Japanese chain founded by Keiji Oshima, and dedicated (according to the sign when you walked in) to the "God of Ramen."

These days, with so many ramen places to choose from, I have two favorites: Ototo on S. Pearl Street in Denver, and Miyako Ra-men Spot on S. Broadway in Englewood. Ototo, owned by the same folks who run the infinitely glorious Sushi Den, serves up some of the best spicy ramen I've ever eaten. It's house-made, with a fatty, almost creamy broth that's positively decadent. Miyako's broth is almost as rich, but they get the spicy part down perfectly. Their heat reminds me of the ramen I used to get in Korea.

All of which brings me to Menya, downtown Lakewood's new ramen shop. And the truth is, I'm extremely hesitant to review it, having only been there once.

When I went in recently, I ordered a bowl of their house ramen, and found the broth rich and the pork belly as meltable as butter. Impressively, my bowl had a perfectly soft-boiled egg (many ramen shops mess this up) that was a delight to cut into. The only thing I didn't much like was the use of raw baby spinach as a garnish-- it was just too taken-out-of-the-plastic-bag for me. I'd have loved to see it wilted with a little sesame oil, or else replaced with something like bok choy. But honestly, I'm not an expert on regular ramen. What I like is Korean-influenced spicy ramen. And even then, I'm hardly an expert. All I know is what I like.

Menya has spicy ramen on the menu, but I was little surprised to see that it was a spicy chicken ramen, which is something I've never seen before. It was so surprising that I decided to hold off trying it until my next visit. Which means I'm going to hold off on any judgements until I've had a chance to try their take on spicy.

Meanwhile, I was recently downtown and passed by Menya's 16th Street Mall location, and it was packed at noon, so there's apparently a large group of people for whom Menya hits the spot.

Will Menya Belmar end up on my list of regular downtown Lakewood lunchtime spots? Time will tell, but it's a promising start.

Review: Share Tea Brings Taiwanese-style Bubble Teas to Belmar

It's been a busy year, but I wanted to post about one of my favorite new places in Belmar-- Sharetea.

Of course, there are a lot of Taiwanese-style "bubble tea" or boba shops in Denver these days, and Sharetea is far from the only business in Belmar to offer them. The thing is, Sharetea is an actual Taiwanese chain of boba tea shops. There are something like 500 Shareteas in the world, most of them in Asia, but more than a few are now open here in the US.

What I like about Sharetea, beyond the taste and quality of their drinks, is how culturally Chinese the franchise feels. When you walk in, you're greeted loudly by the staff. The menu has options for white or black boba, lychee, and aiyu jelly. It reminds me, in a reverse kind of way, of what it's like to go to a McDonald's in Beijing or Seoul-- the rules of the franchise dictate a certain feel and experience, no matter where in the world it's located.

It might sound strange to talk about McDonald's as an icon of American culture in these jaded days, but as a twenty-something, I vividly remember the instant feel of home I felt when ordering a Big Mac in Shanghai after a month of backpacking through rural and small town China. Guessing from the long lines I saw at Sharetea on opening day, I'd say there's a fair-sized community here in Denver that feels the same way about Sharetea.

One of the best examples of what I'm talking about happened on Lunar New Year, when a troupe of lion dancers performed both outside and inside the tea shop. The event began with a riot of firecrackers on the sidewalk outside. Shortly afterward, the lions came inside, exploring every inch of the cafe, climbing up on tables and pressing up against patrons. Finally, in an impressive display of acrobatics, the lions reached up to the ceiling and pulled down bundles of lettuce. Inside the lettuce? Traditional red envelopes with money for the dancers.

And what was I drinking while all this was going on? An Oreo ice milk blended with boba pearls-- a drink that now gives me an instant feel of home.

15th Annual Belmar Festival Italiano Coming Sept. 7th & 8th

Has it really been fifteen years since the first Belmar Italian Festival?

I didn't even live in downtown Lakewood the year of the first Festival Italiano. Instead I stumbled across it while on a bicycle ride out into the 'burbs from my then-home on Capitol Hill. There wasn't much to Belmar back then-- just a few blocks along Teller Street and Alaska Drive-- but I remember locking up my bike and grabbing a slice of pizza.

My plan for the festival this year is much the same as it has been every year since I moved to Belmar. I'll wander out my front door, pick up a glass of prosecco and watch Frank Sinatra perform (played this year by Derek Evilsizer). At some point I'll watch the Sbandieratori march up Alaska Drive and spin their flags to the sound of drums and trumpets. When it gets hot, I'll walk back home (that's the great thing about living in Belmar) and then come back in the early evening to sample the pizza and gelato.

One thing I am planning to do this year is map out my day a bit better than I usually do, as many of the musical acts only perform once. The schedule of events, including performance times, is available at the Belmar website.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that this year's festival is coinciding with the closure of Dino's Italian Food, which has operated on Lakewood's stretch of West Colfax for over 50 years. It's a reminder that in the early part of the 20th century, Italian Americans made up 20% of Colorado's population, and that the northwest side of Denver (including Lakewood) was home to many of these new Americans. When I was a kid in the 1970's, I remember the many red sauce, checkered table cloth, pizza and spaghetti joints that used to fill the area, along with an equal number of long gone Italian markets and taverns. Many of these places were already long past their heyday when I would go to them with my grandparents, but wandering the streets of Belmar during the annual Festival Italiano brings back memories for me, and is a wonderful celebration of the way that immigration has built today's Colorado.

Denver-based Ramen Shop, Menya Noodle, Coming to Belmar

I know it's been quiet here at La Vida Belmar. I've been meaning to go out and take photos of the amazing streetscaping that's finishing up on Alameda, or write a review of ShareTea, the Taiwanese bubble tea chain that's opened up shop in Belmar. But I was on vacation for much of June, and then I was back at the office with a lot of work to catch up on. So yeah, things have been kind of quiet on this blog.

Today, however, I was walking past the former Grappa Italian Bistro location on S. Teller St. in central Belmar an I saw something exciting. Work is happening inside the restaurant space, and the permits on-site are for Menya Noodle. This was so exciting that I had to write about it.

Menya, if you weren't aware, is a local chain of noodle shops owned by Denver chef J W Lee, who also happens to own Belmar's Wasabi Sushi. Each Menya has a slightly different menu, but I believe they all serve ramen. And if there's one thing Lakewood needs, it's a good ramen shop. Really. I get so tired of driving across town for ramen.

Now, when it comes to ramen, I prefer the Korean variety, which is topped with kimchi and deeply flavored with hot pepper paste, to the Japanese broths, which tend to strike me as a little bland. Lee is originally from South Korea (even if his restaurants are Japanese), so I'm hoping the Belmar location will carry a bold, Korean-style spicy ramen.

In Photos: First Friday at Belmar's Block 7

 A warm evening after a week of cold and snow brought out the crowds to Belmar's Block 7 last night for this month's Friday Art Walk. It's a lot of fun and a great chance to talk with the artists. In my case, I talked to Ina Gustafsen and Kristin Rankin of InK Jewelry talked about their line of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and charms, while over at Julie Havel Fine Art, painters Jenny Wilson and Liz Latrup welcomed my wife and me to their two artist show. If you weren't able to make it the Art Walk, you should still stop by, as the galleries of Block 7 are really some of the best things about Lakewood's Belmar.

Gallery-goers outside iNk Jewelry

Artists Jenny Wilson (left) and Liz Lautrup (right)
at their show at the Julie Havel Fine Art gallery.

A triptych by artist Liz Lautrup

Lorena Garcia, US Senate Candidate, Meets with Lakewood Residents at Belmar's Block 7

Belmar's Block 7 Galleries have long hosted meet and greets by aspiring local politicians. The latest to turn out was progressive candidate Lorena Garcia, who came last Thursday night to the Valkarie to meet with Lakewood residents and listen to their concerns.  Garcia is running for the Democratic party nomination and hopes to face off against Cory Gardner in the fall of 2020. The thirty-six year old is a first-time candidate, but has a long history as a community organizer and advocate for social justice. Denverite describes her political views have as being in line with those of New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while Westword notes she's running on a platform of economic equality and access to education and healthcare. If you want to learn more, there's lots about Garcia's policy preferences on her website.

It's a long road to the Democratic senate nomination, and although there are only a handful of declared candidates at this point, Garcia will likely have to face off against a long list of both establishment and outsider competitors before all is said and done. Time will tell if this newcomer's campaign catches fire, but Garcia is hard at work at the face-to-face, retail politics that a candidate needs in order to win. 

Yes, Belmar Plaza is Looking Rough Around the Edges. It's Time for a Remodel.

It's been 14 year since the Villa Italia mall was redeveloped into the mixed use, new urbanist Belmar. In that time, the retail portion of Belmar has seen several owners-- first Continuum, then the Southern Ute tribe, and now Starwood Capital. Other parts of the development are owned by various HOAs, and still others by the Plaza Metropolitan District, a Business Improvement District.

I don't know which of these entities is responsible for the upkeep of Belmar's main plaza, but after 14 years, it's clear that the area needs more than daily cleaning. It's time for some serious maintenance, and probably a remodel.

Belmar's dry and broken fountain.

Let's start with the the main fountain, which hasn't been turned on in years. At one time, there was a large round stone ball that turned as water flowed round it, but it cracked and was later removed. The shallow step design of the fountain encouraged children to play on it, which led to the installation of a  "Warning: No Entry" sign. Compare this with Founders Fountain, the water feature in Stapleton's main plaza. Designed with a wading feature that was meant for children, it was installed in 2003 and is still up and running today. In contrast, Belmar's defunct fountain has become an unwelcoming eyesore.

Next up are the paving stones. They give the plaza it's old world charm, but the stones along Bonfils Lane (i.e. the south side of the plaza that runs between the movie theater and the steps leading up to Whole Foods) have shifted and buckled. In some areas the stones have become a tripping hazard. The ground in this area needs to be re-graded and the stones relaid so that they are flat.

Buckled paving stones on the south side of Belmar Plaza.

Finally, there's the dead tree on the plaza that should have been removed and replanted but which was instead turned into a grotesque sculpture of happy bears, birds, and rabbits. Clearly someone thought this was a good idea, but let me make it absolutely clear: it wasn't. It was a terrible idea. Carvings of happy woodland animals belong in tourist trap towns in the mountains, or the yards of ramshackle homes with lace curtains, uncut grass, and a jeep or two up on blocks in the driveway. Belmar's aesthetic is modern, not rustic. Yes, whoever had the horrible idea to carve up this tree should feel deep, deep shame.

Of course, maybe deep shame is your aesthetic. If so, let me make a different argument, one from a design standpoint. The trees that line the south end of the plaza are there to mark a through-zone (the aforementioned Bonfils Lane) that connects the east and west sides of Belmar. The uniformity of these trees creates this through-zone. In other words, it's important to the function of the plaza that there be a row of trees along its south side. By turning one of these trees into a kitsch piece of mountain-art, the entire design of the plaza has been thrown off-kilter. 

Art? No, this is the mutilated
corpse of an innocent tree. 

So we come back to the fact that's it unclear who's making decisions about the Belmar Plaza. Clearly it's not someone with any professional expertise in design. It's probably someone who's just muddling along on a limited budget, and who doesn't have any clear sense that one of Belmar's most important spaces is falling apart. 

Belmar's main plaza needs the attention of a landscape architect, and it needs it now. Unfortunately, I don't even know who's responsible for keeping up the plaza area, or if that entity even cares that things are starting to fall apart.

In Photos: Belmar Chuy's Construction Site

Does Councilor-elect Bieda think Belmar is a criminal-filled slum?

A little over 154,000 people live in the City of Lakewood, but only 31,425 cast a ballot in this year's city council election. That's just twenty percent of city residents (some of whom, admittedly, are under 18 or otherwise ineligible to vote). Turnout among registered voters was only something like thirty-one percent.

A Bieda campaign advertisement that appears to
imply Belmar is a criminal-filled slum.

Thirty-one percent turnout stinks. There's just no other way to look at it, especially given the ease of voting by mail. Voters weren't familiar with the issues and so they just didn't return their ballots. In Ward 3 (which includes Belmar), the race came down to 300 votes out of just 6,120 ballots cast.

The winner? Mike Bieda, who ran on a platform of extreme opposition to Belmar and the very concept of a vibrant, downtown Lakewood.

What? Yes, I'm afraid so. Bieda also ran against redevelopment on Colfax, against affordable housing, against smart growth, and against the kinds of public-private partnerships that made Belmar possible. Shockingly, his ads during the campaign even appeared to imply that Belmar is an urban slum whose residents are extra-prone to criminality. It was a dog whistle campaign of the worst sort, suggesting to Ward 3's many senior citizens that Belmar's younger residents are somehow a dangerous threat to their way of life.

This divisive man is now our representative on the city council-- and will be for the next four years.

Alameda Shops to Bring Four New "Fast Casual" Restaurants to Belmar

Back in early 2015, I wrote about the plan to add retail space to the corner of Alameda and Salisbury in the form of two buildings-- one along Alameda, the other facing Salisbury. I later heard was that the existing infrastructure (sewer, power, water, etc.) of the location wasn't up to the needs of two buildings, and that as a result the plan would run substantially over budget if built.

The plan never went away, however, and now looks close to approval by the City of Lakewood. The biggest change has been to reduce the number of buildings from two to one-- only the building fronting Salisbury will be built, while a pedestrian path will connect the stores to the rest of Belmar.

Renderings of the planned building show a one story structure fronting Salisbury but with its facade turned toward the parking lot behind it. There will be room for outdoor seating, ideal for "fast casual" restaurants.

Indeed, Starwood appears to have leases already in hand for the entire space, with Zoe's Kitchen, R Taco, Pieology, and Mad Greens being the expected tenants.