Opening Soon: Dependable Cleaners

It's the little things that make an area livable.

Sure, the people who live in LoHi have over fifty of the Denver metro area's best restaurants to choose from. And anyone who live near Santa Fe Drive has a First Friday art walk at their fingertips that's a little like Spring Break on South Padre Island (if South Padre Island were a strip of art galleries, and its college kids were Denver art afficionados).

But I wouldn't want to live in either neighborhood because of the little things. In Belmar, we've got restaurants and an art walk, too, but if you live here, you can also walk to buy a gallon of milk or buy a roll of duct tape-- the kinds of things you find yourself needing to buy in real life all the time, and which require a car trip in most neighborhoods.

Soon, we'll also be able to walk to a dry cleaners. Dependable Cleaners is opening a location in the space that formerly held the Belmar Information Center, at 408 S. Teller St.

Yes, it's a little thing, but I'm looking forward to being able to drop off my dry cleaning without having to take a car trip down Wadsworth.

Opening Soon: The French Press

A new coffee shop called The French Press will be opening this fall in Belmar in the location recently vacated by Wystone's World Tea Cafe, and it looks like it will be cute, local, and low-key.

How do I know? Simple! I visited another French Press location-- there are two,  one in Aurora, one in Lakewood-- and checked things out for myself.

I went to the one in a Lakewood, which is located  at 85 S. Union Blvd., in a dilapidated strip mall that could easily double as the set for a post-apocalyptic zombie film. In fact, the barista I spoke to told me the French Press was moving to Belmar because their current digs were being torn down. "It'll be different," she told me rather wistfully. "Our current location has its charms." 

Really, I thought? Because all I saw were weeds and sun-baked asphalt. Yep, that strip mall was as charming as week old road kill. 

What did surprise me was how busy their Lakewood location was, especially for two o'clock on a Monday. But it was. The French Press, despite its post-apocalyptic location, clearly has a loyal following.

Their menu highlighted a list of inventive breakfast and lunch options. So, there's eggs benedict with your choice of crab, carnitas, or lox. There's a range of pancakes, including zucchini pistachio and raspberry oatmeal, and a number of interesting sounding variations on french toast (think chocolate bourbon pecan). I was most tempted by their chipotle cheddar biscuits with chorizo gravy, but alas, I'd already eaten.

Instead, I had come to inspect their coffee making equipment, because in my mind, that's what makes or breaks a coffee shop. 

Wystone's, for example, as much as I want to like the place, doesn't have an espresso machine that meets my expectations. I know, I know, Wystone's is a tea place, first and foremost, but they do have coffee on the menu, but they have a weird looking super automatic espresso machine that's clearly meant to run smoothly even in untrained hands. And it may in fact run smoothly. But it also doesn't have what it takes to make good espresso-- so far, every coffee I've had there has come out watery tasting, with milk foam that's way too frothy and way too hot. I've learned my lesson. At Wystone's, I stick to the tea. Update: As of late August, Wystone's has upgraded their espresso machine and the coffee situation there has completely turned around. Read about it here.

The French Press, on the other hand, has a real, commercial espresso machine, an Italian-made Wega. It's a semi-automatic, meaning the quality of the coffee depends on the skill of the barista. But in the right hands, it should be fully capable of turning out excellent coffee drinks. 

And my strip mall loving barista? How did she do?

I order a cappuccino-- always a good test-- and it came with a nice, stiff foam and a full-bodied, even shot of espresso. Perfect.

I'm looking forward to writing a full review once the new location in Belmar opens, but I'm excited already. The French Press could prove to be just the local breakfast place that I've been looking for.

Construction Underway on Holland Partners Belmar Project

If you live in the neighborhood, this won't come as a surprise, but construction is well underway on Holland Partners' 226,543 sq. foot residential project in downtown Lakewood's Belmar development.

The current work appears to be on the two-story parking garage that will be hidden inside the larger of the two properties (i.e. the development on the west side of S. Saulsbury Street).

The development on the east side of Saulsbury will feature tuck-under parking, also hidden from the street. Work looks a little less far along on this eastern parcel, but is happening there as well.

All in all, this is very exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the main facades of these substantial structures add to the "city feel" of Belmar.

Car2Go Comes to Belmar

The painted lines and signs went in a few weeks ago, and the cars themselves arrived yesterday, so it's official: Car2Go has come to Belmar.

The car share service offers auto rentals by the minute, hour, or day. You have to have a membership, but once you do, renting your car is as easy as swiping a card and typing a few details into the car's touchscreen. (See http://denver.car2go.com for details).

Right now Cars2Go is offering Belmar residents a free membership with the code Belmar0030, which is cool.

Realistically, though, I don't see myself using this service. Although I try and bike or walk whenever possible, I own a car and I drive somewhere outside of downtown Lakewood nearly everyday. But I do see Car2Go as lending a bit of urban cachet to downtown Lakewood.

So how about you? Do you see yourself occasionally renting a car to zip about town?

Qdoba Moving Corporate Headquarters to Belmar Plaza

Just saw this while at the plaza for yesterday's pancake breakfast. No details yet, but it looks like Qdoba will be taking the space vacated last year by Gap and Banana Republic.

This should be good news for Belmar restaurants, as hungry office workers look to escape from their cubicles at lunch. It should also solve one of the problems Gap and Banana Republic had with this particular location, which was its lack of visibility to auto traffic-- I can personally recall being asked on several occasions for directions to Belmar's Gap, and having people express surprise that Belmar had a Banana Republic. Presumably that lack of visibility won't be a problem for a corporate headquarters that doesn't need retail traffic.

Jeffco Community Protests School Board Actions

If you were out and about yesterday afternoon during rush hour, you probably saw the hundreds of protesters at the intersection of Wadsworth and Alameda in downtown Lakewood.

In fact, they were part of a larger group of over a thousand parents, teachers, and community members who lined Wadsworth Boulevard from 104th Ave in the north all the way to Chatfield Avenue in the south.

The sight of so many people out on the street appeared to impress commuters, large numbers of whom honked their car horns in support--  indeed, the honking of car horns was so loud that it could be heard three blocks away in the Belmar plaza. It continued for hours without pause.

The protesters were there to express their unease with recent actions by the Jeffco Board of Education, which is currently split 3-2 between a majority of three hard right conservatives and two more traditionally non-partisan board members. Among the concerns voiced by protesters were the way the board majority dismissed Jeffco's longtime, award-winning superintendent Cindy Stevenson, their decision to divert $3.7 million away from neighborhood schools and into charter schools, and a feeling that the selection of Dougco's Dan McMinimee to be Jeffco's new superintendent portends an era of radical change.

For decades, Jeffco's quality public schools have been a big part of why people have made the choice to live in Lakewood. Controversy, partisan agendas, and public anger have never been part of the equation-- until now.

Yikes!

Pancakes on the Plaza

Belmar celebrated its tenth anniversary this morning with a pancake breakfast. The weather was nice, neighbors chatted, and kids played in the plaza.