DISCOVERING COOL COLORADO SPRINGS
In the late 70’s, my parents tossed my moody pre-teen ass into a 12 passenger van, along with my siblings, and we spent a hell of a noisy week driving from my beloved home in Massachusetts to a new house in Colorado Springs.
The magnificent view of Pikes Peak from our kitchen window, the fresh cherries and melon in summer, even the built-in swimming pool out back, did little to alleviate my teenage rebellion. As soon as I finished college, I was “outta there” and headed directly to Los Angeles.
But having family in Colorado means I’m always drawn back to the mountainous country and wide open skies, forced to rethink my impression of Colorado Springs as “uncool”. And, well, I’m not a crabby teenager anymore. (Although my parents beg to differ).
As soon as I arrived, my mother reported she was “going to take you to all the hip spots your father and I have discovered!” It was hard to imagine just how “hip” those spots would be considering my parents are closer to 80 than to 30, but we headed off on the 5 mile “walk” my parents enjoy daily. (Keeping up with my mother’s “walking” pace means I have to “jog”.)
I remembered our first stop from my childhood; it used to be an elementary school, but now it’s the Lincoln Center, a collection of little cafes and businesses. Lincoln Center hasn’t forgotten it’s roots, though; the hallways that used to spill out noisy children, are now decorated with vintage photos of those children, and of the school principles who tried to keep them under control.
In the Building3 Coffee Roasters at Lincoln Center, I was surprised to discover a large space filled with light, long co-working tables, and the smell of fresh roasted coffee. I ordered an almond milk chai which was perfectly spicy and not too sweet. (Yes, they ARE hip! They even had coconut milk!) A delicious Paleo muffin of nuts, carrots and raisins was moist and heavy. And there was even cold brew nitro on tap. I felt like I was back in LA!
The Lincoln Center also houses Cafe Red Point for healthy smoothies and eats, an unnamed bakery that is in building phase (we peaked inside and it looks gorgeous, all hand laid wood floors and tiles), a barber shop, (the Lincoln Street Barber Shop tag line is “A Community of Civilized Misfits”, you can’t get much hipper than that!) a pilates studio, a gym, and opening later this year, Goat Patch Brewing to serve the artisan beer crowd. Lincoln Center will be THE place to go on a cold winter’s day when one needs a workout, lunch, a shave and an afternoon beer.
As soon as I realized how great Lincoln Center could be on a snowy day, it started to snow, so my mother dragged me into the senior center. I know, I know… a senior center?? Well, it was cool! My previous nightmare vision of a senior center was a cold room furnished with folding metal chairs and occupied by a few people doing rinky-dinky crafts and playing cards.
But the Colorado Springs Senior Center has warm carpet, comfy chairs, books and media available to use there or borrow. Several disabled children were putting on a dance performance in the gym. Oil Painting, History, and Philosophy, are just a few of the classes CSSC offers, as well as exercise classes, group trips and health services. It felt so welcoming, I wanted to pull up a chair and help piece together the 5000 piece puzzle a few people were chatting over.
But, my mother reminded me I wasn’t a senior, “yet!” (Thanks a lot, mom!) and we moved on to the next stop.
Diagonally across the street from the original Johnny’s Navajo Hogan, a unique building I remember from childhood, is an innocuous little house on Filmore Street, Colorado Coffee Merchants.
Colorado Coffee Merchants roasts only the best quality beans. The owner told us, “if the beans aren’t good enough, we don’t sell them.” We purchased a pound of Sumatra ground to exactly correct grind for our filter. The scent of those beans, even tucked in the bag, filled the house for days.
The snow was starting to stick, so we went home for the car. (I’m from Los Angeles…we don’t have snow…I grabbed the dashboard every time my mother tapped the brakes. It gave her a good laugh, and I had to remind her to stop driving like “Nancy McQueen” and keep her eyes on the road!)
We arrived at Trader Joe’s accident free, despite the now 2" deep tire tracks running out behind us. My mother’s driving is beside the point (I guess), what’s exciting is that Colorado Springs has a Trader Joe’s! The pinnacle of funky hip grocery stores.
The Colorado Springs Trader Joe’s is small and busy, but it has everything I’m used to buying in California, including GT’s Kombucha (my father said it tastes like vinegar and refused to drink the extra bottles I brought home for him. Which just meant there was more for me!).
The next morning, my father and I went for a stroll along the Pikes Peak Greenway trail, which borders Monument Creek. The parking sits next to Van Briggle Pottery, a beautiful Arts and Crafts style building that opened in 1908 and is now owned by Colorado College.
My father proceeded to show my all the sights of the creek, like where people don’t clean up their dog’s poop, where vagrants used camp in the high growing brush (they’re gone since the brush has been cleaned up), and the Pickle Ball courts where players hit balls back and forth in an easier version of tennis (easier for some maybe… I knocked at least 3 balls into the neighboring court and one almost into my dad’s head!).
He then gave me a tour of the Demonstration Gardens and suggested I try to find the Gome Home. (I’m terrible at treasure hunts. If someone hides chocolate eggs in the yard, I let the kids find them all, then steal them when the kids aren’t looking.)
In honor of my teenage angst, we had lunch at the place I spent my high school years, Poor Richard’s Bookstore and Cafe. When I was growing up, Richard Skorman provided the one “cool” place in Colorado Springs where I could hang out and mope with my friends while pretending to do homework. Poor Richard’s is still at it, there’s now a restaurant and a toy store that have been added to the quintessential bookstore/coffee shop.
When we arrived back home, I had just enough time to walk in the snow through Palmer Park. Flakes drifted to the white dusted ground and made me feel nostalgic for Colorado Springs. I was glad to have the week with my family in a place they’ve grown to love. I think I’ve started to love it a little bit, too.
