Top of the Town 2022: Culture & Nightlife

Editor’s Choice

Top Artist

Kylie Jenkins

After she moved from Ohio to Arizona in 2016 to pursue a tattoo apprenticeship, Jenkins tried to inject some warmth into the cold, often-hostile studio she joined. Her bosses responded with belittlement, racism, sexism, and ableism. So, three years later, when Jenkins became a full-time tattoo artist at Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing on Broadway, she was determined to create an environment that made her clients feel safe, heard, and cared for. She succeeded. Now with some 40,000 Instagram followers and bookings that are snatched up in seconds, Jenkins has become one of the most coveted tattoo artists in Denver—and not only because of her welcoming disposition. The 29-year-old artist’s designs are intricately detailed, featuring strong linework and vibrant colors. Perhaps even more noteworthy: Jenkins is an expert at tattooing vivid colors on darker skin. “If an artist says someone is ‘too dark’ to tattoo,” Jenkins says, “they just aren’t a good tattooer, simple as that.” But don’t take our word for it. Who better to critique an artist, after all, than her canvases? —Barbara Urzua

Jamie McNamara (client): “Kylie’s art style is so fun and colorful and trippy, which is exactly what I was looking for. I love how open she is in terms of being neurodivergent and having ADHD…. I’m a nurse and a big advocate for mental health, so seeing how vocal she is about it is such a big deal to me.” Photo by David Williams

Nadiyah Watts (client): “One of my favorite art pieces is a painting by Gustav Klimt called ‘The Kiss.’ Kylie created a gorgeous design of my cats in that art style, which seems like a really tough task to take on. As a Black person and a queer person, I feel like I connect with Kylie on a deeper level.” Photo by David Williams

Dindi Gaines (client): “When I was looking for an artist to design my tattoo, I was really looking for a Black artist, and that was, unfortunately, difficult to find. When I did find [Jenkins], I gave her a number of different elements I liked and wanted in a tattoo, and she just created the most visually stunning custom piece.” Photo by David Williams

Top Theater Company

Su Teatro Cultural & Performing Arts Center

Photo by Chayce Lanphear

Although Su Teatro officially turned 50 in 2022, it had to kick off its golden jubilee a year early so the company would have enough time to impart its gift to the Mile High City: producing every production in the theater’s repertoire, about 40 works illuminating Denver’s rich Mexican American history and culture, from Chicanos Sing the Blues to Interview with a Mexican. But Su Teatro’s cultural impact doesn’t end when the curtain closes. Later this month, it will produce its annual Chicano Music Festival (July 27 to 31), an outdoor jam session and dance party featuring local musicians such as Los Mocochetes and Mariachi Sol de Mi Tierra. The fiesta also coincides with Su Teatro’s yearly induction of music royalty into the Chicano Music Hall of Fame. Need yet another reason to celebrate? Su Teatro now holds the $1.75 million deed to its Lincoln Park building, where the third-oldest Chicano theater company in the United States moved in 2010. Owning a piece of this historically Latino neighborhood is seen by artistic director Tony Garcia as a displacement story in reverse. —Philip Clapham

Top Author

Alison Stine

Photo courtesy of Ellee Achten

In Stine’s novels, things are not going great for Mother Earth. Spring never arrives, thanks to an approaching ice age, in her first book, 2020’s Road Out of Winter, and last year’s Trashlands imagines coastlines flooded by rising oceans. But Stine, who moved to Denver from rural Ohio during the pandemic, has a way of shining light through bleak worlds, an act of magic that’s particularly reassuring right now. Part of that spell is creating characters who seem to never run out of hope. Road Out of Winter’s Wylodine has a talent for making plants grow despite the frost, and her resilience bonds together the family she makes along her journey to find her mom. In Trashlands, a young mother scavenges plastic and prays for the return of her son, who was kidnapped and forced to work in recycling factories. Yet she injects beauty into her world, crafting sculptures from trash and hiding them in the forest for others to find. This most recent effort was nominated for a Reading the West Book Award, which celebrates the work of regional authors—a group we’re thrilled Stine now belongs to. —Angela Ufheil

Top Happy Hour

The Broken Cage

As Layla Friend prepared to open the Broken Cage in January 2020, the first purchase she made—even before booze—was houseplants. While the pandemic stunted the LoHi bar’s initial growth, the greenery flourished: In those days, Friend made more money selling flora to socially distanced patrons than slinging beer. Now, with thirsty cube-dwellers returning to the office, happy hour is also alive and thriving in her chic jungle bar off Platte Street. From 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 4 to 6 p.m. on Fridays, most of Broken Cage’s signature cocktails, usually $12 to $14, can be sipped for $8 apiece. Catch up with your co-workers over the Divine Aviation—a floral, just-sweet-enough concoction of Loveland’s Spring44 gin, Luxardo cherry liqueur, lavender butterfly pea flower tea, and lemon juice—before moving on to the short but diverse lineup of $6 glasses of wine or the $5 lager on tap. Fancy the jar of plant cuttings on your table? Add that to your tab, as well. —Jessica LaRusso

The Broken Cage’s Divine Aviation Cocktail. Layla Friend/Courtesy of The Broken Cage.

Top Place To Watch The Game

The DNVR Bar

Many Denver sports bars have made names for themselves by catering to transplants. (Seriously: How many Cubs bars does a city that’s not Chicago really need?) The DNVR Bar, however, is dedicated to Mile High City sports—which is, you know, nice. Opened in 2020, the East Colfax tavern is an extension of DNVR, an online community that began covering local teams in 2015 and has since attracted more than 20,000 YouTube followers. Here’s how the watering hole is positioned to become the central hive for the brand. —Shane Monaghan

Photo courtesy of the DNVR Bar.

Raising The Bar
During big games, the DNVR Bar is likely to be standing-room only, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to watch the action: With more than 20 TVs and speakers around the room, you’ll catch every Russell Wilson dime. Drink deals—including a tower of Bud Light (about eight beers) for $10—and regular T-shirt and food giveaways only stoke Mile High City pride.

Your Heart’s Content
A $60 annual subscription to the DNVR website grants Denver sports fans coverage of every major area pro franchise from beat reporters who are starting to gain national prominence. (Adam Mares, who reports on the Nuggets, has been a regular guest on ESPN.) Supporters can also listen to free, team-specific podcasts, which are recorded in the DNVR Bar’s upstairs studios.

Clothes Make The Fan
Anyone can buy a jersey. True diehards’ drips are as distinctive as their passion for the team. The DNVR Locker, a gear store located right next to the bar, stocks a multitude of unique T-shirts (starting around $30), all of which are created by locally based D-Line Co. and include designs such as a Hall of Fame bust of former Rockies player Larry Walker wearing the backward helmet that made him a meme.

Top Patio

City Park Golf Course

Photo by Chayce Lanphear

The 2020 renovation of City Park Golf Course created 18 exceptional new holes. The real master stroke, though, was the decision to move the clubhouse from the northwest corner of the property, where patrons suffered views of traffic-snarled York Street, to the parcel’s high point, where diners get to see, well, this. Considering the sport’s less-than-inclusive history, you might think the vista is for golfers’ eyes only. Not so. City Park’s patio has become an escape for downtown desk jockeys at lunchtime and after work, when they can enjoy the scenery and simple yet tasty fare, such as the turkey Reuben. In fact, the city recently expanded the bar area to handle the crush of guests. Yes, City Park’s low-key atmosphere may lack the beat drops and dizzying menus of signature cocktails that more “hip” outdoor scenes offer, but honestly, that’s part of its charm. —Spencer Campbell

Top Distillery

Mythology Distillery

Mythology founder and president Scott Yeates believes spirits taste best when shared with others—and made with them, too. For the third year in a row, his Highland distillery tapped the expertise of horticulturalists at Denver Botanic Gardens to cultivate a slew of floral flavor profiles for Mythology’s Foragers Gin, a limited-edition summer release of 500 cases. Here, Yeates and head distiller Chris Ritenour explain how the gardens’ ingredients bloom in your gin cocktail of choice. —Madi Skahill

Photo courtesy of Emily Sierra

Lemon Verbena
Combined with the grapefruit peels used in Mythology’s standard Needle Pig Gin recipe, this sweet-scented shrub is the citrusy superpower that gives the dry gin its bright flavor.

Chamomile
Classic botanicals such as orris root, angelica root, and Italian juniper provide the foundation of the traditional gin taste, while chamomile’s “perfumey, floral earthiness,” Ritenour says, does the heavy lifting as Foragers’ floral element.

Lemon Balm
This perennial herb is technically a member of the mint family. But when it’s coupled with a touch of coriander, which Ritenour says adds a surprisingly complementary zest, lemon balm heightens Foragers’ subtle aromatic notes of citrus.