Anika Zappe Miss Colfax August 2008 Photos by: Mark Welch August's Featured Artist: MAMA Cougar (.mp3) Holiday Chalet B&B To place an ad, write: info@colfaxavenue.com

STAY COOL on Colfax Avenue, Colorado's greatest and most famous strip! Shop, eat, be entertained and revel in the color and majesty of the longest commercial street in the U.S.A., running through Strasburg, Bennett, Watkins, Aurora, Denver, Lakewood, and Golden.

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SERVICES FOR WAYNE JAKINO

Services for Wayne Jakino will be held on Wednesday, July 23rd at Metropolitan Community Church of the Rockies, (MCC) 980 Clarkson St. Denver CO 80218 at 3:00pm. MCC church is located at the corner of 10th and Clarkson. Services are open to the public, and many are expected to attend. Charlie’s Denver will be closed during the services so that all employees may attend.

A celebration of life will be held in the memory of Wayne Jakino on Sunday, August 3rd at Charlie’s Denver, 900 East Colfax Ave. at 2:00pm. This celebration of life is open to the public. Cards of condolence may be sent to:

Is Colfax Avenue really the longest commercial street in the U.S.A.? According to Bil Munsil from Mesa, Arizona, it's not!

Colfax Avenue is 26.5 miles long through the metro area. Indian School Road in the Phoenix, AZ area is almost 40 miles long. It starts on an Indian Reservation (over four miles) on the east end and goes in almost a straight line westbound all the way through Scottsdale (four miles), Phoenix (21 miles), Litchfield Park (two miles), Goodyear (five miles), and Buckeye (three miles), ending at a new development up against the White Tank Mountains west of Luke AFB.

Before that development was built it went up INTO the White Tank Mountains (a desert mountain range) for several more miles.

Colfax Avenue's claim to being the longest commercial street is secure if you count the towns further east: Strasburg, Bennett, and Watkins all have Colfax Avenue addresses, so it is ColfaxAvenue.com's opinion that we still hold the title!

I know that my last few columns have been on the negative side and as I was thinking about what to write for this month’s installment I began to think of what I like about living and working on Colfax. There is so much that is great about Colfax that it certainly offsets the negative things about this street that has such a rich history. I do believe it is important to know and respect the history of this marathon length avenue. The new breed of developers around here would do themselves a big favor to understand and respect the Fax for its rich history and diverse culture.

First of all I know more of my neighbors on this street than I ever did living in a subdivision or condo. Most of them are very nice and friendly from nearly all ethnic backgrounds. We like socializing with each other too. I like walking to work, never experiencing a traffic jam or rush hour. I still usually spend less than $20 a week on gas. There are small shops that provide nearly all my needs within basically walking distance. There are at least twenty excellent restaurants, an ice cream store, two cup cake shops, Caribbean bakery, coffee shops, Greek bakery, three or four hair salons, movie theaters, book and record stores, guitar shops, recording studios, comic book shop, bicycle shop, auto repair, used cars, computer repair, a nice park, zoo, golf course, museum with Imax, a Russian lady who sells really nice clothes for cheap, several art galleries, great concert venues,…….etc., etc.

I love to sit on my porch and watch the fax go by on a nice evening. I saw the Olympic torch pass within a few feet of my front door. To imagine how the Fax has evolved just since I have lived here has been interesting in both good ways and bad, but there is an old school sense of personal service that still thrives in nearly all the small businesses on this street that is becoming hard to find in other areas. I have seen about everything from hookers to the pope on this avenue, rock stars, politicians, pimps and weenie dogs, actors, comics, beauty queens and kids. I realized recently that I have lived here longer than I have ever lived in one place in my entire life, which says a lot for a wandering soul like me. Never boring…..that’s for sure. -- Scott Baxendale