Denver Coffee House Menus: Paris on the Platte, Muddy’s and the Mercury Cafe

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In reply to by Daniel Dvorkin (not verified)

Daniel, it's nowhere near the level pretentiousness as this:
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a27434009/bennington-college-oral-history-bret-easton-ellis/

Ken, yeah, I have to admit that's pretty bad.

In reply to by Daniel Dvorkin (not verified)

Hi Daniel. I see that you see what I did there. Joking aside, we were at times pretty pretentious teens, so it made sense to channel that for our time travel. Ironic or no, I hope it stirred some good memories for you!

In reply to by Daniel Dvorkin (not verified)

The irony of your comment....

"The Mercury Café opened at 2199 California Street on Halloween 1990, after several short-lived iterations in Capitol Hill in the years prior."
Although the previous iterations included MANY locations, and café-names Elrond's and Fatz City, the café actually opened in 1975. Hardly "short-lived."

Fatz City was solid!

In reply to by Michelle B (not verified)

I used to waitress at Paris. On Fridays I'd work from 9-5 during the day, then work from 9 pm to 5 am at Paris. I remember Fatz City closed at 2:00 pm and we'd have to set our alarm clocks after working until 5 am to get there in time to eat breakfast before they closed. <3

Hi Renna, thanks for your additional observations. You are correct: the Merc’s owner Marilyn Megenity had a significant amount of success with her prior restaurants, including the Westerner Cafe in Indian Hills starting in 1975, as you noted. From what I have read in various parts of our collection (largely newspaper articles and interviews with her over the years), she operated restaurants at 7 different Denver locations between 1976 and 1981 (most of which were located in Capitol Hill, and it sounds like there were some fascinating stories behind those moves). These businesses included Elrond’s Kitchen, Fatz City, and the Magickal Mercury Café (sometimes spelled without the “k”). That was a lot of moving in a short period. After 29 successful years of the Mercury Café on 22nd and California Street, anything else seems “short lived” in comparison!

Thank you for this. Paris was my home away from home from 1989-1993. The Cafe Fantasia & Cambric were my mainstays. Also spent plenty of night at Muddy’s and the Merc. Some of the best cafes of all time.

In reply to by Michelle Goldstein (not verified)

The cambric! Yea baby i was there in those years too. I used to Walk there with my girlfriends from the Northside it was pretty sweet. We had gone to Catholic school and became all Goth by 8th grade lol. I remember smoking cool Sobranie cigarettes for 10 cents a piece. So many memories thanks for sharing. I discovered Anais Nin there. Loved the bookstore.

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