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

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Thank you, Laura,
I mis-remembered the location of Freeweavers. It was on 17th Street, down the street from the original Folklore Center.

Denver in the early 70s was a place of many vegetarian cafes--The Whole Earth, for one, on South Pearl or thereabouts--and coffee houses--the Global Village was next door to the Whole Earth. The Global Village had a piano, so the owner --her name was Barbara--let me play music for an hour in exchange for an excellent vegetarian supper. I met my eventual husband there--he worked in the kitchen making carrot juice and also played in a blues band. He put a dollar tip (a lot in those days) and his business card for the band in my donation hat and that's how we met.

Another popular grocery store for vegetarian and health food was the Rainbow Grocery, run by the devotees of the Mahara Ji, who had an ashram in town. That was where I first discovered tofu.

The Saturday Market, which was set up every week in front of the Oxford Hotel, in the neighborhood that eventually got rebuilt once the baseball stadium replaced all the old warehouses, was a great place for bands and folk acts to play for tips. They would set up a nice stage and lots of people were there buying vegetables, etc.

Thanks for your web site; all this history is so interesting, especially since after moving away from Colorado (what a fool I was!) in 1978.
:)

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I meant to say that the Whole Earth Cafe had a piano (Barbara was the owner). The Global Village probably had one too; I don't remember.

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Why refer to the Mercury Café in the past tense? It's still alive and well at 2199 California, and it's open for dinner Friday night through Sunday night and for brunch Saturday and Sunday.

One way to kill a business is to spread the word that it's already dead.

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Wow!! I really loved walking down memory road with the article. I spent many teen hours in all three of these establishments. Even leaving my mark on the wooden benches of Muddy's cafe by carving in Simon & Garfunkel lyrics. I deeply loved both Muddy's and Paris, but I have to admit to seeing some great shows at the Merc... including a very young Gwen Stefani and No Doubt! Thanks for giving this gift of remembrance. Now it looks like we'll have to add Kerouac's old hangout, "The Market" to our museum of extinct coffee houses now too.

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