C B el la eb ck ra H tin is g to ry Distributed to the Stapleton, Park Hill, Lowry, Montclair, and Mayfair neighborhoods DENVER, COLORADO FEBRUARY 2008 Five Points Glory Days Charles Burrell, legendary jazz bassist, now 87, (left) and Purnell Steen, pianist, pose Black History Month, this issue of the Front Porch features information on jazz in Five in Five Points at the Rossonian Hotel and Club, which was the epicenter of jazz in Points during its heyday and a history of the Five Points neighborhood (page 3), as well as Five Points during its glory days. Mr. Burrell, who performed as the house bass player an overview of the Blair-Caldwell Black History Museum and Library and events celebrating at the Rossonian, is Mr. Steen’s cousin and was his role model as a child. To honor Black History Month (page 11). Peter Groff, State Senate’s First African American President Valentine’s Day Readers Share Their Love Stories Above: Grant Nesbitt and Kaia Histand stand side by n honor of Valentine’s Day, side at their kindergarten Halloween party in Ft. the Front Porch asked couples Collins. In second grade Ito reminisce about how they Grant moved to a different met. On page 22 we share the Peter Groff, the newly elected President of the Colorado State Senate stands in the gallery that school. Twenty years later fortuitous events that brought overlooks the Senate chamber. Senator Groff represents Senate District 33, which includes their paths crossed again. them together. Park Hill and Stapleton as well as other portions of Denver and Adams County. enator Peter Charles Groff was elected the Prior to his election as the President of the first African American President of the Col - Colorado State Senate, Mr. Groff had Sorado State Senate in November of 2007. served as the first (continued on page 22) Printed with soy-based ink. Paper contains 40% postconsumer waste. African Five American Choosing Points History A School S.U.N. 3 Jazz Museum 11 16 20 ¡ Stapleton’s Town Center Care For Your Entire Family From Infants to Seniors Relaxing atmosphere & courteous staff Same day appointments Short wait times Efficiency of electronic records Well care and immunizations CALENDAR Prompt sick visits, chronic disease management Labs drawn on-site FEBRUARY APRIL Tuesday, February 5 Wednesday, April 16 7pm Democratic & Republican PerfectYour Golf Swing and Joint Health Political Caucuses [www.cologop.org (Free) 6:30 - 8pm and www.coloradodems.org – Stapleton Community Room see page 20 for locations] 2823 Roslyn St [ 303-403-6333] Thursday, February 14 Sunday, April 20 SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the Zoo SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the [SCFD.org] Denver Museum of Nature and Science [SCFD.org] Monday, February 18 SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the Tuesday, April 22 Denver Botanic Gardens SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the 130 Rampart Way [SCFD.org] Denver Botanic Gardens (Earth Day) Dr. Husney, Melissa Jones, PA-C, Dr. Davidson Denver, 80230 [SCFD.org] Wednesday, February 20 30 3- 34 4-3625 Chocolate and Herbs: WhatYour Body Craves (Free) 6:30 - 8pm Visit our website at Stapleton Community Room EVERY MONTH www.fmlowry.com 2823 Roslyn St (see page 10) Monthly New Resident Orientation Meeting MARCH [Call 303.388.0724 for date & location] Saturday, March 1 Every Tuesday SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the Stapleton Rotary Club – Noon Denver Art Museum Stapleton Radisson Plaza Hotel [SCFD.org] 3333 Quebec Street [[email protected]] Thursday, March 13 SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the Every Tuesday Denver Center for Performing Arts AA Open Discussion Meeting – 7:30pm Gee’s Band – 6:30pm MCA Community Room Space Theatre [for more information 2823 Roslyn Street visit SCFD.org and click on Free Days] [Joe Mc at 303.912.7075] Monday, March 17 Every Wednesday SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the Weekly Weeders, Bluff Lake Nature Center Denver Botanic Gardens 9-12am [303.945.6717] [SCFD.org] 3rd Tuesday Wednesday, March 19 Stapleton Business Assoc. 8am Longevity Made Simple – How to Add Call for location [303.393.7700] 20Years toYour Life (Free) 6:30 - 8pm Stapleton Community Room 1st Wednesday 2823 Roslyn St [ 303-403-6333] “1st Wednesdays” Home-based businesses [Check StapletonLife.com for time & Thursday, March 20 place—most meetings 11:30am - 1pm] SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the Denver Center for Performing Arts 3rd Thursday The Merry Wives of Windsor – 6:30pm Stapleton Citizens Advisory Board Mtg Stage Theatre [for more information Stapleton Development Corp (SDC) visit SCFD.org and click on Free Days] 7350 East 29th Ave. – 7:30 – 9am [SDC 303.393.7700] APRIL 4th Thursday SUN Board Meeting – 6:30pm MCA Community Room Thursday, April 3 2823 Roslyn Street SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the [[email protected]] Denver Center for Performing Arts Doubt – 6:30pm 1st Saturday Ricketson Theatre [for more info. visit Bluff Lake Birders, Nature Center – 7-9am SCFD.org and click on Free Days] [BluffLakeNatureCenter.org] Saturday, April 5 2nd Saturday SCFD-sponsored Free Day at the NE Denver/Park Hill MS Self-Help Denver Art Museum & Support Group, Pauline Robinson Library [SCFD.org] 10:15-11:45am – 5575 E 33rd Avenue [Paula Sussman 303.813.6691] EDITOR: Tom Gleason, Forest City 303-382-1800 PRODUCTION by FinePrint The Stapleton Front Porch LLC is published by Forest City 303-526-1969 [email protected] Stapleton, Inc., 7351 E. 29th Avenue, Denver, CO MANAGING EDITOR: Carol Roberts 80238. A minimum of 35,000 papers are printed. The PHOTO EDITOR & PHOTOGRAPHER: Steve Larson free paper is distributed during the first week of each month to homes and businesses in Stapleton, Park Hill, FEATURES EDITOR: Kathy Epperson www.StapletonFrontPorch.com AD SALES: Karissa McGlynn 303-333-0257 Lowry , Montclair and Mayfair. February 2008 2 Stapleton Front Porch Jazz in Five Points History of Five Points Editors Note: In honor of Black History bass for By Wallace Yvonne accommodate the names of all the streets, Month, the Front Porch asked Wallace Yvonne them.” Cur - Tollette prompting them to shorten it to Five Points. Tollette, a resident of northeast Denver and rently the ive Points , At first the residents objected because Five author of “Colorado Black Leadership Profiles,” Rossonian is one of Den - Points was also the name of a notorious New to give our readers a short history of Five Points undergoing ver ’s earliest York slum; however, over time, the name during its heyday as a destination for jazz F yet another and largest resi - stuck. musicians and music lovers. major reno - dential neighbor - Following the 1864 flood, anyone who By Wallace Yvonne Tollette vation that hoods, was platted could afford to move from the flood plain of or this article, I chose to interview two will feature in 1868 by Fran - Cherry Creek did so. Blacks, however, jazz icons from my book, Colorado jazz and a cis Case and Fred - continued to live in the area because it FBlack Leadership Profiles – bassist restaurant. erick Ebert, and offered the cheapest housing. With the arrival Charles Burrell and pianist Purnell Steen. People was part of the of the railroads in the 1870s, one social Both are among the few remaining Black mu - from all original Congres - impact caused by the railroads was the sicians in Denver who either had ties to the walks of life sional Land Grant creation of a segregated housing area for Five Points area, the center of jazz in Denver, went there to that eventually be - African American laborers. When large or who remembers that era. Each shared vivid enjoy the came part of Den - numbers of Black workers, mostly freed slaves memories of “back in the day” stories when music, in - ver. It is roughly a from Georgia, were imported by the railroads “The Points” had a thriving, vibrant, finger cluding a triangular area of to lay track, most Whites would not rent to popping, hip swinging “all that jazz” culture. large White 1,133 acres which them and they lacked funds to purchase From about the 1920s to the 1950s, Five clientele. lay immediately homes , so Five Points became an attractive Points in northeast Denver was the center of Both men northeast of and relatively inexpensive area to call home . the African American community and agreed that downtown Den - Forbes Parkhill, author of a biography of African American culture. A stand-out and more often ver. It is bounded Black businessman and political leader, much-written-about cultural piece was jazz than not, on the north by Barney Ford, states that the railroads created music. Called the only art form to have origi - even though the South Platte a “segregated district of their own at the foot nated in the United States, historians say jazz there were Charlie Burrell’s music floats through the air River and Thirty- of Twenty-Second Street, commonly known began in the late 1800s from many influ - long lines of like the smoke from his cigar. Circa 1960. Eighth Street ; on as the Deep South .” ences, not the least of which are Black Ameri - predominantly Black people waiting to enter, the east by Walnut and Downing Streets ; on By 1893, more African Americans lived in can music and African rhythms. Two key Whites were given what they perceived to be the south by Park Avenue West and East 20th the Five Points Neighborhood than in any elements are improvisation and syncopation preferential treatment because they had more Avenue ; and on the west by Broadway and other parts of the city. Because many performed by Black Americans who had little money and spent it freely. Mr. Steen recalled Twentieth Street.