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All the United States Colorado Denver Colfax Avenue Museum
Colfax Avenue Museum is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

AO Edited

Colfax Avenue Museum

This eclectic collection documents the wild legacies of "America's Wickedest Street."

Denver, Colorado

Added By
Ashawnta Jackson
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Road signs, postcards, and pictures tell the story of the (in)famous roadway.   Jonny Barber/Colfax Avenue Museum
Road signs, postcards, and pictures tell the story of the (in)famous roadway.   Jonny Barber/Colfax Avenue Museum
As a musician himself, Barber is also doing his best to preserve Colfax’s musical history.   Jonny Barber/Colfax Avenue Museum
Jonny Barber has been collecting Colfax memorabilia for 14 years.   Jonny Barber/Colfax Avenue Museum
Colfax Avenue, 1972.   Bruce McAllister
Some of the performers who graced stages on Colfax, including Denver’s own Judy Collins.   Jonny Barber/Colfax Avenue Museum
A guitar once owned by Denver music legend Bob Ferbrache. After an amplifier fell on it, he put his foot through it for good measure.   Jonny Barber/Colfax Avenue Museum
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About

“Everyone knows Route 66 because they had a better PR guy, a better song, and a TV show,” Elvis impersonator, artist, and Colfax Avenue historian Jonny Barber once told the Los Angeles Times. But Barber, a Denver, Colorado resident, wants to put the spotlight on another notable U.S. thruway: Colorado's wild and unpredictable Colfax Avenue.

In 2017, Barber opened the Colfax Museum to preserve the street's legacy. He'd been storing all his Colfax memorabilia—which includes odd treasures like a stegosaurus footprint dating back 150 million years, posters, and a hotel room door broken by a drunk guest at the bed and breakfast he and his wife used to run—in his basement, and now he's moved it into a proper museum.

Even before he opened the museum, Barber spent the last 14 years acting as the keeper of Colfax history. And what a history it has been.

Beat Generation stalwart Neal Cassady met a Columbia University student at a Denver public library on Colfax. That student, named Hal Chase, later introduced Cassady to Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. If the two hadn't met, "there would have been no Beat generation," said Barber.

Clint Eastwood filmed Every Which Way But Loose on Colfax. It was once the site of the world's biggest laundromat. The adventurous sorts could even wrestle a reptile at the Alligator Garden that called the street home. There's even an oft-repeated story that Playboy magazine called the street "the longest, wickedest street in America" (though this is up for debate).

Wickedest or not, Barber wants to preserve it all. Barber's Colfax Museum was housed in a space provided by a local florist, until the building was sold, forcing Barber to relocate to Lakewood. For Barber, the weird history of the highway is worth protecting, no matter what the future holds. “If Colfax looks different in 20 years," he said. "I can’t change that, but I can create a time capsule full of its stories and tall tales.”

Colfax Avenue runs 32 miles through the Denver Metro area, starting at I-70 as it exits Mt. Vernon Canyon and cutting its way east to Strasbourg, Colo., where it ends at Headlight Road.

Colfax Avenue forms part of US Route 40, which stretches for 490 miles across Colorado and originally stretched across the country, from Atlantic City, New Jersey all the way to San Francisco. These days, this little ribbon of Americana cuts off at Silver Creek Junction, Utah, 50 miles east of Salt Lake City.

Update as of September 2021: The museum closed in 2020 due to flood damage. Some of the artifacts have been spread along Colfax Avenue until the owners locate a new location for the entire collection. Check their website to see where the current artifacts on display are. 

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Museums Museums And Collections History Roads Roadside Attractions

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The museum is open from 11:00 to 5:30. Check the museum Web page for the most current information.

Community Contributors

Added By

Ashawnta

Edited By

AdamTKincaid, cyccommute, coloradorobyn, daniellekrolewicz3...

  • AdamTKincaid
  • cyccommute
  • coloradorobyn
  • daniellekrolewicz3
  • rmcmacki
  • orangevening1

Published

November 30, 2017

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Sources
  • https://www.denverlibrary.org/blog/longest-wickedest-street-america
  • http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-denver-colfax-street-20171120-htmlstory.html
  • https://www.denverite.com/playboy-never-said-colfax-long-wicked-43691/
  • http://www.colfaxavenue.com/p/history-of-colfax-avenue.html?m=1
  • https://businessden.com/2018/06/26/colfax-museum-motors-west-to-lakewood/
Colfax Avenue Museum
2550 E Colfax Ave
Denver, Colorado, 80220
United States
39.739794, -104.956637
Visit Website
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