Backyard Hero: Park House Offers Experiences Other Venues Cannot
by Tim Wenger
Sitting in an unknown bar at 9 AM on a dreary October Thursday is not the best way to convince yourself that you are ‘grabbing the day by the horns.’ Even less so when the bar isn’t even open. But at the suggestion of attorney Drew Gottlieb, I found myself holed up at Park House, located at 1515 Madison Street (although the entrance faces East Colfax and a run down old pizza shop across the street).
Our meeting wasn’t necessarily booze-related, though. In addition to his legal duties, Gottlieb and his business partner Evan Bailey own and operate Park House, bringing the classic old building (which has also served as a family home as well as an upscale French restaurant in its 100+ year history) into a new incarnation as one of Denver’s most unique music venues.
The place itself seems massive from the outside, like walking into a mansion. Prior to Gottlieb and Bailey taking over in September of 2012, the building sat empty for over five years. “It was used as an event space from time to time, and was owned by a guy in the neighborhood,” Gottlieb explains, gesturing towards a large fireplace surrounded by a series of house-broken chairs. “We tried to keep the motif up.”
“My business partner and I stepped in and tried to revitalize the place, make it more of a destination,” says Gottlieb. While making only a few interior structural changes to the historic building, they completely overhauled the theme and image, creating the feeling of an old pub. This is the type of place that, if you lose your wits for a moment, will make you feel when you come-to as though you are in an old bed and breakfast joint, or perhaps the dining area of a deep-rooted European hotel. In November of 2012 the team added a small amount of live music to their already impressive list of offerings, which in addition to booze includes a fireside lounge, board games, books, and chef-prepared food ranging from simple treats such as parmesan truffle fries to mouthwatering steak and pasta dishes. “It had been more of a neighborhood tavern but it wasn’t attracting a lot of people. So we started doing live music, some bluegrass and jam, some rock.”
The mash up of old-lodge hospitality and live music has come across quite nicely. “We try to take pride in being a place that people can come and eat and drink, and hang out for hours at a time. You can get a versatile experience. We just updated a new menu.” Focused on “upscale bar food,” the menu is actually quite diverse- omni-voric, perhaps. Part of your table can enjoy a steak or ribs while another part heads the vegetarian route (view full menu here).
Park House is part of what could be called the East Colfax Musical Revolution, stepping up to the plate just before Scott Campbell reinvented Lost Lake Lounge as a destination venue and Goosetown Tavern brought in a top-notch sound system for live music on certain nights. “This is going to become a pretty big entertainment hub,” says Gottlieb. “We’re openly communicative with (the other venues), we think it brings more people to the neighborhood. It’s Colfax, it’s a busy bar crawl area anyways, and if people can hop from venue to venue and catch different acts I think it benefits everybody.”
The majority of the shows at Park House operate without a cover charge. Occasionally Gottlieb and his team host ticketed shows, and hope to move further in that direction as their reputation grows. They hosted the Ark Life cd release party in the parking lot out front in August. “Every couple months we do a ticketed show, and I think we’re going to start moving towards once or twice a month doing a ticketed show on Saturday night to get bigger bands in here,” Gottlieb says. “Right now the model is free music almost every night.”
Gottlieb says that Autumn is their busiest season, with patrons enjoying watching football games. Their most popular attraction, and perhaps what has most benefited their reputation as a music venue, has been their Wednesday night bluegrass series. “It’s definitely the busiest bar around here on a Wednesday night,” says Gottlieb. “It’s a great scene.”
As if what they offer isn’t enough, Park House is also dabbling in the recording business. In the west portion of building, behind the kitchen, sits Macy Sound Studios, the brain child of recording engineer John Macy. The idea of hosting a recording studio at Park House was born one night during a set by The Congress, whom Macy was working with at the time.
“John Macy stumbled in here and told me he was looking to revitalize his production business and was looking for a place closer to the heart of Denver,” says Gottlieb. “We started talking and figured that the space behind our kitchen was the perfect place for that. The idea with the recording studio is that, because we are a free venue and we can’t always offer the biggest guarantee to bands, maybe we can offer recordings, maybe we can offer live Eps. We’re trying to work out some details on doing a residency for different bands and record it all, kind of have a Park House Records idea. John is helping to tie all that in.” In the near future, Park House will have lines from the stage directly into the studio to record the live performances.
Stay up to date on all things Park House at facebook.com/parkhousedenver. “I think we offer a vibe that’s unmatched anywhere in Denver,” Gottlieb says. “The feeling of walking into a venue/bar that feels like it’s an old home, that’s very comfortable and makes you want to stay, the brick and the fireplace and comfortable couches, it’s a place where you can get a lot of different experiences.”
Category: Buzzworthy2
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