Cooling by Chaffee Park and getting kinda funky, Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood bar, restaurant, live music/comedy venue and arcade, Monkey Barrel, has been named a Denver Legacy Business, the City’s new program to recognize and support longstanding, independent brick-and-mortars that have contributed to community character. Recognizing the challenges faced by Legacy Businesses and the ripple effect their closures can have on neighborhoods, the program works to unlock and accelerate support and anti-displacement strategies for these establishments. Originally a wildly successful punk bar on Platte Street donning a mural of Sex Pistol’s Sid Vicious and serving only Colorado craft beers, Denver born-and-raised owner of Monkey Barrel, Jimmy Nigg, was forced out after two years by a massive corporate Seattle-based developer when they bought the building. In an act of survival, and some luck, he found a weed-ridden, run-down former deli market on the corner of 44th and Tejon on Craigslist. They caught the listing just in time as their current landlord was considering an offer to tear down the building to create upscale condos/apartments like the ones that had been built behind the property. The building’s bones were good and it had a kitchen, so Jimmy and his partner went for it, fully realizing they had their work cut out for them if they wanted to bring their former patrons and new guests in for drinks and to ultimately create a space that could put on live events. With the bar in the original restored building and restaurant seating with an arcade in the new Beastie Boys muraled build-out (an ode to one of Jimmy’s favorite groups and Monkey Barrel’s name inspo, “Brass Monkey”), he finally opened his barrel of monkeys handled doors in 2015. They started serving local and affordable drinks, and offered guests N64’s in every booth, a collection of pinball machines, and a music, film and pop culture mini museum with guitars, photos, records, artwork and memorabilia signed by the greats like Nirvana, Beastie Boys, Shepard Fairey and even the cast of The Lost Boys. “I continue to build on our memorabilia collection even though my wife [Cindy] tells me to stop spending money. I’m running out of room on the walls. But the way I look at it is I’m investing in something that gives back because people really appreciate it. I want people in here to be like, I remember that album. I remember this movie, and it brings them back to a happy place in their lives.” Jimmy says. Even though the aim of Monkey Barrel was to serve as a sort of nostalgic oasis in the city, creating community was always at the forefront of Jimmy’s vision. He wanted to preserve and respect the historical cultural neighborhood and create a safe, welcoming space for its current residents of all ages by putting on community oriented events like live music, comedy, open mic nights and sport watch parties. Even more, he wanted to champions artists of all walks, specifically paying musicians who performed no matter how well-known they might be. Because music has always been at the heart of Jimmy’s life. He was the kid in high school who brought his CD case to every house party and immediately looked for the stereo to jam Wu-Tang, Beastie Boys, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Eminem, De La Soul. After finally securing a live music license in 2017, his dream of making Monkey Barrel a venue became a reality. “We’ve really made it a place where different people from all different places in Colorado come that maybe would have never come to this neighborhood. People of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, ages. There’s Gen-Xers hanging out, 13-yearold girls speaking poetry on open mic events, 18 year olds getting
30 Publizr Home