Roadside Attraction: Durango's Smiley Building Finds New Life Through Community Involvement

 

We first heard about the Smiley Building from an artist friend* in Durango, a southwest Colorado town with over 6,500 feet of elevation, under 20,000 people, and a vibrant downtown. The Smiley is a landmark junior high school designed by Colorado Springs architect Charles Thomas and built in 1936 with funding from the Federal Government's Works Progress Administration. 

The school was named for Emory Smiley, a school superintendent very popular with students. Smiley resisted having a school named after him, but he lost that argument. The school served as a junior high for 25 years, converted to a high school 25 years later, and the school district moved its programs to another school sixty years after the school was designed. That meant the historic structure was suddenly quiet and vacant…

But not for long.  Local brothers Charles and John Shaw, along with Charles' wife Lisa Bodwalk, proposed conversion to a community center with a cafe, gallery space and artists' studios, and the school district sold them the building in 1997. The Smiley Studios nonprofit soon got to work with hundreds of  community volunteers on repairing damage on the 45,000 square foot structure, setting up a window restoration shop in the basement after receiving a grant in 1999. The Shaws provided supervision and much of the labor on the windows.   In 2001 another grant funded a historic restoration study by Atkinson-Noland & Associates of Boulder, addressing brick masonry restoration.    

The new owners also focused on making the complex energy efficient and self-sustaining, installing a large array of PV cells on the building and over the parking walkway, and drilling 20 new wells to power ground-source heat pumps that provide winter heating as well as summer cooling.  In 2008, the Smiley Building was awarded the Colorado Governor's Excellence in Renewable Energy Award as a pioneering carbon-free energy project.

Along with the building restoration and energy projects, the exterior received some artistic attention. These murals, in the spirit of WPA-era public art, were produced by artist Brad Goodell and dedicated in 2025...

On a recent afternoon, the Smiley is busy inside.  You can order a coffee and a pastry at the Smiley Café, check email or just people watch.  Along with artists' studios and apartments, the building houses dance studios, nonprofit offices, a greenhouse and 2 schools...

Along with the ArtRoom Collective, a big artists' work space with individual studios for producing and displaying art ranging in size from jewelry to wall-size paintings.  Note how windows left over from the restoration program are used to define each artist's space...

At a time when green energy projects, and anything involving community infrastructure, are seeing reversals by the Federal Government, it's encouraging to see that a project motivated by those interests has saved a historic building, given it new life, and provided a vital meeting place for the community.

And in an era when corporations (and at least one politician) put their names on buildings they didn't build, it's reassuring that the owners and the team of volunteers who worked so hard rescuing this building have decided to leave Emory Smiley's name on it, as a way of remembering a public servant who never wanted his name on anything...  

*Many thanks to Durango artist and jewelry maker Jennifer Floyd of Cartwheel Studio, who introduced us to the Smiley Building.

Photo Credits:

All photos are by the author.

Sunday Morning Dog Show with Cars in Color (Getting Away from Gray)

The second monthly Sunday morning session of Fuelfed's Boulder Coffee and Classics kicked off at 8 AM on Sunday, May 31 under sunny, warm conditions that prompted many fans of the free event to bring their dogs...

...and many of the participants to bring some colorful cars. The organizers seem to have arranged many of these specimens along Pearl Street with a special eye for color. Anyone tired of of the current fashion for institutional gray cars would have enjoyed our new friend Tim's bright aquamarine De Tomaso Pantera from the early 70s.   

Maybe because blue is one of 2 colors that dogs see well (yellow is the other, a clue about why they chase that tennis ball), these pooches seemed to enjoy camping out near the sky blue Ferrari in the background.

Indeed, the 812 GTS, made from 2017-24, proved worth a second look. The front-engined V12 was a series-produced open version of the 812 Superfast coupe, designed at Ferrari's own styling center rather than at Pininfarina like the preceding 550, 575 and 599 models.  

Porsche's 964 version of the air-cooled 911 was made from 1989-94, featuring standard antilock brakes, power steering and a 3.6 liter flat six. The vibrant magenta color on this one was available on special order.  

The yellow Ferrari Testarossa (named for the red cam covers on its flat-12 engne) completes a lineup of primary and not-so -primary colors. 

A blue Ferrari Dino 246 with 4-cam V6 from the late Sixties keeps a white Lamborghini Gallardo V10 company as an Alfa Romeo GTV from the '64-'67 period approaches.

This XK120 made from 1948 through 1954 gets points for being the only Jaguar at the show. The Jag looks better without its bumpers, which never offered much in the way of protection anyway.

This bright yellow 1993 Lancia Delta Integrale Evo 1 sits proudly behind the red HF insignia that reminds you the Integrale won 6 consecutive World Rally Constructors' Championships from 1987 to 1992, based upon 46 WRC victories.  It wins our unofficial award for the show's coolest car you could actually drive every day of a Colorado year.

Power goes to all four wheels from a 16-valve, turbocharged inline four of 2 liters mounted transversely...

The owner of this 1966 Mercedes 230SL brought a retriever friend with matching cream-colored coat.

The owners of the McLaren below could not bring a furry friend in anything like a matching color.  But we're glad they brought the car... 

Across 8th St. from the orange McLaren we found a Ford GT, one of just over 4,000 produced from mid-2004 through 2006 in the style of the mid-engined GT40 endurance racer from 1964-67.  The original GT40, named for its height in inches, was also V8 powered, but only 105 of these were built, including 7 of the Mk. III version civilized for road use, which could be considered the precursor of the 2005-06 Ford GT.

The neighbor of the Ford GT is a McLaren MP4-12c featured in our April 30 post. Like the newer orange McLaren across the street, it's powered by a mid-mounted twin-turbocharged V8. 

After grumping about the popularity of gray on modern cars, the author admits guiltily that he brought one of the few gray cars to Sunday's show. The 1970 Lancia Flavia 2000 Pininfarina coupe (at least it has a red and black interior) is powered by a 2-liter, aluminum flat four driving the front wheels, and sits next to Kevin Roberts' cheerful green Citroen DS21, a hydro-pneumatically suspended, front-drive car we've featured before.

A friendly pooch across the street near Spruce Confections wins our award for best doggie name at the show. She's Maple, after the most famous product of her home country...

Other pooches came over to play and enjoy the shade and the music at Spruce Confections...

On warm enough Sundays, the cheery sound of live bluegrass-inflected music fills the Spruce courtyard at the 8th and Pearl intersection, overlapping the show of dogs and cars, which officially runs from 8 to 10, but often spills over limits of time and space, like music does.

Photo Credits:

All photos are by the author.

Roadside Attraction: Trident Booksellers and Café in Boulder, CO

Trident Booksellers and Café at 940 Pearl Street is such a popular hangout for so wide a swath of Boulder that it feels like it's always been here.  And it has been here a good while, the bookstore having been founded by James Gimian and Hudson Shotwell in June 1980, adjacent to a yarn and fabric shop.  Books have been on offer here since the beginning, but it was a surprise to find out that Gimian and Shotwell, two members of a Buddhist circle, offered locals what turned out to be Colorado's first espresso bar in 1981, when they moved the café into space vacated by that fabric shop.

Today, baristas like cheery, quick-witted Anita serve all kinds of coffee drinks, teas, Italian sodas, and seasonal items like hot chocolate and lemonade, along with tasty croissants and cheese Danii (that's the plural of Danish)... 

And through the wide portal that connects the espresso bar and seating area with the bookstore, you'll find a collection of classic vinyl albums to go with new and used books, notebooks and cards. 

These days the Trident is a bustling place, so busy that unless you arrive early or late in the daily schedule (it's open 7 AM to 9 PM every day) it may be hard to find a table.  It was only recently that it dawned on this writer that there are at least two good reasons for this, and that both are connected to the Covid-19 pandemic...

The first motivation for increased customer visits happened all around us; it was the trend toward working at home that began when many offices were shuttered. That led to more people seeking the community (or alternatively, the quiet space) they lacked at home by taking their laptops to coffee shops. The second thing was something that originated with Peter, the Trident's General Manager, and it may have been even more essential to success.  He suggested the idea of the Trident becoming an employee-owned business, with the option of any employee with a year of Trident experience having the option of buying a share. About 6 months after the pandemic's first impact on Boulder, 8 Trident employees bought a third of the business.  It is now 100% employee-owned, and having voting power as well as a share of the profits provides employees with a sense of involvement as well as an incentive to do their best. 

Among the physical changes Trident's managers made to weather the Covid-19 pandemic was to move the rear (south) fence to expand the outdoor garden seating area, and when weather demands, to hang a plastic curtain under the edge of the roof over the sheltered outdoor space.  Along with the provision of a heating unit, this allowed the roofed area to be employed as conditioned space when needed. 

It also provides an expanded space for poetry readings, musical performances, and book signings.  In January of this year, it was warm enough out here to host a talk by a favorite essayist and novelist, Rachel Kushner...

And over the years, the Trident's garden space has also provided a venue for man's best friends to get the attention they deserve. One of these was Watson, the world's best dog, who visited the Trident in just about every one of the 66 seasons I spent with him.  That's another reason I still like to spend time in the Trident's garden.

Photo Credits:

All photos are by the author.

Boulder's Sunday Morning Dog Show with Cars (Part 3)

The new season of Boulder Coffee and Classics kicked off at 8 AM on Sunday, April 26 in cloudy, cold weather that promised rain after an ominously warm, dry winter.  Some hardy souls braved 38 degrees in the open Austin Healeys and Fiat Spider above.  But the Pininfarina-styled Ferrari 575 Maranello showed up with its heater working, and the King Charles Spaniel that posed in front wore a stylish sweater.  The canines seemed more comfortable than most of the humans, and there were so many of the former that the event seemed like a dog show with cars...

The new, expanded version of Coffee and Classics shuts down Pearl St. east and west of the original show's display along 8th St. betwixt Pearl and Walnut.  It includes European and some domestic cars from the post-WWII period, but there have also been some intriguing Japanese imports over the years, as well as some classics from the Golden Era, such as a Bugatti Type 40A from 1930.  Below is Triumph GT6 Series 3 from the 70s, a Morgan, and a pontoon Mercedes from the 50s.  As for these pooches, they are all classics...

This Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith was the first post-WWII Rolls, built in chassis form only for custom coachbuilders to clothe from 1946-58, and powered by an F-head inline 6 of 4.3 to 4.9 liters.  Innovations (for R-R anyway) included independent front suspension, a synchromesh manual gearbox, and centralized chassis lubrication.  The owner was lucky that no dog like my old cocker pal Hezekiah showed up. He always peed on the biggest cars; in his neighborhood, it was usually a Cadillac.

There were Porsches galore, with an active and informative 928 crew to show up across Pearl from the 911s, but it was so chilly, and there were so many pooches in the way to photograph, that we didn't get many shots of those cars. 

The lineup along 8th Street included the blue Citroen D Super 5 from 1973-75, with 2.1 liter hemi four from the DS21 as well as a 5-speed manual gearbox.  Then there's a Mercedes 450SL from the regrettable Big Bumper period, the author's gray 1970 Lancia Flavia 2000 PF coupe that's for sale, a tasty red '72 Alfa Romeo 2000GTV, and an immaculate AMG Mercedes 3.6 liter belonging to Coffee and Classics founder Mike Burroughs. 

Denizens on Pearl east of 8th included a bright green original Mini Cooper hot rod with non-original Honda 16-valve 4, a BMW from long before the current Bucky Beaver grille theme, and a Morgan Plus 8 with alloy wheels the only giveaway that it's not from the early post-WWII period.

Dogs and their humans braved the low temps to hang out at Spruce Confections, where on warmer Sunday mornings musicians often play in this courtyard.  Who needs the distraction of a bunch of Porsches and a bright red McLaren when you can have sweet rolls and caffeine, and hang out with cheery pups?

These folks, for example, were more involved with doggie social interactions than with that tidy silver BMW Z8 buttoned up against the weather...

They didn't even walk across Pearl to check out this Ferrari lineup; mid-engined Testarossa flat-12 in yellow, then a couple of V8 355s from the mid to late 90s. 

Oh well, just to avoid letters of protest, here is that McLaren. It's an MP4-12c, a mid-engined twin-turbocharged V8 built from 2011-14. Stylist Frank Stephenson went for flowing, aerodynamic forms, what he called a "soft science" approach, and they've stood the test of time pretty well.  We're not sure how we'll feel about the latest Toyota Supra parked beyond it in another dozen years, but it got lots of attention, and at least it's not in the now unaccountably popular bland gray...

This Toyota Bandeirante might be an even rarer sight at your average cars and coffee (and certainly at your average dog show) than that McLaren.  A version of the Land Cruiser built in Brazil from 1958 to 2001, the Bandeirante name means pioneer in Portuguese and refers to the original European colonists, but today also refers to Brazil's Girl Scouts.  So you can pick the interpretation you like, and either think about the European colonials who took over Brazil from its natives and started messing with the Amazon rain forest, or the trusty, resourceful middle-schoolers who camp out in its surviving wild greenery.  The author's vote goes with the Girl Scouts...

Photo Credits:

All photos are by the author.