Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 2016
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2016 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: Patricia Calhoun

FIRST LOOK AT THE SMOKIN' GUN, COLORADO'S NEXT MAJOR MARIJUANA 
TOURIST ATTRACTION

The forty-foot-high Willie Nelson statue has yet to appear on the 
edge of Colorado Boulevard - but that could only be a matter of time.

Because otherwise, the construction crew is putting the finishing 
touches on what promises to soon become one of metro Denver's top 
tourist attractions: The Smokin' Gun.

Yes, it's a recreational marijuana store - but not just any 
recreational marijuana store.

For starters, this store is in Glendale, which means it can stay open 
until midnight - unlike Denver pot shops just across the street, 
which must close at 7 p.m.

The store's design lives up to its name: Two pillars in front are 
designed as spliffs, with red lights on top and smoke machines 
inside; the structure itself is shaped like a MAC-10 (though you'll 
need to use Google Earth to see that), with the gun barrel pointed at 
Colorado Boulevard; below that, an LED projector will share photos 
from the Reefer Madness era with passing traffic.

Just to the east of the Gun's grip is Shotgun Willie's, a major 
attraction in its own right; the club once stood on the spot where 
the dispensary will be, before a shiny new Shotgun was built next 
door. And the folks pulling the trigger on this project are Debbie 
Matthews, owner of the strip club; manager Lindsey Mintz, who also 
runs the T-bar at Shotgun, the adjunct bar that stays open until 4 
a.m.; and Mike Dunafon, Matthews's husband, who doesn't actually own 
any of the Smokin' Gun but owns a lot of the ideas behind it and 
happens to be the mayor of Glendale. That helps explain his 
confidence that there won't be any problem with the store's more 
innovative features.

Dunafon is also a former Colorado gubernatorial candidate who 
campaigned on an anti-drug war platform - and that helps explain the 
Smokin' Gun's interior. The cigar-chomping, libertarian pol has more 
fun in a day than most people do in a year, and he's really let his 
imagination take off here.

Tourism officials deny that marijuana has been a major factor in 
convincing visitors to come to Colorado, and they've got studies to 
back up that assertion. "It's not the main reason that people come to 
visit this state," says Cathy Ritter, the new director of the 
Colorado Tourism Office. "Those reasons have remained essentially 
unchanged for many years - the chance to go outdoors, to see historic 
sights, see scenic byways."

But once tourists get to Colorado, there's no question that many also 
want to see the first legalized marijuana stores in the country. I 
regularly send visitors on the Tumbleweed Tour, which takes them to 
the 1600 block of Wazee Street, where they can see the Old West at 
Rockmount Ranch Wear, and then the Very New West at LoDo Wellness 
right across the street.

For more contemporary commercial action, they can head to 1644 Evans 
Avenue, where they can visit the very first Chipotle in the country, 
which opened in 1993; right next door is Starbuds, a rec store that 
thumbs its nose at the Starbucks across the street.

And soon tourists will discover a smokin' deal with the Glendale 
twofer of Shotgun Willie's and the Smokin' Gun.

When you enter the building - and you should be able to do that in 
mid-February, or even earlier if you're a Shotgun Willie's customer 
who wins a lottery to visit the store next door - you'll step into 
the approximation of a speakeasy, with Victorian-style wallpaper 
sporting state-of-the-art electronics. On one side will be fairly 
standard instructions for pot-shop customers. On the other, a 
three-part screen will serve as an "awareness piece," with a memorial 
to those law enforcement officers who "lost their lives to the stupid 
War on Drugs, an absolute disaster worldwide," says Dunafon. Another 
section will be dedicated to those who lost their freedom and 
possessions to the War on Drugs, and the third will show that war's 
history, with an RSS feed offering updates.

Beyond all this is a closed door, with a sign advising that you are 
about to enter the Bank of Hibernia. And that's no joke: The partners 
bought the interior of a bank outside of New Orleans, one that dated 
back to 1870 - when the first drug law in the country was passed, one 
directed at the Chinese consumption of opium, which set the tone for 
other racist drug legislation to follow, Dunafon notes.

The bud room is spacious, with a giant seal of an American eagle on 
the floor - the bird holding hemp rather than olive branches in its claws.

To the back is a mural painted by Daniel Chavez that chronicles the 
Denver arrests of Moses Baca and Samuel Caldwell, the first people to 
be convicted of violating the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act. And around the 
room will be state-of-the-art displays of all the Smokin' Gun's 
wares, including a wide range of marijuana; Matthews says the 
selection will be a veritable supermarket of pot that features the 
"best from everywhere."

Punch a button and you'll get a ticket for what you want, which you 
then place in a Mason jar that can later be redeemed for a free beer 
at Shotgun's.

The history lesson continues in one corner of the room, where you can 
buy the maximum amount of marijuana allowed in Colorado - an ounce 
for residents, a quarter-ounce for visitors - but first you must 
venture into the facsimile of a Mississippi jail cell in 1941, past a 
sign that notes: "For what you're about to buy, you'd get life in prison."

For a less harrowing buying experience, you can step up to one of the 
teller windows beside the cell, where cashiers will replace all your 
tickets with product - much of it packaged in shotgun shells.

Upstairs are offices, a humidor where special bud will be kept for 
regular visitors, and a deck with a beautiful view of the Rockies. 
But you don't need to look far to see that the Smokin' Gun is right 
on target to become a major tourist attraction. As Willie Nelson 
wrote in "Denver":

The bright lights of Denver

Were shining like diamonds

Like ten thousand jewels in the sky

And it's nobody's business

Where you're goin' or where you come from

And you're judged by the look in your eye.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom