Push through the doors of Boulder’s , and you’ll find yourself in a veritable labyrinth, crammed to the gills with old movie props and memorabilia from the past century — anything from a grammar school diploma from Bangor, Maine, to a mod-podge collage of magazine cut-outs. Located on the corner of Baseline Road and U.S. Highway 36, this longtime favorite townie bar and grill has been a stalwart go-to for both community members and CU Boulder students since 1975 — but it also holds a special place in my heart.

On weeknights, my friends and I often pack into an oversized corner booth to cash in on amazing happy hour deals (half-off wells!). “The usual” for my partner, Omar, and I means we’re splitting a burger and an order of the spicy dry-rub wings with blue cheese and a side of hot sauce. Over the five years we have called Boulder home, this ritual has become an anchor of mine. Many an evening has been spent in various nooks and crannies of the bar discussing our next grand adventure, celebrating birthdays and milestones and partaking in what we affectionately call “horsing around.” A quick text to our friend group chat simply asking, “Horse?” rallies the troops in record time.

In early 2024, developers announced plans to reimagine the parcel of land where the Dark Horse has lived for more than five decades. Construction is slated to begin in 2026. According to the , the proposed development, dubbed “Williams Village II,” would include 610 housing units, mostly dedicated to off-campus student housing and commercial space. 

Long-time fans of the Dark Horse showed up in droves to the  meeting last March to express dismay about the proposal, citing their love for the quirky space and sharing concerns about how the plan would contribute to a lack of affordable housing in the Boulder area, among others. 

The thought of losing the Dark Horse is unfathomable to me. The developers have promised to relocate the iconic bar nearby, but the sticky counters and years of names etched into the booths lend the bar its charm. 

For now, my friends and I have taken it upon ourselves to plaster the town with “Save the Dark Horse” stickers. 

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Photo courtesy �鶹��ƵBoulder.com 

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The first officially celebrated “Earth Day” on April 22, 1970, marked the start of another green legacy: the CU Environmental Center.

A novel concept at the time, the center was founded by environmentally conscious students and acted as an on-campus organization for students to gather, develop and lead projects relevant to environmental issues. Since its inception, the “E-Center,” as it’s commonly known, has led sustainability initiatives, launched programs and partnered with green campus operations such as CU’s renewable energy campaign. 

Financed by student fees since 1973, CU Boulder’s E-Center remains the largest student-led environmental center in the nation in terms of funding and employee support. Its innovative creation more than 50 years ago has inspired many other schools to model their student sustainability programs after CU’s.

“The E-Center is governed by students, funded by students and powered by students,” said Marianne Moulton Martin, E-Center associate director. “Many of our current programs would not have been realized without student leadership and initiatives.” 

Driven by passionate Buffs, the center offers a variety of programs that aid sustainability efforts, including a composting program (started in 2004), a campus pollinator garden (installed in 2014) and the Sustainable Buffs program — which invites students to explore how they can live, connect and lead sustainably. The center’s current priorities include developing sustainability leaders, identifying solutions to environmental issues that can be implemented beyond campus, helping CU Boulder reach zero waste and zero emissions, and promoting Buff pride through positive environmental impact. 

From the recycling program created in 1976 to the first CU Bike Station in 2004, the E-Center has a green legacy that generations of Buffs have carried forward — with its student employees at the helm. In addition to the programs and services the center carries out, its student employees help engage their peers in meaningful conversations about everything from climate justice to environmentally friendly practices in labs. 

“As a key partner in sustainability on campus, the E-Center aims to support every student who wants to create a positive change in their community,” said student employee Megan McLemore (IntlAf’26). “So we also act as a liaison, helping students join or start projects they are passionate about, and connecting them with the larger community of Sustainable Buffs here at CU Boulder.” 

“The E-Center is governed by students, funded by students and powered by students.”

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When my husband, Charlie Reid (PhDMechEngr’89), and I were grad students at CU, leaving Colorado was definitely not on our to-do list. But after graduation, new job opportunities drew us eastward. Our plan was always to return to Boulder, but what started out as an anticipated five-year stint in New Jersey stretched to 10 and continued across multiple states as our careers progressed.

Now, after three decades, we’ve finally moved back. And while we were expanding our horizons, growing professionally and raising a family, Boulder was growing, too. We kept an eye on our town from afar, but now we have the opportunity to see and experience the changes firsthand.

The university’s campus has grown both in size and reputation: CU has doubled down on research, now boasting five Nobel laureates, and has gained international recognition. Students have so many more options for courses, programs and opportunities. The number of buildings, dorms and parking structures has also grown exponentially, and what were once empty fields filled with prairie dogs is now the thriving research hub of East Campus. Other notable changes include the expansion of Folsom Field and the shifting of school colors from sky blue and gold to a more sophisticated palette of gold, black and gray. Even the journalism school (where I studied) has been reincarnated as CMCI.

Things off campus have changed, too. The town of Boulder has put itself on the map. It consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top college towns, is a hotbed for entrepreneurial and innovative endeavors, and is currently in contention to host the Sundance Film Festival.

While change is inevitable, it’s bittersweet to see some of the transformations: Friday Afternoon Club (FAC) events at the Harvest House hotel are no more, Tulagi’s on The Hill is gone, the Kinetic Sculpture Challenge race folded, Crossroads Commons has been razed and reconceived as the 29th Street Mall, and the Pearl Street Mall no longer boasts many of our old haunts.

That being said, the myriad of new restaurants, experiences and shops to explore seem boundless, and old favorites like Peppercorn, Trident Booksellers and Café, and Into the Wind remain. Mike’s Camera is still nearby, and The Sink is as vibrant as ever!

Daily, I meet fascinating people, motivated students and inspiring colleagues. Boulder is bikeable and walkable — and who can deny the spectacular view? Even when things seem unfamiliar, all I need to do is glance at my beloved Flatirons and I am reminded that, while evolution is unstoppable, some things never change. Boulder will always be vibrant, beautiful and, quite simply, home to me.

Karen Reid (Jour’84; MA’90) works for CU Boulder RIO as a marketing and communications specialist and teaches public speaking as a lecturer in the CMCI communication department.

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I woke up in my VW van parked behind the Boulder Rock Club and started making coffee, map in hand, plotting the drive to Eldorado Canyon. I’d arrived a week earlier from my home in Seattle to spend the summer guiding for the Boulder Rock School. It was my first day, and I was nervous — not about the climbing (though I’d be leading clients up routes I’d never climbed before), but about the drive. 

It was July 2001 (when paper maps were still a thing), and I didn’t know Broadway from Baseline. And though I’d been guiding in Washington since the mid-1990s, I feared being “found out” as an outsider in Colorado. Nothing scared me more than getting lost en route to one of the country’s most famous climbing areas with a van full of clients paying good money for local knowledge.  

To my immense relief, all went well that day. So well, in fact, that by the time another week had passed, I’d ditched the map and had logged dozens of routes in Eldo (mostly “onsight” guiding), Boulder Canyon, the Flatirons and on Longs Peak. I couldn’t believe the volume and variety of climbing so close to town. I would guide in the morning, climb with friends in the afternoon and repeat. I’d never climbed so much in my life. 

Admittedly, I used to roll my eyes whenever I heard Boulder being called the “Center of the Universe” for American climbing. It couldn’t be that good. But by the end of that summer, my skepticism had turned to pride: I owned 14 guidebooks covering thousands of climbs, all within 90 minutes of Boulder. I felt like I was just getting started.

So I did that classic Boulder thing: I never left.

I stayed because being a climber in Boulder feels limitless; it means as many different things as there are climbers. We’re scramblers and ice hogs, first ascensionists and gym rats, alpinists and Olympians. We’re young and old, fast and slow, inexperienced and elite. We’re of every color, gender, shape and size, and yet somehow we’ve all chosen climbing as our medium to face fears, challenge our beliefs and build meaningful friendships. 

Above all, being a climber in Boulder means taking part in a wild and wonderful community invigorated by our unique vertical playground. Here, there’s a synergy at work — a motivating power that strengthens relationships well beyond the “Off belay!” on top of a climb. 

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Photo by Jon Glassberg, Louder Than Eleven

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As I drive up Boulder Canyon with my daughter to ski at Eldora Mountain, I relish pointing out features of Boulder’s water supply system that I’ve had a role in managing for the past 19 years. The hydroelectric plant on the left, the pipeline up on the hillside, the reservoir at the top of the canyon — and Boulder Creek at the heart of it all. Fascinating, right?! She listens to me good-naturedly every time, and I hope one day she comes to appreciate the intricacies that go into providing that clean glass of water she sips every morning. 

The Boulder community enjoys a high-quality and reliable drinking water supply due to 150 years of visionary planning. However, as the climate shifts, the challenge of providing clean and reliable water becomes increasingly complex.

Boulder’s drinking water originates from alpine lakes, reservoirs and the Boulder Creek headwaters west of the city of Boulder, as well as from the upper Colorado River. Each year, approximately two-thirds of Boulder’s water supply comes from Boulder Creek and one-third from the Colorado River. Water from these sources flows via pipes to one of Boulder’s two water treatment plants before it is sent to customers for drinking water or irrigation use.

While Boulder’s multiple water sources offer flexibility and resilience in the face of climate change and extreme weather events, the city of Boulder is actively to secure its water supply. 

One way is through protecting our sources to ensure safe and high-quality water. As most of Boulder’s water supply comes from outside the city, Boulder partners with many organizations and community members to improve forest health and reduce pollution to creeks and reservoirs. 

Other ways include investing in Boulder’s water infrastructure (some components are over a century old), promoting water-saving measures — including using water-saving fixtures, fixing irrigation system leaks and landscaping with low-water-use vegetation — and strategic planning. Boulder’s Drought Plan, for instance, helps the city respond to water shortages and preserve water for high-priority uses such as human health and safety, maintaining creek flows and trees. 

Water management in the western United States is an intriguing puzzle. While I thrive on the challenge, I’m most gratified by the mission of serving a community that prioritizes sustainable use of this precious resource. Through collaboration, innovation and engagement with passionate community members, Boulder is addressing climate challenges to safeguard its water supply for future generations.

Kim Hutton (Chem, EnvSt’98) is the water resources manager for the City of Boulder. 

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Photo courtesy the City of Boulder

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For decades, Boulderites have enjoyed affordable ceramics education programming at the Boulder Pottery Lab, perched in the University Hill neighborhood within the historic Fire Station No. 2.

The hub of local creativity began as an innovative vision of the late Betty Woodman — master potter and CU Boulder professor for 30 years. Upon moving to Colorado, Woodman persuaded the city of Boulder in 1954 to open a recreational ceramics program that grew from seven students to 400 in 15 years. In her tenure at CU Boulder, she most likely taught thousands of students, said Scott Chamberlin, ceramics professor.

“She mentored some of the most important artists and teachers in the nation,” Chamberlin said. “You will not find a ceramic artist who has studied American ceramics that does not know [of] her, many personally.”

Originally run by the Parks and Recreation Department for over 60 years, the Boulder Pottery Lab was the first city-supported pottery program in the country. In 2015, the Parks and Recreation Department entered a public-private partnership with Studio Arts Boulder to manage and operate the facility.

Throughout her rich career spanning nearly seven decades, Woodman became known for altering the perspective of pottery from functional objects to fine art. During her time as a postwar American artist, her work was showcased worldwide in more than 100 solo exhibitions, including a 2006 retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which gave her the unique distinction as the first living female ceramicist to receive such an honor.

At CU Boulder, ceramic objects acquired during Woodman’s three decades of teaching are displayed as part of the Woodman Study Collection in the Visual Arts Complex.

“During critiques, her hands were never still — she was always touching the pieces on the table,” said Jeanne Quinn, a former student of Woodman who is now a professor of ceramics at CU Boulder. “She used her senses with amazing precision.”

In honor of Woodman and her legacy at CU and in the Boulder community, the university created the Betty Woodman Fund in 2023 to support emerging ceramics artists and faculty professionals in the ceramics program. The fund also provides stipends for the Woodman Artists Residency, which provides one to two artists the opportunity to stay and create art for several weeks in the former home of Betty and her husband George Woodman, located in the rural Tuscan region of Italy.

“For her, ceramics was the crown jewel in all of the arts, the one that allowed touch and taste and sight and sound,” said Quinn. “She showed this to us.”

To support the Betty Woodman Fund, and note “Betty Woodman” in the comment section of your gift details at checkout.

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Photo by Betty Woodman Collection, Woodman Family Foundation Archives, New York. Photo: Stefano Porcinal.

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When you were hungry and didn’t have any money, the Pied Piper had your back.

The owner of the small Pennsylvania Street diner on The Hill, John Parker, had a book where you could chalk up your debts. Although, in the late 1950s, most people seldom let it get past $20, Parker never squawked, and a couple of people, it is told, ran it up to $100. But as long as you paid Parker before summer break or made some arrangement with him, it was OK.

I have only heard it referred to as the Pied Piper once or twice. True enough, the red letters above the door said that, but nearly everyone called it Parker’s.

Parker — a small man with ruddy cheeks and a hard-worked face — worked every day from 6a.m. to 6 p.m. except on Friday afternoons, when he closed at 2 p.m. because that’s when many of his customers were drinking.

Parker’s place had seven stools, a cash register and a small upraised counter on the right side of the diner where “the book” was kept. In addition to the money owed for food, various bets were placed under different customers’ names. One could open the book to their name, for example, and the total owed would be near the bottom of the page: “$13.72.” The right side of the page could read, “White Sox to win the pennant, $5.”

The place had a small grill where Parker cooked hamburgers, eggs, ham, bacon, steak, hot dogs and morning rolls. He turned the grill on in the morning with a pair of pliers. He had a tin to cook poached eggs, along with a toaster, coffee pot, small freezer, shelf for rolls and pies, and a milkshake maker. That was it. The menu remained the same; the prices remained the same. You could get a hamburger steak dinner, which included a double hamburger portion, fries, bread and butter, soup or juice for $0.65 or a small steak with the same extras for $1.25.

You had to take two napkins and throw them down on the fries before you ate them. But you only did this when Parker was facing the grill, otherwise he’d tell you to “get the hell out” if you didn’t like the food. Jack Wyrick (A&S’61) was the expert at sopping up the grease before Parker turned around.

But everyone, especially CU athletes and fans, went to Parker’s. His coffee was good, his prices were cheap and, of course, you could eat on credit.

The last time I ate at Parker’s was the summer of 1960. Sadly John died suddenly in January 1962 and Parker’s was no more.

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Photo courtesy Carnegie Library for Local History

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Boulder has been known for its unique nightlife for decades. It’s a major part of the local economy, and creatives and businesspeople alike often partner to make enjoyable experiences for Boulderites and visitors. 

1.  A speakeasy underneath the Boulderado hotel. Located at 13th St. and Spruce St. 
2.  Good food, great decorations. Off of Baseline Rd. and 30th St. 
3.  Live music venue with mainly jazz and blues performers. Located at 13th St. and Spruce St. 
4.  Assortment of food with a rooftop bar; also is a club at night. Located off of Broadway St. and Lawry Ln. 
5. (also known as The Downer) Classic dive bar, free pool on Tuesdays. Also found off of Broadway St. and Lawry Ln. 
6.  Fun drinks served in even more fun cups. On 10th St. and Pearl St. 
7.   Boulder classic with good food (try the corn dogs). Located on Broadway St. and Lawry Ln.
8.  Wine bar with tapas. On 11th St. and Pearl St. 
9.  Extensive cocktail list. Located off of 8th St. and Walnut St. 
10.  Home of the Fat Albert (Gatorade and vodka). Located on11th St. and Walnut St.

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Parking was a pain. Finding tickets, at least at the eleventh hour, was even more so. 

And, as often happens in a Colorado spring, the weather refused to cooperate.

No matter. This was a moment Colorado football fans had been pining for over the better part of two decades.

On April 22, Boulder became something it hadn’t been since the early 1990s: the focus of the entire college football world. And this was for a spring game — held about five months after the Buffaloes turned in arguably the worst season in the program’s rich history, and four months before the Buffs were set to kick off the 2023 season with a whole new set of expectations.

The reason, of course, was the new coach in town — Hall of Famer to reinvigorate the CU program. He’s done that already without yet coaching a real game.

A total of 47,277 fans attended the . The comparative numbers are staggering: An estimated 1,950 fans watched the previous year’s spring game. Even fewer, an estimated 1,000, did so in 2021. The most recent spring game attendance would have been the third-biggest crowd at Folsom during the 2022 regular season, and it was less than 600 fans off from topping the No. 2 crowd in 2022.

In fact, the previous seven springs combined featured an attendance of 30,450. This year, the Buffs’ spring game was the only one in the nation broadcast live on ESPN, and the Buffs have suddenly become a regular feature on national talk shows.

Already “Coach Prime” has done the impossible. CU football once again is relevant nationally. What does it mean for Boulder? There will be a significant financial impact, but anyone who has been trying to rent in town or who pays property taxes understands the city isn’t exactly hurting.

Still, new revenue streams will help both the city and the campus (CU hadn’t even sold spring game tickets since the 1980s). And football often remains the gateway to major universities. Like myself, my wife, Andrea Nozykowski (Jour’99), is from South Bend, Indiana. She fell in love with CU Boulder while watching the epic Notre Dame-Colorado battles of the late 1980s and early 1990s, then following the Rashaan Salaam (Soc ex’95) and Kordell Stewart (Comm ex’95; BA’16)-led Buffs while she was in high school. 

Much to the chagrin of her parents, she traveled the roughly 1,100 miles to Boulder for college, in large part because of what she watched during football games. She graduated from CU in 1999.

No doubt, the buzz is back. If Coach Prime sees his vision through, the Buffs will be as well.

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Photos courtesy Tyler Davis, CU Athletics

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As a college sophomore in late 2020, Carter Snelson (Fin, RealEst’23) using the city’s zoning map. After 2.5 years, and less than two weeks till he graduated from CU Boulder, he completed the task on April 28, 2023. On his final day of walking, Snelson also achieved another personal goal: walking 100,000 steps — 52 miles — in one day. 

“This had been the longest commitment I’ve ever had, and having it come to an end was very emotional and incredibly fulfilling,” said Snelson. “Even though I cannot say I remember exactly every one of the 165 walks I’ve done, I will never forget this journey.” 

Read more about Snelson’s feat. 

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Photo courtesy Cliff Grassmick/Daily Camera

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