Beyond the Pedestrian Mall

Beneath the Colorado State Capitol lies a network of tunnels that most Coloradans have no idea exists. The system connects nine buildings throughout the Capitol complex, running entire city blocks underground. You'll find old ore cart tracks from when the tunnels were used to transport coal, heavy vault doors once used by the state treasurer to move cash and gold certificates, and stretches of bare rock that feel more cave than corridor. The tunnels date to the Capitol's 1894 construction and were expanded over decades. During the Cold War, they were designated as fallout shelters. Today they're used by legislators and staff who prefer not to face Denver winters between buildings. Special tours occasionally open them to the public, usually during Doors Open Denver or by special legislative arrangement.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Denver Tramway Company needed serious power to run its growing streetcar network. So between 1901 and 1904, they built a massive powerhouse on the banks of the South Platte River for $1 million. The building could generate 9,500 kilowatts of electricity, enough to run 160+ miles of streetcar lines that crisscrossed the city. The architecture was industrial cathedral: soaring ceilings, massive steel trusses, brick walls thick enough to contain the roar of the generators. Denver's streetcar system was one of the largest in the country, and this building was its beating heart. Then came the car. By 1950, ridership had collapsed. The last streetcar ran in 1950. The powerhouse sat abandoned for decades until REI bought the building in 2000 and turned it into their Denver flagship store. Most shoppers browsing camping gear have no idea they're standing where turbines once powered an entire transit system. Look up: the original steel trusses are still there, the brick walls are original, and if you know what you're looking for, you can spot where the massive generators once sat. It's adaptive reuse at its finest, and a monument to a Denver that ran on rails.

Ten miles from downtown Denver, hidden on a national wildlife refuge, sits a warehouse containing 1.3 million illegal wildlife products. This isn't your typical museum; it's the last stop for every piece of contraband seized at the border or from poachers. Think mounted tigers, rhino horns, vast collections of carved ivory, and the truly bizarre: zebra hoof lamps, elephant foot furniture, and bins overflowing with dried seahorse fetuses and bear gallbladders. It's a grotesque, fascinating, and deeply disturbing inventory of humanity's impact on the natural world, a global black market rendered inert. Most Denver residents have no idea this massive, macabre treasury of illegal taxidermy and poached goods even exists. It's a sobering, surreal experience—and a potent reminder of the cost of greed.

A 900-square-foot shrine to Reagan-era childhood on South Broadway. Owner Derek Berry has crammed 6,000+ items into every corner: 303 types of nonsports trading cards, original Smurfs figurines, vintage Pepsi cans with Star Wars promotional art, Pac-Man cabinets, Care Bears, and more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise than you thought existed. The walls are floor-to-ceiling nostalgia. The real move is showing up Saturday morning when they play actual 80s cartoons on screens throughout the shop. Adults who grew up on Saturday morning cartoons and Fruit Loops find themselves transported. Kids discover what their parents were into. It's part museum, part shop, part time machine.

Clyfford Still was one of the most important American painters of the 20th century, a founder of Abstract Expressionism alongside Rothko, Pollock, and de Kooning. He was also famously reclusive, refusing to sell most of his work and demanding it be kept together. When he died in 1980, his will specified his entire estate (3,125 works, 93% of his lifetime output) go to an American city willing to build a museum dedicated solely to his art. Denver won. The result is a purpose-built museum that houses more work by a single artist than any other in North America. The building itself is stunning: clean-lined, filled with natural light, with galleries that let the massive canvases breathe. It sits next to the Denver Art Museum, which has higher profile, flashier architecture, and bigger crowds. The Still Museum is quieter, more contemplative, and arguably more powerful. Westword named it "Best Museum If You Only Have an Hour" in 2025.