Niwot Historical Society awakens the 1980s and 1990s

Did you know that Niwot had a live nude dancing venue in the 1980s? The Ace of Hearts was located at 112 2nd Avenue, now occupied by Little Bird.

The show was apparently short-lived. Kathy Koehler said she contacted the Boulder County Sheriff's Office to see if anyone recalled the business. "One former deputy remembers this location," Koehler said. "She remembers that the business was open for about three weeks. The closure was related to liquor license issues rather than an eviction closure."

Koehler, president of the Niwot Historical Society (NHS), delivered the anecdote about the Ace of Hearts and many other stories during the Society's second Now & Then lecture of the season at the Left Hand Grange No. 9 during the evening of April 26.

The topic was "Niwot: 1980s and into the 1990s." Koehler regaled the full house with 45 minutes of storytelling followed by an invitation for members of the audience to tell some of their stories of those decades. Thanks to the photographic donations from Niwotians recently and over the years which are now in the photograph archive curated by the NHS, Koehler had plenty of visual evidence to back up the stories.

Koehler stepped through the decades in the order that they unfolded.

Nostalgia Days was a big event in Niwot for 35 years. Taking place over three days, the celebration began on Friday night and ended Sunday. Koehler said, "Tony [Ochoa], who owned El Castillo Mexican restaurant, organized a chili [cookoff] contest. That was his Chili Mobile," referring to the photo on the screen, "... It's serious business."

There was music and dancing. There was even a dunk tank. Alcohol was not "formally" allowed at public events during that era. What was especially notable about the photo was what was visible on the north side of Niwot Road where the Burgundy Park housing development is now located: corn fields.

She described a house that was built at 364 2nd Avenue in 1924. "It was a residence for a Niwot Elementary School teacher [Nancy Reese] and she had Scottie dogs. It was sold in the 1980s and converted into a restaurant. There's Lefty's right there," Koehler said, referring to Lefty's Pizzeria in the photo.

The designation of Niwot as a semi-rural Limited Community Service Area and the constraint on Transferable Development Rights (TDRs) was a very important accomplishment during this time period. "This is Niwot. This is why Niwot is what it is," Koehler said, noting that Selene Luna, who was present in the audience, and the late Tom Theobald along with others in the Niwot Community Association worked on the program with Boulder County. She explained that area farmers were able to sell the development rights to their property to developers who built homes adjacent to existing Niwot subdivisions, thus preserving Niwot as a community separate from Boulder and Longmont.

"We have a liquor store," Koehler said. In 1985 Niwot Liquor opened where The Little Shop is now located in Cottonwood Square. The business was opened by Helen and Euvaldo Valdez, and later moved to a cement block building at the intersection of Niwot Road and Second Avenue before the property was redeveloped. "Helen got word of this wine, it was called Big Blue. IBM is right over here, why shouldn't we get some Big Blue ... so she ordered some wine," Koelher told the audience. "She learned a short time later that IBM sued the winery [over use of the name]."

Another important part of the history of Niwot is the paving of 2nd Avenue in 1993. Koehler said that prior to that, the street was a muddy mess after anything more than light rain or snow, especially at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Franklin Street. "Here we are, 2023, and this week they were going to rotomill the street. We escaped the bullet because Mother Nature helped us out," Koehler said, expressing relief that the audience didn't have to deal with 2nd Avenue after rain with conditions similar to thirty years ago.

Koehler also called upon audience members to come up to the microphone and tell a story.

Euvaldo Valdez talked about purchasing the property where Niwot Liquor stands now. "[It] had to be the lowest part of Niwot," Valdez said. A lot of water would accumulate there even from moderate rain. "We have several pictures of people kayaking."

Bruce "Biff" Warren explained that Valdez and others were responsible for forming the Niwot Local Improvement District to raise sales tax money in order to pave 2nd Avenue and install a drainage system. "It took until 2010 to pay that debt off," Warren said. When it was paid off they held a ceremony to burn the debt documents.

Chris Doyle talked about the square dances that his wife Teri Rassmusen has put on for over 40 years. Starting in the Left Hand Grange, "...until they were too successful and had to move on. We ended up in various places," Doyle said, including Peggy's Hi-Lo and Pleasant View Grange. Those square dances are now going on at the Avalon Ballroom in Boulder.

Scott Tennant talked about the wide open spaces after moving to Niwot in 1978 with his wife Pam. Living on 3rd Avenue at the time, Tennant explained, "At the end of the street was this huge field ... and you could walk all the way over into Overbrook really, there was nothing."

A video recording of the lecture will be available on the NHS YouTube channel in the near future, thanks to the volunteer work of Bill Decker, Patrick Bohan and the Eyes on Longmont TV Production Group. Keep an eye on the new NHS website for an announcement about the video.