Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I need to give me the energy to do science experiments. So tell me about the pollination process. How does that work?

So pollination happens when pollen lands on the stigma of one flower, and then it grows this thing called a pollen tube. The pollen grows down until it reaches the ovary of the flower and fertilizes it. That's what makes a seed.

Let's go and take a deeper look at inside of a flower. Flowers have special parts called stamens and pistils. The stamen makes pollen, and the pistil is what will turn into seeds. I understand how it works, but why is pollination important?

If we didn't have pollinators, we wouldn't have any fruits, vegetables, nuts. All you'd be left with are rice, corn, and wheat.

Oh, boy. You know Wizkid loves food, and I couldn't imagine a world where I couldn't eat all my favorite fruits and different vegetables. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much, bees. We really appreciate you. So is it important to have different types of pollinators, or are honeybees okay?

Absolutely, it's important to have a huge diversity of policy.

Hey Denver, thanks for joining us for this bi-weekly meeting of the Denver Planning Board. This 11-member board guides the Mayor and Denver City Council on decisions around zoning, land use, area plans, and more to help build a vibrant community. This meeting of the Denver Planning Board starts now.

Welcome to the July 15th meeting of the Denver Planning Board. I'm Fred Glick, I'm the Vice Chair. We'll go ahead and start the meeting with call to order and a roll call. If you'll excuse me.

Mary Coddington. Heidi Majer. Alicia Quan-Hammett. Deirdre Rose. Melissa Mejia.

James Roy. Thanks. And as I said, I'm Fred Glick. I'm the vice chair. I'm just acting while Caitlin will be here shortly to resume the chair.

Can you check if Norman is on the line?

I am here and walking into the office as well. Oh, good. Okay. Just trying to find it here. I'm on the fourth floor. What's your name as well then? Norman Harris.

Thank you.

And Caitlin Wander. Perfect. And we have quorum. So at the beginning of every meeting, we reserve time for public comment on any item that is not on our hearing item or on our regular agenda. So if you are here to let us know something you think planning board should know, please do raise your hand or indicate so online. Seeing none, we will go ahead and move forward with our meeting agenda. The first item we have for approval is the meeting records from... Oh, we do. I'm so sorry. Thanks for jumping in. Amber, are you here to speak to the planning board about something that is not listed on our agenda? Go ahead and speak. Amber, go ahead and unmute. You can speak. We can hear you.

Sorry, can you hear me now? We can, yeah. Sorry. I'm here to speak on the rezoning for the 3201 North Spear property.

Great. We will cover that in our regular agenda, so we will call on you then. Thank you so much. Thank you. I'll make sure to put your name on that piece of it. Okay, great. Oh, yeah, and thank you. Rachel Marion is also here for CORE.

Oh, and you're here in person.

And Norm Harris is also here for the group forum.

He was there.

Wonderful. Well, welcome, as well as OGX as well. We were going to do some little introductions at the end, but I'm delighted to have two new planning board members with us. So our first item of business is the meeting records for approval on June 3rd. I will call attendance for those that were present at the meeting. Did anyone have any changes? And if not, I'll take a motion.

So moved.

Second. Great. Motion by Fred, second by Alicia. And I will do roll call. Actually, I will not do roll call. I'll list them off. Melissa?

Aye.

Fred? Aye. Mary? Aye. Heidi? Aye. Alicia? Aye. And I vote aye as well. That has enough votes and has been approved. And now we will go ahead and move on. Before we move into our regular agenda, I just want to ask if there are any items for disclosure or recusal for planning board members today? Great. Seeing none, we will open the public hearing for official map amendment application 2026, rezone 0000025, rezoning 3201 North Speer Boulevard from USUA to UMX2X. We will start with a staff presentation, then a presentation by the applicant if they have one, and then we will hear public comments. Go ahead. I will.

Good afternoon. My name is Will Prince. I will be presenting the application for 3201 North Speer Boulevard, a request from USUA to UMX2X. And today we'll review the request, the location and context, the process, and the review criteria. Again, this is a request to rezone from urban single unit A to urban mixed-use two-story X. The property itself, which is highlighted here in the middle of the aerial photo, is 5,500 square feet. It's a commercial triangle corner lot. It was a two-story building built in 1953. Moving on to the location and context, this is located in Council District 1 with Councilmember Amanda Sandoval. is located in the statistical neighborhood of West Highland. As for the existing zoning, again, this is USUA, which is a majority of the area surrounded by also USUB. We also have UMX2X and a PUD also along 32nd Avenue. As for the existing land use, this is identified surrounded by a single-unit residential, public closet, public office, and commercial retail in that Speer 32nd Hub. As for the building form and scale, again, this is a two-, two-and-a-half-story structure. You can see the subject property on the bottom right screen. We can see the commercial nearby on Speer, as well as typical residential structures nearby. It gets you into the process. This received its informational notice at the end of May. It was noticed properly at the end of June, and we are here today for the public hearing for the planning board on July 15th. It is tentatively scheduled for the community planning and housing committee in early August, and will have its tentative city council public hearing in September. As of today, we've received two comments in opposition. You should have received one in the staff report and then one hours and most of these are related to potential development opportunities related to the rezoning Moving on to the review criteria. With all rezonings, we'll review the three criteria, starting with consistency with adopted plans. For this property, only the citywide plans are applicable for this, starting with Comprehensive Plan 2040. There are several key goals that are consistent with this rezoning. This rezoning will promote and enable commercial options where infrastructure is in place and close proximity to the surrounding neighborhood. Looking at vision One, equitable, affordable, inclusive. In particular, goal one, create a city of complete neighborhoods, build a network of well-connected, vibrant mixed-use centers and corridors for strategy A. And strategy D, encourage quality infill development that is consistent with surrounding neighborhood. Goal four, ensure every neighborhood is economically strong and dynamic with strategy A, grow and support neighborhoods serving businesses.

Vision four, economically diverse and vibrant.

Goal three, sustain and grow Denver's local businesses. Strategy A, promote small, locally owned businesses and restaurants that reflect the Denver's unique character and support neighbors' skill, economic vitality. Lastly, vision five, environmentally resistant. Goal eight, clean our soils, conserve land and grow responsibility. Strategy A, promote infill development where infrastructures and services are in place. Moving on to Blueprint Denver, this site is identified for its future neighboring context as urban, so the urban and U remains the same as zoning. This context includes small multi-unit residential and mixed-use areas, typically embedded in one- and two-unit residentials, which is reflective of this site, the subject property. Continuing on with Future Place, this identifies as local center, which provides options in dining and entertainment shopping, makes up some residential and employment uses. Activity levels are lower than other center types with highest activity during evenings and weekends. The public ground was typically defined by lower-scale buildings, active frontages, and heights are generally up to three stories. As for future street types, Spear itself is a mixed-use arterial and West 32nd residential collector. The growth strategy, this site is identified as all other areas of the city as well as the surrounding area with 10% of job growth and 20% of housing growth by 2040. And there are additional policies in Blueprint Denver that support this rezoning, and particularly Land Use Bill Form Economics Policy 6. Ensure Denver and its neighbors have a vibrant and authentic retail and hospitality marketplace, meeting the full range of experiences and goods demanded by residents and visitors. With the remaining criteria for review, this will also meet the public interest by supporting our adopted COI plans as well as creating commercial hubs in our neighborhoods. And it's consistent with neighborhood context zone district purpose intent by implementing the regulations associated with UMX2X. And with that, from the staff report and information shared today, CPD recommends approval, finding all review criteria have been met. I will be available for further questions, and the applicant is available virtually and does not have a presentation. Thank you.

Great. Thank you so much. So I'll invite the applicant, Cody Seedorf. I understand you don't have a presentation, but if you'd like to say anything or just let us know that you're available for questions, go ahead and unmute and you can speak.

Hi, everyone. Is our camera on?

Are you guys able to see us?

No camera, but we can hear you.

How about now?

I don't think it allows for camera for our purposes. Got it.

Okay. So this is David Burton and Cody Cedar for Verreal Architecture. And we want to thank the planning board for hearing us today. We just want to reiterate that this location is a compliant business structure that's been in place for about 75 years. It was an auto repair garage. It's currently an art framing shop. um it has limited uh the the compliant business structure only allows limited business and commercial uses um this location is really the very end of sphere boulevard and the transition to 32nd avenue uh it's really like the dot on the exclamation point of Spear mixed use corridor and rezoning to UMX2X seems like the correct zoning for this type of use in this embedded business within a residential district. Cody, do you have anything to add?

Yeah, I think just really the main intent of this rezoning is that the property can be utilized as a commercial structure. Currently, there's some limitations presented by the compliant business structure, and that kind of limits the full use of the existing structure. Rezoning would allow the entire structure to be utilized for commercial use. So that's really the intent of this rezoning request.

And we're here to answer any questions.

Great, thank you so very much. Next, we will open it up to public comment, and I have one person registered online. Amber, please forgive me, your last name is Hegyali, but go ahead and unmute and correct me with the pronunciation of your last name if need be, and you'll have three minutes.

That was very close. It's Hajjali. Thank you for letting me speak here today. My name is Amber Hajjali. I am the owner of the Terrarium Shop. It's a little plant shop not too far down the street. And I'm here in support of the zoning change. I have a personal vested interest as I would like to invest in this property and make it hopefully my forever home of retail. As Cody mentioned, this building has a longstanding documented commercial use. It was auto repair shop. It was also a sewing repair shop, a used furniture store, service station office. It has served the community as commercial for a very long time. And changing the zoning to UMX 2X gives businesses like myself and people who want to invest in this property the security of knowing that we can operate legally out of this space. Currently, the zoning is not retail is not an accessory use for this space. But the rezoning will allow a business like my small business to be able to be a presence in the neighborhood. That is all I have. Thank you very much. Thank you.

That is all we have registered to speak. Is there anyone here in person? No. All right. I will open it up to questions from the board. Alicia?

I have a question for Will. Real quick, so the adjacent properties look like they're USU also. Is that a protected district?

USUA is a protected district.

And could you tell us what that means?

So with that, there would be required setbacks of other non-protected districts. Setbacks like that, that would go into effect if this were to be redeveloped and if there would be new development, it would have to be required to follow those setback requirements, like being abutted to the protected districts.

And is that protected district there in place to help with those kinds of transitions between uses? Yes. Thank you.

Questions?

Fred?

Just a small, I guess, procedural question for you. I noticed that the application had a number of redactions in it. Is that common? I was a little bit, it just struck me as a lot because I don't remember seeing applicants, applications that had redactions of emails and such in them.

Yes, I believe, sorry. You're referring to the emails in particular. That is a new procedure due to we've had many scamming issues that have occurred in the last year or more. So that is the effort to reduce that. being more frequent.

I noticed that some were redacted, some were not, for what it's worth. So anyway, but thank you for the explanation. I was curious. Thank you.

The applications or some of the emails?

Some of the emails in the application were redacted.

So what we did is we're trying to redact the applicant's email, because they're getting emails from the city saying to invoice the resigning. So we're preventing people. We've had a few applicants that get charged.

Okay, great. Thank you. It just seemed odd. I just wanted to know. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Sure. I'm sorry about that. So I just wanted to ask, and this is a question for Willa, maybe confirming something that we just heard from the applicant regarding what the constraints are and what compliance structure structure means and also compliant uses and what are the limitations that they might currently run into with the current businesses there and then for any future business to come in there? Can they? Are there limitations to a future business?

So with the existing zoning and being a compliant business structure, only certain parts of the building can be used that were historically used commercially. So it's limiting square footage or space that can be used with new zoning that changes and allows more use of the space and, in particular, more additional uses. Under single unit, primarily residential uses or residential zoning, commercial uses are limited and accessory uses are not permitted. So this would allow more defined uses by the coach.

Okay. Can I do a follow-up question to that? So in the instance of the entire property being sold, you know, and going up for sale, someone else comes in to purchase it, businesses leave, new businesses could still come in within the limitations that they're currently under for compliant businesses, or would they just not be able to even establish a new business even with the existing zoning?

Right.

new businesses would be able to be established and still limited to certain uses and space.

Thank you.

I had a quick question for you, Will. Thank you for sharing the Blueprint Denver Future Place Map as part of your presentation and in the staff report. And I guess when I look at that map and the process that blueprint went through and then the zoning code and I know we can never go back and try and figure out when the city was mapping why it didn't kind of map this small little kind of area where streets meet and clearly there's kind of this historical small business like center. Why do you think that this wasn't mapped as like an MS or an MX to like back when the blueprint kind of recognized it and then the mapping said as USUA?

Honestly, not sure. It could be due to it's a smaller scale, it's a local center, but it is a fairly small local center. I believe the nearby UMX2x is a newer development and that was, I believe, a rezoning, if I'm not mistaken. But sure.

I just appreciated that question. and highlights the fact that when we remapped our entire city, it wasn't a precision tool we used. It was a bigger bottom brush in why these types of rezonings are necessary, because we just didn't capture them with the mapping when we rezoned the whole city. So I appreciated your question. Other question? Rachel.

My question is if it weren't an existing, if it weren't existing, I'm struggling a little bit of if the building had been out of use for 10 years or something. Like are we saying that the rezoning is applicable because there's existing commercial use in there? Like if we, would UMX 2X be appropriate for the next door neighbor that's currently a residential building?

So I find it appropriate based on plan guidance through Blueprint, the local center, and so forth. I'm not quite following.

So plan guidance is for local center. So it's not just because of the current use. Blueprint Denver tells us that it should be commercial.

Got it. Thank you. OK. Seeing no further questions, I will open it up to discussion for the board or a motion. Fred, then Heidi, then Mary.

Yeah, I'm very supportive of this. The guidance is there in Blueprint Denver regardless of the current use, as you just stated. I guess I almost wish that we had a procedure in place It used to be that we had some language in there about where zoning had been made an error. And I don't think anybody wants to call these an error, but the fact is that when we did rezone the whole city, there are places that I think we all know we didn't get it right. And it does feel like we put a burden upon property owners whose property were didn't quite get done right to do this so i wish we had a process that um enabled them to correct that as it were without going through a whole rezoning process at their expense so anyway i will be supportive thank you i do what's my comment

OK. Mary? I also think this meets the criteria, and I'm in support this evening. Just wanted to, as a refresher, call out the fact that, how we zone in Denver and how we process rezonings is really separated from what the actual development might be. Different jurisdictions handle that in different ways. Some jurisdictions look really closely at what the development is going to be. I know this came up in some of the comments. And in Denver, we try to stay out of the particulars of the development coming tomorrow or the development coming in 10 years. We're just looking at the general framework of what would make sense from an envelope perspective, somewhat to a use perspective for different places in our city. So because of that, we actually don't consider As much you know how this fits the existing news or what might come, it's really looking at what our plans say a certain area of our city should evolve in and so just wanted to make that point for any of the folks who submitted comments that that those points. I appreciate the consideration of the real development that comes up a lot in community concerns, but it is not one of our criteria when we're assessing these.

That would have been my. Okay. Great.

Is there a motion? I'll go ahead and move to recommend City Council approve application 2026 Rezone 0000025, rezoning 3201 North Spear Boulevard from USUA to UMX2X, finding that the applicable review criteria have been met.

Great. Motion from Heidi, a second from Deirdre. And I will roll call. Rachel? Aye. Mary? Aye. Heidi? Aye. Fred? Aye. Alicia? Aye. Deirdre? Aye. Alyssa? Aye. James?

Aye.

Nora?

Aye.

And I vote aye as well. That's been unanimously recommended on to City Council. Thanks for being here. With that, just really quick on chair time. Once again, welcome to our new members and thank you to staff at the mayor's office for the work in reviewing and interviewing people. And it's great to have a full board again and we look forward to your contributions. And then just wanted to raise up that we're a little behind because we forgot that on an annual basis, we have to elect our vice chair. And so Fred has graciously agreed to continue on if that is the interest of the board. And I have nominated him to do so. If you want to put your name in the hat to be vice chair, please do let Fran know. And then at our next meeting, we would do a vote, or figure out to vote by email or something like that, or let her know that you're good with Fred. So we'll from that up in our next meeting, but just feel free to communicate directly with Fred on that, and she'll gather those. With that, is there anything else from the board?

The other option to

Oh, I can formally introduce them, yeah. Welcome. Do you guys want to share a little bit about yourselves with the board? And we can certainly go around as well. That'd be great. Norm Harris and James Wright.

Well, greetings, everyone. Greetings, everyone. My name is Norman Harris. Just honored to be here and serve with you all. I do quite a bit of work in Five Points. serving as the executive director of the five points business industry i'm also lead the organization of our team team celebration and then i'm a small business owner and five points as well um connected with some folks uh or know some folks personally already i'm definitely happy to connect with you all

I'm James Roy. I am the executive director of Atlantis Community Housing. I grew up in Denver, five points in Park Hill mostly, and two kids, ages 10 to 13. I don't know. What else should I share? That's all for now.

Welcome. Yeah, we'll go down the line now. Oh, sorry. Favorite ice cream flavor.

I am also from Denver. I grew up on the north side and sort of a housing advocate and consultant for community groups on mostly tenants' rights policy and advocacy.

I'm Deirdre Ose, also Denver native, born and raised in southeast Denver, went to South High School. East, but good school. I have two kids, ages 27 and 24. One lives in Maine. My heart's in two places, right? And I worked for about 25 years as a public sector planner for Douglas County and then for the city of Denver. So that's what I bring to the firm.

I'm Alicia Kwan Hammond. I am the owner of Separate Line Strategies. It's my own consulting firm. I do urban planning and urban design. I mostly focus on affordable housing, but I also do some commercial work. And I'm not a Denver native. I was born in Korea, but I'm raised in the People's Republic of Boulder, Colorado. But I've been living in Denver now for, gosh, more than 15 years. What neighborhood do you live in? Oh, I live in, I live in Bellevue-Hale. So over by Rose Medical Center because nobody seems to know where that is.

I'm Caitlin Quander. I am a land use attorney. I have two kids, nine and 11, and I live in East Denver.

Fred Glick, developer and urban planner. Live in the Clayton neighborhood. Went to Manuel High School. and have one kid, and yeah, I guess that's it, right? Is that what we're doing? Here we go.

Hi, Norman and James. It's so nice to meet you both. My name is Heidi Majerich. I'm a longtime master plan community developer in Denver. I live in Central Park and had the opportunity to work on the redevelopment of that for 15 years. I work really hard to be a housing advocate. In addition to being on the planning board, I'm on the Colorado Association of Home Builders Government Affairs Committee working on bills through the session. I'm on the Metro Housing Coalition. I'm on the board of a nonprofit affordable co-housing group called Gratitude Village. So just doing everything I can to help get houses built.

Awesome. Nice to see you guys. Mary Coddington. I'm a Californian. I don't know how you guys know me on this board. I've been living in Denver for eight years. I live in the Clayton neighborhood, and I also have a planning and housing consultancy.

Hi, friends. Rachel Marion, also born in Denver. A lot of people born in Denver on the planning board. Live in Five Points. Run my own consulting business. Also just opened a small business in the Lohi neighborhood. That's about it. Welcome.

Thanks for donating your time. I say it to all of our board members, but really appreciate all of your contributions to our city, and thanks for stepping up. All right, with that, we are adjourned.

You can all email me before the 29th. That would be appreciated.

My grandmother was a nurse. She took care of soldiers on both sides of the revolution. She took care of people regardless of their backgrounds or their political stance. My grandfather was a very creative person, industrious. My grandfather and my grandmother were intimately involved with the key players of the Mexican Revolution, such as Pancho Villa and his wife. Pancho Villa wanted my grandfather as a strategist for the war because he was a college educated and a strategist in chess and problem solving. But he had loyalties on both sides. They left Mexico by motor car compared to the majority of a lot of the families who left by train. My grandmother grew up with understanding the herbs and herbologies and the medicines as a nurse. But she was a great cook. and that's how they survived. In fact, going from their journey from Mexico to America, they would make meals for the miners. My grandfather was a photographer, so in their journey to Denver, they'd stop in these farms and mining camps, and these poor families who couldn't afford going to a studio, my grandfather would barter with them in exchange, just like the exchange for shelter or food, but take photographs of your family. When they came to Denver, this was at the height of the Ku Klux Klan, and that's the type of environment they had to deal with. But in Auraria, we didn't have that segregation or racism that we had in Denver, which was just across Cherry Creek, and they found some various apartments. Auraria was a triangular space bordered by two rivers. The Cherry Creek was at intermittent streams that formed over time that had periodic droughts. The Platte River was a very steady stream. It didn't have the droughts. And where these two waters came together was called confluence. And gold deposits were settled there. And when explorers in the 1850s during the gold rush saw those gold deposits, they figured, well, you know, we could develop trade centers for the miners. It was a space of confluence, of convergence, of trade and sharedness. But the type of activities that were here in our neighborhood was mixed. It wasn't planned out to today's standards of zoning. So we had lots laid out that allowed light industry, retail, commercial, religious, educational, and residential all mixed together. And although that might seem today haphazard as was used later on by the Denver Urban Renewal and Planning Department, it allowed for a wonderful organic evolution and a wonderful use of sharing spaces and services. Growing up as a kid, my mother took me around It was a pedestrian-oriented community. People walked. We had eight churches or eight religious institutions, five educational institutions in a half a radius of two blocks. We had a two-acre farmer's market just a block away. We did not need cars. We were a walking community, and that was part of the engagement and the closeness of our community was meeting each other on the porch daily and seeing our processionals and our ceremonies. In the top of that, we had wonderful smells. We had the smell of bread, the smell of beer, of tamales, of sauerkraut, pickles, ice cream, cinnamon, candy. Those were pretty good smells growing up as a kid, and that's an example. And of course, Casa Mayan with the Mexican food. And, of course, some of the different ethnic groups that had their own foods that came out. So those are my personal memories of a very fun place. And the wonderful artisans who lived here from Mexico, the non-Hispanics who had printing business and studios, and just a wonderful interaction we had and how we supported each other, where those in the printing business would make the business cards, those in the light industry would help make you know other other mechanical needs that we had my grand grandfather blacksmith providing needs for the community in exchange for music lessons or whatever you have it was that type of of wonderful mixed-use community We were also distinct because it was a multi-ethnic community. German, Jewish, Irish, English, Scottish, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, lived together in the same block. You cross Denver Cherry Creek, you had continued racial segregation up until the 60s where public spaces could not, Mexicans could not use public spaces. Blatant discrimination against going into restaurants and other businesses just as you cross the creek. So Raria was a safe space and we had a sharing of cultures that really fit well with the Gonzales family of Casamayan. It was a humanitarian, in essence, to Denver. A lot of the humanitarian services and individuals who lived here, whether it be with their indigenous people or those first generation Irish or Jewish and African Americans, established our first schools, our first libraries, our first religious institutions. We had our first orphanages. This was a safe space and this allowed them to flourish. It was in the year 1933, the height of the Great Depression, where we hit the 25% unemployment in the country. We had economic crisis, home shortages for housing. It was that year my grandfather had a severe heart attack and my mother had to nurse him. She had to be in charge of a lot of the decision making. On top of that, in Denver, we had one of the worst floods in 1933. And my Gonzales family were left homeless. All their food and belongings were destroyed by the 1933 flood. So without any economic resources, they were in a serious situation. but because of the creative and spiritual background of the Gonzalez family and my grandparents, the reputation of the family, particularly my grandmother, a house that was for rent, which is 1029th Street, one block off of Colfax, The owner recognized the ethics of my grandparents, and particularly my grandmother, and she was able, through the owner, to purchase this house at the time of the Great Depression. I call that the first miracle of Ninth Street, for all things considered. If you were a white, upper-class woman, You couldn't get a loan for a house. There were foreclosures all over the country. So for her at that time to purchase one of the largest houses in a great location, was a miracle and a blessing and a testimony i believe to her faith besides her indigenous background she was had a christian practicing beliefs of giving sharing and putting other people ahead of herself and so it seemed to pay off when during this crisis she was able to purchase this house Just an example to understand the severity of the housing shortage and the severity of the Great Depression, particularly in 1933, we had over 30 people living in this small Victorian house. This was sleeping quarters for my uncle. And this was what we had to do. He put a tiny sleeping cot in here. Fortunately, he was naturally a shorter man of the family. But this was just the way it was. What my grandparents brought into this house was a Mexican tradition going back to where they grew up called mutual aid societies, mutualistas. These were centers that allowed those traveling from Mexico to America to find centers where they could be supported economically, centers that supported their culture, their connection to their homeland. They provided legal, civil rights assistance. Very important for Mexican-American history because of the prejudices, government officials who did not appreciate the Mexican way of life or their language or how their social interactions with each other in the community. So they created these mutualistas, and Casamayn was later became a type of mutualista. But what it evolved into immediately was a humanitarian center and a place to help those that needed a place to live. My grandparents, my grandmother noticed the children that just didn't have decent clothing or shoes. So being a seamstress, and she established a sewing center in her home. She partnered with the Red Cross. She also worked with the women of the community to make this a school so that they would take care of themselves without government help. And this was part of the tradition that she grew up with. So this became a sewing school. This right here is a wedding dress that was made by my grandmother She and other women who started the Red Cross Sewing School here would create not only practical items for the children and clothing, but also create garment and costumes for performing arts, for ceremonial. And what this reminds me of is how a house in our community expressed the life cycles that we had, the births, the weddings, the deaths. From the start of the Depression to the end of the Depression, a movement in America where a lot of the Midwest, teenage young men were forced to leave their farms, their communities to find work. And they had to find ways to travel and find work and they rode illegally on the railroads and they became known as hobos or homeless boys. The hobos, the homeless boys, they created their own language. They created symbols that they would carve into telephone poles or sidewalks or fences, where to get food, shelter, or work, who to avoid, what type of people lived here. My grandparents didn't know that this house was marked by these boys. It was estimated that during the Great Depression, 250,000 of these young men rode the rails. And Casa Mayan is part of that American history because once they marked that house, The Mexican values my grandparents grew up with is do you not turn any strangers away? We're all strangers in a strange land. And the seriousness of hospitality in their upbringing and generosity, that mi casa es su casa, they never turned anyone down. So they had a flood of kids coming in and young men, can I find work? Can I find shelter? Can I find food? On top of that, What was brought into this community, or into this house, was a rich expression of the arts, the performing arts, the visual arts, music. Some of the first Mexican dances to the community took place in this house. On top of that, they allowed students in the arts to put up their artwork. My aunt taught indigenous dance, Mexican and Spanish dance to the neighborhood children free. And this was where the dance classes were held. We had later on classical guitar, flamenco guitar societies, Latin American poetry societies. We would show films here. This was very extraordinary for the time to show 16 millimeter films of Spanish, what was going on in Mexico and Spain. We also had a bullfight club. We had the most varied uses of probably any house in downtown Denver. It was distinctly a Mexican expression. It was a mestizo. It was an expression of indigenous values. But other ethnic groups who were first generation from their country, like Irish, came to Casa Mayan, very proud of their Irish culture. They felt welcome to share their culture with the Mexican people in this home. To be able to find something that was so strong in Mexican heritage and culture, at the same time welcome other cultures, was extraordinary. By the time World War II came around, This place was a busy hub. After World War II, because of my grandfather's heart condition, how to sustain this family was a concern, of course, but because of the hospitality and the wonderful food, a lot of the students encouraged my grandparents, why don't you start a restaurant? That's the beginning of Custom Line as a restaurant. What we served here was the best, freshest form of Mexican food. Very simple, but at the time it was very exotic. What I have here is a plate that was served in the beginning of the Casa Maya in 1946. It was part of the total makeover of the house, from the furniture to the costumes to the chairs. to the tables, to the interior renovation, and to the details like a plate. And when I think about this plate, I also think about that they had to educate the people that were non-Hispanic what Mexican food was like. It is a chili, relleno, enchilada, burrito, tostada. those not familiar with Mexican food order Mexican food and taste samples of it. And that was part of the education process during the 40s and 50s to let people know about Mexican culture through their food. A lot of the farmers who were not Hispanic in the surrounding communities did not know how to grow, would not grow some of these foods. So they had a challenge here. How do we serve what is natural to our region? So they ended up working with small farmers. A lot of them were people coming back from the internment camps, Japanese. I said, can you grow these chilies for us? Can you grow this type of corn? Can you grow these type of beans, et cetera? They were food pioneers. They also had to figure out how are they going to create corn tortillas on a large scale, on a large scale. So they had to create a corn grinder called a molino. That was not available here. We did not have the mass production technologies. It was taken something that was very labor intensive. They required a lot of skill with using them, working with the corn. Can't be too wet, can't be too dry. So they developed this corn grinder. They created the demacet to create the tortillas. Just one year after getting the license to open up a restaurant, the White House called and asked if the family, Carolina and Ramon, could provide a presidential meal for the visiting president, Harry S. Truman. So in the living room was to serve the presidential meal. So that tells you, and as I mentioned with the hobos and the poor, and so forth, the diversity we had. And this is why this house, besides being Mexican, is a wonderful expression of diversity coming together. You were inspired when you came here to be good citizens, to be creative and productive. But we still had a racial tension here. For instance, Mexican culture and tradition is eating outside. We had courtyards, fountains. But the regulations would not permit my family to serve food outside. the government did not want to have tamales served with corn husk. They thought this is not safe. We want you to use white paper. Well, we had to fight that. My family had to educate them, talking about civil rights, this is cultural preservation rights, saying that this is safe. On top of that, they didn't know if it was healthy. We had to go through bringing the foods to the universities like the CSU to say that these chilies are healthy, corn, beans are healthy and safe. in our diet here. So there was a kind of a food prejudice, food racism here that they had to conquer. Another form of pressure, my aunt here, she started a dance club. Well, we had, going back from the 1930s, government officials come knocking at the door wanting to know what type of activities are taking place in this house. I have to bring that up because that type of value system with the government did not understand