9 Colorado Towns With Unforgettable Main Streets
The best way to judge a Colorado mountain town is to walk one block of its Main Street. Telluride packs a mahogany bar from 1891 into the New Sheridan Hotel on Colorado Avenue. Silverton paved Greene Street and then quit. Its side streets are still dirt and gravel. Salida parks a hand-built 1886 caboose at the north end of F Street. These nine towns kept their Victorian storefronts working instead of turning them into museums. The peaks start right where the sidewalks end.
Telluride
The mahogany bar inside the New Sheridan Hotel has been pouring drinks on Telluride's Colorado Avenue since the place was rebuilt in brick in 1895. The original wood-frame hotel went up in 1891 and burned in 1894, which explains why the current building looks so solid. This is a former silver-mining town wedged into the Rocky Mountains, and the peaks close in from three sides. Guests still book historic rooms upstairs, then walk to dinner without touching a car. Just across the avenue, Elks Park breaks up the storefronts with a patch of green that hosts summer concerts and the Wild West Fest roundup.
Mornings run on the Telluride Coffee Company, which sends out breakfast burritos alongside beer, cocktails, and natural wine for whoever needs a head start. Gold Mountain Gallery sits across the way with paintings, sculpture, and a stock of furniture and decor you can actually take home.
Crested Butte
Somebody in Crested Butte named a beer Big Deck Energy, and that tells you most of what you need to know about Elk Avenue. The Eldo Brewery pours it behind Coal Creek along with Squid Rider IPA, then backs the taps with soup momo, vindaloo, and fried noodles. Across the street, the Hideout runs a fusion menu of lettuce wraps, sumo fries, and smash burgers. The whole avenue is a walkable row of Victorian buildings painted in colors that would embarrass a lesser town.
At the eastern end, the Crested Butte Museum tracks the town through coal mining, skiing, and the birth of mountain biking, and it keeps a scale-model town and railroad diorama for anyone who likes their history in miniature. A short walk down, Dragonfly Anglers stocks fly rods, reels, and gear, then runs guided float and walk-wade trips on the rivers nearby.
Aspen
The chef behind Matsuhisa built a global sushi empire, and one of his dining rooms sits right on Aspen's Main Street, sending out beef tenderloin and Colorado lamb chops when you tire of the raw stuff. This is Aspen, so the street is lined with boutiques and hotels wearing serious historic architecture. At the western end, the Annabelle Inn hands out complimentary breakfast and keeps two hot tubs pointed at the mountains. Down the block, Paepcke Park spreads its lawns and gazebo across a full square and hosts the Fourth of July party and the Downtown Aspen Arts Festival.
Aspen Emporium rounds things out with work from more than 75 local and regional artists, covering paintings, sculpture, jewelry, and home decor under one roof.
Silverton
Greene Street is the only fully paved street in Silverton, and the town seems fine leaving the rest as dirt and gravel. The Teller House Hotel has held down the street since brewer Charles Fischer built it in 1896, and its Victorian front fits a place that never stopped looking like a mining camp. Across the street, the Rocky Mountain Funnel Cake Factory fries funnel cakes in flavors including chocolate fudge with caramel and pineapple upside-down cake, which is exactly the kind of decision high altitude encourages.
A couple of doors down, Golden Block Brewery pours Kathouse Kolsch and Whoop Arse Scottish Ale next to wood-fired pizza and panini. Next door again, Fetch's Mining and Mercantile sells the T-shirts, books, mugs, and novelty shot glasses you take home to prove you made it up here.
Golden
An arch over Washington Avenue announces "Howdy Folks, Welcome to Golden. Where the West Lives," and Golden spends the rest of the street backing up the claim. Miners Saloon runs happy hour and Live Music Wednesdays a short walk from the arch. Spirits In the Wind Gallery leans into New West art with paintings, pottery, and Navajo jewelry for sale. Western storefronts and modern shops share the block, with mountain views filling every gap between them.
At the northern end, Parfet Park gives the town a grassy commons for picnics and pickup volleyball and drops you straight onto the Clear Creek Trail. The park also runs Movies and Music in the Park, an outdoor film-and-concert series with popcorn and food for sale.
Salida
Railroad crews built Salida's little red caboose in the local Denver and Rio Grande shops in 1886, and it now sits restored at the north end of F Street where those rail yards used to run. The town calls itself the Heart of the Rockies, and its historic downtown runs the length of F Street below the peaks. Four Winds Gallery shows oil paintings and mixed-media paper collage. Up the street, Currents Steak and Seafood serves a daily happy hour and Wednesday date-night specials.
The caboose keeps a visible piece of the railroad past parked right in town. A short walk away, Boathouse Cantina sets its indoor and outdoor seating on the bank of the Arkansas River, close enough to hear the water.
Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Art Museum shows paintings and glass work inside the old First National Bank building, which is the kind of reuse that keeps Steamboat Springs interesting past the ski slopes. Lincoln Avenue doubles as U.S. Route 40 and points straight at the peaks. Salt and Lime works the Mexican side of the street with tacos, burritos, and loaded guacamole served from rooftop seating. Across the way, Zandee Gallery hangs photography, bronze work, and glass.
When the sun goes down, Schmiggity's Live Music Dance Bar takes over with concerts from local and regional acts in a proper nightclub setting. It keeps the avenue busy long after the galleries lock up.
Breckenridge
The 1892 building on Breckenridge's Main Street once held a grocery store and doctors' offices, and today the Old Masonic Hall packs art shows, dance, yoga, and the occasional pop-up animal exhibit into the same walls. The rest of Main Street runs on historic storefronts and public plazas with the peaks behind them. Blue River Plaza sits in the middle with a river walk and room to gather, and the Fourth of July parade passes right by.
At the northern end, Downstairs at Eric's serves pizza and wings in a sports bar loaded with arcade games and TVs. Up the block, Carboy Winery runs self-guided tastings and wine flights with small bites in a rustic downtown room.
Carbondale
Carbondale Beer Works is female-owned and female-brewed, and it pours beers named Haze is For Horses and Ghost Juice a block off Carbondale's Main Street. The downtown around it is artsy and easy to walk. Tiny Pine Bistro grills burgers and fish inside a converted house and opens a seasonal tiki bar in the backyard, seating up to 28 for a private dinner indoors. The whole strip rewards the kind of aimless wandering a mountain town should.
On Wednesdays from June through September, Chacos Park fills up with the Carbondale Farmers Market. At the eastern end, Marble Distilling and the Distillery Inn run lodging and a working distillery under one roof, turning out Marble Vodka and FIGHTin' Whiskey. You can tour the still, book a room upstairs, or just pull up a seat at Club Marble.
Where Colorado's Peaks Meet Main Street
Telluride keeps its 1891 mahogany bar on Colorado Avenue, Golden throws an arch over Washington Avenue, and Crested Butte paints Elk Avenue every color it can find. Silverton makes the boldest statement of the nine by paving Greene Street and leaving everything else to the dirt. What ties them together is stubbornness. Each one kept its old storefronts in daily use instead of freezing them behind glass, and the mountains never let you forget where you are.
