Monrovia Old Town Report (12/22/16 Issue)

By Pam Fitzpatrick

Well, here we are – it’s almost Christmas, and look what we’ve done: nine Santa Breakfasts with hundreds of free toys given away; a very successful free Gift Wrap Station thanks to our young volunteers from Community Services; dozens of Carriage Rides; free Kid’s Craft tables; free Photos with Santa, and happy Holiday Decorations from top to bottom and side to side. We’re almost there, friends, and now comes a little time off, some homemade food that I, personally, don’t have to “home make” – some friends, some family, and a glass of wine or maybe two. Oh, I do love this season…

Speaking of Santa Breakfasts, I was pleased to see my realtor pal, Dan Bacani and his wife, Lena with their two darling kiddies seated at one of the tables at the Peach Café last week. As I was being Santa’s Elf and passing out the gifts to the little ones, Dan called me back to the table and commented on the toy Parking Garage I had presented to his son, Dylan. “This is a hint, right?” was his comment. Yes, Dan, that was more than a hint…find us a way to get more parking in Old Town! I do have a hidden stash of parking that I should share more often with folks around town: the Colorado Commons parking structure is open to the public (entrance on west Colorado) with lots of free parking if you don’t mind going up a level or two or three. There is an elevator, so once you get used to the structure, it’s not half bad. But there are some days that I would just rather complain…

This week we had our last “official” New Year’s Eve Committee meeting of 2016, but I guarantee you there will be many phone calls and texts before the big event: the 6th Annual New Year’s Eve on Myrtle. On New Year’s Eve day, Myrtle will be closed at 10 a.m. from Olive to Lemon, but the restaurants will still be open (of course!) and so will several of the retail shops, including my own (Dollmakers’ Kattywompus), Candy Connection, and Six2Six (I think). The Family Friendly area of the event, including a cool Kid’s Zone with bouncies and rides, games, books, crafts, and a button machine will open at 6 p.m. The Kid’s Zone will be open later this year (until 10 p.m.) and the entire event will continue to 1 a.m. And you can’t miss the Ball Raising at Midnight – it’s really quite spectacular.

I’m disappointed that “1776”, the restaurant that used to be Salad Bistro, doesn’t look like it will be open until after the first of the year. It opened briefly, then closed for what is probably some remodeling and rebranding inside. I was just getting used to losing George Denoyan, the owner of the Salad Bistro, and had talked myself into looking forward to trying the new place, when the brown paper went up on the windows and I can’t even spy inside. I do see a “Now Hiring” sign posted, so if you’re looking for a job, working at an Old Town gastro pub could have its benefits (and applying would give you a reason to open the door and peak inside!)

With all this talk of our New Year’s Eve event, I don’t want to forget the “After Christmas Sales” in Old Town. Dec. 26 is the beginning of the yearly “slim down” mode in town. No, I don’t mean, “diet,” (we don’t believe in diets in Old Town), I mean “inventory reduction.” It’s a tax thing – and also it’s an inventory counting thing for me. The less stuff left at the end of the year, the less stuff has to be counted! So do us all a favor and shop Old Town the last week of December!

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