Forty Years on the ’Fax
Colfax Avenue, 1926–1966
Take a nostalgic ride down Colfax, with stops at the quirky and memorable places that gave the street its worldwide reputation.
The mid-twentieth century was tourism’s heyday on Colfax Avenue. The main east-west thoroughfare through Colorado, “the ’Fax” beckoned visitors to the Rocky Mountain West. From its birth as US Highway 40 in 1926 until I-70 diverted traffic away from it in the ’60s, “America’s Main Street” boomed with tourist attractions. Hotels and motels, swanky restaurants and drive-ins, and all forms of shopping and entertainment—from amusement parks to nightlife—sprang up along a 26-mile stretch of pavement from Lakewood to Aurora.
See relics from the glory days of “America’s longest, wickedest street,” like neon signs from Across the Street Cafe and Sid King’s Crazy Horse Bar, matchbooks from hundreds of famous businesses, and menus, glasses, and dishware from restaurants Denverites dined in for decades. Guest curated by Jonny “the Velvet Elvis” Barber, Forty Years on the ’Fax features objects from the Colfax Museum collection. Having gathered prime pieces of Colfax history for over a decade, Barber opened his museum in 2017, only to shutter its doors a year later after a flood. History Colorado is thrilled to offer visitors a chance to see these treasures while The Colfax Museum finds its new home.
