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The High Life

Zeon Corporation turns familiar beer logos into wall art.

Everybody has a go-to watering hole to watch the game. And while most of us don’t want our living rooms to look like sports bars, you can bring home a touch of that pub-like nostalgia with Zeon Corporation’s neon signs.

The Louisville-based sign manufacturer (zeon.com) opened in 1980 with accounts like Kinko’s and Canon before finding its true niche: craft beer companies. Although neon sign making is a fading art form, Zeon’s repertoire also includes LED and nonilluminated signs, which incorporate sustainable materials such as recycled aluminum, Colorado beetle-kill pine, and reclaimed barn wood. “We’ve found that craft brewers are much more receptive to creativity,” owner Alan Bloom says, “and that’s reflected in their beers and company cultures.”

Since landing its first brew account—New Belgium Brewing—a decade ago, Zeon has focused on craft beer. Bloom and his team most often design illuminated signs for local breweries like Odell and bigwigs like Pabst Brewing Co., but they also reach markets traditionally ignored by neon sign makers, including auto parts, pet products, spirits, and snow sports; Burton Snowboards recently signed on as a client.

Zeon works only with corporate entities, but you can buy signs online from New Belgium (newbelgium.com) and Dogfish Head (dogfish.com) so you can get a Sunday football–worthy vibe in your own home—recommended for bachelor pads and rec rooms only.

FOLLOW THE SIGNS

Find Zeon’s creations around town (we suggest downtown Denver’s Falling Rock Taphouse). Look for the first mass-produced can-type sign (pictured here) or the Fat Tire bike (top).

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The High Life

As Denver starts to embrace penthouse living, we give you a tour of the city’s crown jewel.

In a market downturn such as we’re experiencing, conventional real estate wisdom tells you to be cautious—minimize your expectations, reel in your spending, sit tight where you are, and wait for the whole thing to blow over. But flying in the face of this admonitory advice are a slew of for-sale signs swinging in the breeze at some of the toniest addresses downtown. (And we’re not just talking about Denver Country Club.)

Take, for example, Christian Anschutz’s new project at the intersection of Fillmore Street and First Avenue, in the heart of the Cherry Creek North shopping district. The seven-story, luxury condo tower comes with a hefty $800-per-square-foot price tag. And it’s not an anomaly. In the next year, there will be a half dozen über-luxury condo projects for sale downtown. East West’s new units at One Riverfront are starting at $1 million. Great Gulf’s 1401 Lawrence expects to go for top dollar. Even the venerable Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons are throwing their hats in the ring (with rumored price tags in the $850-per-square-foot range).

If 2006 is any indication of what’s to come, it seems that Denver’s top buyers are ready to play ball. Jan Nelsen, partner at The Kentwood Company, tells us that of the 20 or so $2 million-and-up downtown properties on the market last year, most have already sold.

Cheryl Meyers
Cheryl Meyers
Cheryl Meyers is a contributing writer to 5280 Home, which means she gets to spend her days writing about Colorado’s most beautiful indoor spaces.