by Glen Richardson
Glendale staple Shotgun Willie’s is now open and will be serving liquor until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights thanks to a new Common Consumption law (C.R.S. 12-47-103 et seq.) passed by the legislature in 2011.
State Senator Pat Steadman, a sponsor of the 2011 law that paved the way for Glendale’s extended drinking hours said, “Local governments should be allowed to set the hours of their establishments.” After the law was passed, the Glendale City Council approved the extended hours by a unanimous vote.
Shotgun Willie’s is the first establishment to get approval under the new law although casinos in Black Hawk and bars and restaurants in Morrison are considering it. “Now that casinos are allowed to stay open 24 hours, there is a lot of interest in Black Hawk of having later drinking hours,” said Steadman.
It is perhaps not surprising that Shotgun Willie’s was the first business to utilize the new law as Glendale was one of the prime backers of the new legislation.
The new hours brought the club to the attention of Brian Maass the investigative reporter for CBS4 Denver News. Maass, throughout his career, has made a living on doing specialty pieces on Shotgun’s and Glendale, usually in a negative light, and the latest story was no exception. Maass brought hidden cameras into the club for no apparent reason other than to have an employee on camera confirming the new hours which Maass acknowledged were wholly legal. On camera Maass made a Freudian slip first saying “wholly illegal” before correcting himself.
Westword’s Michael Roberts, in an article on the matter, made fun of Maass’ use of “hidden camera techniques even though everything the club has done is completely overboard [meant ‘aboveboard’].”
Maass then had the male executive director of the Colorado chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Fran Lanzer, predictably declare that they were against extended hours. He stated what’s happening with Glendale in his opinion is a risky proposition. “If we have a uniform statewide cutoff limit, then every bar has to close by 2 a.m. and that means there is no incentive to leave one bar to try and get to another bar that is going to close later. If there is an option where people could go and potentially continue drinking and continue their night, that would be an incentive for people to drive drunk and take that risk,” said Lanzer.
On his 710 KNUS morning show, Dan Caplis then praised the Maass piece and took calls on the subject. Michael Brown also covered the topic on his drive time radio show on 630 KHOW.
The net effect of the publicity was packed crowds now on the weekends after 2 a.m. “It’s incredible,” said Marguerite Lucas, Shotgun Willie’s spokesperson. “Brian Maass really knows how to gin up business for the club and we are very grateful.”
The club even put in huge letters on their marquee on Colorado Boulevard, “Thank You Brian Maass.” The club indicated thanks to the boost given to it by Maass and the related publicity, they may consider adding some other days of the week to the extended hours program.