Temple: Denver 80202 looks 'gorgeous'

Published August 12, 2006 at midnight

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What a difference a new ZIP code makes.

This is my first column from the Rocky's new digs in Denver 80202. Although I'm writing just blocks from our old 80204 headquarters, the two newsrooms might as well be time zones apart.

It was all systems go in our new home on the fifth floor of 101 W. Colfax Ave. from Day 1 last Saturday. Hours after teams of movers hauled our computers into our new office, the crack information systems team of the Denver Newspaper Agency had everything up and running.

On Sunday, our Sports Department had no problems putting out the Monday section from its new desks. The only glitch came when the lights automatically went out at 11 p.m., as they're apparently programmed to do. (Note to engineers: Our last deadline is about 1 a.m.)

Our staff could have been stuck in the dark, working off the glow of their computer screens. (I had forgotten to tell them that there are switches to manually override the lighting program.) But they didn't need the overhead fluorescents anyway, because for the first time every desk has its own lamp.

Monday morning came the first big wave of newbies to the building - our business, commentary, entertainment and lifestyles departments, along with a scattering of others. In a matter of hours, as boxes were unpacked, the newsroom started to look like, well . . . a newsroom. To those of you who've never visited one, that means messy.

We had support people everywhere. There was a fellow from Herman Miller, our cool furniture supplier, helping people adjust their keyboards and chairs. We had computer types and phone experts standing by. And a nurse, too.

But for the most part, we didn't need them. The look on people's faces told the story. They were smiling. It was hard not to. It was a beautiful morning, and light was pouring through the windows wrapping the room. Everything was clean - a foreign concept in the old place. It was a cheerful scene. Even giddy.

As one editor said of the Denver 80202 newsroom: "It's gorgeous."

For another, it was "like starting a new job."

By the time of our first news meeting at 11 a.m., we were laughing about the difference between the old and the new. And, yes, I've got to admit, I was giving the editors I'd left behind a hard time about life in 80204.

We were chuckling on our end of the speaker phone call, but you could tell after one too many bad jokes about "the dungeon" - the city is going to turn our old site into a jail (officially a justice center) - they were getting pretty sick of being on the wrong side of Colfax. (We're now on the north. We used to be on the south.)

We told them about the new garage, er, race track, where we loop up through parking levels two and three before arriving on our own level, just below our newsroom.

We told them about the view of the flower beds in Civic Center and the fresh air on the terrace off our spacious conference room, the one with an astonishing view of the state Capitol.

We asked what the weather was like back in 80204, because it sure was sunny in 80202.

It was hard to believe our good fortune. Oh, sure, there were plenty of minor things to get used to and wonder about. We're essentially the first tenants in the building and there's still lots that needs finishing. Mike Madigan, our move coordinator extraordinaire, has more lists than Noah, as he keeps gathering questions, mainly from me, about the way the new building works.

You don't realize how complex a building project is going to be until you move in and see all the last-minute tinkering that has to go on. There are still tons of workers running around, fixing ceiling tiles, installing TVs, adjusting security systems and touching up the paint.

I had to go back to 80204 Tuesday evening because that's where we were running our primary election coverage. Getting off the elevator on the third floor, the place seemed so dingy. The ceilings so low. The walls so dirty. They're all the same color, unlike in our new place where the designers from OZ Architecture have created a rich palette.

Election nights are special. There's an energy you don't get on almost any other night in a newsroom.

And this one was no exception, despite the fact that there were few major races. But it almost felt like the whole scene was playing out in a video dug out of a time capsule.

We all knew that it would be our last election in our old home. But we weren't nostalgic about it, to put it mildly. Except maybe Mike Littwin, whose computer almost ate his column just minutes before deadline. Just think what the technology in our new room might do to him.

The night gave me a chance to tell my colleagues that I was never coming back. That's always fun to say.

Especially when you know the next morning you can go back to Denver 80202.

John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202.

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