Denver Press Club leaders put journalists' hangout in the black

By Russ Rizzo, Special to the Rocky

Monday, July 21, 2008

Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Mark Stutz talks with his guest, Anthony Sweeney, at the Denver Press Club last week as Mary Scott tends bar for Jim Gunderson.

Denver Public Library / The Harry M. Rhoads Photograph Collection

President Woodrow Wilson poses with a group at the Denver Press Club in 1919.

Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Caricatures line a wall in the Denver Press Club, many of them drawn by Jean Tool.

It's a news flash big enough to knock a seasoned journalist off his chair: The Denver Press Club is turning a profit.

After years of uncertainty about the club's future, President Bruce Goldberg said, the club is in the black and stands a better chance of being around another century.

Goldberg took over in early 2006 as board members discussed selling the country's longest continuously running press club because of nearly certain foreclosure.

"Some people thought I was crazy for taking it on," said Goldberg, an associate editor at the Denver Business Journal. "Who could blame them? The club's prospects were very bad."

The club had $20,000 in bills it couldn't pay, several liens on its building, a dwindling membership and no hopes of turning the tide, Goldberg said.

With no business experience, Goldberg and treasurer David Milstead relied on a basic concept they absorbed interviewing business leaders for stories.

"It's great to bring in a dollar," said Milstead, finance editor of the Rocky Mountain News. "But if it costs $1.20, then it doesn't make any sense."

So they eliminated the club's white-table-cloth lunches and dinners, and sought a business model that worked.

With a new loan from the Bank of Denver stalling foreclosure, they settled on a simple buffet dinner three times a week and brought back former manager Carmen Green.

Instead of running a lunch - and booze - service for a dozen loyal members, Green said he now spends much of his time booking private events. "I jumped at the chance because I didn't want the building or the club to go away," Green said. "This is a piece of history that should stand forever."

The stand-alone, brick building at 1330 Glenarm Place emanates with Denver journalism history.

Seven of the nine Pulitzer Prizes won by The Denver Post and the Rocky adorn the lobby, which doubles as a bar. Beveled glass brings in light, a departure from the old days when reporters shuttered the place to keep late-night poker games under wraps, Green said.

Black-and-white caricatures of notable local journalists hang above the dining room's dozen tables opposite a 1905 photo of President Theodore Roosevelt, the club's first honorary lifetime member.

The recently renovated upstairs holds private events for up to 130 people. The dingy basement still hosts several monthly poker games under a mural depicting journalists including Gene Fowler, who famously interviewed Buffalo Bill Cody about his love affairs.

Mike McPhee, a former president who spearheaded the $125,000 renovation in 2002, said the club has finally found its niche - no fancy food, just a place to meet and celebrate journalism.

"And for the first time, someone is finally taking a look at the (financial) books," said McPhee, a Denver Post reporter.

With a sound financial footing, Goldberg said, the club this year increased scholarships for young journalists, paid off a chunk of its $280,000 loan and started an endowment.

The club is open to journalists and nonjournalists alike. The annual fee is $240, with reduced rates for students, the retired and out-of-town members.

Membership has grown to 480, Goldberg said, but the club is still not the bustling place it was in the 1960s.

That's just fine with 89-year-old Jean Tool, a longtime member who drew about half the caricatures hanging in the dining room.

"I think it's simply great that the club is still there," Tool said.

Denver Press Club timeline

* 1859: First newspaper is published in Denver (Rocky Mountain News)

* 1867: Journalists meet in the Cyclone Cellar of Wolfe Londoner's general store/saloon and formed an unofficial "press club."

* 1877: The Denver Press Club is established with a constitution, bylaws and President William N. Byers.

* 1877-1925: Press Club meetings are held at various places, including the Brown Palace hotel and Navarre Restaurant. (Note: also the Savory, Ramona, St. James, Albany hotels; the Tabor Building, the Railway Exchange Building, Constitution Hall, and the Kittredge and Denham Theatre buildings.)

* 1905: President Theodore Roosevelt receives the Denver Press Club's first honorary lifetime membership.

* 1908: The Denver Press Club serves as press headquarters for the national Democratic convention. More than 500 press tables are set up at the Denver Press Club offices, two blocks from the auditorium.

* 1923: Club swells to 159 members. President Warren G. Harding receives third honorary lifetime membership in the form of a giant red-and-blue pencil.

* 1925: New headquarters, at 1330 Glenarm Place, opens.

* 1970s: Virginia Culver of The Denver Post and Marjorie Barrett of the Rocky Mountain News become the first women to join the club, ending its men-only history.

* 2002: A $125,000 renovation restores the building to what it looked like in 1925.

• July 22, 2008

  8:07 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Marshdale writes:

  Way to go guys and gals. After working there for ten years myself under strained financial conditions, it's nice to see you doing well. Keep up the good work Carmen. I'm sure the Democratic National Convention will help matters even more. In a day when good journalism seems to give way to the corporate dollar it is places like this that will keep the fourth estate alive. It is organizations like this that will keep the true spirit of journalism going and maybe even bring it back to the forefront. Having been aquainted with some of Denvers and the nations best journalists through working there is an inspiration for me and I'm sure many others. I never even used to read the newspapers until I worked there. I feel as if I was a small part of history by being able to work there. There is not a day that goes by that I don't read a paper now. I have the DPC and its fantastic members to thank for that. They opened my eyes to the importance of being informed. You can't help but walk in there and feel the history invade your soul. It makes me so happy to see that the club is able to preserve itself. Good work, everyone!

• July 22, 2008

  11:54 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ghostchaser writes:

  Hello....

  We at the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society have had many great nights at the Press Club.

  The "Haunted history" of the Press Club has allowed both the chance to research one of Denver's classic haunts, but it has also allowed us to help intorduce the location to members of the Press who did not know that it exsisted.

  We are proud that the Club is going to stay. It is one of Denver's greatest historical locations.

  Thanks,
  Bryan
  rockymountainparanormal.com

• August 13, 2008

  12:21 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  appel writes:

  Congratulations Denver Press Club! The business success of the current club leadership is remarkable. Bruce Goldberg should have been elected President 15 years ago.

  Bringing back Carmen Green was another excellent decision.

  As a former member of the Denver Press Club, I am delighted with this good news.

  Gregory V. Appel
  Daily Freeman, Kingston, New York