Ahead of the La Vista Motel’s expected fall re-opening, its owner has announced the name of the bar and coffee shop that will be on the grounds of the remodeled East Colfax motel.
El Piñon, named after the Spanish word for “pine nut,” will be open to the public and guests at the motel, located on 5500 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver. The cocktail bar will occupy the motel’s former check-in area, said Weston Scott, the bar operator.
La Vista was one of dozens of hotels built along Colfax from the 1930s through the 1960s, when the 27-mile boulevard — also a highway called U.S. 40 — was the gateway for tourists heading to the mountains. Many have distinctive mid-century designs and neon signs that at one time boasted new amenities like color TV, carports and refrigerators. Eventually, I-70 made U.S. 40 redundant, and the hotels fell into disrepair, were abandoned or became blighted.
Developer Nathan Beal purchased the La Vista in 2022 and began renovations last year in anticipation of a 2025 opening. He tapped Scott, a lifelong Denverite who opened Ephemeral Rotating Taproom in another historic building three years ago, to run the beverage service. Ephemeral, at 2301 E. 28th Ave., occupies the former Ben’s Market, a convenience store that was started in the 1940s by a Japanese family released from the World War II-era Japanese internment facility known as Camp Amache, in the town of Granada.
“Our vision for La Vista Motel is to celebrate the spirit of 1960s Colfax, and El Piñon helps bring that idea to life,” Beal said in a statement. “We want this to be both an amenity for guests and a neighborhood bar, coffee shop, and community meeting place.”
El Piñon’s baristas will use coffee from Denver-based roasters Servants Coffee for morning espressos and iced coffees. The cocktail bar will be open in the evenings.
“I hope it just feels like a spot the neighborhood wants to hang out in,” Scott said.
The motel bar could open as soon as September, Scott said.
