This two-part commercial block at 1201 East Colfax Avenue was built in 1905 on lots 21 and 22 of block 31 in the Park Avenue Addition for a cost of $21,000. The three-story Mediterranean Revival style building was designed by architect Edwin H. Moorman, whose other works included the Fillmore Auditorium, Park Hill Fire Station, and the iconic Tower of Jewels at Lakeside Amusement Park. The property was owned by John S. and Nellie Flower. John, a prominent investor and president of the Real Estate Exchange, had purchased the parcels in 1900 from the Jefferson Investment Company.
In 1912, the Flowers sold the building to the Scherrer Land and Investment Company. Through the years, many different commercial businesses occupied the ground level of the building. Perhaps most notably, Sid King’s Crazy Horse Bar occupied the building beginning in 1948. King and his parter Joseph Goodman purchased the building from owner William Vasil in 1965. Westword magazine credited the Crazy Horse as one of the anchoring post-World War II properties on East Colfax that turned the thoroughfare into the “gauntlet of dives, XXX theatres, hookers, (and) drug deals…” An iconic Denver burlesque club, it attracted notable locals, celebrities, and dignitaries alike, among them Elvis Presley, King Hussein of Jordan, and Clint Eastwood. The interior and exterior of 1201 E. Colfax was included in Eastwood's 1978 film “Every Which Way But Loose.” Outside his club, Sid King was a noted philanthropist.
