www.bcbr.com/article.asp?id=100614 -
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Published on: 6/12/2009
Last Visited: 6/16/2009
Though it has served as a turnstile for many businesses over the past 128 years - most recently, as a barbecue joint - its current owners, Sean and Lynn Owens, hope its latest incarnation as The Dickens Tavern restores some of its earlier grace.
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"We definitely want people to walk in and feel like they're stepping back in time - like they're in an oldstyle tavern, not something Home Depoted to look that way," said Sean Owens, who is also the chef.
Owens also saw a higher use for the vault, left over from the building's days as a bank.
He converted it from storage for coats and umbrellas into a wine vault that also houses a secluded table for two - perfect for either romance or a confidential meeting.
The restaurant has banquet rooms available for larger gatherings, though.
"We talked to local businesses, and (one of their complaints was that) there wasn't a good private spot where they could hold meetings," Owens said.
He said it was a priority to "give something to Longmont we felt it needed - a decent restaurant with a good price range and a real comfortable feel.
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"The Dickens Chicken - our beer-can-roasted chicken - is a shining star," Owens said.
The chicken, he said, is all natural.
"We try where we can to use natural and organic, but it doesn't work on the whole menu," he added.
Owens noted that while the restaurant doesn't advertise any sustainability initiatives, "We're trying to be as green as we can.
He said he is working with PACE to get energy audits and qualify as a certified company.
Still, there's one part of the tavern's environment that Owens probably can't do anything about: the ghosts.
In a Dickensian twist, there are tales of revelers who were killed at parties in the opera house and continue to haunt the building, and patrons have reported sightings.
But Owens said any spirits are more mischievous than threatening.
"I was rebuilding the stairs at night before we opened," he recounts.
"I had a nail gun on a compressor.
It's really noisy.
It started losing power - something or somebody turned off the compressor.
I was the only person in the building, and you can't accidentally turn it off.
I yelled, 'If you turn it off, it's just gonna take longer.' " Owens said he turned it back on, and there was no further disruption of his work.
But there was another time, he said, when he smelled a sewery funk emanating from the basement.