3 days Ago By Matthew Geiger
Three Denverites are tipping their hats to Tennyson. American Lore by Parker Thomas is set to open by this fall in a 1,200-square-foot space at 3965 Tennyson St. The half neighborhood bar, half hat-making shop also will have split ownership.
The brains behind the bar operation are Spencer Fronk and Andrew Palmquist, co-founders of Number 38, a RiNo bar and restaurant with a sprawling outdoor patio and stage for live music.The face behind the hats will be Parker Orms, a third-generation hat-maker with his own shop in Cherry Creek, Hats by Parker Thomas. “American Lore bar is going to do more of that watering hole,” Fronk said.
“Late at night, I can come with a date, have a nice cocktail, have a beer, hang out, go to dinner on Tennyson, and come back and really lean into that sort of more late-night neighborhood haunt.”The bar’s hat operations will take place in a separate area in the back of the store, operating during traditional retail hours. But it will be an integral part of the concept.
“When you walk in, it’s like the start of your hat story,” Orms said. “You walk in, choose your color, brim length, do all that, and by the end of it, you have your hat, sit and chill at the bar, which I’m hoping it’s just kind of like this revolving door of: You’re walking in, and people that have their hats are like, ‘OK, you’re up.’”The trio always had its sights set on the northwest part of the Denver area.
They looked at Olde Town Arvada and kept the search pretty “Highlandsy,” Palmquist said. But when this space on Tennyson became available, the decision to go in there was pretty easy. “The demographics of the area fit a little bit more of that higher-end product that we’re looking to deliver,” Palmquist said.
JLL brokers Lily Armstrong, Jeff Feldman and Sam Zaitz worked the deal for the building’s landlord, Asana Partners. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based landlord has numerous holdings on Tennyson, and recently leased the next-door units to a perfume shop and bao bun spot. Build-out costs are estimated at $100,000, according to public records.
It will cost about $300 for the full, custom-hat experience, Orms said. But Fronk and Palmquist emphasized that the beer would be cheap.Orms, 33, grew up in Denver and played football for the University of Colorado Buffaloes.
He’d visit his family in Texas, shooting guns and riding horses; his dad and grandfather helped run a hat shop there for decades. When he took off his helmet for the final time, he replaced it with a hat.“[I] went to the Stock Show, worked with my dad and grandpa, started shaping hats and designing my own styles right away,” he said.
The Stock Show is also how Orms met Fronk and Palmquist, who have been friends for years. The hat-maker is one of the many vendors and musicians that Number 38 hosts during its annual “Bison Days” lineup that runs concurrently with the show. Orms said he has designed hats for country star Reba McEntire, Nuggets player Aaron Gordon and Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.
“I’ve done events on a cruise ship to Alaska, and I’ve done an event in Florida, New York — all over,” he said. The hatter opened his own hat shop at 257 Fillmore St. in the fall of 2023.
Last year, Orms raked in nearly $1 million in sales. He’s opening another Cherry Creek boutique with his fiancee, Janelle, called Hat and Hem at Third Avenue and Fillmore Street.Related ArticlesChef Jose Avila opening Malinche mezcal bar, food hall and moreMellow Mushroom’s sole Colorado location closes on 16th Street MallPortillo’s eyes two more Colorado locations for expansionDaughter Thai set to open casual noodle joint next doorPizza, bistro fare, and an “outsider” take on Thai food at AvantiFronk and Palmquist, meanwhile, are also working on another location of their own.
Their plans for a second Number 38 in Littleton have been approved by the city, and the two are working on getting a building permit to begin construction, city spokesman David Gilbert said via email. Littleton awarded the business a “shareback” deal last year for the new location that would allow it to keep up to $400,000 in sales tax revenue. The duo also had an out-of-state location, Number 15, in Louisville, Kentucky.
That spot closed a few months ago. Fronk and Palmquist, who own the building, said it’s been leased to another operator.“A local brewery took over the building, and then now [we] started to focus on just hyper-local projects,” Fronk said.
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