THE NAME GAME

WRITTEN BY LINDA NAVARRO THE GAZETTE

What in the world is an Ent or a Pyxant? And how, or even why, did a large supermarket chain come to be known as King Soopers? Then there's that rotten Southwestern bank robber Jose Muldoon who ended up with his own restaurant. Humorous or serious, the all-important names of local businesses are often fodder for interesting or head- shaking stories.

MEADOW MUFFINS

Hail to the colonel. As the story -- the one on the wall -- goes, the restaurant's original owner, Col. Beauregard C. Muffins, named the establishment for his daughter, Ms. Meadow, whose very large portrait has a place of honor. Don't buy it? We'll try again. Meadow Muffins was originally owned by Grand American Fare, a nationwide chain of establishments with catchy monikers such as Madison Bear Garden. Each bar and restaurant has its own "story" and most, like Meadow Muffins, were decorated with former 20th Century Fox movie props hanging from the ceiling and rafters.

SENCHA

The restaurant is named for an especially good green tea.

SHUGA'S

To her grandfather, Alexius Weston was his "shuga," or sugar. The nickname has always made her smile, and the name of her restaurant and popular meeting spot elicits the same response from customers.

SUTTON-HOO

This 33-year-old custom-jewelry store is named after a sunken royal ship considered one of the most important archeological finds in Britain. An excavation in Suffolk in 1939 turned up the remains of the Sutton Hoo ship of Raedwald, a seventh-century king who died in 624 A.D. Its burial chamber was filled with riches, including a warrior's helmet, a shield and gold and silver treasures. After a tour of the collection in the British Museum in London, Charles Lamoreaux knew he had uncovered the perfect name for his store.

STONES, BONES & WOOD

Once upon a time there were three partners. One worked with stones, one with bones and one with wood. Their "mascot" was created when the stones fellow supplied a large quartz crystal, the bones guy put deer antlers behind it and the wood man, of course, mounted it all on a wood base. Two of the originals, Dan Piotrowski and Ken Nord, carry on the tradition in their Green Mountain Falls objets d'art shop.

THE SKY SOX

The team was affiliated with the Chicago White Sox but at a much higher elevation.

SQUATTING CHICKEN

It's about a trip to Montana Bob and Judy Wessells took in 1993. Something about salmon fishing with no hooks on their line, a fishing boat with a fully stocked cooler and a visit to "The Sitting Duck," the local set-em-up watering hole. Next thing Bob knew he was waking up on his uncle's lawn and announcing no more "chicken" place for him. Later the Wessells bought the Bella Vista bar on North Nevada Avenue. Pretty name, just not catchy enough, Bob decided. Recollections of that "chicken" bar spurred memories of a chickenfarm job during high school. "I had learned quite a bit about them and one thing I can tell you is chickens do not sit -- chickens squat!" And the name roosted right there.

ANTLERS HILTON HOTEL

Colorado Springs founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer thought a large downtown resort hotel would reap major tourism rewards. He donated acreage, contributed to the construction cost and named his showplace "The Antlers" after the large personal collection of elk and deer trophies he displayed there.

A HARE DIFFERENT

They don't even flinch when the phone rings with someone asking if it's a misspelled hair salon. Instead, it's Sue Baker's 14-year- old screen-printing and promotional products company. The hare? Her litter box-trained pet rabbit in college that's now her logo.

ACORN PETROLEUM

In 1957 four well-known local brothers started a family-named gasoline and petroleum distribution company. Times were turbulent and results disappointing, so they reorganized and in 1960 took a different approach. But what to call the new endeavor? Their Gulf Oil salesman pulled out his trusty Webster's dictionary and showed them a limb with four little acorns, the fruit of the oak tree. And the Ochs brothers' company was official.

ANCIENT MARINER

When the Vahsholtz and Shupp families set out to name their Manitou Springs bar in 1978, they looked to a favorite piece of literature, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." Why a seafaring theme in a landlocked state? Just whim, the former owners say. The rhyme was inscribed in handwritten script on the copper bar, but it's fading away.

BSCS

Sounds high-tech. Instead, it's Biological Sciences Curriculum Studies, which develops science curriculum and professional programs.

BRIARGATE

Before this planned community was put down on paper in the 1970s, partners Lew Christensen and John Venezia developed Regency Park in Pueblo. And in Regency Park there was a street called Briargate. It was reported that Venezia had always been particularly fond of the name; the rest is history.

CONWAY'S RED TOP

The giant hamburgers have been part of the local scene since 1944, first with owner Lou Marold and then the Norbert Conway family. What wasn't recorded was exactly why it was called Red Top. The Marold and Conway descendants say there's a rumor about a namethe-restaurant contest. Or there's the tale about Marold walking into a nearby bank to do business, mentioning there would be a new restaurant and asking, "What should we call it?" It was later that the restaurant on South Nevada Avenue had a red roof and Conway's spinning tops were used in logos and on menus.

DEAD ANT TAVERN

As the story goes, the original owners had been refinishing the bar in their family rec room and accidentally shellacked a deceased insect. That's all it took for their friends to dub it their "dead ant bar." When they opened a tavern there was little question what its name would be.

ENT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

Sounds like an acronym, but an Ent was a man. Ent Air Force Base, opened in the 1940s at what is now the U.S. Olympic Complex on East Boulder Street, was named for Maj. Gen. Uzal G. Ent, commander of the 2nd Air Force. He was paralyzed in 1944 when a B-25 crashed on a flight from Colorado Springs to Texas. The credit union, set up in 1957, at first served only the personnel at the base but has grown into the region's largest local financial institution.

FARMER JIM'S FEED

Once upon a time there was a Farmer Jim. When the Days started the business in Falcon in 1994, he indeed was a farmer and his name was Jim. The Vincents bought the business in 1997 and kept the name. Even people who knew the original Jim personally call Shannon Vincent "Farmer Jim" -- sometimes even his wife. Like Jim, Shannon comes from a farming and ranch background.

FILLMORE HAIR COMPANY

Nothing unusual here except the business is on Union Boulevard, not Fillmore Street. Owner Rick Romero gets that "Why..." question all the time -- for 15 years. He started out on the west side of town (Red Rock Barbers), moved to West Fillmore with The Haircrafters and then built a new salon on East Fillmore, Fillmore Hair Company. When he moved to a new building on Union he took that name along. Besides, says Romero, "subliminal message... Fillmore Hair!"

GUNTHER TOODY'S

These lively retro Colorado diners took their name from the Joe E. Ross character, Bronx cop Gunther Toody, in the 1961 TV series "Car 54, Where Are You?"

IG VENTURES Ltd.

Businessman and entrepreneur Steve Hyde has put together -- and named -- 13 local companies. This name's his favorite and the most fun. A serious agribusiness holding company, its IG actually stood for Intergalactic Enterprises. Another favorite was Les Vergers du Roi, his tree-fruit business called "The King's Orchards." Hyde's sense of whimsy comes out, however, with "Roi," what he hoped was his "return on investment."

INTELLIDEN

It stands for intelligent Directory Enabled Network, and the company develops software that automates networks.

JMI

Jack Mason wanted to use his name in his S Corporation (a legal entity with a special IRS tax status), but had difficulty finding just the right word to fit with it. His choice: JMI. Jack Mason something? No, Just Meaningless Initials.

JOSE MULDOON'S

Jose has roamed the Southwest for years robbing from the rich and passing along at least some of the goodies to the poor. He was the bad guy behind those burglaries and raids in Walsenburg, Trinidad and Raton. Well, not quite. The mythical Jose is, in fact, straight from the margarita-inspired imaginations of Dave Lux and Frank Day of Concept Restaurants who dreamed him up in 1974 as they planned their downtown eatery and bar. Mexican food, of course, and a touch of the Irish in the bar for some flair and they had Jose's. Those authentic-looking banditos photos of Jose that have circulated for 31 years look suspiciously like costumed Lux and Day and their friends.

KING SOOPERS

When Lloyd King owned part of five neighborhood Save-A-Nickels in Denver in the early 1940s, they were called grocery stores. After he returned from World War II, there was a demand for larger, more full- service stores called super markets. But, because of a postwar freeze on building materials, King had to start smaller, turning an existing 30-foot-by-100-foot meat market in Arvada into his first store. Certain of what was to come, he named it after himself and gave "supermarket" a little twist. That was in 1947; when King stepped down as company head in 1972 there were 50 King Soopers supermarkets, and today they're owned by Kroger.

LEON GESSI PIZZA

Named for the French writer, an Italian wannabe, who extolled the virtues of the pizza pie: "a blooming flower, noble and full of fragrant odors."

MONTAGUE'S

A great place to enjoy a spot of tea or read a good book. Who Montague is isn't set in stone. It could be the Count of Montague. Or possibly "Romeo (Montague) and Juliet." Or even Monty's Bar, the rough-tough neighborhood watering hole that had been situated at the South Tejon Street location years earlier.

MY FATHER'S EYES DESIGNS

The owners of this flower and gift shop, in business since 1987, credit their "Heavenly Father" for their designs.

NOR'WOOD

Large areas of northeastern Colorado Springs were once part of the massive Pring Ranch. One section of the ranch was called Norwood. Today the historic name is attached both to the development and the company that developed it. PB&J CONSTRUCTION AND REMODELING

Philip, Benjamin and Jennifer planned to name their company after themselves. Then voila! Most of their clients were women and who better to appreciate a PB&J (sandwich). B&J have since moved elsewhere and only P runs the place. "That's the main ingredient, the best one, and it's still going strong," he says, chuckling.

PASS IT ON, INC.

Sounds like the popular party gossip game. Instead, owner Don See works with small familyowned businesses to make sure that when the owners retire or die their businesses are passed along the way they prefer.

PHANTOM CANYON BREWING CO.

John Hickenlooper, a geologist-turned-Denver brewpub owner, saw potential in a rundown building, slated to be a parking lot, at the corner of Pikes Peak and Cascade avenues. Like many brewpubs -- and microbreweries -- it was given a geographical name, this one the rugged canyon and road near Caon City. And yes, the Phantom Canyon founder is indeed the mayor of Denver. PRACO

When Nechie and Jim Hall set up their business 35 years ago April 1, the name of choice was Hall Ads, A Public Relations and Advertising Company. Someone else had already snagged Hall Ads, their attorney discovered, so he registered the second half of the name, which was shortened to PRACO.

PYXANT LABS

Pyxant is a variant of Pyxis, a constellation called the mariner's compass. An appropriate name for a company that does analytical surveys.

RAMTRON International Corp.

Add one George Rohrer. And a Carlos Araujo. And a Larry McMillan. The first letters of the last names of the founders lead off the name of this ferroelectric technology company.

SINISTER TATTOO & BODY PIERCING

The owner -- just call him "Goat " -- wanted a word that's "a nice, straight-forward term for what I like to do, something that describes me to a T." "Sinister" works just fine because Goat prefers "dark, evil tattoos" done in black and gray, forgoing colors even in the many reverent religious pieces of body artwork he creates.

SPECTRANETICS

The name combines the "spectrum" of light and "netics" to symbolize moving forward. The company uses cool, ultraviolet excimer laser technology in cardiovascular procedures.

THE GUINEA PIGG BOUTIQUE

Two possibilities. Twenty-nine years ago the original owners either: a. Named it for the lovable rodent used for barter in South America where they shopped for unique boutique items. b. Chose the name because they first sold their original items out of a van and their store front was an experiment, or guinea pig. But two g's? So people wouldn't mistake it for a pet store.

THUNDER AND BUTTONS II

When new owner Barb Huggett Walker researched the name of the restaurant and bar, she uncovered all sorts of stories "that are part of the mystique." Then it was up to Whitey Pine, owner of the first T&B to pass along the tale of early-1900s historical character "Prairie Dog" O'Byrne, who paraded his carriage up and down West Colorado Avenue with a prairie dog in a cage, a passenger named Laura Belle and, pulling the buggy, two elk called Thunder and Buttons. Huggett Walker, a pilot, updated T&BII with the "thunder" of jet engines and the "buttons" of military uniforms. "Prairie Dog" became an old aviator in a biplane.

TUBBY'S TURNAROUND

There's no Tubby at the Manitou Springs turnaround, but there used to be. An earlier owner was named David by his parents, but for some reason everybody called him Tubby. Fact is, he wasn't even a little bit chunky but the nickname stuck. The convenience store is situated right where drivers turn around to go the other direction on Manitou Avenue.

VILLAGE 7

The development was originally planned as seven different villages tied together with 15 miles of greenway nature paths. One main street, Carefree Circle, circled the development.

ZZING

There was already a zingy store in Denver with one 'Z' (a bed store), so this downtown clothing and accessories store for young women has two. Right next door, through a handy hole in the wall, is the men's clothing store owned by the husband of Zzing's Paula Loukakis. He calls his State of Mind and "I thought I should put some zing in the state of mind," she says.

15C

This one's simple. The door to the martini bar is in the alley at 15 E. Bijou St., Suite C.

Copyright 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.