Silverton Listings

Lodging • Shopping

Activities/Attractions

Dining

DINING

FETCH 'S
1231 Greene St.,
970-387-5312
Silverton's largest and best selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts and baseball hats for all ages and interests. Jeeping. Dirt biking. Train souvenirs, magnets, shot glasses, mugs, and Christmas ornaments. Get answers to your mining, travel, and geology questions. Ask to hear the train whistle! 10% off regular merchandise with your All Aboard magazine ad.

PROFESSOR SHUTTERBUG'S
1115 Notorious Blair St.
970-387-5705 • www.professorshutterbugs.com
Old tyme portrait parlour. Old West or Victorian style. 31 years of award-winning photography. Located in Silverton's first bordello. Group shots welcome. Large selection of costumes and props with historical outdoor settings. Left off the train, 1/2 block on Notorious Blair Street. Look for the tall log building.

THE TRAIN STORE
1257 Greene St.,
970-387-5580 • www.railroadart.com
Railroad art by Scotty.

SILVERTON LODGING

THE BENT ELBOW
1114 Notorious Blair St.,
970-387-5775 • www.thebent.com
Hotel open year round. We'll give you the best opportunity to feel a part of the Old West's history without giving up the comforts of 20th-Century life. All rooms have private baths, cable TV, telephones, and WiFi.

GRAND IMPERIAL HOTEL
1219 Greene St., Silverton 81433
1-800-341-3340 • www.grandimperialhotel.com
Nestled in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado, you will find The Grand Imperial Hotel. Let us take you back to a time when hospitality was King. Located on the main avenue of Silverton, just steps from the terminus of the scenic railroad. The Grand Imperial is a place of living history, comfort, warmth, and welcome. Be sure to check out Grumpy's Restaurant and Saloon located in the hotel.

THE WYMAN HOTEL & INN 1371 Greene St., Silverton 81433
800-609-7845 • www.thewyman.com
Historic luxury hotel and B&B, built in 1902. Featuring authentic Victorian decor with modern amenities. Free tolley rides from the train terminus to the Hotel. Gourmet breakfast, afternoon pastries. Evening cheese and wine socials.

ACTIVITIES/ATTRACTIONS

SAN JUAN BACKCOUNTRY
1119 Greene St., P.O. Box 427, Silverton, CO 81433
970-387-5565 • www.sanjuanbackcountry.com
Jeep rentals, tours, ATV rentals, dirt bike rentals. Train package. Mine Tour shuttles.

SILVER SUMMIT JEEP RENTALS
640 Mineral St., Silverton 81433
970-387-0240 • silversummitrvpark.com
Full and half-day Jeep rentals. Ghost towns, waterfalls, wildflowers and wildlife.

SILVERTON DINING

THE BENT ELBOW
1114 Notorious Blair St.
970-387-5775 • www.thebent.com
The local's favorite lunch and dinner spot. Serving lunch and dinner seven days a week. Sandwich and dinner menus. Happy hour specials.

GRUMPY'S RESTAURANT AND SALOON at The Grand Imperial Hotel
1219 Greene St., Silverton 81433
1-800-341-3340 • www.grandimperialhotel.com
World-famous French Onion soup. Live honky tonk piano. Featured in John Feilder's "Best of Colorado." Open year-round. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Full bar with microbrews on tap. Located at the Grand Imperial Hotel.

HANDLEBARS FOOD AND SALOON
117 West 13th St.,
970-387-5395 • www.handlebarssilverton.com
If our food was any better we would have to call it something else. As seen in USA today and the Washington post.

NATALIA'S 1912 RESTAURANT
1159 Notorious Blair St.,
970-387-5300 • www.natalias1912.com
Across from where the train stops on Notorious Blair Street. "Discover why people return again and again." Affordable family dining. Serving something for everyone. Largest dining menu around. Silverton's best hot buffet and salad bar. Beer-wine-cocktails. Patio and indoor dining. Serving lunch and dinner. Bus tours and large groups welcome. Wheelchair and stroller accessible.

NATALIA'S GOODIES TO GO In the Parlor between Natalia's Restaurant
and the Patio • www.natalias1912.com
Your Grab & Go headquarters. Breakfast burritos, wraps, vegetarian, brown bags, pastries, floats, ice cream, cappuccinos, lattes and more. Parlor located between Natalia's Restaurant and the patio on 1159 Blair St.

SHADY LADY
1154 Notorious Blair St.
970-387-5332
Located where the train stops. Family owned restaurant since 1972. Full lunch menu. Daily specials. Menu items starting at $3.95. Hot sandwiches. Real mashed potatoes and gravy. Hamburgers. Hot dogs. Reubens. Homemade soup, chili, and so much more. Tap beer and full bar. Full ice cream parlor on the porch featuring A&W root beer floats. "The last brothel to operate in Silverton."

SILVERTON BREWERY
1333 Greene St.,
970-387-5033 • www.silvertonbrewing.com
Various styles of award-winning microbrews. Great burgers, beer to go and much more! $1.00 off all draft brews with All Aboard Magazine ad.

STELLAR BAKERY & PIZZERIA
1260 Blair St.
970-387-9940
Best food in town.

THEE PITTS AGAIN BBQ
1157 Greene St.
970-387-5003 • www.theepittsagain.com
As seen on the Food Networks "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." Our BBQ has received over 300 awards.

All Aboard! Durango & Silverton Railroad Guide
Silverton's Notorious Blair Street

When train passengers arrive in Silverton they debark on Notorious Blair Street. The street was home to 32 saloons, gambling halls and houses of ill-repute in a three-block stretch. Often the first building in a mining camp was a saloon-if not, it was certainly the second! Among their colorful names were the Mikado, the North Pole, and the Laundry, (where they "cleaned you out)".

The street was named after Thomas Blair, one of the original San Juan prospectors who helped lay out the Silverton town plat. Like many of the town fathers, Tom Blair was a saloon owner. He owned the Assembly Rooms, where poker chips and cards were the vice of choice. Gambling men with names like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp played faro within its walls. From its earliest days, the street was infamous for its loud music and dance halls In fact, the people on the south end of Blair Street were so mortified by its reputation that they petitioned the Silverton town council to have their end of the street renamed "Empire Street".

Although illegal, gambling and prostitution were tolerated in early day Silverton, as long as the "ladies" stayed behind an invisible line in the middle of Greene Street, separating them from the more "respectable" part of town. When the "ladies" were not on their best behavior, they were taken to jail-now Silverton's museum at 1557 Greene Street-where they paid a fine, helping to enrich the city's coffers. There is still a town ordinance on the books prohibiting curtains on saloon windows. The Law wanted to see what was going on inside those dens of iniquity!

By the 1940s most of the gambling was over and the "ladies" had moved on, citing competition from the local girls who "gave it away" in fits of patriotic fervor during WWII. The old saloons on Blair Street had a rebirth in the 1950s as movie sets where Westerns such as "Run for Cover", "Across the Wide Missouri", and "True Grit" were shot. And the train, a world-class attraction, was often the star, too. Now the train brings over 175,000 passengers a year to visit, unloading in the middle of Notorious Blair Street, a step back in time.

Be sure to save some time to visit Silverton's museum in the old County Jail next to the courthouse. Inside you will visit the "women's cell" where many a "madam" spent the night. Run by the San Juan County Historical Society, the museum is open from 9 to 5 daily from Memorial Day weekend to mid-October.