Five Points
Five Points was once called the "Harlem of the West" — a neighborhood where Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington came to play because the segregated downtown hotels wouldn't have them. The jazz tradition lives in the neighborhood's murals, which also document the civil rights movement in Denver, the history of Black homeownership and entrepreneurship in Colorado, and the ongoing work of a community asserting its right to remain as the city changes around it.
Featured Artists
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Denver-based artist known for richly detailed portraits that center Black cultural history. "Harlem of the West" on Welton Street is a panoramic jazz tribute — seven larger-than-life musician portraits spanning two building facades, including Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and local Five Points legends who never achieved national fame but were known on Welton as the backbone of the neighborhood's musical life.
Jolt
Denver artist specializing in portraits of aviation pioneers. "Bessie" is a tribute to Bessie Coleman — the first African American and first Native American pilot in history, licensed in France in 1921 because no American flight school would accept her. The portrait depicts Coleman in her leather aviator's jacket above a Five Points skyline that includes the mountains she never stopped trying to reach.
Bimmer Torres
Puerto Rican-American Denver artist whose murals engage with the neighborhood's transit history. "Five Points Station" was commissioned for the reopening of the Welton Street light rail corridor — a mural wrapping the station infrastructure depicting the Five Points neighborhood's relationship to transit across a century, from the streetcar era through highway demolition to the rail revival.