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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 21, 2024
VOLUME 97 | ISSUE 51
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Community discusses future of former Remington school
50 years of Mile High Comics
BY LONDON LYLE SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
rado Boulevard store. “Yes, that store did great in the past,” he said. “Yes, I really liked it. I was very fond of the customers who shopped at the store, but we were losing money, and it was time to shut it down, move on and do something bigger and better. That’s what you have to do— constantly adapt.” Mile High Comics has also had staying power because of its people, he said. “I think it’s really important to know that Mile High Comics is not just me,” Rozanski said. The popular comic book business is made up of a team of people, many of whom have worked there for more than 30 years.
At a community gathering held Oct. 29, Denver city officials and locals met at 4735 Pecos St., a vacant building in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Formerly Walter W. Remington Elementary School, the Northwest Denver site has been at the center of a controversial proposal that would see it repurposed as a temporary emergency shelter for migrants. City officials at the meeting included Denver Police District 1 Commander Edward Leger; Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor’s Office Dominick Moreno; City Council President Amanda P. Sandoval, who also serves as deputy director of the city’s “newcomer program” intended to help house migrants; and City Council members Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzalez-Gutierrez. The meeting was held to address community members’ concerns about the proposal, which would use the unoccupied school building to house up to 100 newcomers in emergency situations. City officials said the Remington site would not be used as a long-term solution for migrant housing. “We can utilize this facility for overnight shelter, provide newcomers with dignity and then help them figure out where they’re going long-term,” Sandoval said. The proposal comes during a period of declining newcomer arrivals, as noted by city representatives at the meeting. Since December 2023, 43,000 individuals have crossed the southern U.S. border seeking refuge. However, Denver saw a significant decrease in incoming migrants, with arrivals dropping to around 500 this summer from a peak of 5,000 in October 2023. In early October of this year, the city closed the last of its newcomer shelters. Sandoval attributed this decline to changes in federal policies under the Biden administration and intensified enforcement at the Mexico-U.S. border. During the Q&A session, the crowd had mixed reactions. Some community members inquired how they could help newcomers, and Sandoval encouraged them to check Facebook for community support pages such as
SEE COMICS, P7
SEE SHELTER, P6
Chuck Rozanski, founder of Mile High Comics, is celebrating 50 years of business in the industry. BY JACQUI SOMEN SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Mile High Comics in North Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood is widely known as one of the largest comic book stores in the country — if not the world. According to its website, the business has more than 10 million comics in stock. This expansive space on the corner of West 46th Avenue and Jason Street is filled with comics, trade paperbacks and hardbacks, toys and vintage movie posters, and it has been likened to the “Holy Land” or “Disneyland” of its kind by one Reddit user. How has this Denver institution stuck around for more than 50 years to become one of the largest comic book sell-
ers in the world? A lot of it has to do with the ingenuity of owner Chuck Rozanski. When Rozanski was 14, his mom loaned him $140 to buy his first comic book collection. He started selling at the Colorado Springs Antique Fair so he could pay her back. He continued to sell comic books through high school and the beginning of college, building up a collection and turning a small profit. Soon after, he dropped out of college to become a professional comic book dealer. He lived out of his 1963 Chevy Impala and traveled the country selling and trading comic books. After four months, he returned to Colorado to open his first storefront. “Fifty years ago, I opened up the very first store in Boulder,
VOICES: 8 | LIFE: 10 | CALENDAR: 13
and I’ve never looked back,” Rozanski said. Today, Mile High Comics has sold a quarter-billion dollars in comics, toys and graphic novels to people all over the world, a fact that Rozanski takes pride in. But what makes him the happiest is that he’s “been able to bring so much joy into people’s lives,” he said. Rozanski has been able to continue to make people happy through comics for over five decades because he’s an agile businessman. As his employee, Doug, said, “Chuck has been able to embrace the change.” In Rozanski’s own words, Mile High Comics has had lasting power because of “flexibility and adaptability.” In one example, he discussed the closing down of his Colo-
PHOTO BY ERIC HEINZ
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