640 Main St - Blue Parrot Sign History

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Parrot's success led to the establishment of several Italian -American restaurants in downtown Louisville as well as others that included Italian food such as spaghetti and meatballs on their menus. A Louisville Times article dated June 30, 1961 and entitled "Spaghetti Brings Fame to Louisville" described the large impact of the Blue Parrot on the town's economy and credited the role of Mary Colacci's food in drawing people to Louisville to eat spaghetti. After Mary Colacci died in 1949, Michael remarried in 1951 to Maria Tudino Colabello of Italy. Following Michael's death in 1970, Michael and Mary's son, Joe (1916-2007), took over the ownership of the restaurant with which he had long been involved. (Joe's brother, Anthony, meanwhile, had started Colacci's Restaurant in the 1950s at 816 Main.) The family member who most recently operated the Blue Parrot business is Joan Colacci Riggins, the granddaughter of Mike and Mary Colacci and the daughter of Joe. (The bar at the Blue Parrot was also a large part of its public appeal and has even played a role in Colorado political life. The Blue Parrot bartender for over 26 years, Paul Weissmann, was elected to the State Senate in 1992 serving the 17th district, and was elected to the State House in 2002 serving the 12th District. Paul served as Colorado House Majority Leader in 2008 and 2009. He then served as the Democratic House Chief of Staff beginning in 2011. During those years, he also worked as the Blue Parrot bartender, until 2015. Most recently, Governor John Hickenlooper appointed Paul to serve as the Boulder County Public Trustee, and Paul was then elected as Boulder County Treasurer.) When the issue of the age of the current neon sign was first researched for this report, photographic evidence (shown below), interviews with residents, and other sources all strongly indicated that the neon sign was originally installed in the 1950s. Additional information acquired after the original date of this report has confirmed this. Thanks to funding from the City of Louisville, historic issues of The Louisville Times have been digitized and have recently become available for searching on the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection website: https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi- bin/colorado?a=cl&c1=CL1&sp=LVT&ai=1&e= en-20--1--txt-txlN 0- . A search on the site led to a Louisville Times article dated Nov. 10, 1955 stating that the neon sign at the Blue Parrot had been installed on the building "several weeks" earlier. The article provided confirmation that the current neon sign was originally put up in 1955. According to both Joan Riggins and Paul Weissmann, the neon sign went through a few different changes over the decades. The best -documented change was to add the words "Joe Colacci's," which is believed to have taken place in the 1970s. The following series of photos sheds some light on the history of the sign. While we now know that the neon sign was installed in 1955, the photos still give a helpful overview of the history of signage on the Blue Parrot building. 3