Denver designates 36 beloved spots — from Horseshoe Lounge to Bonnie Brae Ice Cream — as legacy businesses

The Bonnie Brae Ice Cream shop, with its red and white striped awning and red and white neon sign, has long been one of the most recognizable sights in Denver. And on a warm summer day, the line of people stretching out the door and along the brick building at the corner of South University Boulevard and Ohio Avenue is a familiar scene.

The city has recognized the shop’s impact in the community by naming it a Denver Legacy Business. Denver Economic Development and Opportunity announced the award Friday for Bonnie Brae Ice Cream and 35 other Denver businesses.

The neighborhood favorite is now on a list of 85 longtime, independent enterprises in Denver honored for contributing to the community’s “character and vitality” and the city’s culture.

“We are first of all very honored,” co-owner Ken Simon said Monday.

Simon and his wife, Judy, joined friends Bob and Cindy Pailet to open the store in 1986. Simon said the four “kind of stumbled into it” when the former Dolly Madison ice cream chain closed all its stores. They owned the building and instead of leasing it, they decided it would be fun to start their own ice cream shop.

“We had to completely gut it and start over again,” Simon said.

Over the past 38 years, the best part of the business has been getting to know the people who visit and seeing their excitement, Simon said. Bonnie Brae makes all its ice cream on site. Judy Simon went through training at Utah State University to learn the art of ice-cream making.