Why You Should Support West Side Stories
West Side Stories tells the
story of the founding, growth and unlikely success of one of this country’s
most dynamic Jewish communities as told by those who lived it.
As early as the late 1800s, Jews from around the world found their way to the “wild wild west” of Denver because of the gold rush, the tuberculosis epidemic, and an ingenious scam. The community was unique in that it replicated exactly an eastern European shtetl in nearly every way.
Later, the community became famous as the childhood home of Golda Meir, Thomas Bopp who discovered the Hale-Bopp comet, and Theodore H. Maiman, the inventor of the laser. Several major US corporations including Mattel, Samsonite, Scott’s Liquid Gold and OxiClean also were founded on Denver’s Jewish west side.