Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. Derek Dwyre has taken a long, circuitous journey to return to where he began 20 years ago, at the original Whistler's Cafe of 1995.
He and his wife Becky, the new operators and future owners of the restaurant, have closed for remodeling and plan to reopen by or before Easter. Earlier this week, they were refinishing the wood floors and upgrading the plumbing and electricity.
This has been Derek's dream ever since he first came to work in the original historic building that was the Whistle Stop, a way station for travelers coming through Nederland in 1902. Since then, the building has been a residence, a music store in the 70s and a general store before it once again became a residence.
In the 1980s the house was turned into a restaurant, with a couple of small rooms and a kitchen. In 1985, Gary Camp purchased the restaurant, which featured the popular mountain muffin that attracted locals as well as flatlanders who made it a point to drop in on weekend mornings.
In the late 80s, Derek was managing a pizza place in Ohio where he hired his friend Jeff Pancoast. Derek migrated to Colorado in 1989, and after living in Colorado Springs, which he knew would not be his home, he discovered Nederland. He first worked at the Kwik Mart and then went to work for Gary at Whistlers. He was hired as a cook even though all he knew how to do was make pizza.
"Gary taught me everything. I was 21 years old and worked for him for five years," says Derek, "But he had plans for me. He told me I would own the restaurant someday. I told him 'No, I am a Deadhead."
When Derek's friend Jeff Pancoast came to visit while at a Grateful Dead concert, Jeff decided to go back home, pack up and return to Nederland. At this point Gary was having health issues and he sold the restaurant to the two friends from Ohio.
In 2001, Becky was traveling from Michigan when her Dodge mini-van broke down in Nederland. "I had to get a job to get it fixed and Derek hired me at Whistlers."
By this time, 1998, Jeff had returned to Ohio and Derek was running the restaurant by himself. He and Becky began dating and were married in Chipeta Park and had their reception at Whistlers, where they continued to work side by side.
They remember the ghosts that lived in the building: an old man who sat in the back room reading a newspaper whom everyone saw at one time or another, but was an apparition. His name was Ed.
Derek remembers the time he came into the kitchen one night and the bills from the cash register were strewn all over the floor, but the coins were organized in piles of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Nothing was missing and no one could figure out why or how it happened.
When Mountain-Ear columnist Liz Caile died of cancer, her husband Skip Greene, a school bus driver, came in one morning and asked if someone could cook him breakfast, and he became a regular customer. Skip became friends with Ed. The Dwyres are convinced the building was located on an ancient burial site.
Derek and Becky loved the people they served and the restaurant became their home and family.
When Jeff came back in 2002, he bought Derek's share of the restaurant and the Dwyres went to Maui for a vacation, where they made plans to come back to Nederland and open a head shop. They arranged to rent a place for their business.
When they went up before the Nederland town board at the time, they were refused a business permit and the board voted to make it illegal to sell any marijuana paraphernalia in town. The Ned Shop never got off the ground.
In January, 2006, the Whistler was destroyed by fire and was closed until October of 2008, when it was rebuilt and became a music venue/bar as well as a restaurant.
Since then, Becky has worked at the Sundance Restaurant, sold dog treats, and has a sewing business. Derek has worked as the manager of Snarf's Sandwiches on Pearl Street. But Derek has never forgotten his dream to own Whistler's.
Since 2011, he and Becky have been negotiating purchasing the property, but whenever they came close, the deals would fall through.
In January, when Jeff, due to emergency family issues, needed personal time, Jeff's father contacted Derek to reopen negotiations and they signed a property acquisition proposal. The restaurant was open through the Nederland Frozen Dead Guy Days weekend but has been closed since.
On March 20, the Dwyres began the remodel, a huge facelift of the interior.
The couple plans to keep much of the menu the same, with some new items to be divulged later. "Music will be rare but special," says Derek. "And we will have a family-friendly bar. It will be homey, a Mom- and Pop-run restaurant like the original Whistler's Cafe."
Breakfast and lunch will be served every day from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and when everything is going smoothly, dinner will also be served.
"After 20 long years of trying acquire Whistler's, we are ecstatic, beyond happy," says Becky. "If you liked the old Whistler's, the way it used to be, Derek is the guy who did it. You will get the same Mountain Muffin you got back in 1995."
**The Original Whistler's Cafe is now open everyday 7am-3pm.**
